Low fat high fiber and delicious salad thing

I'm eating this by the pound. It's a little drastic on the GI system at first but I'm convinced I'll get over it. Anyhow, it's delicious, interesting and pretty which counts the most. It might be my new go-to for parties and tailgating at polo.

Supplies:

• 1 Kohlrabi. Medium size. Google it, it's a good one to know.
  
• 1 Beet, same size as your kohlrabi, or 2 small ones Golden beets might be prettier in this. I'm undecided.
  
• carrots. Don't be shy
• Kale. A bunch. there is no science to kale, just know that it shrinks way more than you think. Maybe a bunch, or just less than half a bag. Whatever makes your skirt fly up.
• Balsamic vinegar
• Agave or honey
• Flaxseed oil. Optional but adds a delicious nutty yumminess
  

Get a cheese grater if you're cheap, a mandoline or food processor if you're fancy. Grate the carrot, kohlrabi, beet (incidentally, any of these is also delicious atop a real salad and makes beets palatable even though I find them vaguely gross in big pieces)

Steam the kale for 10-15 minutes. strain, rinse with cold water and squeeze the hell out of it. Then put the green lump on your cutting board and chop the shit out of it. Small pieces are key, and you don't want big stems. The big stems are like impossible to digest. I won't tell you how I know (you're welcome)

Mix the kale with the beet, kohlrabi and carrot mixture. Pour some balsamic, some agave and some flaxseed oil on top. I can be no more specific that that, to each their own, etc. Don't overdo it though, you can't take it back!

Toss well.

Go to town.

Pot roast bitches!

I made this last night, unreal. The cloves add the littlest bit of flavor to round out the juice. For the wine I used a cheap fruity zinfandel I had kicking around. I split it with the pot roast.

2lb chuck roast. You could do others, but what you want is a reasonably marbled cut of meat.
Onion
2 Cloves
Bay leaf
thyme
rosemary
Cheap red wine
1 Can beef stock, or 1 cups BTB beef stock
Mushrooms
Carrots
Potatoes
Turnips (optional)
Olive Oil

You need a dutch oven for this. If you don't have one, get one. 3.5 Qt for 2 people meals will usually do you, and they sell nice ones at TJ Maxx.

Trim the giant bits of fat that you can get off the meat. There's no need to be excessive.

Heat oven to 275.

Heat the oil in the pan, over med-high flame, and salt the meat while that's heating. I would like to take a moment to recommend Jane's crazy mixed up salt over plain salt. Also, for cooking, kosher salt is the poo.

Drop the meat in the pan, and brown one side, about 5 minutes. You want a nice crisp brown coating on it, be very careful not to burn. Repeat for other side, and if the meat is thick I also do the edge sides. Remove from pan.

Cut the onion in half, and place both halves cut side down in the pan to brown. Again, don't burn.

Remove the onion from the pan, pour in about a glass of red wine- I just dump what's left of mine at this point and refill. It will reduce drastically because the pan is so hot. During this time, be scraping the pan bottom with a wooden spoon to deglaze. After a minute or so, add the can of beef broth and finish deglazing. Turn off the burner.

Add the meat to the pot, put one of the onion halves in. For the other half, use 2 cloves to peg a bay leaf to the outer edge. Put this half, BAY LEAF SIDE DOWN into the pan. The meat and onions should take up most of the room in the pan, and be about half covered by broth/wine. Sprinkle some thyme and rosemary in there.

Put the lid on the pan and place in oven. Cook for 45 minutes, flip the meat, cook for another 45 minutes. Chop the vegetables you plan to add and just put them in the pan on top of the meat. Cook for another hour or so, until the veggies are done and the meat is fork tender. Remove meat and veggies to a platter, strain the broth into a sauce pan and reduce or thicken with Wondra.

I fork shred the meat and put a bunch on everyone's plate. It looks especially impressive on a bed of wilted kale. There will have been little deposits of fat inside that didn't quite liquefy, so work around those and get rid of them unless you're into that. Most of the meat will be falling apart because the long slow cook liquefies all the collagen between.

Enjoy!

Delicious Roasted Squash and Sweet Potato Soup

Chef's Note: This soup is bad ass. (No seriously, I rule!) This recipe is a nod to intuition, which is so vital to creative culinary success. You can't teach that shit. My other inspirations for this soup were:

A. Kerry, who instilled the virtues of acorn squash and all vegetables roasted to their individual glory
B. My sage plants, which are the only living plants left in my garden right now. Their will to survive and be used in my kitchen deserves a moment of recognition.

You will need:

2 acorn squash
1 medium butternut squash
1 giant sweet potato or yam
1 Granny Smith apple, de-cored, peeled and cut into smaller pieces (Don't skip this!!)
1/3 of a medium onion chopped
2 T butter
5 large sage leaves
olive oil
nutmeg
cinnamon
5 cups of chicken stock
cayenne or paprika
creme fraiche or sour cream if desired

Preheat oven to 375. Cut squash down the middle length wise. Scoop out seeds and stringy flesh. Rub with a little oil olive and sprinkle lightly with nutmeg. Cut the sweet potato in half length wise. Place the squash and the potato cut side down on a baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes.

In a heavy saute pan, over medium low heat , melt the butter and cook the apple with the onion and chopped sage until the apples are soft and the onions are opaque. Sprinkle with a little cinnamon and nutmeg. Cook appx 20 minutes.

Once the squash and potato are cooked and have cooled to the touch, scrape the flesh of the veggies into a mixing bowl, add the apple mixture to the veggies. Begin adding this mixture into a food processor to puree. Stop here. Savor. *Consider serving this as a side dish all by itself.

Mix puree into a large sauce pan with the chicken stock. Sprinkle with a dash of cayenne. Heat until its hot. Garnish with a small dollop of creme fraiche and serve.

Mmm Mmm Mmm!