What I Eat - Day Forty-Two

Now is a fantastic time to buy fresh, local, incredibly cheap produce.  Tomatoes, potatoes, squash, beets, cranberries, etc..... my preparations for winter continue in this post.  

Breakfast - Oatmeal with Pears

Only Oats Pure Whole Grain Rolled Oats (available at The Bulk Barn) with cinnamon and an organic pear. 

Lunch - Chicken Soup

I threw this soup together for someone with a cold with what I had available in the fridge.  

Ingredients
-water
-diced chicken (from an earlier roasted chicken, purchased from a local farm)
-diced carrot
-diced rutabaga
-finely chopped cooking onion
-five bay leaves (removed before serving)
-one tsp. cumin powder

Instructions
I brought the ingredients to a boil, and then I left them to simmer for about an hour.   The soup got to sit in the fridge for a few hours, and then I re-warmed it and served it.   Soup almost always tastes better if it gets to sit for a few hours. 

Dinner - Roast with Veggies

This was a roast purchased from Sobey's, one of their new line of meat that comes with certification that the farm is humane.  I still haven't checked out the legitimacy of this certification, but I will!  As I've said before, I definitely take it as a good sign that this meat is significantly more delicious than most meats from the grocery store.  This roast was pan roasted with carrots, onions, and potatoes. 

Beets!

Beets are super cheap right now!  I bought a 10 pound bag for $1.99.   I put about half the bag in a stock pot on top of a steamer basket and steamed them for approximately an hour.  I almost always forget about them and burn the bottom of the pan when the water evaporates..... it's like I never learn.  It always turns out fine, they just have a slightly smokey flavour.  I leave the beets to cool, slice the top and bottom off, and then peel them by pressing the skin off with my hands (see photo below).   The, I pop whatever beets I don't immediately eat into the freezer. 

Cranberry Sauce!

This was the first time I made cranberry sauce, and I just couldn't believe how easy it was!  I picked up two bags of fresh cranberries for $1.99 a piece, and then I followed the recipe on the back of the bag (though I only used 25% of the recommended sugar).  I combined them with two cups of water and about 1/2 cup of brown sugar.  I brought it to a boil, then reduced to a simmer for about 15 minutes, let it cool, and put it in a jar.  It tastes really great, I'll never buy canned cranberry sauce again (as long as there are fresh cranberries available in the stores)!