beet & carrot chips with sage crisps

the other day I spent my day off walking around the farmers market, sipping on warm apple cider (they had already run out of doughnuts…shame) and marveling at all the beautiful fall vegetables that adorned every stand. 

beets and carrots are still out in full swing, and I decided to grab a few of each to make a little homemade, healthy snack-food.  beets & carrots are wonderful because they’re both so naturally sweet, so they are a great choice for satiating a sweet craving.  beets help promote circulation, aid the liver, and help alleviate constipation.  carrots also promote elimination, as well as lowering blood sugar and acting as a tonic to the kidneys.  both carrots & beets help to purify the blood.

these beet & carrot chips are a great alternative to store bought chips – although they will not get nearly as crispy, they are still great!  they also have a nice autumny feel because of the sage, which turns deliciously crispy in the oven.  try them out with any excess veggies you might have from your CSA box this week, or go to your local farmers market, grab your ingredients, and get into your kitchen!

beet & carrot chips with sage crisps

2 large beets

2 large carrots

10 medium-large sage leaves + 2 sage sprigs

2 cloves garlic, skin on

extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons salt

 

Preheat oven to 375 and thoroughly oil a baking sheet – make sure it’s completely oiled or the beets & carrots will stick.  Bring a medium pot of water to boil.

Peel beets and carrots – careful, beets will stain!  Slice beets width-wise and carrots length wise into ¼” slices.  If carrots are long, you can slice them in half lengthwise as well.

Chiffonade sage, meaning slice sage lengthwise into very thin strips.

Once water is boiling, par-boil the veggies for 3 minutes.  Remove from water and toss in enough olive oil to coat them thoroughly.  Add salt & sage and mix well.  Lay out on the baking sheet in one row, making sure not to overlap the veggies or they will cook unevenly.  Lay out sage sprigs & garlic cloves over them. 

Cook for 25-30 minutes, flipping once midway through.  Allow to cool on a cooling rack.  If desired, add more salt to taste once they’re out of the oven.

Sweet Alternatives: Salad Dressing & Sweetened Nuts

For anyone looking to healthify their life, there is one essential change which must be made: eliminate white sugar from your diet…altogether.  This can be hard, because white sugar is hidden in sweet and savory foods alike, often so much so that it is one of the first ingredients. 

White sugar (and brown sugar too, since it’s almost just as processed) is truly detrimental to your health. While naturally found sugar contains many healthful vitamins & minerals, the refining & bleaching process in sugar strips them all away.  However, your body needs them to metabolize the sugar, so it ends up stealing minerals from other parts in the body, like your bones & teeth.  When they say sugar rots your teeth, they mean it.

White sugar is also highly concentrated, which causes a peak & drop in blood sugar.  As you consume sugar your body begins to break it down and it gets in your blood stream – but you can only metabolize so much of it at a time.  When you’ve metabolized as much as you can, your blood sugar plummets, and whatever hasn’t been metabolized gets stored as fat.

Not scared yet?  White sugar interferes can increase the risk of coronary heart disease, suppresses the immune system, can contribute to eczema in kids, can affect the body’s mineral balance, promotes weight gain & obesity….I could go on and on and on. 

Why not try sweeten up a different way?  The two alternatives I use the most (besides raw honey & pure maple syrup, which I use as well) are sucanat and agave.  Sucanat (also called Rapadura) is like an unrefined brown sugar, and has 80% sucrose as compared to the 99.9% sucrose in white sugar.  Sucanat has a slighty earthier taste and does not dissolve as well, but I use it as a substitute in everything from coffee to chocolate chip cookies.  Another great alternative sweetener is agave nectar, which is concentrated cactus juice.  Agave has a low glycemic index and therefore hits the blood stream slower than other sweeteners, so the pancreas reacts with less panic.  It has a very sweet but neutral flavor, so you can add just a bit of it to whatever you’re making and it won’t alter the flavor profile. 

Below are two simple recipes which use agave as the sweetener – a Sweet Green Dressing & Agave Sweetened Nuts.  Get some fresh greens from your local farmers market and enjoy a sweet & healthy salad sprinkled with sweet-savory nuts & homemade dressing!  Your body will thank you for setting aside the white sugar.

Sweet Green Dressing

yields ¾ cup

 

3 teaspoons chopped mint

2 teaspoons chopped parsley

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon champagne vinegar

1 tablespoon agave

¼ cup water

½ teaspoon lemon juice

½ teaspoon salt

Add all ingredients to a blender or immersion blender.  Mix well, until smooth and creamy, adding more water if necessary.  Store in fridge for up to a week.

 

Agave Sweetened Nuts

1 cup roasted, unsalted nuts – pistachios or cashews work well

1 ½ teaspoon agave

½ teaspoon salt

pinch cayenne

 

Preheat oven to 375. 

Roughly chop nuts and mix well with remaining ingredients.  Spread out on a pan and bake for 5 minutes, stirring once so as not to burn.

Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes in the pan, allowing nuts to harden as they cool.  Sprinkle over salad or yogurt, or eat plain as a snack.

 

Curried Squash Soup with Apples (& Veggie Stock!)

Fall has officially arrived!!  For me that means lots of warm soups and filling the house with baby pumpkins and dried Indian corn. 

Last week while celebrating Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) at my parents house in Michigan, I got to cook with some farm fresh autumnal ingredients, straight out of their CSA box and my mom’s garden.   Being the beginning of fall, there was a ton of squash and also some carrots, so we decided to make a creamed squash soup.  Because it’s traditional to eat apples and honey in honor of a sweet new year, we kicked up this recipe a bit by adding apples to the soup itself, and also using them for the garnish. 

Winter squash, like the ones I used in this recipe, are great to eat as the weather cools down because of their warming qualities.  They’re said to be medicinal for stomach problems and helpful in improving energy circulation.  Winter squash and carrots are some of the vegetables highest in carotenoids, the fat-soluble pigments found in many red, orange and yellow foods.  Carotenoids are a great source of vitamin A and they act as natural anticarcinogenics & antioxidants (meaning they help fight off harmful free radicals in the body and protect cells and tissues).

Below are two recipes – one for the carrot & squash apple curry soup, and another for a plain veggie stock.  To those who are celebrating Rosh Hashana, have a happy & sweet new year!

Curried Squash Soup with Apples

serves 10-12 people

 

4 small carrots

2 butternut squash (save the seeds for roasting!)

1 delicata squash

1 teaspoon turmeric

½ teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon coriander

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 small onion

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 small potato, medium dice

1 cup finely diced apple

1 tablespoon + 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons ginger juice, or more to taste

7 cups vegetable stock (recipe below)

2 teaspoons sea salt or more to taste

 

1 honeycrisp apple, for garnish

 

1.  Preheat oven to 400.  Rough chop carrots & squash (removing squash skin), and toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil, ¼ teaspoon turmeric, ¼ teaspoon cumin and ¼ teaspoon coriander.  Spread squash & carrots on a baking sheet and roast for 30 minutes or until gently browned. 

2.  In a large saucepan, add remaining olive oil and turn heat to medium.  When oil is hot, add onions and sauté for 5 minutes, adding garlic midway through & stirring frequently so as not to brown.  Add roasted veggies, potatoes, apples, stock and remaining spices, and bring to a boil.

3.  Turn heat down to a simmer and cook partially covered for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until all veggies are soft.   Set aside a cup or two of the cooking liquid.  Using a blender or immersion blender (I like to wait for the soup to cool a bit if using a regular blender), completely blend the soup until thick and creamy.  At this point, feel free to add back the reserved cooking liquid, as well as any extra stock as needed for desired consistency.  (The soup should be thick enough that it coats the back of the spoon when lifted up, but should pour smoothly from the spoon, not in chunks.)

4.  Once thoroughly blended, place soup back on low heat.  Grate a piece of ginger about 2” long, gathering all of the liquid and pulp that is released.  Squeeze the pulp over the soup until you have released all of the ginger juice.  Continue as needed to taste.  If you want a stronger apple flavor you can do the same with an apple. Add salt and stir well.  

5.  If you have time, let the soup sit off the heat for 2 hours or so to allow flavors to strengthen.

5.  Slice apple into ¼” rounds and cut into small dices.  These are only for garnish so it’s most important that the sizes are consistent.  Place about a tablespoon of apple dices in the center of each bowl of soup.

 

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Veggie Stock

yields 5 quarts

 

1 tablespoon olive oil + 1 tablsepoon olive oil

2 pieces parsnip with leaves

1 potato

1 leek

3 carrots

2 pieces celery

½ large onion

3 cloves garlic

celery leaves

 

1.  Preheat oven to 400.  Rough chop all veggies except onion & garlic into approximately 1” pieces.  Toss in olive oil and roast for 30 minutes.

2.  Cut onion into medium dice, peel garlic & chop in half.  Heat a large saucepan on medium, adding remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil.  Add onions and garlic, stir frequently so as not to brown.  Add vegetables and 5 quarts of water.  Bring to a boil, turn heat down and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour.

3.  Strain stock completely, squeezing veggies tightly to extract as much liquid as possible.  Add salt to taste, if desired.  Discard veggies.  Stock will hold 4-5 days in the fridge, or can be kept frozen for several months.