Tag Archives: vegetable

Homemade Vegetable Broth

Posted in Gluten Free, Paleo, Recipe, Vegan, Vegetarian by

Making homemade broth is incredibly simple and seems to really impress people. It is also inexpensive, totally customizable, and so much better tasting than any canned broth or bullion cube on the market. I make homemade vegetable broth approximately once a month. I keep a gallon sized freezer bag in my freezer and throw any vegetable trimmings and ends from my food prep into it.

Store vegetable trimmings in a freezer bag to make homemade vegetable broth

Store vegetable trimmings in a freezer bag to make homemade vegetable broth

When the bag gets full, I dump it out into a large pot of water and 4-5 hours later have a rich, dark amber broth that is perfect to use as a soup base. You can refrigerate the broth if you are using it that week or freeze it for later use. I like to freeze my broth in ice cube trays and use them to cool down hot soup. I use this method for cooling down my hot coffee.

Ice Cube Tray Measurements

2 cubes = 1/4 cup
4 cubes = 1/2 cup
6 cubes = 3/4 cup
8 cubes = 1 cup

Save Vegetable Peelings and Ends for Homemade Vegetable Broth | cucinakristina.com

Don’t discard gems like this!

This is also a great way to use up any vegetables you won’t be able to eat before they spoil. The smell that will seep throughout your house is amazing as this broth is simmering. The hardest part about making broth is waiting

Ingredients that can be used:

  • Carrots (shavings, tops, trimmings)
  • Parsnips (shavings, tops, trimmings)
  • Radishes (trimmings)
  • Celery (leaves, base, trimmings)
  • Onion/Shallots (all types! skins and trimmings)
  • Garlic (skins and trimmings)
  • Mushrooms (whole or scraps)
  • Fennel (trimmings, base, tops, scraps)
  • Leeks (base, tops, trimmings)
  • Turnips – I always toss a whole one into any batch of stock
  • Any vegetable you have on hand!
  • Herbs (rosemary, oregano, parsley, whatever you like!)
Freeze odds and ends for later

Freeze odds and ends for later

The great thing about this method is that your broth will change flavor depending on the scraps you collected in the bag. Generally, I make sure to add a few garlic cloves, an extra onion that is chopped into quarters, and a turnip. I find the turnip gives the broth a nice earthy undertone that is otherwise missing.

Homemade Vegetable Broth

Save Vegetable Peelings and Ends for Homemade Vegetable Broth | cucinakristina.com

Simmer for ~4 hours

Ingredients:

  • 1 turnip, quartered
  • 1 onion, quartered
  • 3-4 garlic cloves, smashed
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 bag of vegetable trimmings*
  • Water – The amount of water you start with will depend on the size of your pot. Generally speaking, you want the water to reduce to about 1/3 of the original amount. The more it reduces, the more concentrated your broth will be.
  • Salt and pepper**

*NOTE: If you do not collect trimmings and want to make broth from scratch just use whole ingredients from the list above.

**Generally, I don’t add salt or pepper to my broth. I usually wait until I am cooking with it to add salt, pepper, herbs, etc. However, you should experiment and season according to your taste!

Directions:

  1. Place all items in a pot and fill with water. Leave about 1 inch from the top of the pot.
  2. Bring water to a boil.
  3. Reduce heat to low and simmer for ~4 hours. Times will vary depending on the size of your pot so be sure to check periodically the first time you do this.
  4. When the water has reduced to about 1/3 of the amount, remove from heat and strain.
  5. Let the veggies cool and then squeeze them over the broth to make sure you get all the flavor you can out of them.
  6. Strain again to remove any big chunks of vegetables.
  7. Freeze in ice cube trays and store ice cubes in a large freezer bag.

Oven-Baked Sweet Potato Fries with Homemade Sriracha Mayonnaise

Posted in Gluten Free, Paleo, Recipe by

I have never like mayonnaise. I can’t even tolerate it when the flavor is masked and mixed into things. Potato salad? No, thanks. Ranch dressing? Bleh! Sandwich spread? I prefer mustard. Can you imagine my surprise when one night I was craving mayonnaise? I imagine that my body wasn’t craving mayonnaise as much as it was craving fat, but either way I was too lazy to drive to the store, and I decided to make some. Yup. On a whim I decided to whip up some homemade mayonnaise.

I read this recipe from The Clothes Make the Girl and this recipe from Alton Brown and decided to combine the two. I must have gotten lucky because it came together beautifully, tasted amazing, and was super easy. Apparently, mayonnaise is rather finicky and can separate easily if not prepared correctly. 

I will be up front and honest, I have only tried this recipe once, and like I said, I may have gotten lucky. But, if you are a fellow mayonnaise hater, I strongly urge you to make some from scratch. You just may be a convert. I am!

Homemade Mayonnaise
Yields ~1 cup

Ingredients:

  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
  • 1 cup safflower oil

Directions:

  1. In a food processor, combine egg yolk, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, mustard and salt. I used the blade attachment and let it whirl for about 20-30 seconds.
  2. SLOWLY drizzle the oil into the food processor. Pour as slowly as you can and then slow it down even more. This part should take about 3-5 minutes.
  3. When you have poured all of the oil into the food processor, let it whirl for another 15-20 seconds.

Oven-Baked Sweet Potato Fries with Sriracha Mayonnaise

Sweet and Spicy

Sweet and Spicy

Ingredients:

  • 1 small sweet potato
  • 1 teaspoon coconut oil, maybe a little more depending on the size of your sweet potato
  • Seasoned salt
  • 3 tablespoons homemade mayonnaise (see above!)
  • 1 tablespoon Sriracha sauce

Directions:

  1. Heat oven to 425˚.
  2. Peel sweet potato and cut into strips about 1/2 inch thick.
  3. Toss in melted coconut oil, season with seasoned salt, and spread evenly on a baking sheet.
  4. Roast in oven for 20-25 minutes or until they brown evenly. If you are feeling extra enthusiastic, flip them at the halfway mark.
  5. In a small dish, mix 3 tablespoons homemade mayonnaise and 1 tablespoon Sirarcha sauce until well combined.
  6. Dip sweet potato fries into the Sirarcha mayonnaise and enjoy the flavor explosion!

Mason Jar Salads

Posted in Gluten Free, Paleo, Recipe, Vegan, Vegetarian by

I do my grocery shopping and food prep for the week on Sunday afternoon. It the single best time saver and stress reliever that I have discovered to date. It takes a bit of planning in the beginning to get the hang of it, but it is so worth it once you figure out the odds and ends!

I typically spend anywhere between 5-6 hours shopping, prepping, and cleaning up on Sunday, but it totally eliminates any work I have to do for meals during the week. At any point during the week, I can whip up breakfast, lunch, or dinner with zero prep time and minimal clean up. Mid-week clean up is reduced to the pots/pans I use to cook and the dishes we eat on.

For the past few months, I have been eating salads everyday for lunch and storing them in mason jars. I make 6 at a time and the mason jars keep the ingredients fresh for the entire week. Any airtight container would probably work, but I like mason jars because they fit in the door of the fridge. If I were to make the salads only, shopping, prep, and clean up would probably take 2-3 hours.

A few weeks ago, I posted a picture of my mason jar salads on Instagram and it sparked a ton of questions from people. I originally saw this idea floating around Pinterest so I thought everyone already knew about it, but it turns out they do not. I never actually “pinned” the idea onto one of my boards so, unfortunately, I can’t credit the original source.

I don’t add any dressing into the mason jars because I dress my salads with olive oil and vinegar only. If you want, you can add the dressing to the bottom of the jars. Just make sure that you always layer sturdy veggies at the bottom (like carrots or radishes) so they stay crisp throughout the week.

Mason Jar Salads
Time: 2-3 hours which includes shopping, prep, and clean up
Makes 6 salads

Items you will need

Example of the items you will need

Ingredients
You can use any ingredients that you want. For the above salads I used the following:

  • 3 green peppers – 1/2 pepper per salad
  • 12 radishes – 2 radishes per salad
  • 6 carrots – 1 per salad
  • 3 small apples – 1/2 apple per salad
  • 6 celery stalks – 1 per salad
  • 3 shallots – 1/2 shallot per salad
  • 3 heads of romaine lettuce – 1/2 head per salad
  • 3 small cucumbers  – 1/2 cucumber per salad. Note: Pictured above are 6 small cucumbers because I planned on using 1 per salad. As you can see in the picture below, it was way too much so I ended up using half of the original amount I bought.
  • Sport peppers

Directions

layer ingredients

Layer your ingredients

Start with your sturdy ingredients and layer each ingredient. Add the lettuce last. I layered in this order. Radish, carrot, cucumber, celery, green pepper, apple, shallot, sport peppers, and lettuce.

tons of room

Shake the jar to create more room

Don’t worry if your jar starts to look like it is getting full. You have tons of room left and you can push the items down when you add the lettuce. Before adding the lettuce, shake the jar to settle the ingredients and fill in the gaps between layers. The jar on the left has not been shaken, the jar on the right has. See the difference?

finished salads

Finished salads

Lastly, add the lettuce. Really pack it in there. You can fit a lot more than you think in these jars!

When you are ready to eat them, dump them out into a large bowl. At this point you can add a protein source like hard-boiled eggs, grilled chicken, or shrimp. Add nuts or seeds if you are keeping it vegetarian or vegan. You can also add homemade pickled banana peppers.

Store vegetable trimmings in a freezer bag and use them to make homemade vegetable broth

Store vegetable trimmings in a freezer bag and use them to make homemade vegetable broth

By the way, make sure you save any veggie shavings or trimmings. Just throw them into a plastic bag and store them in your freezer. When the bag gets full, dump the contents into a large pot of water and make homemade vegetable broth.

Curried Acorn Squash and Red Lentil Soup with Spiced Acorn Squash Seeds

Posted in Gluten Free, Recipe, Soup, Vegan, Vegetarian by

Are there any curry lovers out there? I am dying to share this recipe with someone because it is hearty, comforting, and oh so tasty. It’s the type of soup that warms you from the inside out. I threw it together on a whim last night and apparently nobody in my life likes curry!  More for me, right?

Before we get to the recipe, I want to share a couple of notes about this soup and some substitution ideas. First, I used an acorn squash because it is what I had on hand. If you are new to using squash and do not have good knife skills, substitute with a butternut squash. The butternut squash is infinitely easier to peel and has a similar taste. If squash is not your thing, substitute with sweet potatoes. If neither squash nor sweet potatoes are your thing, try my chicken tortilla soup.

Second, this soup has an intense curry flavor. If you like curry, but you do not love curry, cut back to 1 teaspoon and use vegetable broth and water as the base instead of just straight water. As the soup is cooking, taste and add more curry as desired. Remember that it is easier to add more of an ingredient than to try to balance it out after the fact.

Third, do not throw out the squash seeds! The seeds are edible just like pumpkin seeds. For some reason, people do not think about toasting the seeds of other squashes, but they make a wonderful soup garnish or can be used on salads or as an on-the-go snack. I flavored my seeds with salt and Chinese five spice, but you can use anything you like to season your seeds. Some spices that compliment curry are cinnamon, ginger, chili powder, cumin, or cloves.

Now, on to the soup! This is the type of soup that you will want to make on a chilly winter day. The mere smell of curry warms my body as it seeps throughout the house. I almost can’t wait for the first real snowfall so I can make it again. This soup would be a great starter to a Thanksgiving meal even though the flavors are not necessarily traditional. By the way, how is Thanksgiving THIS Thursday? Where does the time go?

Just before serving, I added a tablespoon of chili paste. I use Huey Fong, which is the same company that makes Sriracha (aka rooster sauce). I think the chili paste adds a nice layer of heat to this soup. For you spicy food haters, I would not describe the flavor chili paste adds to this soup as spicy at all. It is not going to burn your mouth and make your eyes water, it just adds a little kick and enhances the overall flavor of this soup. Give it a try! If you are nervous about adding chili paste to the entire pot of soup, you can always put it on the table and have guests add it to their individual bowls as desired.

Curried Acorn Squash and Red Lentil Soup

Cucina Kristina | Curried Acorn Squash and Red Lentil Soup with Spiced Acorn Squash Seeds

Warms you from the inside out!

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
  • 1 acorn squash, peeled and cubed (see substitution ideas above)
  • 3 carrots
  • 1 cup red lentils
  • 1 tablespoon curry powder (see substitution ideas above)
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 tablespoon chili paste (optional)
  • 1 1/2 quarts water

Directions:

  1. In a large pot, cook onions and garlic in melted coconut oil, stirring frequently for about 5 minutes.
  2. Add ginger and cook for another 3 minutes.
  3. Add carrots and squash and cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently.
  4. Add the curry and cumin and cook for about a minute. This will toast the spices and open their flavor.
  5. Add water and lentils and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and let simmer for 20-25 minutes or until lentils are cooked through and vegetables are tender.
  6. If using, add 1 tablespoon of chili paste just before serving.
  7. Serve warm and garnish with spiced acorn squash seeds.

Spiced Acorn Squash Seeds

Ingredients:

  • Coconut oil
  • Chinese five spice (see substitution ideas above)
  • Salt

Directions:

  1. Rinse and dry the seeds from 1 acorn squash.
  2. Melt coconut oil in a small bowl and toss the seeds to coat evenly. If you do not have coconut oil, you can use olive oil.
  3. Add 1 generous pinch of Chinese five spice and toss to evenly distribute.
  4. Spread seeds onto a baking sheet lined with foil and sprinkle with salt to taste.
  5. Roast in a 375˚ oven for about 12 minutes. All ovens vary so you will want to watch the seeds and check on them periodically. They are done when they look toasted and golden brown.

Cocoa Roasted Cauliflower

Posted in Gluten Free, Recipe, Vegan, Vegetarian by

OMG! This recipe is amazing. I think I might love cauliflower now, which is good because cauliflower is low in calories and packed full of vitamin C. Ok, ok enough with the boring stuff. On to the chocolate!

I received an email from Vosges Haut Chocolate with this recipe for cocoa roasted cauliflower. I was intrigued, Googled it, and found this recipe on The Clothes Make the Girl, which sounded so much better. It was! I am a sucker for coconut oil so I was in as soon as I saw that.

OMG. So good.

Next time I make this I am going to omit the paprika because the coconut oil, salt, and cocoa powder together are such a wonderful sweet, salty, savory combination. I’m not sure the paprika adds enough umph for me to use it again, but experiment, you might love it! I am also going to use fresh garlic because freshly roasted garlic is one of the best things ever.

Cocoa Roasted Cauliflower

Cucina Kristina: Cocoa Roasted Cauliflower

Savory and sweet. So lovely!

Ingredients:

  • 1 head of cauliflower
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
  • 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
  • Salt and garlic powder (or fresh garlic) to taste

Directions: 

  1. Preheat oven to 400°. Line a baking sheet with foil and set aside.
  2. Melt 1 tablespoon coconut oil in a bowl and toss cauliflower until it is evenly distributed. Note: We do not have a microwave so I melted the coconut oil by blasting it with a hairdryer. Worked like a charm! True story.
  3. Spread cauliflower on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt, garlic, and cocoa powder.
  4. Roast for 25-30 minutes.

Garden Update: Squash Vine Borers – 1, Red Kuri – 0

Posted in From the garden to my kitchen by

We suffered our first garden casualty this week. Our Red Kuri Squash plant was a little warrior, but he was no match for the evil squash vine borers. Like most moth species, I am sure the adults exist to pollinate plants, but these suckers are detrimental to squash plants, and I can’t help but think they are anything but E-V-I-L. This is the first year we planted squash so now we know how to combat these pests for next year.

I am especially sensitive to the passing of the squash plant because our garden has taken quite a hit this year with all the crazy weather we have had in Chicago. These plants have survived an unseasonably cold spring, an intense hail storm with golf ball sized hail, monsoon style winds, torrential downpours, and extreme heat. We have experienced every bad weather element that can kill a garden in a span of three months and my plants have persevered through all of it.

About 3 weeks ago, we noticed the leaves of our squash plant starting to wilt. We didn’t think anything of it at the time because it happened to coincide with an intense heat wave sweeping through Chicago. We had a string of 100+ degree days with super high humidity and, at one point, the low never dropped below 80 degrees. We attributed the wilting squash leaves to the extreme heat because most of the other plants weren’t looking so hot either; however, as the heat broke and the rain came through, all of the plants bounced back, except the squash. After about a week, we noticed the leaves of the plant starting to turn yellow and knew something was up.

Wilting leaves – sign #1

If you have wilting and yellowing leaves that do not appear to get better when you water, chances are you have a vine borer. The adult moth lays its eggs neat the base of the plant. When the eggs hatch, the larvae burrow into the stem and begin to feed. As they get fatter, they block water from reaching the leaves, hence the wilting. The good news is you can extract these pests from your plant by slicing the plant lengthwise, looking inside the vine, and picking them out. They will look like this:

Squash vine borer larvae

If the vine looks like the photo above, you can probably extract the larvae and bury the vine to protect it while it heals. However, if you have about 15 of those things inside your plant, they will completely demolish it, and those suckers work fast! Within a week or two of noticing the first signs of wilting they had done this to the root of the plant.

Probably not salvageable

Here is a closer shot of the damage the vine borers can do. As you can see, they turn a hearty vine into dust!

Ugh! Definitely not salvageable.

If you catch this early, there is a chance you can save your plant; however, we pulled nearly 20 of these devilish little guys out of the vines and ended up having to uproot the entire thing. :(

Luckily, the rest of our plants seem to be doing well. Take a look at our broccoli. Am I the only one that didn’t know how freaking bushy these things get?! That seems like a lot of leaf for a small amount of broccoli head. I thought maybe we could sauté the leaves like you would with beet greens, but after Googling this idea it seems the leaves are bitter, tough, and not very tasty. Such a shame!

It’s a pity the leaves aren’t very tasty.

We also have a mystery pepper, which is kind of exciting! The tag at the greenhouse claimed this was a Habanero chili, but you can tell by its shape that it is definitely not a Habanero. One of them has turned yellow so that rules out a few possible pepper varieties. We are waiting to see if it turns orange or red in the next couple of days, but if anyone out there knows what type of chili this is leave me a comment.

Any pepper experts out there know what this is?

We also have some wild fennel growing unexpectedly behind the garage. I love me some fennel so I am really stoked about this. We grew fennel near the garage last year, but the pH level or something in our soil must have been off because we ended up with tons of fennel stalks, but shriveled and inedible roots. Gardening over the past two years has been quite a learning experience for us!

Wild fennel. We should probably weed some of those vines.

While I have your attention, I would like to take a second to brag about the trellis Jesse built for our tomatoes. Unless you pay a pretty penny for them, trellises are not very attractive to the eye. The wood cost ~$20 and definitely looks much nicer than the wire ones we started the plants on. We used cedar wood, the same wood we used to build our raised garden beds.

DIY cedar wood trellis

This photo was taken a few weeks ago, but the tomato plants haven’t been producing fruit like they have in past years. Typically, we have to many tomatoes we don’t know what to do with them all. This year… not so much. But then again, I am not exactly patient when it comes to waiting for plants to grow.

Do you have any garden woes you would like to share? How about garden successes? Let’s see those photos!