Weird Vegetable Experiment!

Here's an update for you~

According to "52 Small Changes: A Year to a Happier, Healthier You" book I'm following with my friend Lorie, we are supposed to "Eat more vegetables" this week as one of the small changes.

But I always eat veggies and love them....so how to add "more?"
I have added eating, either a salad or a lunch of veggies everyday. Been enjoying that and I also decided that once a week, I could serve a dinner that is features vegetables only with no protein or carb included.

So to kick it up a notch, and a bit just for fun....I took a shopping trip to Wegman's and my mission was to find some fun veggies to cook with, and in particular, I stretched myself to find things I've never had or cooked with before!

Basically, my approach was this, pull up to the produce section with my cart, look around... if I saw a very unusual item of produce, and my first thought was "WTF are you??"- I then put it in the shopping cart and made a note to research it and cook it!
It WAS great fun!

I found some adventure in the art of cooking!

I also enjoyed some veggies that I've used before, but splurged on colorful veggies as well as those that I really love eating. For our "veggie dinner" this week, I made Colcannon and great salad made from Kumatoes, brine soaked feta and seedless cucumber. It was filling and very tasty!

Here are some of the veggies that I adventurously delighted in this week...

Seedless Cucumber (also called "English Cucumber") These were not much different than regular cukes in taste. I found that they weren't as "wet" or soggy as the ones I usually buy...and there were no seeds. I liked it right fine. Would buy it again.

Kumato- Brown tomatoes?? YES. The sign said that Kumatos were "sweeter than Beefsteak tomatoes, and they were right. VERY flavorful and wonderful! A bit unnerving in the color, but made up for it in taste.

Multi colored peppers- I always love buying these! They are great for snacks. A bagful of little sized multicolored baby sweet peppers! Red, yellow and orange and they made anything I cooked a beautiful fiesta color and added a delicious flavor. I even stuffed a few in Shawna's lunch bag for a treat. :)

Gemstone Potatoes- These were small baby potatoes of different colors! White, beige, brown, purple, red. Too cute NOT to buy!! I love potatoes~ I wonder if they'll taste any different?
Jicama- will be using this in this recipe, or maybe the one below with the Chayote squash....methinks?

Ensalada De Jicama:

8 oz. Jicama, peeled and cubed (1 1/2 c.)
1 lg. cucumber, sliced
1 orange, peeled and cubed
2 tbsp. lemon juice
3/4 tsp. chili powder
Salt

Will let you know how I like it....

Chayote Squash- This looked weirdly interesting...will be trying it on it's own or with the Jicama in a recipe called "Chayote Squash and Jicama stew" (chayotes, red peppers, onions, jicama, lettuce, with orange cilantro dressing) Again...will let you know. It's going to be a fun experiment!Daikon- Chinese radish. Looked sort of like a parsnip to me. It's a lot more mild than regular radishes, and I decided to try it in a Beef and Veggie Curry Stew. A radish that you cook?
YES. It was awesome! I made stew w/ stew beef (braised) and added, sliced onions, medallions of daikon, a bunch of those colorful peppers, carrots and potatoes. Drizzled some olive oil on it all and sprinkled it with curry powder, soy sauce and pepper. Put it in a roasting pan for about 45 minutes to an hour. A definite do again recipe!
Kale~ I have had kale a lot before, and I adore it. I saw it in a HUGE bag and I bought it and made Colcannon with it. (It's like mashed potatoes with sour cream, kale and sauteed onions. Delish!) With 2 scoops of the leftover Colcannon, I even made a potato cake for us and sauteed it for breakfast. How very Irish :) I may also make some "Kale Chips" and bake them in the oven.
Tomatillos- from the Nightshade family (as are tomatoes) and they reminded me immediately of the Japanese lanterns I used to grow. (which are posionous...). But these are edible.
Evidently, this is the veggie that they make that yummy green salsa from!
I will make Chicken Chile Verde with it on Sunday!
Thought you'd want to know.....

Just sending messages back to you in a bottle :)

Enjoy life, lovies, sneak up on it, peek into places you've never been....and savor it.