Ancho Honey Glaze or What to do with your soup mix

Last week we got a giant bag of soup mix (rutabagas, turnips, carrots, and parsnips) in our Irv and Shelly's box. Not really feeling like making soup, we made a double batch of this lovely little glaze for roasting a chicken and the soup mix veggies (and some beets). The results were delish!

Adapted from Bon Appetit
1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons honey

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 garlic clove, minced

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

1/2 teaspoon ground ancho chiles

1/2 teaspoon ground guajillo chiles

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Stir oil, honey, lemon juice, garlic, thyme, cumin, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper in a small bowl. Season to taste with salt. Let glaze stand at least 45 minutes to allow flavors to blend.

Quinoa and Lentil Salad in an Almond Dressing with Roasted Veggies and Radicchio

So, thanks to my magic tea, the cold is nearly gone. But, what is up with this rain?!

As we all know, the end of the semester is approaching extremely quickly. So, it is once again cookcrastination time in my house. (I'm hoping to get the cleancrastination bug this weekend...) I've been dreaming up this recipe all day. It is reflective of my current effort to really minimize the presence of all animal derived products in my diet. So, far breakfast is the only real challenge, but this would be a great brunch salad! And, this little salad is inspired by one of my favorite snacks- Raw beet "chips" with almond dip. To give that lovely snack a try, make the dressing and then mandolin a raw beet into chips. Its a great alternative to standard chip + dip options!

Dressing
3/4 cup raw sliced almonds
1.5 T walnut oil
the juice of one big lemon
1.5 t shoyu (more to taste)
3 cloves garlic

Place the almonds and garlic in a small food processor. Grind until finely chopped. Drizzle in the oil, lemon juice, and shoyu. Blend until you have a thick, chunky paste. Taste and add more lemon or shoyu if the balance is off.

Salad
1 cup red quinoa
1/2 cup french lentils
2 smallish beets peeled and chopped into bite size pieces
2 large carrots peeled and chopped into bite size pieces
1 smallish head of radicchio, coarsely chopped, rinsed and dried
1 large clove garlic
juice of one lemon
giant handful of chopped parsely
salt and pepper to taste (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400. Toss the beets and carrots in a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. Roast.

Toss the chopped radicchio in the lemon juice and stir in the minced head of garlic. Set aside.

Cook the quinoa (in 2 cups water) and the lentils (in 1.5 cups water). (I did the quinoa first, tossed it with the dressing and then used the same pot to cook the lentils.)

In a LARGE bowl toss the quinoa and lentils in the dressing while still warm. If there is a tablespoon or so of water hanging out in the pot, that's fine, it will just thin the dressing and make it easier to mix. When the veggies are done, toss them with the quinoa and lentils. Let the warm part of the salad sit until just a little warmer than room temperature and then toss in the garlicky radicchio. Toss and taste. Add salt and pepper if you want it. (I didn't.) Toss in a generous amount of chopped parsley. If you're going to hold this as leftovers, I would add the parsely as you go through the salad so that you maximize its flavor.

Serves 6. Seriously, it fills my 3.5 quart bowl.

Cider-Roasted Root Vegetables

Brian and I made these for my mom when she was in town. From my Fresh Every Day cookbook, recipes from a cafe I love in Chapel Hill, NC (I use this all the time). Perfect for cooking up mysterious or abundant root veggies. I used whatever I had on hand courtesy of my Fresh Picks box, which included scarlet turnips and rutabagas. To veganize, leave out the butter and double the EVOO. Roasted parsnips are incredible.

Serves 4-6

1/4 c. cider vinegar
1/4 c. unfiltered apple juice or apple cider
2 T. olive oil
3 T. unsalted butter, melted
1 T. Dijon mustard
2 T. chopped fresh rosemary or thyme or combo or both
2 small turnips, trimmed, peeled, and quartered lengthwise
4 small potatoes, halved
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into 2-in. wedges
2 carrots, peeled and cut into 2-in. pieces
2 parsnips, peeled and cut into 2-in. pieces
Sea salt and black pepper to taste
2 T. chopped fresh parsley

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Whisk the vinegar, apple juice, oil, butter, mustard, and rosemary/thyme together in a large bowl (I skipped this step and dumped everything into the glass baking dish I roasted everything in). Add veggies and toss/stir to coat. Season with salt & pepper and spread veggies into single layer - as best you can. Roast for 45-50 mins, stirring veggies occasionally, until they are tender and light golden brown around the edges (note: I ended up roasting almost an extra hour, as I like my veggies so roasted they start to caramelize). Toss with parsley and serve warm or at room temperature.