Victory!

This is my beet basket. My carrot basket looks identical. My turnip one is not far behind ... I give it a day or two to catch up. We are having a Beet salad tonight from the ashram's cookbook that I KNOW is excellent and that will be the end of the beets. I will miss them, but will wait for the leafy-topped versions in the spring. Mmmm ... beets.

The success of turnip/beet/carrot consumption has been a relief. I HATE letting food spoil, although we do compost which helps but STILL! What a waste! This year was my first at the whole root cellar business and I learned quite a lot! We should have been having these food discoveries sometime back in November! Now I know. We've been keeping up with the potatoes easily with mashers. Potatoes are so forgiving. No fancy ice-water baths for them. They taste delicious even when they've sprouted. We still have a ways to go on the potato basket (which is about 3 times larger than this basket), but they're doing nicely enough as is.

Tonight's local dinner was planned for yesterday but we just had leftovers instead. I'm looking forward to this meal. I love carrot soup (CSA carrots, onion, garlic, potatoes). The beet salad (CSA beets, red onion, garlic) and mashed turnips (CSA turnips, potatoes, homemade soy milk) should be perfect accompaniments a la Shoshoni.

I had an extra cup of CSA Indian Woman beans left over from a recent meal and remembered Dreena's Roasted Chickpeas were a bit hit. These are just as good, if a bit crispier, which I like. (Have I mentioned recently how much I love that little flower on my camera? I take pictures of all the food I prepare now, just for fun.) I've also been drinking the CSA Holy Basil tea by the mug-ful! It is really delicious. I'm glad, because we have a significant amount left, even after the holiday gift giving. Mmm ... cold weather and tea just go together so well, it almost makes the plunging temps worth it! Almost.