Monday Menu, Hurricane Sandy and a Chlorophyll Smoothie

Mr H is still home for a few more days.  Our neighbors are all cleaning up from Hurricane Sandy; fortunately for us, our house is untouched!  The sight of fully loaded dumpsters in the street and the sound of roaring fans parked outside of basement doors reminds us that we have much to be thankful for.

Clean-up time

Certainly a different view than the one we saw just a week ago ...

See more flood pictures

Noms This Week
Burek  |  We sauteed a heap of chopped swiss chard and tatsoi with coarse salt and garlic, and then cooked a large pan of ground beef, ground turkey and a mix of various spices, including salt, chili powder, and everything else that smells good, mixed all of this together, and layered it with butter and fillo dough for a variation of Miz Carmen's scrumptious take on this Bosnian dish.

Sweet Potato Casserole  |  Miz Carmen once made this decadent casserole along with a roast goose dinner for Mr H to thank him for building a chicken plucker for her chicken plucking machinations (as it were).  We both loved it and were tickled sweet-potato-peel-pink to see it on her blog.  Instead of using sugar in the sweet potato puree, we added a little honey for sweetness.  Happily Hannah was devising devilry in the kitchen and sprinkled cinnamon on the potatoes before adding the topping, much to the benefit of all involved.

La Belle Verte Smoothie  |  A larger version of Brendan Brazier's smoothie in Thrive Foods, this refreshing chlorophyll, iron, potassium, omega-3-packed drink provides nutrition as well as flavor for a cold drink.  This recipe is great for pregnant women, breastfeeding women, athletes, hyper-busy folks, and kids. The apple (or pineapple, your choice) makes it so sweet you do not taste the kale or parsley.  If you are worried you won't like it (or think the kids won't), just add more of the sweet fruit, or use both apple and pineapple.  

1 - 2 cups water, 1 pinch sea salt, 2 tbsp ground hemp, 

3 dates, 1 cup parsley, 3 large leaves kale, 1 apple (quartered) 

or 4 chunks pineapple, 2 frozen bananas (or fresh bananas and 3 - 4 ice cubes).  

Place ingredients in blender in order listed and blend until smooth.  

Use tamper to adjust during mixing.  

Serves two, or one very hungry person.  

Vitamix: Sweet Potato Rolls  |  Using my Vitamix to mix and knead dough for a tender sweet potato roll?  I think yes.  The talent of this kitchen gadget knows no limit.  Find Vitamix recipes here!

Red Lentil Stew  |  I made a stew from this book.  Try this book.  Love this book.

Seriously? I could talk all day.

No joke that I could eat this lentil stew for a week and be happy.
Mr H and I tend to share a bowl (as you see here) because it saves
on dirty dishes - you see how lazy I am?  Heh, heh.  

In the Kitchen

Mayonnaise  |  Mayo in the Vitamix?  A thousand times yes.  I made a loosely-doubled batch, using fresh, free-range, organic-fed (non-pasteurized) farm eggs.  I recommend using a combination, or any of, the following oils instead of vegetable or canola oil: olive, expeller-pressed coconut, walnut, sesame.  For variation, I also made a batch of mayonnaise and pureed parsley into it.  Any herb or flavoring can be added for your own delicious spread.

Mayonnaise and Relish  |  Mix the two together for a simple sandwich spread (preferably homemade of both, for satisfying, rich flavor).  I even eat this on rye bread with nothing else ... oh, it's good.

Sweet Potatoes in the Fridge  |  Instead of peeling and steaming a small batch of sweet potatoes each time I wish to use this delicious seasonal treat, I just peel and steam a whole pot (I have two bushels on my dining room floor ... they won't last nearly long enough to satisfy MY cravings!).  I mash them all and put them in a container in the fridge to use throughout the week.

Sweet Potatoes in the Freezer  |  Sometimes, in a spurt of zeal, I will steam and mash a lot of sweet potatoes, then freeze them in containers in the freezer.  Once they are solidly frozen, I take the containers out and remove the frozen block-o-taters and put it in a vacuum-seal bag, seal, and return to the freezer.  As this involves two hard-to-find ingredients ("energy" and "time" if you've heard of them or perhaps even had them yourself!), I don't get this done often.  Most of our sweet potatoes will end up canned in chunks, because freezer space is limited.

Sweet potato blocks

You may need to run some warm water over the containers
to dislodge the blocks - or you could just wait a few minutes
(I am not a very good waiter ... or so they tell me in the restaurant biz)

Crop Circles

Kale  |  Hurricane Sandy didn't drown my kale!  Hurrah, hurrah.

Everything Else  |  She did, however, drown everything else - the pepper plants, basil, and mint.  Oh well; I wasn't expecting them to last much longer anyway, hurricane or no hurricane.

Driving around to see flooding

Loving the sheep auntie sent him!

It's time for some winter wear!

The boys suit up for a November stroll
(yes, we both have a white hat ... how did that happen?
Don't ask me! )

True to her name, Sandy left us with a few reminders 

We watched city workers shovel this scoop ... by scoop ...
It will take a while to clear this all away.  

Mrs H

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