Late Fall Salad

I spent the last week experimenting a bit with what I ate. Driven by curiosity, I spent a week eating all of the traditional breads and grains. Months ago, I had wanted to see how my body reacted to eating wheat bread because, having chosen a more "paleo" diet out of lifestyle choice rather than because of any allergic reaction, I didn't really know what my body would do with it. 

So, I made fresh focaccia and smothered it with avocado, just to see what would happen. A headache ensued, and I figured the two were related. Still, results didn't seem conclusive, since a few weeks later when I tried again, seeking some sort of pattern in reaction, I got no headache at all. Which of course begged the question: was it the bread that caused the headache in the first place? 

I had to know. This last week I wrote down everything I ate, adding in some bread here and there. To be honest, I'm in such a habit of not eating grains that I had to make a real effort to buy bread rolls. I wrote down exactly how I felt afterwards, and tried to just generally listen to my body.

Have any of you done this before? A week-long experiment to see how you feel? It was harder than I thought it would be: Hard to change the way I eat, for one, but also hard to feel sure of yourself as you write anything down. I found myself doubting what I was feeling and what I wasn't. 

Honestly the swirls of doubt muddied my conclusions. My journal would go like this: 

• 1 piece of bakery bread toasted with goat cheese, steamed asparagus. Reaction: sharp headache. But I also think I drank too much coffee. 

• 8 crackers, Cauliflower Parsnip Soup, Grass-Fed Sausage. Reaction: none. I did only eat 5 crackers though. 

• Ciabatta roll with goat cheese, tomatoes with basil, balsamic reduction. An apple and a square of chocolate. Reaction: Pounding headache and brain fog. Am I just stressed?

• And on. Every bullet clouded with a line of doubt. 

How is anyone supposed to draw any conclusions when they are filled with this much conflicting information! So instead I am going to focus on what I know: 

1. Eating a couple of crackers here and there (or, ehem, crust on pumpkin pie) will likely not make me feel horrible

2. Eating a full piece of bread for breakfast might give me a headache, shorten my patience, and just generally cause inflammation. But since I'm not positive, I should continue listening to my body and feeling out what works and what doesn't. 

3. My body knows best. I should listen to my body and try not to doubt it. I should also be open to what it's telling me, and maybe do something about all of that stress I noted, because that can't be good. 

4. Sometimes you just need a big old bowl of veggies. And when that's what you need, you should make this salad. 

Late Fall Salad

Primal, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free    |   Caitlin Sherwood    

So many of fall’s favorite flavors in one bowl!

Serves: 6   |    Total Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 1 bunch dinosaur kale
• 10 ounces arugula
• Perils of 1 pomegranate
• 1/4 pound brussels sprouts
• 1/4 cup pepitas
• 4 ounces soft goat cheese
• 2 cups cubed butternut squash
• 1 tablespoon avocado oil
• Salt & Pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Balsamic vinaigrette

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Toss the cubed butternut squash in the avocado oil and spread out on a cookie sheet in a single layer. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until squash is tender through and crispy on the edges. Remove from oven, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and set aside to cool.
2. Remove stems from the kale and chop into bite-sized pieces. Place in the bottom of your salad bowl, and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Using your hands, rug the oil into the kale to begin to soften the leaves.
3. Add the arugula to the bowl and toss with the kale. Top mix of greens with crumbles of goat cheese, pomegranate perils, pepitas, and cooked butternut squash.
4. Slice brussels sprouts into think slices, as if to shred them. Add to the salad.
5. When ready to eat, drizzle salad with your favorite balsamic vinaigrette and toss.

Individual Parmesan Sweet Potato Gratins

Some years we would skip Thanksgiving in our sort of way by heading to a cabin. We would bring groceries from the next town over and stock the fridge. My mom and I would cook a Thanksgiving meal fit for 5, even though we were only 3. It would be snowing outside, and icy winds would billow through the valley, but inside it was all biscuits, turkey, and gravy, oh my! We clipped recipes from magazines and made do with what ingredients we could find in the small mountain grocer.

Between the biscuits, one November we made potato stacks. Like scalloped potatoes, thin slices were baked in a creamy sauce and served hot.

Individual Parmesan Sweet Potato Gratins

Published October 28, 2016 by Caitlin Sherwood

Yields: 12   |    Active Time: 45 minutes

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Ingredients:

2-3 small sweet potatoes (Look for ones that are thinner in diameter so they fit into a muffin pan when sliced.)

2 tablespoons melted butter

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan Reggiano cheese

Optional: fresh thyme or rosemary leaves for garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Using a pastry brush, grease the muffin tin with about half of the butter (1 tablespoon). Reserve the rest for later.
3. Wash the sweet potatoes, and peel them. Using a mandolin or the slicing attachment of your food processor, slice the sweet potatoes into thin rounds. Stack the slices in muffin pan.
4. In a small bowl, combine heavy cream, remaining 1 tablespoon butter, salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and whisk just until combined. Pour the cream mixture over each potato stack, dividing (roughly) evenly. Sprinkle about half of the cheese over the potatoes, reserving the other half for later.
5. Place pan in oven and bake until cooked through, 30-35 minutes for a standard muffin pan (longer for a larger muffin pan).
6. Once potatoes are cooked through and edges are crisping, remove from oven and set aside to cool. Top with remaining cheese so that it melts. Optional: garnish with fresh thyme or rosemary.

Slow Cooker Beef Stew with Autumn Vegetables

Update: This recipe was updated with new images and a few recipe tweaks on 11/9/2018 to make it better than ever! I’ve been slowly updating images on old recipes because I’ve learned so much about photography in recent years!

Phew. 

After searching for over a year, we finally moved to a new home! My emotions are a mix of excited for the months ahead and--if I am being honest- exhausted. It's true the move was tiring: packing up and hauling everything to a new place is always an ordeal, but we had great help from friends (thanks!!) which made it feel more like an adventure. The truth is, it was looking for a home that was the ultimate exercise in patience, convincing myself that even after a year of visiting at least a hundred properties, something would come up. Not only would something come up, but somehow, someway, we'd be lucky enough to move there. (No one tells you quite how exhausting it will be). 

Now that it is done it is almost unreal, as if none of it ever happened and we've been here all along. We made a lot of compromises over the last year, decided what we really want. Coming to peace with hard decisions is never easy, but I'm not one to dwell. Personally I've always thought that worrying about the un-changeable is a painful waste of energy. Instead, I prefer to see my mark and make the most of it, determining my next play. 

What helps is cooking up a storm, and filling the air with home scents like pumpkin pie and autumn stew. 

This autumn stew is like a traditional beef stew — simmered slowly with broth and wine, bay leaves and thyme - but also calls for winter squash (I used butternut, but kabocha or red kuri would work, too!) which gives it a fall touch. Especially in late fall, when the weather is brisk (the high today was 41°F!).

I find that more beef stews go well with Pinot Nior and this one is no exception! Plus, made in your slow cooker, it’s easy-going.

I do all my chopping in the morning before heading to work, and put everything in the removed stainless steel pot of an Instant Pot. Then, when I get home I take the pot out of the fridge and put the pot back in the Instant Pot, place the lid on, and set the timer for 4 hours. We head to gym, run errands, all that jazz, and get home to a flavorful meal. (P.S., you can cut the cooking time a bit short (30-45 minutes) if you get home before the 4 hours is up. Just check to make sure the beef is cooked through! The last hour does let the flavors mingle and does really soften up the beef, but some evenings you just run out of time. Obviously if you’re able to start the pot at 1 or 2, it’s a mute point because it’ll be done cooking before the sun goes down.)

Serving with warm mash potatoes or a piece of crusty bread is spot on.

Slow Cooker Beef Stew with Autumn Vegetables

Published October 17, 2016 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 4   |    Active Time: 4 hours

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Ingredients:

2 pounds beef chuck, cubed (ask your butcher to dice it for you if it is not already diced)

1 tablespoon coconut oil

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 yellow onion, minced

2 stalks of celery, diced

1/2 cup wine

1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes

1 cup beef or chicken broth

3 large carrots, roughly chopped

1 small winter squash, peeled and seeded (butternut, kabocha, kuri, etc)

1 tablespoon Italian herbs (or, a mix of dried thyme, rosemary, oregano)

2 bay leaves

1 pinch fennel seeds

Several dashes salt & pepper

Optional, to serve: minced parsley

Directions:

1. Heat coconut oil in the bottom of your Instant Pot or slow cooker on the Sauté setting. When the oil is hot, add diced onion, minced garlic, and celery and sauté until onion is translucent.
2. Add cubed beef to the pot, allowing it to brown on the edges. Stir every 2-3 minutes to brown each side.
3. Pour in the wine, diced tomatoes, and broth, and add the chopped carrots and squash. Add herbs, spices, salt and pepper and stir.
4. Place lid on Instant Pot and set to “Slow Cooker” setting. Adjust to “high” and set timer for 4 hours with the vent in the sealed position.
5. When timer goes off, open pot and laddle into bowls. Top with minced parsley and serve hot.