It's Asparagus Time

Asparagus is back in Michigan! I've posted a couple of recipes on my new page. You'll need to read them there and sign up for the new subscription to continue your MI Local Foodbeet news. Check it out here. Thanks for reading.

Don’t Miss a Beet!

I feel a little sad. After nearly four years on Blogger, the Foodbeet has been moved to WordPress – with a big expansion of information. And, room to grow! So, I also feel really happy and excited. It’s a bitter-sweet transition.

Your subscription will not automatically move, so please sign up on the new site. I’m hoping that I don’t need to contact people personally.

My goal is the same: to help you to find, prepare, eat, and preserve seasonal food. Please take a look around the site, and let me know what you think.

You’ll find extensive Getting Started information and two tabs for seasonal eating – one for cooked food and one for raw food. All of the audio links for WYCE’s The Local Feed are located on one page now. Check them out for the weekly updates.

The recipes and food preservation will be indexed as they are written. The index links to the Blogger pages are available also. Some of the Blogger posts will be reworked for the new site, and some will be re-posted for Throwback Thursdays.

And, there’s a new Amazon shopping page with my favorite books and cooking supplies. Purchasing through this page will help to support my work. I don’t charge farmers, restaurants, wineries, etc. when I write posts about them. But, there are costs involved with this website and travel expenses.

I hope that you enjoy the site and visit often. Thanks for reading. ~ Theresa

The Local Feed on Roasted Root Vegetables

Recently on WYCE's The Local Feed I spoke about one of my favorite cold weather meals - roasted root vegetables.


Listen above or read below. (If your email software does not show the audio link above, click on the blog title to get to the page.)

There are many Michigan root vegetables: parsnip, potato, sunchokes, rutabaga, sweet potato, carrot, and beet. I use about 3 pounds of root vegetables. There’s no need to peel the potatoes, sunchokes, or carrots; they’re just fine as they are.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Then, prep the roots by cutting them depending on the size and shape of the vegetables, cut them into one-quarter to one-half inch disks or one-half to three-quarter inch chunks. Put them into a 9 by 13 baking dish. Stir in one-half cup of extra virgin olive oil, coating the pieces.

Bake them covered for a half hour while you are prepping other ingredients. Depending on availability, I add in chopped red bell or other peppers, four minced shallots, and a handful of fresh herbs. The kind of herbs depends on what I have around, but rosemary, chives, oregano, and thyme all work well.

After the half hour, add the other ingredients to the pan and bake another 45 minutes for 1 and a quarter hours total – or until the vegetables are all soft.

As you serve, pour a dash of balsamic vinegar on top. I serve this with hearty Michigan bread and Michigan butter for a warm me up meal. You can also puree it in a blender and use it to stuff home-made ravioli.

August’s Kitchen Vegan Dinners

It was easy for me to assume that August Treu from August's Kitchen had been a chef his whole career, but as I got to know him I learned that he went to chef school, graduating in 2008, after a series of successful, unrelated careers.

    

I’m glad he did, because I have enjoyed watching his business grow. We met at the Fulton Street Farmers Market when he started selling there in 2011. He sells breakfast foods, fine pastries, and baked goods, such as quick breads, cookies, and pies. He also makes cheese and cans jellies from Michigan fruits. He purchases fruits, vegetables, and milk at the market. When the market building opened, he moved inside. 

Along with classes, August hosts Chef’s Table events at his space on Diamond Avenue in Grand Rapids. The menus vary – and food from his farmers market friends and Ingraberg Farms in Rockford are incorporated. 

The menu themes vary; I recently went to his first Vegan Chef’s Table Dinner. It was a seven-course meal at a fair price of $45.00. And, there’s no charge for the fun! The dinner was promoted by Vegan Grand Rapids, so Kolene and Jon were there too. Kudos to them for filling the event with hungry plant-based eaters.

The Menu:

Tom Yum Tofu Soup

Broiled Vegetable Terrine

Crispy Vegetable Pakoras w/ Tamarind Ginger Dipping Sauce

Grapefruit & Fresh Greens w/ Sweet Fennel Lime Vinaigrette

Sourdough Bread w/ Herbed Tofu Spread

Eggplant Gratin w/ Mushrooms & Artichokes

Orange-Scented CranApple Cobbler

I dined with my friends Medha from Medha Rode Art and Sue from Stir the Pot GR, and I met blogger Sarah from Happy to be Raw. A small venue filled with like-minded people brings out the best in all of us and is great fun. 

The next Vegan Dinner is being planned for May 2014. Sign up for the email list for more information on all of the August's Kitchen events. 

THANKS to Vegan Grand Rapids for the photos below. 

Tom Yum Tofu Soup

Broiled Vegetable Terrine

 

Crispy Vegetable Pakoras w/ Tamarind Ginger Dipping Sauce

Grapefruit & Fresh Greens w/ Sweet Fennel Lime Vinaigrette

Eggplant Gratin w/ Mushrooms & Artichokes

Orange-Scented CranApple Cobbler

Catching up with The Local Feed

My colleague, Chef Shawn Kohlhaas from Culinary Cultivations, has been busy doing interviews for The Local Feed on WYCE. Catch up with who he's been chatting with below.

If your email browser blocks the radio links below, click on the blog post name to get to the web version. 

Listen above for the interview with New City Urban Farm.



Listen above for the interview with Chef Tommy Fitzgerald from Kitchen Sage.



Listen above for the interview with Jerry Adams from Farm Link.

Thanks for reading and listening.

The Local Feed on Basil in the Basement.

Have you been yearning for the flavors of summer? How about basil? I was, so this week on The Local Feed on WYCE, I spoke about Growing Green Family Farm.


Listen to the link above or read below.

If your email browser blocked the radio link above, click on the blog post name to get to the web version.

Growing Green Family Farm grows basil, cilantro, and microgreens in an environmentally controlled basement. They take care to maintain the right lighting, airflow, humidity, and temperature – so we can have basil in March!

Microgreens are small greens; usually no more than 2 inches tall. They are not sprouts, but are rather a young plant that is in between a sprout and an older green.

They also grow kale, lettuces, wheatgrass, and beet greens in a greenhouse.

No herbicides and pesticides are used. They aren’t really needed in the winter anyway. And, the fertilizer used is an all-natural mix of plant and mineral materials. The water is filtered rainwater.

So, what to do with basil when there are not a lot of other summer veggies around? How about paring them with dried tomatoes? Did you dry tomatoes last summer? If not, think about it for the upcoming summer.

And, you can always make a pesto sauce with walnuts, extra virgin olive oil, and parmesan cheese.

I also send a small bunch of basil through the juicer when I am making a juice blend from other greens. It really adds a summery punch.

You can purchase fresh, Michigan-grown basil at the Fulton Street Farmers Market on Saturdays. They are open from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm.

Get your Foodie News on my Facebook page.

Coconut PSA

Coconuts are NOT grown in Michigan. But, if you read much about healthy diets, you’ve undoubtedly come across them in recipes. Since I experiment with raw food diet meals and drink smoothies regularly, I use them frequently. So, I am providing a ‘public service announcement’ about how to open a young Thai coconut.

Coconut water is very popular now, and the best tasting water I have found is in young Thai coconuts. Make sure that when you buy them, they are fresh. Usually, the freshest ones are in Asian markets with a high turn-over. Ask the produce manager when the coconuts arrived at the store.

The demonstrations that I have seen have made opening a coconut seem like a grade B horror movie – you need to hack it with a knife. But, recently a friend showed me this kinder, gentler method. I'm sharing it with you.

Slice off the outer shell following the angle of the coconut.

Looks like this afterward.

Score with a serrated knife it in an area that is the dark color. 

Starting in the scored section, use the knife to cut around the top.

Peel the top off.

Pour into a glass or jar. I use my canning funnel.

Now, you have coconut water. 

Scrape out the coconut meat with a spoon. If there are specs of brown shell
 on the meat, scrape it off with a wet spoon.

Enjoy coconut water as a healthy, refreshing beverage or as the base for a smoothie with fruit and greens.

The coconut meat is also tasty in smoothies; I use about one ounce for a 16 - 20 ounce smoothie. It is also used in raw food recipes. Coconut meat can also be frozen for future use.

If you blend the coconut water and meat together you have a coconut milk. (You can blend the meat with plain water to get milk,also.) I’ve found that the coconut water and meat mixture can be quite thick. So, it’s a good base for a vegan pudding base. Or, you can dilute it with water or juice and add it to a smoothie.

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