Eating Seasonally and Locally - Mashed Turnip and Sweet Potato with Sage and Parmesan

The lowly turnip gets very little respect. But it should! It's a nutritional powerhouse containing fiber, folate, calcium, potassium, copper, manganese, vitamins C and B6 and vegetable protein. They're readily available this time of year, economical and quite tasty, especially prepared like this.

MASHED TURNIP AND SWEET POTATO

WITH SAGE AND PARMESAN

1 turnip peeled and cut into chunks

1 sweet potato peeled and cut into chunks

2 tsp butter

1 1/2 tsp rubbed sage

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Boil the turnip and sweet potato until done and drain. Add the butter and the sage and beat with a beater until they have a whipped consistency. Add the cheese and continue beating until the cheese is incorporated. Add salt and pepper to taste. Makes 2 servings. This is good! Might become a favorite of mine.

Eggs and Avocados - Perfect Combination

My favorite breakfast, hands down is poached eggs on avocado toast made from this bread recipe. Simple, easy and fast, it contains all the nutrition of eggs from pasture-raised chickens and avocados and whole grains. Besides being delicious, the health benefits of avocados are all over the place lately and the difference between supermarket eggs and pastured eggs...well, besides the color of the yolks and the taste and buying local, there's this - From Mother Earth News - "New test results show that pastured eggs producers are kicking the commercial industry's derriere when it comes to vitamin D! Eggs from hens raised on pasture show 4 to 6 times as much vitamin D as typical supermarket eggs."

I eat eggs frequently. My cholesterol level is nowhere near too high and, with the old but new news coming out that dietary cholesterol isn't harmful (and never was), I plan to continue eating eggs from pastured chickens frequently. And to the local lady who raises the chicken we buy the eggs from - thank you!! May you continue to raise chickens for many years to come!

POACHED EGGS AND AVOCADO TOAST

This is so simple it really doesn't need a recipe but here it is anyway. Toast a piece of your favorite organic, unprocessed bread. Spread it with 1/2 of a ripe avocado and top with two (or one) poached eggs. Salt and pepper and breakfast is ready. Takes about 10 minutes max. Fast and nutritious and protein-packed. Using organic unprocessed bread, there should be no craving issues caused by processed commercially made bread that's full of chemicals, sugar and preservatives. Simple? Yes. Rustic? That, too. AND, you should be good to go until lunch.

Apple Pie Pancake from Perfectly Imperfect Organic Apples - Cooking Seasonally and Buying Locally

Last trip to the farmer's market I found organic apples from a 60 year old tree. How do I know they  came from a 60 year old tree? Well, the 60 year old man who sold them to me said the tree was planted on his birthday and I believe him. 60 year old tree, or not, they're local and not sprayed, so I'm happy with that. And, I can deal with the "imperfections" because a few spots, a bug bite, or anything from nature is MUCH preferable than dealing with pesticides.

And, this morning I made a pancake and used the apple for the topping -

APPLE PIE PANCAKE

Pancake

1/4 cup organic wheat flour

1/4 cup filtered water

1 tsp aluminum free baking powder

1/4 tsp apple pie spice
1 packet of stevia

Mix the pancake batter and cook like a regular pancake. 

Topping

1 apple chopped

1/4 tsp apple pie spice

2 tablespoons of apple juice or apple cider

1 tsp arrowroot
dash of salt

1 tablespoon of toasted walnuts

honey

Microwave all topping ingredients (except the walnuts and the honey) for 45 seconds. Stir and microwave for another 45 seconds. Toast the walnuts by putting them in a dry skillet and shaking them around on a hot burner until they are crispy. Top the pancake with the apples, the walnuts and some honey, if you want. Tastes like autumn!