Monday Nutrition Tip of the Week

It's time for another produce aisle challenge!

This week, try to pick up a vegetable you've never tried before and fix it for dinner. I fixed two new things in the past week -- one was great, the other not so much.

First, the "not so much." I made Roasted Root Vegetables from Missy Costello, Tony Horton's personal chef. This recipe was great! One of the ingredients I chose to use, however, was kinda gross. Before I explain any further, here's the recipe:

Roasted Root Vegetables

1 large yam, peeled and cut into 1” cubes
2 parsnips, peeled and cut into 1” chunks
1 new potato, peeled and cut into 1" chunks
3 beets, peeled and cut into 1” cubes
3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1” chunks
7 whole cloves of garlic, peeled
Fresh herbs of your choice (e.g., rosemary, thyme, or marjoram)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Sea salt to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Place all cut vegetables in a bowl with fresh herbs and sea salt and drizzle with olive oil. Stir well or mix with hands to coat evenly. Place in glass casserole dish and cover tightly with foil. Bake for 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Remove foil and let brown in oven for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Instead of a yam, I used a sweet potato. (Is there a difference there? I feel like there is, but I'm not sure what.) I could not find parsnips, so I decided to substitute another root vegetable, turnips.

Ever had one of these babies? I peeled a couple, cut them into one-inch pieces and added them to my other veggies. They're kind of yellow when cooked, and they looked a lot like the new potato. But sheesh! They were bitter and stringy. I ended up picking them out and not eating them. 

For my second new vegetable of the week, I tried rutabaga. It's a root vegetable, too, and is described as a cross between a wild cabbage and a turnip. But don't let that put you off -- these were really good!

I fixed them as a side to venison hamburger steaks. You fix rutabaga much like mashed potatoes; just peel, cube, boil, and then mash. I mashed them with some water, olive oil, a little butter, salt, and pepper. They looked like chunky yellow mashed potatoes, and had a mild taste that mixed really well with the hamburger steak. Rutabaga can be cooked and prepared many different ways, and it's one I'll try again!

With so much information out there on the Internet about how to prepare all kinds of different vegetables, there's no excuse not to branch out! You might find a new favorite.

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Workout of the Day:

A friend of mine let us borrow her "Brazil Butt Lift." We did the 35-minute "Bum Bum" (that's pronounced Boom Boom, for the uninitiated) workout. Yes, Zach had to check his Man Card at the door to do this workout. Yes, my Bum Bum hurts now. Product review forthcoming...