Kohlrabi Latkes. Trust Me.

Ever seen one of these beauts?

It's okay, I hadn't either, until my brilliant CSA farmer gave them to me. It's called kohlrabi, which means "German turnip," although it's in the cabbage family. I first tried slicing and eating these raw on a salad. Really not a fan. But I think we've discussed here how much guilt I carry about wasting food. I'm also a touch on the competitive side, so the idea of being beaten by a vegetable just doesn't suit.

Now, there's an added challenge here: my sweet boy has a tendency to distrust vegetables. Something about an apple pie that was actually zucchini... I don't know. It's his emotional food baggage, I respect that. But I also need some help eatin' all these dang vegetables.

Well if there's 2 things I love, it's hanging out with people in my kitchen and promptly feeding them. So when our dear friends Nick and Kara returned from a long vacation recently, I was way too excited to have them over to play Medford's Test Kitchen. Luckily for me, Nick will eat anything and Kara is way too polite to ever tell me no. Ever. So together we tested an idea I had for using up these kohlrabi: kohlrabi latkes. We ate, critiqued, and tried again. Here is what we came up with:

Peel and grate these.

Finely chop this.

Do this to those. (You may want to squeeze them out with a couple of paper towels. If you don't get enough water out, you'll have soggy latkes. Gross.)

Crack these into a bowl with the grated business, plus a handful or two of breadcrumbs. (Or try Jessi's fab trick of making your own oat flour!)

Add these to the taste of your liking.

Do this in that. (I used canola oil. I use olive oil for everything, but I was frying these at medium-high, so I didn't want the oil to burn. Pick your favorite oil. Then tell me how much you love it!) Try 3-4 minutes on each side.

This made about 12 little pancakes, which was sufficient for two dinners for 2 people. I ate mine with soy sauce the first time we made them. This time I used sour cream and some Trader Jose's turkey chili.

Holler!

the meal that made me a vegan.

hunkle josh eating a bodacious bacon beef burger.

it gives people the crazy eyes.

For the past few years, I knew it was coming.

I even told Nick sometimes, told my friends - "I think I'll eventually be a vegan."

Why? Who knows, it just seemed like something lingering inside.

I guess because I'm a little bit of an extremist and to me, the extreme of clean eating seems to be veganism. But maybe not even, because maybe the extreme is raw foodism. But come on, I REALLY like my veggies cooked. In the back of my head, the idea of meat and dairy lingering in my small intestine has just bothered me a little. I know that a good grass-fed burger is entirely good for your soul and not so bad for your body. A yummy organic greek (homemade, even!) yogurt parfait makes me smile to think about. It's all good, all permissible, and I think even beneficial for us. And yet still, somewhere in the back of my head - I knew this was coming.

I was sort of playing around with it as it was. Though it sounds stupid and obnoxious to say, I already considered myself a ovo-flexitarian-who-didn't-eat-dairy. I eat eggs and occasionally eat meat, but don't eat dairy because of an allergy. Unless you're talking about frozen yogurt, and then I'm willing to make myself silk to ingest that stuff. So I wavered. Until this meal.


A simple black bean burger. Roasted Veggies. Staple salad.

But it was so good. So good. So good I groaned a few times.

I'd made bacon-beef-bodaciously-awesome burgers for the rest of the crew, and I wasn't even jeal. Cause come on, look at that BEAN BURGER.

I took about three bites and thought this is the meal that will make me a vegan.

Because if I can eat this and be fully satisfied, I have no business eating meat or dairy.

But here are some more solid reasons for those of you who haven't

tasted a black bean burger than changed your life:

- The "cheating" or unclean eating I do, is always meat or dairy. So being official about stopping consuming them will hopefully only clean up my diet further.

- I'm hoping it will make me more creative with fruits and vegetables in the kitchen.

- A good experiment makes me excited about life.

- Did I mention I like extremes?

- Because in all honesty, there is a big part of me that hopes if I keep running, eating clean, and doing yoga - I'll feel better when I'm thirty than I do at 26. And maybe I'll feel better at 36 than I do at 26. And if not eating dairy or meat helps that, I'm on board.

So, I'm giving it a try. Maybe for a week. Maybe forever.

Are you a vegan? Ever thought about it? Think it's stupid?

I'll be your guinea pig. I'll let you know if I feel better after a week or after two days or if it really stinks and if it's actually just impossible to give up fried eggs, bacon, and goat cheese.

While we're on that subject though, here is the list of foods I already miss:

- eggs

- goat cheese

- bacon

Hm. we'll see how this goes.

cooking as therapy

Tonight I just needed cook. Not assemble some fruits and vegetable. Cook.
It took all afternoon, it meant skipping my run, and I may have had to ask my kids to leave the room once or twice. But it was worth it.
It was like $300 worth of therapy.
To cook. Here's the recipe (if you can call it that) for some turkey meatloaf & parsnip fries.

it started with some parsnips. I'll tell you the truth - I don't hate parsnip fries, I love them in fact. But prepping those bad boys is annoying.

Started 1.5 cups of red onion, several chopped cloves of garlic, and some olive oil doing nice things in the skillet.

Added some mushrooms.

A few tablespoons of worchestshire, your favorite hfcs-free ketchup, rosemary, parsley, salt, and pepper. Let all that goodness get you good & hungry. And let it reduce for a few minutes.

While your hunger increases and your veggies reduce, pulse 1 cup of oatmeal to make oat flour - or go grab some handy bread crumbs.

I prefer the oat flour, because come on - how nutritional does that look? Very is the answer you're looking for.

To the oat flour, add 1/3 cup milk (or almond milk or coconut milk if you want to be REALLY fun). Let that mixture sit for a few minutes, then add 1 egg and 1 egg white.

Add veggie mixture, 1.25 lbs ground turkey (or beef! or chicken! or tofu!!!).

Spoon into oiled baking dish.

Cover with two or three tablespoons of ketchup and sprinkle with rosemary.

Remember those obnoxiously-hard-to-prepare-but-super-delicious parsnip fries? Toss those in olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper, & rosemary.

Set your oven for 400 degrees. Put the meatloaf in for 50 minutes, and the last 20 - give them some company with the parsnip fries.

Enjoy. More specifically, even though you're intending to go on a run and eat some salad later, skip your run - sit down with your family and have yourself two helpings of that turkey meatloaf. And smile.

Healthy Comfort Food

No, that's not an oxymoron. I promise.

Sometimes you just need a little comfort food. You know that feeling: all you want is carbs, carbs, carbs. Tell me I'm not alone in this one (and don't you dare tell me if I am). Last Thursday, as I unpacked our veggies from our CSA share and processed those that I wanted to store for fall and winter, I thought about the ones I couldn't save. Leaves, for example, don't store quite as well as firmer fruits and vegetables like squash and zucchini. Here's how I basically tackled several foods that were going out of style like, well, like it's going out of style, but still satisfied my need for comfort.

A few pounds of potatoes, cut into similar sized pieces (to ensure even cooking), boiled in salty water.

1 red pepper and 1 red onion, diced, sauteed in olive oil and...

a pinch of cayenne and a pinch of red pepper flakes.

1 small head of cabbage, more or less shredded, added to the saute pan...

with about 1/3 cup of salsa.

Once the potatoes are cooked through, add them to the pan and let that saute until the cabbage has softened.

Be advised: If you do not saute that cabbage enough, it will be bitter. Like your ex-'s new lovah is way hotter than you are bitter. Cook it well!

Top with sour cream and guacamole and enjoy.

Tuna Burgers!

I adore tuna. Cooked, raw, whateva. And now, burgers. This recipe was inspired by the one and only Karen Lambe. She's a real peach.

(In the future, I would add a little more onion. The flavor here was a bit mild, so it needs a little punch--what do you think?)

• 2 frozen tuna steaks, thawed, diced as finely as you can (A food processor would help here. I keep trying to win fancy appliances over there from P-Dub, but so far, no luck.)

• 1 or 2 green onions (fresh from Luna Farm, of course), sliced thinly

• 1 handful of sesame seeds

• a couple of handfuls of bread crumbs, 1 egg, salt and pepper

• Use your hands! Mash it up and make yourself some patties! I made three, but could have easily made 4. Or 6 sliders! Who doesn't love sliders?!

• teriyaki sauce for the bok choy, sesame oil to fry those burgers

• Make sure you saute the stems first, then add the leaves at the end. I could eat teriyaki bok choy all day. All day.

• Fry the burgers to your liking. I prefer tuna a little rare, but with the egg, you need to reach a safe temperature. 3 minutes per side was perfect for me.

• Top with a little fresh tomato and corn relish (About 1 cup of frozen corn thawed, 1 large heirloom tomato diced and some of that fresh green onion + salt and pepper, yumzilla.)

• The bok choy didn't photograph well. Oh, but it tasted so good.

Enjoy!