Tag: Vegetables

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Lessons Learned From a Lifetime of Cooking #10

I’ve always preferred baking sweet potatoes over boiling and mashing sweet potatoes because my boiled version always turned out watery.

I just learned you have to boil the peeled sweet potatoes whole. After about 45-50 minutes check to see if the potatoes are cooked through. Then drain and return to the cooking pot. Turn the heat on to low and start smashing, and mashing while constantly stirring to avoid burning (I use a wooden spoon). After about five minutes a good amount of moisture will have evaporated from the potatoes. This is why sweet potatoes made this way aren’t too loose and watery. Add a splash of milk or half and half, a bunch of butter, salt and pepper to taste.

Memo to Self – buy more sweet potatoes, eat more sweet potatoes.

Photo by wr heustis on Pexels.com
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Eat More Broccoli

In this new study, published in Nature Microbiology, Professor Anders Rosengren and colleagues have instead looked at prediabetes. This condition is a precursor to type 2 diabetes, with slowly rising blood sugar levels due to impaired insulin production.

The study encompassed 89 people with elevated fasting blood sugar, an indicator of prediabetes. Other criteria included the participants being overweight or obese and 35-75 years old.

The participants were randomly assigned sulforaphane or a placebo for twelve weeks. Neither the participants nor the researchers knew who was assigned which. A total of 74 participants completed all stages of the study.

The results show that participants taking the sulforaphane compound had a higher average reduction in fasting blood sugar than those taking the placebo. The difference between the two groups in the study was considerable.

University of Gothenburg. “Reduced prediabetes in people who ate broccoli compound.” ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/02/250214003212.htm (accessed February 21, 2025).

Eat More Broccoli. Sauteed in extra virgin olive oil and garlic. Lots of garlic.

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Lessons Learned From a Lifetime of Cooking #9

Celery leaves. I always tossed them out until The Boss informed me she doesn’t like big chunks of celery in dishes I make that use celery for an ingredient. I recently discovered you can use celery leaves like a fresh herb, finely chopped and added to your creation in lieu of big chunks of celery. So far I haven’t gotten any complaints about the tiny green stuff floating in the soup.

10 Ways To Use Celery Leaves In The Kitchen.

Read More: https://www.tastingtable.com/1572645/uses-celery-leaves/

Memo to Self – instead of buying celery with less leaves buy celery with more leaves, especially bunches with dark green leaves which have a more intense flavor than the stalks.

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Papa’s Corn Salad

Remember Corn Salad – Lessons From a Lifetime of Cooking #5 ?

Well, I’ve already doctored up the recipe and made a batch to go along with a grilled burger. You’ll need:

  • One 10 ounce package of frozen organic corn
  • 1 or 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
  • 1/ 4 cup red onion, finely minced
  • 1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
  • 1 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded cut into small cubes
  • 1 Tablespoon fresh lime juice
  • 1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • about 1 tsp honey
  • 1 handful fresh rinsed and minced parsley,
  • 1 handful fresh rinsed and minced basil
  • salt and black pepper to taste

Do this:

  • Put the bag of corn in the microwave and do not follow the instructions on the bag
  • Cook for four minutes, carefully remove the bag from the microwave, open while not trying to burn yourself, dump into a colander and rinse with cold water. Allow to drain and dry.
  • In a large mixing bowl, mix the dressing ingredients lime juice, vinegar, honey, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Add the garlic and red onion. Mix well. Taste and adjust seasonings.
  • Add the corn, tomatoes, cucumber, basil, parsley. Toss.
  • Cover and refrigerate. Serve lightly chilled or at room temperature.

You’ll have enough for four healthy servings. Don’t forget the Feta cheese or forget the Feta cheese if you want to keep the salad vegan.

Took a taste. Nailed it.

(again, this is not an actual picture of the salad but an AI generated picture of the salad which looks awfully close to the real thing)

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Fresh or Frozen? Let’s Talk About Spinach

“When fresh spinach sits during transportation over long distances or stays in your refrigerator for a week, its folate content drops so much that frozen spinach becomes the better source,” Mary Ellen Phipps, MPH, RDN, LD, wrote for CNBC in 2022.

This is because frozen spinach often goes through a flash-freezing process just hours after it has been harvested, which helps to lock more of its nutrients in. “One cup of frozen spinach has more than four times the amount of nutrients, including iron, vitamin C, and calcium, compared to a cup of fresh spinach,” adds Phipps. https://vegnews.com/best-form-of-spinach Fresh is Best? Not Always When It Comes to Spinach

Photo by Lisa Fotios on Pexels.com
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Corn Salad – Lessons From a Lifetime of Cooking #5

I have never made nor eaten corn salad. Until today. Time to make a short story long.

The Two Tiny Tornadoes and Their Mom came to the house this past weekend. Along with the toys, stuffies and other assorted things Tiny Humans pack on trips our favorite Okie DIL brought a bag full of fresh cucumbers from her parents’ backyard garden. So what do you do with a bunch of fresh cucumbers?

The Boss was reading The Oklahoman and came across a recipe for corn salad by blogger Chula King in an article in the Tallahassee Democrat. I couldn’t find a link to the article in my local digital newspaper so I went to the source.

https://pudgefactor.com/easy-fresh-corn-salad-summer-in-a-bowl/#recipe

This salad is so super simple and tasty we have immediately decided to include it in our regular summer salad rotation.

Check it out. We added feta cheese and used organic frozen corn instead of fresh. Otherwise we followed the recipe to a T.

And that’s how you eat up a bunch of fresh cucumbers.

(this is not an actual picture of the salad I made but an AI generated picture)

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