Beets! It's what's for dinner!

Am I the only one that reads things all the time and thinks, "OMG, that is totally me!"  I ran across this the other day and I couldn't help but think someone had crawled into my head before they drew this cartoon...

Lately I've been in the "overwhelmed and craving routine" category.  We are really busy and I have been working so hard to stay committed to eating healthy and homemade.  So, I have been cooking unprocessed meals that nobody in my house will eat.  There.  I said it.  I am on a streak of really crappy dinners.  And guess what?  I'm cranky about that.  Ask my kids, they'll tell ya....mama doesn't like when nobody will eat her dinners.

Both of these sounded wonderful and looked great when finished too.  But neither of them were blog-worthy.  In fact, the soup was practically inedible and the pizza was so "meh" that I wanted to cry.

The only new thing that has come out of my kitchen lately that is blog-worthy is a roasted beet salad that I made the other day.  

Roasted Beet Salad

• roasted beets 
• feta (or goat) cheese
• walnuts

1.  Roast your beets.  I follow this method.....

• 12 beets
• 3 tablespoons good olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, minced
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
• Juice of 1 large orange 

        1.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

        2.  Remove the tops and the roots of the beets and peel each one with a vegetable peeler. Cut the beets in 1 1/2-inch chunks. (Small beets can be halved, medium ones cut in quarters, and large beets cut in eighths.)

        3.  Place the cut beets on a baking sheet and toss with the olive oil, thyme leaves, salt, and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, turning once or twice with a spatula, until the beets are tender. Remove from the oven and immediately toss with the vinegar and orange juice. Sprinkle with salt and pepper warm.  

2.  Let your beets cool for 10-15 minutes.  If you're in a hurry, you can skip this step.

3.  Sprinkle your beets with cheese and walnuts.

Here's my beets, all sliced up and sprinkled with dried thyme.  I also put sprigs of fresh thyme on top.

Once cooked, I removed the fresh thyme and let them cool a bit before adding in cheese and walnuts.

This is a simple recipe that my family all enjoys.  Beets are a fantastic source of vitamins, and the roasted beets can be refrigerated and enjoyed cold the next day!   In fact, maybe you should make a double batch of these beets in case you have a dinner failure, you have a back up plan.  Beets!  It's whats for dinner!

Walmart Apples

I did a little experiment the other day.  I stopped by this little farmers stand where I have been getting my produce lately to buy some apples.  I was ecstatic to see that they had honey crisp apples, which are our favorites.  Our farmers stand just so happens to be located in the Walmart parking lot.  And it dawned on me that Walmart sells apples too.  So, I ran inside Walmart to purchase a honey crisp apple.  And, I am sad to say, I did not have any people of Walmart moments on that trip, unlike the last time I was at Walmart and the check out girl showed me her hysterectomy scar.

I took the apples home and compared the two.  I was pretty shocked at what I saw.

(organic on the left, Walmart on the right)

(Organic on top, Walmart on the bottom).

My first thought when I compared these two is "what the heck is Sam Walton putting on his apples?"  Now, we all know that apples are on the top of the dirty dozen list because they contain the highest level of pesticides found in produce.  And guess what?  The apples are then dipped in wax to preserve their freshness...essentially, sealing in all those pesticides.  

Buy organic apples.  

Now this would be the perfect time to share my favorite apple recipe with you.  If I had a favorite apple recipe.  We eat ours straight up, so I don't have an apple recipe to share!

I'll make it up to you and share a recipe that contains my mini's two favorite foods, asparagus and bacon.  

Bacon Wrapped Carmalized Sesame Asparagus

• 1 bunch of asparagus, about 20-25 spears, stems removed
• 4 slices thick-cut bacon
• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 garlic clove, minced or pressed
• 1/2 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place a wire rack on top. Spray the rack with nonstick spray. 

2.  In a small bowl, whisk together oils, brown sugar and garlic. Set aside.

3.  Bunch together 5-6 asparagus spears and tightly wrap a piece of bacon around the bundle. 

4.  Place on the wire rack seam-side down and repeat. Using a pastry brush, a spoon or even your hands (I did this…), brush the spears thoroughly with the oil/sugar mixture. Give each bundle a hefty sprinkle of sesame seeds. Roast for 35-40 minutes, or until bacon is crispy. Serve warm.

(I also read an adaptation on Pinterest that you can marinate the spears in italian dressing, wrap in bacon, and then bake).

Wrapped up and ready to bake.

 Finished baking and ready to be enjoyed.

These were delish.  We all loved them.  One of us preferred the bacon over the asparagus spears.  I won't name names, but it's the mini McGhee that wears pigtails and all things sparkly.

Autumn Meal

This weekend was gorgeous.  In fact, this was such a perfect weekend that autumn may be replacing summer as my favorite season.  Here's a few snapshots to show you why.....

Picture overload.  I know, sorry!  But, when your 9 year old mini tells you many times throughout the day that this is "the best day of my life", you want to document that day properly.  And I'm a blogger, so this is how I document things.  And I also encourage everyone to set aside a day and spend it outdoors  with your family.  The exercise (6 miles!), the fresh air, the unplugged-ness, the adventure....it's incredible!

And of course, you will be HUNGRY afterwards!  And naturally, the only meal suitable for the McGhees was a bowl of warm chili.  We had our chili with grilled cheese (colby-jack on Great Harvest honey wheat bread) and served with a side of sweet potatoes.

• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2-3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, finely grated
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• Salt and Pepper to taste

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees and position oven rack to middle position. Line the bottom of a large baking sheet with aluminum foil.

2.  In a medium sized bowl, place the prepared, cubed sweet potatoes, garlic, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, dried thyme. Distribute the ingredients evenly to cover the sweet potatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer the sweet potato mixture to the prepared baking sheet and spread out the potatoes so that they are in a single layer.

3.  Roast in oven for about 40 minutes -OR- until the sweet potatoes can be easily pierced with a sharp knife. Set the oven to broil and broil until the tops of the sweet potatoes start to brown, about 8-10 minutes (keep an eye on the potatoes when broiling, as your time may differ and you want to take care not to burn them).

Cut up your potatoes.

Season your potatoes.

Arrange on a baking sheet in a single layer.

Bake until soft and then broil until browned.

These were delish.  Seriously, seriously tasty.  Everyone in my family loved them.  Everyone except for my middle mini, who hates sweet potatoes.  However, he did mange to eat his portion of sweet potatoes by pretending his was spiderman and using his web-powers to shoot the potatoes directly into his stomach.  And I kind of believe that he could be spiderman....

.....and in case you were wondering, he landed on his feet......

Grilled Artichoke. Seriously! Grilled artichoke!

Yesterday I left you with a bit of a cliff hanger regarding this picture....  

So, I've got to know.  Did you lose sleep or do you have no clue what I am talking about?  If not, read yesterday's blog post.  Grilled leeks will change your life.  For the better, of course.

And that mystery vegetable that is boiling with the leeks is artichoke.  And you can grill artichoke too.  Incredible, isn't it?  Goose-bump worthy.

Here's how you do it.

Grilled Artichoke

• artichoke (I only did one, major mistake, I should have done 5).
• olive oil
• garlic, minced
• fresh grated parmesan and romano cheese  
• sea salt

1.  Cut the artichoke into 4 quarters.  (Is that redundant?  4 quarters?  I could have just said quarters, right?)
2.  Boil until tender, about 10 minutes.
3.  If you're smart, let them cool completely.  Once cooled, remove the choke (inner part) and any hard, prickly outer leaves.
4.  Drizzle with olive oil.  
5.  Stuff grated cheeses and minced garlic in between the leaves (this step is important, it's messy, but very important!)
6.  Sprinkle with sea salt.
7.  Grill each side, about 5 minutes, until cheese is brown and crusty.

Here's your artichoke.

Cut it in half.  Then cut each half in half.  That way you will have quarters.

Boil for about 10 minutes, until tender.

Pull out the choke and any prickly leaves.

Drizzle with oil.

Sprinkle with cheese and garlic.  Make sure you get in between the leaves with the cheese and garlic.

Toss these babies on the grill.  Laugh at the neighbor when he teases you to step away from the grill.  Pity the families that think only men can grill.

After cheese is brown and crispy, these are ready to eat.  

These are delish.  They got 2 thumbs up from Mr. McGhee and the minis.  If you want to be amazing like me, serve them with the grilled leeks and my new favorite chicken dish (details coming soon......)

Record Setting Veggies

Most of you probably know that I am an novice accomplished gardener.   And I always thought that I wanted to start gardening with the hopes of becoming a farmer.  But, after my first summer of gardening I realized that my true destiny is competition gardening.

That's right.  I am about to join the ranks of these guys.

Depending on how well you know me, you may or may not be surprised by my rapid ascent from novice to competition.  But, as they say, the proof is in the pudding.  Well, actually, in the zucchini, in this case.

With literally no special effort, I managed to grow this ginormous zucchini.  Impressive, eh?  I used the first half and made a batch of grilled veggies for grilled veggie sandwiches.  And then tonight, we made zucchini chips for dinner.  What are zucchini chips, you say?  Remember kale chips?  Remember broccoli chips?  Remember brussel sprout chips?  Remember sweet potato chips?

If you haven't realized it, Heids McGhee likes to coat veggies in oil and cook them at a high temperature and call them "chips"!  And if you actually try my recipes, you'll realize that all these veggie chips are pretty darn delish!

Zucchini Chips

• zucchini, sliced thin
• oil (I used part olive, part canola)
• seasoning salt (or sea salt, I used a combination of the two)

1.  Preheat oven to 350F.  (I got impatient and cranked it up to 400F after 10 minutes).

2.  Slice the zucchini very thin.

3.  Toss with olive oil until zucchini is coated.

4.  Sprinkle with salt. 

5.  Arrange slices on a tin-foil lined cooking sheet.

6.  Bake until brown and crispy....probably about 15-25 minutes.

Slice your zucchini thin.

I just wanted to show you again how big this zucchini is.  Surely, she'd bring home a blue ribbon from the County Fair.

Arrange on a sheet.  Season with salt.

Cook until crispy.

Delish.  Even my tiny mini loved them.

Now, I've started thinking....what other award-winning veggie should I grow and use to make chips?