The Vegetable Diet

 I was at the gym the other day and bumped into an old friend, and after exchanging news of our families we started discussing our workouts and "new year" diets.  She mentioned that she was on an all-fat diet.  Huh?
It triggered something familiar in my memory, I remembered reading about an all-fat, or carbohydrate restrictive, diet as a a method to put the body into a state of "ketosis", sometimes used as a way to control treatment resistant epilepsy.
It seems to me that the old Atkins diet, which is also carbohydrate restrictive, is another name for a ketosis type diet.  Do you remember that diet from the 70's?
I have other friends who follow the Paleolithic diet, which basically seems to be a diet in which only foods that could have been hunted or gathered by our Paleolithic ancestors are consumed.

Neither of these diets would work for me because I don't eat meat (Paleo) and if I had to become a cave person suddenly and go out and kill a wild boar or a chicken (did they even have chickens then?) I would not be very successful.

Eating a diet that restricted carbohydrates would probably have me fainting pretty quickly, never mind the fact that when I eat fatty things I feel... fat.  I guess it goes without saying that meat would be a large component of a carbohydrate restrictive plan?  As far as its effectiveness in treating epilepsy, well I'm just grateful that the type of epilepsy my daughter has is responsive to treatment.

So it's safe to say that I'm on The Vegetable Diet, and I have to say I really love it.  I feel good, I spend less money on food and my kitchen is filled with colour and joy.

Yesterday morning our deliveries from our local organic vegetable source began again, they take a two week break every year over Christmas and New Year's and I really missed them.
I have changed up my vegetable delivery a little bit, we're now buying lots of local vegetables as well as a few imported from the south (things like greens, which are not available here this time of year, though our cabbage is still local).   We were buying more things like bananas and apples, which weren't being consumed after Middle Rascal left home in September.

Once the vegetables are unpacked from their box I do a quick scan and immediately start menu planning for the week.  The goal is to use every vegetable by the following Monday, and while some items will have obvious uses, others require a bit more thought (and some recipe searches).

So excited to see these beautiful mushrooms!
Risotto with marsala and mushrooms is on the menu.

 The first thing I cooked with the vegetables was a big stew to have for lunch.

I sautéed a large yellow onion in olive oil, adding in a teaspoon of ground turmeric.  Then I threw in about 6 roughly chopped and peeled carrots, several new potatoes, half-peeled (only the bad bits) and chopped, and an entire bunch of spinach.  I threw in about a cup of red lentils for some protein.

 Saute all, then cover with water, adding in salt and pepper:

 Simmer down the stew for about 30 minutes or so, and you'll have a delicious and nourishing lunch.

So simple, and it keeps well in the fridge too.

What sort of diet are you on?  (If you had to give it a name that is.)  Do you have friends whose diets vary quite differently from your own?
Happy Wednesday to you,
xoxDani

Sunday Cooking

 Sunday is never a leisurely day for us.  MrBP is in his office trying to get things off his desk and prepared for the week ahead while the phones are quiet.  I am often in the office in the afternoons, cleaning and organizing, sometimes just general maintenance and other times bigger projects (right now I'm trying to restore the floors).
Once back home in my kitchen it's time to deal with the remainder of the vegetables that arrived earlier in the week from our local organics farm, before the whole cycle begins again on Tuesday morning.

Pfennings Organics Tuesday Delivery

This was this past week's delivery.  I really like buying directly from the farm because we get so many vegetables for such a good price, and it's the freshest and most local source.  I've been doing this since I was pregnant with Lil Rascal 16 years ago, I cannot believe how the time has flown.

Of course subscribing to a service like this means that you do not get a choice about the vegetables, so when I unpack them on Tuesday morning I need to have a look and figure out what I will be cooking for the week.
By the time I get to Sunday I had better use up whatever is left before it wilts away!

My Precious

 I almost don't want to bring this up because I know that my friend Anna26 for one is going to be a bit sad, but I've had to retire the copper stock pot!  There's a new pot in town, and it's a very large Le Creuset enamel pot in an oyster grey colour.  (The interior of the copper pot had worn away to the point that the copper was exposed to the cooking which is basically like cooking your food in poison.  I have it stored in our downstairs pantry where it is admired for the object of beauty it is.)

There's a new pot in town.

 This past week I cooked up some stuffed butternut squash, I really like the smaller ones for this dish:

 I roast the squash, cut in half and placed upside down on a baking sheet covered in parchment.  After half an hour or so in a 325 oven I remove them and let them cool enough so I can scoop out the insides.  Set the shells aside while you sauce shallots or onions with any other vegetables you want to add, this time it was zucchini and a few mushrooms.  Then add in the scooped out interior, saute a bit, throw in some chestnuts if you have them and re-stuff the shells. Slide them back into the oven for a quick 15 minutes or so of further roasting.

This time of year we get so much kale with our delivery and this week I made a kale and farro dish for lunch one day:

 I simply cooked the farro to the directions with a shallot added in, then for the last five minutes or so I added some finally chopped kale.  Salt and pepper to taste, sprinkle with some shelled pistachios and voila, a super healthy green lunch.

Someone is waiting to go for her walk!
How do your Sundays play out?
xoxDani