Stir-Fried Turnips with Greens

Asian Delight-ful! Despite my LOVE of turnips, this is only the second time I've made this dish, and it has to have been years since I made it the first time. What have I been thinking? This stir-fry is fabulous.

If you have not tried turnips, and if you like Asian flavors, then make this stir-fry your entree (pun not intentional) into Turnip World.

Couple thoughts: Tommie will disagree with me on this, but rather than put 1/2 teaspoon of red chili flakes in it, I might go with 1/4 the next time. It pushed the envelope in terms of heat for my delicate mouth. The other thing is that I definitely could have added more spinach. It never ceases to amaze me how massive the greens look going in and how small they are once they wilt.

Try this dish. It's really fabulous. We give it 4.5 stars. Delicious. Nutritious. But a lot of prep bowls to clean. Tommie's working on that as I type...

Spinach and Pesto Risotto

When the cat's away the mice will play... WITH THE CHEESE!!!!! So, Tommie's out of town, and I thought to myself, CHEESE! (Tommie, if this is too much for you, step away from the blog.)

My good friend, who I will refer to as Memily, in case she would like anonymity, came over this afternoon, and we made Jack's Spinach and Pesto Risotto. I can never make anything like this when Tommie's home, due to the CHEESE factor, so we took advantage of the opportunity.

This was my first risotto, and, no surprise-- thank you Jack, it came out delicious. Jack has an incredibly delicious pesto recipe in the book that is an ingredient in the dish. If I had made the pesto in advance, the risotto would have taken maybe 30 minutes or so to make. But since we were making it an afternoon of hanging out and cooking, we made the pesto first. Fabulous pesto. I, of course, gave the leftover pesto to Memily to take home, because Tommie would be horrified to find its yummy, CHEESY, goodness in our fridge. Enjoy, Memily!

We both agreed that this risotto tastes as good as anything you'd find in a nice restaurant; therefore, it gets the full 5 stars. Tommie -- if you're still reading this, Memily took the rest of the leftover CHEESE with her too.

Smoky Sweet Potato Puree with Spiced Spinach

Go Canes!!! It's not often that my dinner is orange and green, but looky there!

This is the first time I've made this dish, and overall I'd say it was a success. The recipe calls for chipotle chiles in adobo sauce mixed into the mashed sweet potatoes, and that flavor combo works great. The sweet and the smoky blend perfectly.

After much thought, Hubby and I have decided that this dish gets 3.5 stars. Flavor = 5 stars. No protein-- I deduct a half point. But the kicker was texture. We felt it needed something crunchy or solid to offset the mushiness. So, for that we take off another point.

Though I'm loathe to say this: Meat eaters -- this would be a great side dish to pair with a simple meat. Your body will thank you for feeding it nutrient-rich spinach and sweet potatoes to fight off those free radicals.