5 Reasons Seasonal Eating Is Worth the Effort

1. Fresh and full of flavor! Often local and farmer markets will have picked their produce within 24 hours of your purchase which allows them to be at peak ripeness. I wonder how long that produce from another country has been “in-waiting” through the shipping and storing process? I can guarantee more than 24 hours!

2. More nutrient rich! Nutrient value decreases when produce is stored for lengthy time frames. Fresh, seasonal foods offer more nutrients thus more benefit to your health and disease prevention. Produce picked and eaten at its peak generally has more vitamins, minerals and antioxidants than foods harvested before they’re ripe and then shipped long distances

3. Safer food supply! The more steps there are between you and your food’s source the more chances there are for contamination.

4. Good for the environment and local economy! Supporting local farmers is an economical plus. Reduction in the pollution created from production & shipping allows you to be the earth loving tree hugger you have always yearned to be! (hehe…if you already are you will be even better at it) Eating seasonally often means eating locally grown foods, so it’s good for the environment too: It supports small and midsize local farmers, cuts down on pollution from shipping and trucking food and reduces your carbon footprint.

5. More cost effective! And if all that’s not enough to get you to make some simple switches in your diet, consider this: In-season foods save you money.

Food is easier to grow and generally offers more abundant crops thus the prices will naturally be lower for the foods in season. If you garden….it almost feels like FREE FOOD (minus the seeds, fertilizer and sweat).

Some Cooking Techniques for Fall

When the weather gets cool, our bodies need warmth. For a more warming effect from your food, slow down the cooking. The longer and slower these foods cook, the more warming the effect they will have on your body. Roasting in the oven one way to create more heat along with braising, stewing smoking, making soup, simmering slow and low for a long time, crock pot, roasting. The longer you cook something, the more warming effect it will have. 

When I wake up in the morning, I want to eat a hot bowl of oatmeal, for lunch I want hot soup, warming foods for dinner. It’s only natural that I want these foods – I’m trying to stay warm and my body wants foods that are warming and cooking methods that are warming. Fall cooking methods and foods natural available in the fall complement one another. Heartier fruits and vegetables take longer to cook than summer vegetables, and make flavorful healthy additions to warming soups and stews. These ingredients are suited to cooler weather cooking methods. 

Cooked food:

• deeply nourishes your body

• is easier to digest

• helps your body build and maintain heat

• lessens the work your body must do to keep warm when it’s cold outside

• alleviates stress

We roasted carrot, delicata, maitake in the oven. Toss w grapeseed oil, avocado oil, olive oil or any other neutral flavored high smoke point oil (salt/pep if you wish) in the oven at 425.

Quinoa
Makes around 3 cups

1 cup dry quinoa

Rinse the quinoa in a sieve, then transfer it to a medium pot over medium heat. Stir continuously with a wooden spoon until the quinoa is dry and fragrant, then add 1 3⁄4 cups water. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce to a simmer. Cook until tender and the water is absorbed, about 18-20 minutes. Remove the lid, fluff the quinoa with a fork and return the lid and steam for 5 minutes. (If you’d like to serve it cool, turn it out in an even layer on a sheet tray to hasten the cooling.)

Yogurt Paprika Chicken with Lemon
(Adapted from Kimberley Hasselbrink’s recipe in Vibrant Food)
Serves 4

¾ cup plain Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 pounds chicken thighs and drumsticks
2 lemons, halved
Chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish 

In a large mixing bowl, combine the yogurt, ginger, paprika, cumin, garlic, lemon juice, and salt. Toss the chicken into the marinade, generously coating all sides of the meat. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Remove the chicken from the fridge and arrange in a single layer on a roasting pan. Nestle the lemon halves among the pieces of chicken. Roast for about 30 minutes, until the chicken registers 165 degrees on an instant-read thermometer.

Finish the chicken 6 inches under the broiler for 3 to 5 minutes, until the chicken is just beginning to blacken in places. Garnish with a generous sprinkle of chopped cilantro. Serve with the roasted lemons on the side to squeeze over the chicken.

Braised Beets

4-6 medium-sized beets, tops and tails removed
Sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 425°.

Place the beets in a roasting dish and fill with water 1/3 of the way up the beets. Add a generous 3-4 glugs of oil, and 2-3 generous pinches of salt and pepper. Roll the beets around, so that they’ve been coated on all sides, then cover with parchment paper and tinfoil. 

Cook for 30 minutes, then remove from the oven, carefully pull back the tinfoil and roll the beets so that the side that was submerged in the liquid is above the surface. Recover and continue to cook for 20-30 minutes, until a chef’s knife can easily slide through the center of the beets. (Adjust cook time based on the size of the beets.)

Carefully peel back foil and parchment and use tongs to transfer the beets to a plate or dish to cool. Once cool enough to handle, remove the skins with your hands, wearing gloves to prevent your hands from staining, if you wish. 

Store in the refrigerator in an air-tight container for up to a week.

Apple Cider Reduction
Adapted from Katherine Deumling, Cook With What You Have
Add to salad dressings, yogurt, smoothies – wherever you’d like a tangy sweetener.

Makes 2 cups

1 gallon apple cider or unfiltered, unsweetened apple juice

In a large pot or saucepan bring the cider to a boil. Boil rapidly, uncovered, until the liquid has reduced to approximately two cups of syrup and the consistency is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. This can take 40 to 90 minutes depending on the size of your cooking vessel, the power of your stove, etc. 

When slightly cooled, pour into jars (I use half-pint jam jars) and refrigerate or freeze when cool. Keeps for six months in the fridge and up to a year in the freezer.

We roasted maitake mushrooms, whole carrots, kabocha squash, delicata squash, Asian pear and we braised beets.