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Spiced Carrot Soup ​
This carrot soup is really easy to put together and has the perfect warm fall flavors. To get it nice and silky smooth you do need a blender or immersion blender. It’s very comforting and sweet, with a hint of harissa spice and coconut.This recipe makes a big pot: 6-10 servings depending on how much soup you like to eat.

Ingredient
1 lb of carrots, peeled & roughly chopped
1 onion (white or yellow), peeled & roughly chopped
1 apple, peeled, cored & roughly chopped
3-6 garlic cloves, peeled & left whole
1 Tbsp coconut or olive oil
1-2 Tbsp harissa (you can use dry or a paste, if you can’t find any you could also use a curry powder)
1 can of coconut milk
2-4 cups of vegetable stock (less if you like a thicker soup, more if you like a thinner soup)
salt & pepper to taste

​Serve it up! 
I always serve this soup with a side of white rice, especially if I’m just having this for my main meal. You can make some great garnishes too- a spiced sour cream topping, a drizzle of basil oil, or chopped vegan bacon all goes really well. But my FAVORITE topping is chhonk.

To make a chhonk you just need to fry aromatics like dried & fresh herbs in some hot fat. Here’s how I make a simple one for this soup:Heat a few teaspoons of oil on low heat until it’s glistening. Toss in a teaspoon of whole mustard seeds until they start to pop a bit. Then add about 1/4 of fresh sage leaves and give them a quick toss in the oil to coat.
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That’s it! You can use any herbs/spices that you prefer, but I love the taste of the sage with this sweet and creamy soup. The fresh herbs get nice and crispy and the dried herbs get beautifully toasty and aromatic. I just pile the chhonk on top of the soup along with any remaining oil since it’s so nicely infused with the spices.

​Cabbage rolls are a bit labor intensive, great for a weekend project, but they're worth it. They make for excellent comfort food on a cold grey day, with rice and meat rolled up in cabbage leaves and simmered in a tangy tomato sauce. 

​Makes 6-8 servings

Ingredients
1 large green cabbage
1 yellow onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups tomato puree or sauce
1.5 cups ground beef, crumbled tofu, cooked lentils or other meat of your choice
1.5 cups cooked rice or grain of your choice
1 tbsp grapeseed oil (or whatever kind you like) 
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
salt, pepper + optional herbs like dill or parsley

Method of Preparation
1.Preheat your oven to 375°

2. Boil your cabbage in a big pot of salted water for about 5 minutes. 

3. You want it to be soft but not mushy. Drain + cool slightly, then carefully peel off the largest outer leaves. You need about 8-12. Remove the thick ribs of the leaves so they can lay relatively flat.

4. Take the remaining cabbage and remove the core. Chop and put in the bottom of a 8x13 baking dish.

5. Heat oil in a saucepan and add your onion. Sauté until it starts to become translucent, then add the garlic and cook until it’s fragrant. Toss half of this mixture into a bowl and add your meat, cooked rice, a little salt & pepper plus whatever seasonings you dig. 

6. Add tomato puree to the pan with the remaining onion & garlic along with the sugar and vinegar. Simmer with a lid on for about 10 minutes. 

7.Add half of the tomato sauce to your rice mixture and stir until it’s well combined. 

8. Lay out your first cabbage leaf and add 1/8th of the filling. You can use two leaves if they are small or have holes. fold in the sides around the filling and roll like a little burrito.

9. Repeat with the remaining filling and leaves. Set the rolls in the baking dish, seam side down, on top of the chopped cabbage. Pour over the remaining tomato sauce. 

10. Cover with foil, and cook for about 40 minutes. Uncover and broil for another 5 minutes. 

Serve & enjoy! ​

Here's with another quick pickle, this time with carrots. The liquid for this one is a little more tart and less sweet than my picked radish recipe, just because the carrots have their own sweetness. I use a 3-2-1 ratio which is super easy to remember when you want some pickles of the fly. You can use this simple recipe to quick pickle just about anything… watermelon rinds, green beans… the possibilities are endless. You can also throw in flavorings like dill, juniper berries, mustard seeds. This is a nice blank canvas that you can make your own. I love adding picked carrots to salads, sandwiches and even as a garnish on soups when you need a nice acidic bite to balance things out. ​

Ingredients
2 cups of carrots- sliced thin or in ribbons
1.5 cups of vinegar (I like to use a combo of white vinegar and rice wine for this recipe) 
1 cup of water
1/2 cup of sugar
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Method of Preparation

1. Wash and cut your carrots. You want them to be fairly thin to be able to pickle quickly in the fridge. If you want to do large pieces of carrots you’ll have to boil them up a bit to soften. Add your carrots to a glass jar with a lid. 
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2. Boil the water, vinegar and sugar together, stirring to dissolve everything together. 

3. Pour the hot liquid into the jar right on top of the carrots, making sure everything is covered completely. 

4. If some of your veggies are sitting up above the level of the brine you can add a layer of parchment paper to keep everything submerged. 

5. These will be ready to enjoy later the same day, but they get even better after 24 hours. They’ll keep in the fridge for at least a week if not more.
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​Each year I get into obsessions with certain foods as they come into season. It’s always my way to use up as much produce as possible when it’s fresh. This spring with all my lettuce I’ve been making caesar salads. Each time I make it, I use the same dressing - but I always mix up the produce and crouton bread. Fresh crouton are so quick and easy to make and very underrated. You should definitely start making your own. I’ll tell you about how I prepare each of the components, but please use whatever ratio of dressing, greens, and bread chunks that you like. This vegan caesar salad dressing is great for folks with allergies and comes together in just a few minutes.

Caesar Dressing 
4 Tbsp vegan mayo, sour cream or tahini
2 Tbsp chopped green olive or capers 
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 Tbsp maple syrup
1/2 Tbsp mustard 
1/2 Tbsp liquid aminos or soy sauce  
garlic powder to taste
TONS of black pepper
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Add everything to a bowl and whisk together. I like to add a lot of fresh black pepper to set it off.  The olives, lemon, and soy are all pretty intense so I say DO NOT add any salt salt. This is great in salads but you can also use it as a spread on sandwiches. 
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​The Greens
Any type of lettuce works. I have been using tender white silesian and this red romaine. If you have them, use some fresh herbs or mix in some spinach. Use whatever you have and like, just make sure to wash and dry it well. To add more crunch to sort of wilty lettuce, I’ll soak it in a bowl of water for awhile and then spin dry. 

I like to keep my caesar salads to just a few simple ingredients, but this makes a really good background to things like radishes, snap peas, or whatever other fresh salad things you like. ​

​Crouton Crouton
I always make croutons out of whatever types of bread that I have laying around. Sourdough is a classic, but I really love making them out of english muffins, naan, hamburger buns… literally whatever you have. In the time it takes to preheat the oven, you can have them ready to go in. Here’s what you need: 

This makes enough for 4 big, dinner-sized salads- I use about 1 serving of bread & 1 tsp of olive oil per person. 

4 pieces of bread- english muffins, buns, or slices. 
4 tsp olive oil
1-2 garlic cloves or 1 tsp garlic powder
herbs/spices like oregano, basil, thyme, chili powder (choose whatever you like or skip it) 
salt & pepper
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Preheat your oven to 375°F. Chop your bread into bite-sized cubes and add to a bowl. Warm up your oil in a pan and add minced garlic. Cook gently for a few minutes until garlic is fragrant, then add whatever seasonings you like. Toss your bread cubes in the oil and spread out on a lined baking sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes. It may take longer depending on the type of bread you use, just give them a check every few minutes. Remove when they are golden brown and crispy.

​​Method of Preparation
1. Start by making your mix-in. Heat 1 tsp of oil and sauteed the sausage until cooked, then add the garlic and cook for a few minutes. Next, toss in the yellow squash and cook until it softens. In the last few minutes add spinach and wilt.  Set this aside in a bowl to add to your finished risotto. 

2. Add vegetable stock to a pot on your stove and keep it warm. I like to use a salted stock sso that the dish is seasoned all throughout cooking. If using an unsalted stock you’re going to want to season with sprinkles of salt as you go. You’re going to be adding this stock in stages to your rice so you want it close by on a gentle simmer. 

3. In a large, wide pan with straight sides heat your oil & butter on medium heat. Add diced onion and cook while stirring until it starts to become translucent (not browned). Season with salt & pepper. Get ready because you’ll have to stay at the stove for a good long while. Pour yourself a drink, put on some tunes, and make sure you have a back-up person to stir if you need to run to the bathroom. 

4. Add your raw Arborio rice to the pan and toss to coat in the oil. Stir for 2 minutes to ever-so-slightly toast the rice and get it ready for the stock. 

5. Add 1/2 cup of the warm stock to your pot and stir until almost all of the liquid is absorbed. You shouldn’t see any puddles of liquid at the bottom of the pan at all. 

6. Continue to add your stock in 1/2 cup increments- each time stirring until there’s no more liquid in the pan. This can take awhile but please don’t be tempted to crank up the heat to have this go faster. You want the liquid to go into the rice, not evaporate. 

7. Your rice will start to double, then triple in size as the stock is absorbed. Once you have about 2 cups of the stock left to add- give it a taste. You want the rice to be cooked through without any crunchy bits in the center. If it’s not quite there, keep adding your stock in small additions until all the rice is very soft and the liquid is creamy. 

If your rice isn’t quite cooked and you run out of stock, you can use plain warm water for another cup or so. 

8. Once your rice is fully cooked, add in your mix-ins that you cooked earlier. You can also add some shredded cheese at this point or a spoonful of pesto depending on what flavors you’re going for. 

9. Plate up while it’s still warm. This dish is something you want to serve right away, otherwise it can get pretty thick!

That’s it! Rice, onion & stock along with your favorite toppings. The ingredients are simple, but the technique is a really fun one to master. This dish does take a lot of stirring but you can use it as a nice meditative practice and I promise, the results are totally worth it.

​​This recipe is a fresh pickle that you can make little batches of based on what you have on hand. Flavor it however you like and adjust salt and sweet to your taste. I like to make this mostly with radish, but you could do cucumber, carrot, peppers… whatever. These can last up to a month in the fridge but I usually like to eat them within a week or two.

​This time of year lends itself wonderfully to brunch. Family and friends in town, homes full of cheer and excitement. Everyone slows down a little bit to enjoy all that is going on around them. The snow this weekend forced me to stay home and really be productive in the Holiday preparations department. Part of my “home weekend” included creating these three beautiful dishes with my Root 5 Farm vegeatables: pan cooked potato patties, kale and tomato quiche, and glazed carrots. I hope you turn on some tunes, ask your friends or family for a hand and dive in!

Ingredients for Potato Patties:
1 bag Root 5 red potatoes, washed and trimmed
8 Tbsp butter (divided)
1 stock rosemary, trimmed and chopped
2 green onions, trimmed and chopped
1 clove garlic
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tsp pepper
1⁄3 cup half and half

Method:
Boil the potatoes in a medium size pot, until tender to the touch of a spoon. Drain and place the potatoes back in the pot. Add 4 Tbsp butter, herbs, garlic, salt, pepper and half and half. Smash well, using a hand held masher, an electric mixer makes the mixture too whipped for these. Next, transfer the mixture into a bowl and refrigerate at least 1 hour. Once the potatoes have chilled, form into 4-6 inch rounds and ready a cast iron pan by heating 2 Tbsp butter over high heat. The butter should be VERY hot before placing the potatoes in the pan. The secret here is to make sure your potatoes are good and chilled and your pan is hot and buttery!

Some of you may know that my Dad writes cookbooks for a living. This has been his career for more than 30 years. He is a Pie master of sorts, and I like to think some of this has rubbed off on me. I love making home made crusts, and playing around with all different types of flour and recipes. I would like to give my Dad credit for most of this crust method, excluding my flour combo. This requires a food processor.

​Ingredients: The Crust
10 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into inch cubes
1 cup whole grain spelt flour
1⁄2 cup all purpose flour
1 1⁄2 Tsp cornstarch
1⁄2 Tsp salt
2 Tsp white vinegar
1⁄3 cup COLD water

​Method: Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Place the dry ingredients in the bowl of your food processor. Pulse 7-10 times quickly. Add 1⁄2 of the cold butter cubes. Pulse 5 more times, followed by one 5 second pulse. Remove the lid of the food processor and scrape the sides if necessary. Add the remaining butter and repeat. Add the vinegar and cold water by gently sprinkling evenly over the mixture in the bowl of the food processor.

Ingredients: The Filling
6 eggs
2 cups 1⁄2 and 1⁄2
1⁄2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 onion, sliced into half moons
1 head Root 5 Kale, trimmed and chopped
1 package organic grape tomatoes, halved
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp butter
Salt and pepper

Method:
The best way to prepare to assemble a quiche is in steps:
Step 1:Whisk together the eggs and half and half and set aside. You can lightly salt and pepper the egg mixture. Set aside.

Step 2: Grate the cheese and set aside.

Step 3: Place the butter in a medium skillet and heat for one minute over low. Add the onions and salt them gently. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Add the kale and cook an additional 5 minutes covered.

Step 4: Cut the tomatoes in half and place on a baking sheet. Toss with olive oil, and again, light salt and pepper. I used the toaster oven to gently cook the tomatoes. You can also cook them in the preheating oven for the quiche. Cook at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes. Or in the preheating oven for 15.

Step 5: Roll out the dough. Do this by lightly covering a work space in flour. Remove the dough ball from freezer and begin to roll into a round large enough to sit into a standard pie pan (as shown). Once you have a nice size round, about 13 inches round if using a standard pie dish, invert the crust into the pan and press the edges down using a fork, around the outer edge of the crust. Place back in the freezer until you are ready to assemble.

To assemble the Quiche:
Gather all your prepared fillings and set the crust nearby. Add the kale and onions mixture, followed by the cheese. Next pour the eggs mixture over the top. Add the tomatoes, one at a time, placing evenly over the top of the egg mixture. You are ready to rock. Place the quiche in the preheated oven on the middle rack. Cook for 20 minutes and then transfer to the top rack. Cook and additional 30 minutes, until the middle of the quiche is set. Remove from the oven and let sit for at least 30 minutes before serving.

FYI:​ This crust works well with all sorts of pastries and pies. It is wonderful for a galette, a tart or even a sweet pie!

These are soft, sweet and delicious. Baking them in a covered pan allows the maple/butter combo to settle into the carrots instead of evaporating. I have a hunch these will be a big hit with the kiddos too!

Method:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. While the stove is preheating prepare the carrots by washing, trimming and cutting. Set aside. In a large cast iron pan heat the butter and maple over low heat. Stir in the salt and pepper and add the carrots. Add the rosemary sprigs, mix gently.

Cover with foil and keep over low heat before transferring into the preheated oven. Bake covered for 50 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes uncovered. Transfer onto a serving platter (there will be lots of tasty maple butter to pour atop the carrots). Place an additional sprig of rosemary on the serving platter with the carrots if you desire.