When it comes to quick, nourishing meals, you know how much we love soups. But sometimes (dare we suggest it), we need something heartier. Here's a handful of cold-weather meals that are as satisfying as they are easy to prepare.
Browse our Community Recipes for more great recipes featuring local ingredients. Got a recipe you'd like to contribute? Send it in!
We wish we could tell you about some exciting new fruit or vegetable that only arrives with the start of the new year, but alas, this isn't the case. But there's no need to despair. Almost all the items you've grown to expect over the past couple of months should still be available locally. These include:
This month, why not make it your challenge to find new varieties of these wintry staples? Instead of regular beets, seek out festively striped choggia beets (pictured above). Pick up a kobacha squash instead of your standby acorn or butternut. See if you can scout out purple potatoes at your farmers' market.
Looking for new recipes to experiment with? Browse our Local Recipes section for menu ideas.
Photo: Flickr member Shava Nerad, via Creative Commons
Do you have a case of the midwinter cooking doldrums? It's easy to fall into the meat-and-potatoes trap at this time of year. This is where our online meal-planning tool comes in. It lets you drag and drop a week's worth of local recipes into one easy-to-read calendar.
Using the 100-Mile Challenge Meal Planner is easy:
We've created our own Midwinter Meal Plan for you to start with. It features a week's worth of hearty dishes starring seasonal ingredients such as apples, pears, squash, beets, and of course, potatoes.
And don't forget: you can always add your own recipes to our recipe collection. After you've submitted your recipe, scroll to the bottom of the recipe page to search for local food producers for all your listed ingredients.
Hearty root veggies such as carrots, rutabagas, beets, and parsnips are especially good during the colder months when we tend crave food that is more substantial.
Root vegetables are packed with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fibre. In general, they are low in calories and virtually no fat. The deeper the root vegetable's colour, the more antioxidants it contains. Carrots are well known for their beta carotene (which forms vitamin A); beets are known to deliver phytochemicals that are good for liver health and purple potatoes are loaded with anthocyanins, pigments that act as antioxidants.
Beets
Beets are sweet tasting and have the highest sugar content of any vegetable. Usually beets are deep red, but less common varieties yellow, pink-striped or white flesh are available. Young beet greens are tasty in salads or stir-fries.
Carrots
Carrots are sweet treats loaded with nutrients. One 8 oz. glass of carrot juice contains about 20,000 mg (45,000 IU) of vitamin A. Besides the recognizable orange types, there are yellow and purple carrots.
Parsnips
Parsnips look like cream coloured carrots, and though they are sweet, they have a spicy element. Unlike carrots, parsnips contain no beta-carotene but they are a good source of vitamin C and folate. Parsnips add a complex flavour to stews, soups and mashed potatoes. Parsnips can be substituted for carrots in carrot cake for an interesting change.
Potatoes
Few vegetables are as nutritious and versatile as the potato. Not only does a potato give you an excellent supply of carbohydrates, but it also provides important vitamins and minerals, including potassium, niacin, vitamins B6 and C, and manganese. For optimum fibre, eat potatoes with the skin on. Avoid potatoes with a green tinge. They are high in the alkaloid solanine, which can be toxic if eaten in large quantities.
Rutabagas
The rutabaga is a member of the cabbage family and resembles a large turnip. They contain good amounts of Vitamins A and excellent amounts of vitamin C. Typically 7.5 to 12.5 cm (3 to 5 inches) in diameter, rutabagas have a thin, pale yellow skin and a slightly sweet, firm light orange flesh.
Buying and Storing
All root vegetables are good keepers. Store them in a cool, dark, dry place around 0 to 4° C (32 to 38°F). If vegetables start to grow, the temperature is too high. If vegetables start to shrivel, the air around them is too dry.
Availability
Root vegetables are available year round. Locally they are at their best from October to March.
Preparation
Wash root vegetables well with a vegetable brush to remove dirt.
Easy ways to prepare root veggies:
Try Root Vegetables Today
Written by Veronica Sliva. Article reprinted courtesy of Food Network Canada.
Use our Local Foods Locator to find locally grown root vegetables in your area.
Browse our Community Recipes for more great recipes featuring local ingredients. Got a recipe you'd like to share? Send it in!
Hearty root veggies such as carrots, rutabagas, beets, and parsnips are especially good during the colder months when we tend crave food that is more substantial.
Root vegetables are packed with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fibre. In general, they are low in calories and virtually no fat. The deeper the root vegetable's colour, the more antioxidants it contains. Carrots are well known for their beta carotene (which forms vitamin A); beets are known to deliver phytochemicals that are good for liver health and purple potatoes are loaded with anthocyanins, pigments that act as antioxidants.
Beets
Beets are sweet tasting and have the highest sugar content of any vegetable. Usually beets are deep red, but less common varieties yellow, pink-striped or white flesh are available. Young beet greens are tasty in salads or stir-fries.
Carrots
Carrots are sweet treats loaded with nutrients. One 8 oz. glass of carrot juice contains about 20,000 mg (45,000 IU) of vitamin A. Besides the recognizable orange types, there are yellow and purple carrots.
Parsnips
Parsnips look like cream coloured carrots, and though they are sweet, they have a spicy element. Unlike carrots, parsnips contain no beta-carotene but they are a good source of vitamin C and folate. Parsnips add a complex flavour to stews, soups and mashed potatoes. Parsnips can be substituted for carrots in carrot cake for an interesting change.
Potatoes
Few vegetables are as nutritious and versatile as the potato. Not only does a potato give you an excellent supply of carbohydrates, but it also provides important vitamins and minerals, including potassium, niacin, vitamins B6 and C, and manganese. For optimum fibre, eat potatoes with the skin on. Avoid potatoes with a green tinge. They are high in the alkaloid solanine, which can be toxic if eaten in large quantities.
Rutabagas
The rutabaga is a member of the cabbage family and resembles a large turnip. They contain good amounts of Vitamins A and excellent amounts of vitamin C. Typically 7.5 to 12.5 cm (3 to 5 inches) in diameter, rutabagas have a thin, pale yellow skin and a slightly sweet, firm light orange flesh.
Buying and Storing
All root vegetables are good keepers. Store them in a cool, dark, dry place around 0 to 4° C (32 to 38°F). If vegetables start to grow, the temperature is too high. If vegetables start to shrivel, the air around them is too dry.
Availability
Root vegetables are available year round. Locally they are at their best from October to March.
Preparation
Wash root vegetables well with a vegetable brush to remove dirt.
Easy ways to prepare root veggies:
Try Root Vegetables Today
Written by Veronica Sliva. Article reprinted courtesy of Food Network Canada.
Use our Local Foods Locator to find locally grown root vegetables in your area.
Browse our Community Recipes for more great recipes featuring local ingredients. Got a recipe you'd like to share? Send it in!
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