root veggie fries

Sometimes I love to spend hours in my kitchen, stirring various pots and chopping colorful produce and tossing exotic spices.

And sometimes I’m home alone for dinner and all I want (actually, to rephrase, all I want after demolishing a large quantity of chocolate immediately after returning from work) is a big plate of parsnip fries.

  

Feeds. Your. Soul.

Fortunately, usually there is someone around and for others, if not myself, I am keen to include food groups.

A beautiful source of protein? A rainbow of beans!

This bean soup mix was a gift from my godmother, who every Christmas sends us a foodie’s dream gift basket filled with mixes from an awesome charity she supports which teaches employment skills- via food prep!- to women in poverty.

Thus, the Blessed Bean Soup.

It really is absurdly easy. I’m slightly embarassed. They even include a seasoning packet (and, um, holy deliciousness, they did I way better job than I did. Is it the fennel?! The parsley and cilantro combined? Just the right amount of cumin?)

  

Had many bowls straight up, in lunch, etc., but my favorite incarnation included more, you guessed it, root vegetable fries, in the form of butternut, Hungry-Girl-style.

They will never be a substitute for actual french fries, and any claims of that by Hungry Girl are just… silly. And mine never get particularly crisp, actually.

But mean, give me these limp orange bad boys any day. When they get all brown and caramelized like that? No words.

   

Since the oven was already on, that meal also included the squash seeds, roasted, and sure, throw some almonds in there too.

My mother said it was like being on a first class flight, the assorted roasted things :D She was just one one, actually, due to the whole having-to-fly-back-from-Antarctica-with-a-broken-pelvis situation.

 

Another night’s protein of choice: salmon cakes!

Had some salmon in the freezer that had partially thawed during that unfortunate blackout. According to my neighbor who works for USDA and patiently and sweetly answers our food safety questions (love love love Nancy) it was fine to eat, but the texture might be off.

SO, ground it up in the food processor with green onion, then seared it up in a skillet.

Wish my camera had adequately captured its beautiful pink-ness!

 

Yummy though slightly distracted cooking meant cooking for longer than optimal. Still, a slight bit of dryness was pleasantly counteracted by a walloping of Sriracha!

Plated up with, did you have to ask?, more “fries”. Parsnip. So sweet!

 

Plus, to round it all the way out, my green vegetable. Beet greens, steamed, lemon, olive oil. All I need.