Green Options » rutabaga

Know Your Roots: Recipe to Roast your Rutabagas and Other Fall Veggies

Lisa Kivirist — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:17:00 +0000

I confess: rutabagas overwhelm me. Turnips come in a close second. As these hefty big root crops pile up on the counter here at Inn Serendipity, I realize I need an easy cooking plan.

Fall crops – from butternuts to beets – require taking out the big sharp knives, the cutting boards, and usually can’t go from garden to plate in ten minutes or less. (Case in point: the yummy, yet rather complex, Beet Burger recipe I wrote about last week). But there’s a reason for that: these types of fall vegetables are meant to store and be savored through the winter months, particularly here in through our Wisconsin winters. Tougher skins and harder insides hold up to seasonal and local eating booty through our lean Midwest growing months, providing the opportunity to still eat fresh year round.

Consider this Roasted Root Vegetable recipe my point of entry into the winter cooking season. Cooked in olive oil with some simple seasonings, this recipe showcases the distinct, hearty flavors of root vegetables. Potato recipes get temporarily bumped off the breakfast plate at Inn Serendipity this time of year as this flavorful, unusual recipe prompts folks to rethink their assumptions about rutabagas and other roots.

Roasted Root Vegetables (Vegan)

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Five Tips from a Farmers’ Market Manager on Shopping the Final Market

Lisa Kivirist — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:09:42 +0000

The sustainability mantra may be “less is more,” but there’s one exception when buying more makes green sense: shopping the last farmers markets. If you’re not gardening and growing your own produce, your local farmers market serves as your easy connection to one-stop local fare shopping.

But as frosts linger and the cold winds start to blow, don’t punt and think your fresh local bounty will disappear till spring. With a little strategic shopping and planning, you can preserve a local meal focus all winter long by taking advantage of those last farmer’s markets.

Here’s another perk of eating local year round: you’re supporting the economic health of your community. Just ask Cindy Torres, manager of the Longmont Farmers Market outside Boulder, Colorado, and an IATP Food and Society Fellow. Passionate about using local food systems as a healthy economic development tool, Torres co-founded the Boulder County Food and Agriculture Policy Council to look at how her area can increase the local food supply to enhance the lives of community residents of all economic backgrounds.

“With a little bit of planning and preparation, we can readily eat local till the spring markets start up again,” explains Torres. Here are her favorite five tips:

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Seasonal Foods: 5 Best Winter Vegetables

Jessica Mordo — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 22:05:08 +0000

Winter veggies usually get short shrift, but there are many reasons to savor them. They add loads of vitamins and nutrients to our diets, do wonders for our immunity, and are wonderfully versatile. Plus, eating seasonally is eating green: as it takes us back to the old days of eating only the freshest available products, it’s a more sustainable eating model and it’s better for reducing our carbon footprints.

Here’s my guide to making the most of these five fabulous winter veggies:

1. Play Squash

I actually look forward to winter just for its squash varieties. Acorn, banana, butternut, spaghetti, delicata, hubbard, sweet dumpling, buttercup, and turban squashes—not to mention pumpkin—add a colorful and sweet accent to your plate. Plus, they are among the healthiest types of complex carbohydrates (the best kind of carbs), with high fiber, vitamin A, and vitamin C content. Roast ‘em, mash ‘em, or slow cook ‘em into a heaping bowl of soupy goodness for the perfect warm winter meal.

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Fall Harvest Recipe: Neep, Snadgie or Swede?

Derek Markham — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 04:36:04 +0000

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!

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