Turnip Gratin Two Ways

It seems that turnips are in season since I have had an overabundance of them.  I have never really had many turnips in my life so when I googled turnips a lot of Gratin recipes showed up.  This is the first one I tried

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/11/turnip-gratin/

Since rutabagas are also in season, I mixed some of those in.  Unfortunately, the recipe didn't quite work out the way she says it does.  Twenty minutes was not long enough to cook all the vegetables.  I think they ended up being in close to an hour and still needed more time.

The dish is pretty but was not our favorite.  In addition to some overly crunchy veggies, we agreed we aren't really crazy about rutabagas.

Attempt number two.  This one came from a Greenling email.

Turnip & Blue Cheese Gratin

Any root vegetable can be used, this is a great "clean the fridge" recipe!

Ingredients

• 2 cloves of garlic, smashed
• 3/4 cup half and half
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 large leek or sping onions- cleaned, and cut into 1/4 inch thick rounds
• 2 large turnips, peeled and sliced
• 1 cup cubed butternut squash
• 4 large mushrooms, sliced
• 2 large carrots, sliced
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
• 1/4 cup shredded Gruyere cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Butter a 2 quart casserole dish, rub with one of the garlic cloves, and sprinkle with a little salt. Set aside.

Heat the half-and-half in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the thyme, bay leaf and both garlic cloves. Remove from the heat just before it boils.
Place the leek, turnip, squash, mushrooms and carrots into a large saucepan and fill with about 1 inch of water. Bring to a boil, cover and steam over medium heat for about 5 minutes. 

Drain and layer vegetables into the prepared casserole dish. Sprinkle rosemary in between the layers. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle blue cheese and Gruyere cheese over the top. Strain the half-and-half and pour into the casserole.

Bake, uncovered, in the preheated oven until vegetables are tender and sauce is thick, about 40 minutes. Uncover for the last 20 minutes to allow the top to brown.

For starters, my first attempt at this meal ended me in the emergency room with a nice slice in my finger nail from the mandolin.  Second attempt, I cubed all the veggies instead of slicing them.  For future reference, it turned out just fine.  The veggies that I chose to use were turnips, potatoes and sweet potatoes.  Just for the fun of it, I topped it with cooked bacon.  You should do that too.  This one was much better than the first and would do it again.

Frozen Grapefruit

Greenling has been giving me quite a bit of grapefruit lately.  I am not a particular fan of grapefruit by itself.  On occasion I can put some Agave and cinnamon on it and enjoy, but that doesn't happen very often.  My solution to this problem was to peel and cube the grapefruit then freeze it.

I ended up with little grapefruit ice cubes.  In the morning when I make a smoothie for breakfast I would just toss one block in.  That way I get a little extra vitamin C but don't have to be overwhelmed with tartness.

Fishy Dinner

What do you feed a guy that has agreed to mostly do Paleo for a month?

It turns out you feed him meat and veggies.  In this situation it was Fish, Carrots and Brussels Sprouts.

The fish was covered in pesto and then baked at 350 for roughly 10 minutes.  For the Brussels, I browned some bacon the cooked the halved Brussels in the drippings on medium high heat to get them crispy on the outside.  Of course, toss the bacon back in before serving.  Carrots were put in a skillet with 3 tablespoons of  water then covered and steamed for ten minutes.  When the carrots are as soft as you like (I prefer mine still a little crunchy) take the lid off to cook off any water that is left and then toss in two pats of butter.  Add some salt to taste and if you like them a bit sweet toss in a tablespoon of maple syrup before serving.

The dinner was great and for the guy that doesn't like fish it was a success.

Cucumber Radish Salad

I learned a valuable lesson with this recipe.  Rosemary does not belong in a cucumber salad.  Just don't do it.

The cucumber, radishes and rosemary came from Greenling.  I sliced the cucumber and radishes with my mandolin to get them thin and uniform, but a normal knife will work just fine.  Mix up with yogurt, sour cream salt and pepper.  Adjust the proportions depending on how creamy you like it. Start with a spoonful of each and add more if you want more sauce.

This fed me for almost an entire week.

Dinner Salad

Nothing line having a large salad for dinner on a Sunday night.  Steven has been doing a mostly Paleo thing for the month so we have been eating lots of veggies and meats.  This particular salad is quite a bit of baby spinach mixed with green leaf lettuce.  Then topped with two hard boiled eggs that were diced, 4 mushrooms sliced, 5 strips of cooked bacon crumbled and blue cheese crumbles.  The dressing was some sour cream that was thinned with heavy cream and just a bit of adobo sauce for some spice.  It made for a nice dinner indeed.

March 2012 Fitness

Spring is arriving and it makes working out so much more enjoyable.  I have been getting out and walking/jogging most days this week and it has been awesome.  In February I was able to work out 10 times which is way better than January.

Body Rock Stats
Squat Jump - 24
Pushup - 18
Burpee - 8
High Knees - 128
Switch Lunge - 12
Tuck Jump - 12
Straight Abs - 21

March here we come...

Sausage, Kale Kabocha Squash Pasta

What to do when you have Kale and Kabocha squash on hand?  Make pasta of course.

Roast the squash at 350, face down in a pan with some water until they are done.  Don't be like me and be impatient, it takes time.  Squash is not as delicious when it is under done.

Cook sausage and green onion in a skillet.

Toss washed and chopped Kale on top.  Cook until wilted.

Add in cubed, cooked squash.  Please not my squash was under done and a bit crunchy.  Don't be like me.

Toss it all with some pasta and some cream cheese for a simple, cheesy sauce.

Top with parmesan and enjoy.  Perhaps some red pepper flakes if you are feeling adventurous.