Monday, September 30, 2013

Virtual Running Date No. 26: I have purple fingers thanks to the beets

Good morning, Crushers!

If we were on a virtual running date, I would tell you all about our vegetables. LOTS OF THEM.  I believe I mentioned this last week, but this weekend, I spent a good amount of time tackling these veggies, so I get to say it again. More gnocchi was made with delicata squash (same recipe as last time, but I added a little Parmesan cheese to it).

I also peeled and blanched a huge bag of carrots and a ton of beets. That's why my fingers turned purple. See?
Thankfully, a little scrub with some baking soda and it came off!
If we were on a running date, I'd tell you about how I peeled all the veggies, then put them in boiling water for no longer than 5 minutes. Let them cool a bit before bagging them up to freeze. That, Crushers, is how you blanch.
All the carrots!

We've got the Beets!

I cannot take credit for this. I actually had to call my Kitchen Crush mom and ask how to do it. I always get "shocking" and "blanching" mixed up. The first is taking it from boiling to an ice bath and the other is just to boil it for a short time. Here is how I plan to remember this:
"Shh" is the sound you make when you step out into the cold in winter. Shh = Shocking
Blanch and Boil start with B. It's kind of Dr. Seuss-y.
Anyway, that's all done thankfully!

We were not the only ones with veggies on the brain. When we went running on Saturday morning, we headed past the farmer's market. Too bad we know a million people because our 3-plus-mile run turned into a 2.5 mile run. We had to stop and talk to people. Or, well, we didn't have to, but it's hard to pass up saying hello to your friends.

Speaking of friends, if this were a virtual running date, I would tell you how my friend Kalie is coming to visit from Texas. I can't wait to have her here in town. She is the one that introduced me to 7-Up Biscuits. Maybe we'll have to make some while she's in town with a nice roasted chicken... Yum!

Note to self: learn how to roast a chicken...

4 comments:

  1. I had a food weekend this weekend too!! I made big batches of 3 different kinds of soup to freeze for those busy nights when cooking just isn't going to happen and a batch of pumpkin bread. It was a good food weekend for the both of us!

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    1. What kinds of soup did you make? Maybe we could feature them on the blog?

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  2. I made a minestrone, a veggie tomato, and Iowa Girl Eats Copy Cat Pasta E Fagioli soup. They are all super yummy and all freeze really well :) Just let me know if you want the recipes for the minestrone or the veggie tomato!

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