I have a quick one for you this time around. I threw these easy sauteed greens together just a few weeks ago and it has been my go-to side ever since. I’ve been eating it with veggie burgers at dinner and with eggs for breakfast.
It’s a super simple combination of leafy greens with a few toppers to enhance the flavors and make them more delicious.
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You know how they tell you when you buy a fruit tree that it will take two years or so before it bears good fruit?
How about six? Yep, that’s how long it took our Kadota fig tree.
I’m happy to say that Fake Food Free has transitioned to the Substack Newsletter called Every Corner of the World.
I hope to see you there.
I bought it at Oakland Old Town farmers market. (Man, I miss that market.) Back at our rental house, it stayed in a pot. It went from leaves to no leaves to thinking it was dead to growing new leaves again over three years.
Then we bought our current house in the Central Valley and we finally got it into the ground. It took off. Branches, leaves, the whole bit.
But no fruit. Nothing. For three more years!
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I cook with broccoli a lot. But I can’t say it’s because I particularly like it. It’s more of my it’s-good-for-you sense prevailing. I don’t exactly dislike it. It’s not bottom of the barrel in terms of vegetables I can’t stand. No, broccoli just falls somewhere in the middle.
Unless we’re talking about broccoli salad. Then, oddly enough, things change.
I have no idea why. Maybe it’s akin to drowning raw vegetables in ranch dressing, but I’d like to think this has a few more nutrients than that combination.
When I make broccoli salad. I could eat the whole bowl. I love the classic, but over the years, I’ve come up with my own version. For example, crunchy bacon pieces are great in it, but I rarely feel like cooking bacon when I can throw together the salad in minutes otherwise.
So I’ve improvised to create a similar flavor without the work.
Continue Reading…This simple vegetarian side dish combines cauliflower and mushrooms with cilantro and lime! It’s also hearty enough to make it your meal.
Ugh. No riced cauliflower?!
That thought ran through my head at the supermarket this week. It’s pretty ridiculous if you think about it. Since riced cauliflower didn’t even exist even a few short years ago.
Between the time that it became popular and it became available in bags, I’d buy a whole head and send it through the food processor. Which is always a mess to clean up. Which is why I now buy it in bags.
But our supermarket can be hit or miss with it. So it was back to buying the whole head this time.
And I decided to chop it by hand instead of dirtying the food processor. Which is equally as messy, by the way.
I’ve been needing some new go-to vegetable side dishes, though. Something that could pass as a main course if I didn’t feel like making anything else to go with it.
These grilled baby yellow squash are topped with a savory crumble made of rich butter, smoked almonds, and fresh, local garlic!
I’m happy to say that Fake Food Free has transitioned to the Substack Newsletter called Every Corner of the World.
I hope to see you there.
I have a special produce shopping skill. I can spot baby vegetables on a table from the other side of the farmers market.
When this happens I briskly walk straight up to the table and buy every one they have. I’ve done it with eggplant. And this time, it’s baby squash.
I’ll admit I do sometimes feel guilty about not leaving any for others. The guilt snuck up on me again this shopping trip so I left about 4 on the table. In the end I didn’t succeed, though.
Last Wednesday, I sat down at my computer and saw the date. January 31.
No joke, my first thought was – I have to start using the oven more!
Let me explain why this is a perfectly logical thing to exclaim in your head when one lives in California’s Central Valley and sees that it is the end of January.
Basically, we are in spring right now. It’s pretty amazing. And it will only last a few more weeks. Soon we’ll blink and 100 F will be back. Once it does, we pretty much have to kiss the oven good-bye until October.
I’m not complaining, but I am preparing myself and trying to remember to take advantage of these cooler temps.
More foods that require baking must ensue.
I feel like Thanksgiving gets much more attention when it comes to a holiday meal.
Everyone is concerned about side dishes and how they should prepare the turkey, or should this be the year they don’t prepare a turkey at all.
Christmas and New Year’s dinner rarely seem to be discussed. Is this because traditions are already set and rarely change? Pasta, Seven Fishes, ham, and tamales come to mind. Or is it that these holidays are all about the cookies and cocktails?
Well, amidst all the baking this year, I decided to throw in a side dish. And if you are more in line with desserts this time of year, despite this being a vegetable, it could very well fall into that category.
I love Brussels sprouts. LOVE them.
Maybe you can tell since this is my second recipe in just a couple weeks. But sometimes there is a problem.
I love them so much that I forget that other people don’t. I have some news if you fall into that category.
You may actually like this salad.
Why do I think that?
A few years ago, I posted about a really great pumpkin dish I had when we were living in southern Brazil. Pumpkin is used there year round, and not solely associated with fall and the holidays as it is in the U.S. So I’d often find it on the lunch buffets, a popular business dining option during the week.
So this dish I speak of combined roasted pumpkin and Gorgonzola cheese. It was the best combination with the sweet pumpkin and pungent cheese.
I made it the same way that I could guess it was made there, but ever since that encounter I’ve envisioned a more exciting and luxurious version. Perhaps one with a different winter squash, fit for the holiday table.
I finally got around to acting on those visions this year.
It’s finally here! The day that I can say, “It’s fall,” and no one can tell me it’s not fall yet. I get a little snarky about the whole issue.
Fall is a frame of mind for me. It has to be.
We now live in place that stays pretty well hot until nearly the end of October. Fall is my favorite season. If I don’t celebrate fall despite the heat, well, I just might go a little crazy flipping through all those pictures of leaves, apples, pumpkins, sweaters, and boots in my social media feed.
So I make a mental commitment that fall starts on September 1.
That being said, wow, have we been having real deal fall weather this week! I woke to 55 F yesterday and rain! We’ll be back up in the 90s next week so I’ve been enjoying every second of it.
Running mid-morning, reading outside, and…turning on the oven!
