With autumn upon us, our seasonal menu has already begun to change. At farmers markets in most areas of the country you can see the abundance of the Fall season. Hearty root vegetables are everywhere and can offer your body an array of healing benefits as prepare for the winter months ahead. The roots of any plant are its foundation; roots support and nourish the plant. Root vegetables offer you these same properties, making you feel grounded both emotionally and physically and increasing your stamina and endurance. Roots are a source of nutritious complex carbohydrates, providing long lasting energy and helping to regulate your blood sugar levels. Root vegetables also help us to absorb and assimilate the nutrients we eat, just as they absorb and assimilate vital nutrients for plants.
Long roots include carrots, parsnips, burdock and daikon radish. Some of these are excellent blood purifiers and can help improve circulation in the body and increase mental clarity. Round roots include turnips, radishes, beets and rutabagas. Round roots are nourishing to the stomach, spleen, pancreas and reproductive organs and can help regulate blood sugar, moods, and alleviate cravings.
Read more for a delicious Meatless Monday Vegan Roasted Root Vegetable recipe.
By Lisa Kivirist •
September 24, 2009
Apple harvest time arrives at the best and worst time on our Wisconsin farm and B&B, Inn Serendipity. As four bushels of apples sit on my front porch, I’m reminded of all those right reasons: the crisp flavor of fresh apples, appreciation of the harvest bounty and the tempting aroma of a pie baking in the oven.
Apple pies baking in the oven. That’s where I remember the “worst of time” mantra: apple season, like everything else on the farm this time of year, arrives during that crazy-busy, over-abundant time of year called “fall.” The final bounty of garden booty needs harvesting, along with a mile-long laundry list of farm chores that need wrapping up before the winter winds start to blow. Not ideal timing to be in the kitchen rolling piecrust. Actually, I can’t even see my counter top to roll a crust this time of year, as it is overloaded with tomatoes, zucchini and everything else in need of processing.
But don’t think this chaos of fall causes me to give up on pie making. The secret? Simplify the process. Our Inn Serendipity house favorite from our Edible Earth cookbook, Oat Apple Pie, serves up a good example of super simple pie making, as it doesn’t call for a rolled piecrust. Rather, the crust is pressed oatmeal dough, kind of like apples wrapped in a big, chewy oatmeal cookie. By rethinking the traditional pie model, you now have both cookies and pie wafting from the oven. Priceless.
Here’s the recipe, made from basic ingredients you probably have in your pantry right now. I easily adapt this for vegan B&B guests by substituting vegan margarine for the butter. This is also a great recipe for beginning pie-makers (and folks like myself with produce piling up on the counter) as there is no rolled crust.
By Derek Markham •
October 24, 2008
Sweet potatoes are not just for Thanksgiving dinner, and with this fall harvest recipe, you can eat your vegetables for dessert!
When the weather gets chilly and the leaves start to fall, a home-baked pie really hits the spot. Served with some spiced cider or a cup of dark roast coffee, a piece of sweet potato pie hot out of the oven is a little slice of heaven.
Sweet potatoes are rich in beta carotene (vitamin A), fiber, and complex carbohydrates, with plenty of vitamin C, manganese, and potassium. They are said to be beneficial for diabetics in stabilizing blood sugar levels and lowering insulin resistance, and have a low to medium glycemic index.
Plus, sweet potatoes taste simply phenomenal!
By Derek Markham •
October 13, 2008
One of the fall harvest’s most overlooked and under appreciated vegetables is the tumshie.
I mean the neep.
Umm… the snadgie?
The swede?
A cross between a turnip and a cabbage, this root was carved into a jack-o-lantern for Samhain…
It’s high in vitamin C, beta carotene, potassium and magnesium…
There’s an international curling championship with this vegetable in Ithaca, NY…
You can store them in the fridge for a month, maybe longer…
Guessed yet?
You’re right, it’s the humble yet magnificent rutabaga!
With autumn upon us, our seasonal menu has already begun to change. At farmers markets in most areas of the country you can see the abundance of the Fall season. Hearty root vegetables are everywhere and can offer your body an array of healing benefits as prepare for the winter months ahead. The roots of any plant are its foundation; roots support and nourish the plant. Root vegetables offer you these same properties, making you feel grounded both emotionally and physically and increasing your stamina and endurance. Roots are a source of nutritious complex carbohydrates, providing long lasting energy and helping to regulate your blood sugar levels. Root vegetables also help us to absorb and assimilate the nutrients we eat, just as they absorb and assimilate vital nutrients for plants.
