Five Favorites

Linking up with Hallie and the favoriteers today for the first time in too long!

- 1 -

On Monday, the parents and their food restrictions were out on the town, so my eyes lit up with mascarpone, and I made this Butternut Squash Bake that I first had at my friend Brynn's house.

 My brother, in the words of my son, "ate it all of it" and has since mentioned it to me three times. Make it and don't be disappointed even when you forget to add salt.

- 2 -

This Lentil Soup is only a #1 Google Hit away, but it's cheap cheap cheap and delicious.

- 3 -

I was planning on some random favs but I just decided to go full on food since it looks like that's where my fuzzy head is.

I don't remember my last cold. I've had a scratchy throat here and there over the past couple years, but I haven't been beaten down by a good dose of acute rhinitis in quite some time. So I've been juicing. Here's my green juice recipe du jour.

4 stalks kale

1 c. spinach

2 sprigs fresh parsley

1/2 lemon (rind included)

1 inch chunk ginger

1 apple

1 carrot

10 grapes

I totally just ball-parked all those. I would go easy on the parsley if you're a green juice newbie, but the lemon rind and ginger give it some nice kick.

- 4 -

While we're on juicing ground. Here's my favorite juicer: the Omega Masticating Juicer. 

It's pricey. But what do you say when you want to feel better about overspending on something you really just want? Oh. Yes. It's an "investment."

The one above is the J8006 which is a newer version of mine (the J8003) which I've had for almost four years and I've been more than happy with it. The pulp is really dry, and it's very easy to clean. I try to use the pulp in a variety of different ways. Carrot pulp does great as a substitute for shredded carrot in muffin recipes. I save celery pulp for flavoring chicken stock. It's a dream of mine to make red velvet cupcakes from beet pulp...(don't act so surprised.)

Since we got a Vitamix some months ago, we've become more of a blending family, but juicing is a great way to up your vegetable intake, and for all the conflicting information you get on the web about nutrition, I have yet to hear anyone argue against the almighty vegetable.

[I'm returning at the end of the day for my fifth fav. The internet went out after #4, and after not getting a hold of my mom and frantically texting my tech-savy sister who's away at school to "PLEASE help a pregnant mom during nap time!!!" she told me to go read a book. Oh my, college kids can be SO snooty.]

- 5 -

And cinco goes to Jacob's favorite meal in our less than gourmet casa:

Mashed Potatoes with Veggie Gravy [Working Title]

I call this Mashed Potato Soup.

Jacob: Don't call it that. That sounds awful.

Me: I don't see why "Mashed Potatoes with Veggie Gravy" is any better.

Jacob: Calling it "Mashed Potato Soup" is like calling Helen of Troy, "Bertha"

Me: Wow, babe. I'm kinda flattered that you like my soup so much.

Jacob: It's NOT SOUP.

Me: Right.

So here's the "recipe":

I make a "Veggie Gravy" by sauteeing onions, carrots, garlic, and whatever other vegetables you think might work (peppers? cauliflower? tomatoes? CSA riffraff?) and then adding some chickpeas or lentils, a little chicken stock, and salt salt salt, and then blending it up nice and smooth. Basically just a pureed soup that I serve over mashed potatoes. 

And it's kind of awesome. It's kind of like Bertha meets Helen of Troy.

Check out everyone else's favorite things at Hallie's. 

Incidentally "A Few of My Favorite Things" is my toddler's favorite song. Only his favorite part of the song is "When the dog bites" and "When the bee stings" which he belts with the best of the utterly tuneless.

He's also pretty sure the next line is: "When the bee is sad."

And I will never ever correct him. We empathize with the bees in these parts.