2013 Food Challenge: Sweet Potatoes, with due credit to Tomatoes.

I was going to write a post on cherry and grape tomatoes, but that would be too easy. All I have to do with those babies is open the box and eat. No-brainer there. True, they are from Florida... and they did fill the quota, along with carrots and arugula, of my vegetable intake for the 9 days I spent in the car last month crisscrossing the continent. Thank you tomatoes. I love your sweetness, plumpness, and cheerful sunny colors.

But I will write about sweet potatoes instead. Yes, the one that looks like a potato and, once you buy it, have no idea what to do with it.

Sweet potatoes are an incredible vegetable. Traditionally, they are considered to be good for the blood. In Western lingo, sweet potatoes contain iron, which is an important nutrient for women like me that do not eat a whole lot of meat. Those sweeties will also give you vitamins B6, C and D, carotenoids, magnesium and potassium. Yes potatoes do pale in comparison: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/9-reasons-to-love-sweet-potatoes.html?page=1.

Why sweet potatoes? Because I happen to be cooking them tonight, plain and simple. Cut them up to look like potato fries. Toss them, with your hands, in a generous amount of olive oil and sea salt... and feel the softness that the oil gives your hands afterwards- added bonus. Then place them in a glass ware or cast iron pan to roast. I like to bake them in Florence, my cast iron pan, because it is easier to clean Florence than to scrub away crusty glass pans. I also use, when Florence is not available, a stainless steel frying pan. Never use Teflon!!!!! Never. Throw that junk, along with anything Calphalon, away. How many times have I written this, along with info to back it up? Not enough. So here it is: http://www.freshfoodunderground.com/2010/02/on-quest-to-get-rid-of-teflon.html, and http://www.freshfoodunderground.com/2010/12/what-are-you-cooking-your-food-in.html.

Now that your hands are nice, salty and oily, you can lick them, or you can just proceed to step 2- wash them. Step 3, place the potatoes in the oven preheated to 400ºF. If you are like me, and don't want to deal with waiting, put them to bake as the oven preheats to the right temp. Those babies are so hardy, they come out tasting great no matter what. Bake/roast for about 15 minutes, toss them around, put them back and bake/roast for another 15, or until they are as blackened as you wish them to be. I love mine like this. Take them out, and they are ready to eat alone with a nice beer, or with a salad and quinoa as I am about to enjoy mine. They are also yummy with chicken, kibbies, for school lunches, snacks, rice and beans... you name it, and they will follow your orders. Enjoy!

2013 Food Challenge: Arugula

I have been doing a lot of traveling these past few weeks, and have been experiencing, first hand, a true, real... Food Challenge. How???

It really is a challenge to eat well when on the road for hours, and hours, and days at a time. Snacks, fatty foods, sweets, candy, ice cream, coke... it all becomes so tempting when tired and sleepy... NO!!!!!!!!!

I have learned to get on the ground and do a set of push ups or burpees every time I stop for gas and/or bathroom in order to wake up, and have managed this way to avoid any and all junk and crappy food and drinks. Yes it is embarrassing- at first. But what the hell. After giving birth twice, not much gets even slightly close in the embarrassment scale. And who cares anyway if someone I don't even know or will ever see again sees me doing burpees on the side of the building or by the pump? Fuck embarrassment, do the burpees.

So back to food. And traveling. Arugula is everything I would want of a great travel companion. Packs well, doesn't go sour, doesn't mind the music I listen to... low maintenance.

I can just eat it. All of it. No fork, no knife, no sliding fingers through the stem, no nothing. Just take a leaf... and eat it. It really does not get much simpler than that.

Munch it straight out of the bag, or box... or use it in sandwiches, as I did today. I had run out of the good hardy, whole-wheat crusty bread that Alex's Russian Bakery makes... so I had to use sandwich bread- please forgive me, Alex. But still, I spread butter on it, placed pieces of thinly cut salami, and threw arugula from Down to Earth Farm on top. Done.

At home, many times I find myself short on time to wash and chop vegetables. So I put fresh arugula on/in (still can't get my prepositions right to this day... so will use both from now on, just in case) barley or chicken noodle soup as I serve it. It goes great on top of pizzas, with burgers, cheddar cheese sandwiches... and salads of course.

Arugula to me is the equivalent of a ready-made meal for the microwave, except only easier. Take it out of the fridge, open and eat. No need to wash, chop, cook or even microwave. Imagine that!

Down To Earth Farm at RAM Tomorrow!

Down To Earth Flowers

Down To Earth Farm will be at the Riverside Arts Market tomorrow, 10-2pm. 
They will also be at The Beaches Green Market, in Jarboe Park, 2-5pm.  

Come check out true local, fresh-picked, pesticide-free, nutrient-rich veggies that you never see in your not-so-local supermarkets... 
White scallop, zephyr (yellow/green) and green lebanese squash... red butter head, green and red romaine lettuce... sorrel... dino, red-russian and green curly kale.... spring onions... leeks... carrots... spicy arugula... and the first few flower bunches of the season. Tomato and strawberry plants also available, along with a few other possible surprises....

Watch Brian Lapinski - Organic Farmer on PBS. See more from 9 to 5.