Monday, December 3, 2007

All Day Kitchen Marathon....whew, I'm beet!

The last thing I did at the end of the day...wash and store the beets!

It all started Sunday morning around 6:00am.

Roasted, shallots (2lbs), Delicata squash (2), Amber Cup squash (1), Blue Hubbard squash (1)
Turkey (12lbs.)
Braised lamb shanks with fennel and white beans
Pork roast w/red beans, apple, beets and onions (Fawns pork and beans)
Turkey stock, from carcass, for soup
Pickled beets

In between prepping and cooking I went to Whole Foods, the Farmers Market and a 3:30 yoga class! I haven't done so much cooking since, back in the day, I used to, actually, host parties and do all the cooking. And I enjoyed every minute!

I finished roasting the last of 3 turkeys....I love turkey! Plenty of meat for the freezer, and more homemade soup. Can you have enough soup?

I am digging my pressure cooker! The meat on the lamb shanks fell right off, and I was able to cook those and a pork roast, in less time than just one meal.

I went to the Farmers Market around 12noon...a little late, but I had to finish the turkey. I bought;

kale
celery
broccoli
watermelon radish
beets (3 bunches)
fuji apples
brussels
cabbage
red & yellow bell peppers
tiny yukon gold potatoes
onions

I would have to say, the finds of the day were the tiny potatoes (about the size of dimes!) and the beets with the red tops. Even though I cook alot, and I consider it my hobby, I am fairly new to the culinary world. There are many, many things I don't know about foods, and alot of things I've never seen before. One of the those is beets with red tops (picured above).

I was up this morning at 5am roasting brussels, all of the roasted veggies will go into salads this week (what's left of them, lol), straining the turkey stock, and prepping my days food.


The first thing I did Sunday morning.....roast shallots...yum. Mark and I ate these right out of the oven! They're so sweet, better than onion rings!

Life is good, cooking your own food is good. Food is joyful.

9 comments:

Kori Bliffert, NASM-CPT said...

Yesterday must have been a cooking day! I cooked all day too. I think I made 3 different large meals (meat basically) and then 2 different veggies for the week.

Tracy Reifkind said...

Kori,

Right on! I love taking my own lunches to work....there's something responsible and mature about it...I'm not sure exactly how else to articulate it.

Turkey Jalapeno soup w/corn tonight!

Kori Bliffert, NASM-CPT said...

ohhhhh. Could you email me the receipe for that?

fawn said...

Are the beets called Chioggia? I still run into food I have never heard of... LOL! Hopefully that will never stop happening.

Tracy Reifkind said...

Kori,

I was thinking of posting that variation of soup anyway! It should be up soon.

Tracy Reifkind said...

Fawn,

The beet that's cut open is a Chiogggia, but the red topped ones are red. I'm anious to try the "greens" (actually "reds" in this case!), to see if I can taste any slight differences.

The Chioggias I didn't care for. The flavor was bland and they lost the "striping" when cooked or pickled..and that's the fun of them! Maybe roast them?

So much food, so much to learn, so little time!

fawn said...

I like the red beet better too. I was obsessed with pickling for one winter. LOL! I pickled everything... I remember pickled squash being good.

Best of all... I remember pickling beets with hard boiled eggs, then making a beet and egg salad with bitter greens and creme fraiche.

Betty-Boop said...

I stumbled on your blogg by a story I read about you losing 100 lb. I currently weigh 270. Could you send me some of the receipes of the menus you have posted on your blogg? And maybe were to start?

thanks
smurf

Tracy Reifkind said...

smurf,

I'm thrilled to read your comment, because this next month, especially, my focus will be on food.

I wrote a post titled "Food First" a couple of months ago, I may re-post it, Also, some of my earliest blog posts are about the begginings of my diet, (evolution of a diet, posted last year?)

Thanks again for your comment, feel free to e-mail me anytime,

tracyrif@yahoo.com