#ThrowbackThursday – Visits to the Green Market

One of the things I love is visiting the Green Market on Wednesdays to see what fresh local produce they have. I love picking up some nice greens, turnips, beets, carrots or more to cook at home. There definitely is a real taste difference when your food is that fresh! Yesterday I picked up some candy cane beets that I’m busy roasting for dinner tonight. As for the beet greens, I’ve cleaned them and put them away to cook with some olive oil and garlic tomorrow as a side dish. Nom nom nom. Check out the other photos from some of my other visits to the market.

June 13, 2017

Turnip Redux Recipe #TuesdayTip #CooksTreat

My hubby and I love root vegetables, especially carrots, beets and turnips. It’s great to be able to go to the farm market near my office and pick up some locally grown veggies and the one vendor actually has them for really reasonable prices. Here’s a photo of what the green market looks like on a regular day!

Last weekend I picked up some lovely turnips whose greens were still fresh and vibrant. Perfect for making what I call Turnip Redux which was inspired by a recipe from A Chef’s Life on PBS. This recipe uses both the turnip and the greens hence the redux.

For those of you who have not tried turnips, please give them a shot. They are cruciferous veggies that have lots of health benefits. Cancer-fighting, bone and lung health, cardiovascular and digestive aid thanks to Vitamin K and fiber in the greens. Plus, low in calories!

Turnip Redux

2 pounds turnips, peeled and cubed
Turnip greens, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 onion, chopped
Olive oil
2 tbsp butter (optional)
2 slices bacon chopped (optional)

Directions

Cook the turnips in salted boiling water until tender. Drain and coarsely mash.

Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the bacon (optional). Once the bacon is close to crispy, remove from the oil and add the chopped onion. Sweat it out until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for a minute of two. Add the greens and cook until almost soft. Add the mashed turnips to the greens and cook for another five minutes or so. Add the butter and toss. Garnish with the crispy bacon. The last two steps, butter and bacon are optional.

That’s it! This makes a great side dish for any grilled meat and again, HEALTHY! Enjoy.

October 7, 2015

#WriteWed We’d Rather Be #Writing #Recipes

I want to thank my friend Lois Winston for rounding up a group of author friends to share time saving recipes and other tips to help you stay organized.

My recipe in the book combines a number of very healthy elements and you can change it up in a variety of ways with whatever you may have handy. Plus, you can use it as a side dish or make it a hearty meal by pairing it with some nice crusty bread. I like to fry an egg and put it over the dish to make it a main meal.

If you like this recipe, please check out the others in We’d Rather Be Writing: 88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips. It’s a total bargain at only #99cents!

Swiss Chard with Chorizo and Cannellini Beans

Ingredients

2 pounds Swiss Chard chopped
1 cup cured chorizos chopped
1 small onion chopped
1 clove garlic chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 can (14 ounces give or take) white cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

Preparation

Place olive oil in skillet and heat the oil. Add chorizo and cook on medium heat.

While chorizo is cooking, wash Swiss Chard, dry, and remove larger tougher stems. Chop.

When chorizo is browned, remove from heat and add onion, garlic and Swiss Chard. Wilt the chard and let any juice from the greens evaporate a bit.

Add beans and toss to heat. Add the cooked chorizo to the greens and beans. Salt and pepper to taste. You may want to give it another drizzle of olive oil at the end. Total prep time is about 20-30 minutes and the above will serve two people as a main dish or 4 as a side dish.

Variations

Instead of the chorizo, try bacon, prosciutto, kielbasa or ham.

Instead of the Swiss Chard, substitute spinach, mustard greens, kale or escarole.

To bulk up the dish as a main meal, cube potatoes or sweet potatoes and cook along with the chorizo. Remove before adding the greens so the cubes will stay crunchy and then add back after youâ€™ve warmed the beans.

Feeling in a soup kind of mood? Heat chicken broth, place the chorizo, greens and beans in a bowl and add a few ladles of broth to the bowl.

Voila, a dish that can have a myriad of variations! We call dishes like this refrigerator-cleaners in our house, but we also call them something else: Tasty! I hope you enjoyed this recipe from We’d Rather Be Writing: 88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips.

August 28, 2009

Fun Friday – New York City Sites

I know I’ve been sharing some Behind the Scenes shots for SINS OF THE FLESH and thought I’d share with you some sites from one of my favorite cities and the home of THE CALLING Vampire novels – New York City, or more appropriately, the borough of Manhattan.

As you can imagine, I spend a lot of time there thanks to my day job, but I also take some time to play there when I can and just walk around and enjoy the many different neighborhoods and New York City oddities.

One of my favorite places to go for some calm in the middle of a busy work day are the Tudor City Greens. When the weather is nice, my sis and I will often grab our lunches and head off for a picnic at the Greens which are right near my office building. Here’s a shot of one of the Greens in Tudor City.

There’s another interesting fact about Tudor City. If you take the footbridge up from 42nd Street and stand smack in the middle, you will have a one of a kind site, namely, you will be able to look from one side of Manhattan to the other!

Here’s a shot looking westward on 42nd Street. In the far distance you can see the Palisades of New Jersey.

Here’s a shot looking eastward on 42nd Street. Fairly close is the East River and beyond that Queens and Long Island.

If you’re ever in Manhattan, take a moment to enjoy this unusual spot. If you’ve watched the latest Bourne movie, it may even look familiar since there were a few scenes shot in the Tudor City area.

Have a great weekend!