Winter Harvest Part 2

Last but not least, the squash. Squash is one of those words where the longer you look at it, the funnier it is. SQUASH. umm, Winter squash is often labeled in the store as just 'winter squash', but 'butternut squash' or 'spaghetti squash' are other common varieties. They can be prepared many ways.

Here, I doused a halved spaghetti squash with olive oil, maple syrup, onion. I roasted in aluminum foil for about an hour, then raked out the insides with a fork.
Below is spaghetti squash topped with some almond butter, a sweet potato and roasted garlic, and some fried tempeh. Yeah, that weird vegetarian stuff that I still don't really know how to cook so I just make it hot.

Another wintertime favorite: the kale.

Kale IS rubbery and squeaky when you eat it raw. And because I have this weird acquired taste for raw foods, sometimes I just chew on kale stalks like a freakin rabbit. But YOU don't have to go through such trauma. I know I've talked about preparing kale salads before in this post. But now I have a new variation! See, i get these REALLY bomb pickles from the market around the corner. They're not your average Dill pickle with the stork on the front. So much so that I put the leftover pickle juice on my sandwiches or whatever happens to be going in my mouth. It's so good! But then one day I realized a lot of what goes into pickling is vinegar... which is what I used to "wilt" the kale. Boom! Into the kale salad goes the pickle juice. It's baller. Try it. Seriously. Or come over and I'll make you one.

Anyway, kale doesn't have to be rubbed with vinegar to make it taste good. You can saute it, bake it, or make salty chips out of it!
This was a kale salad rubbed with pickle juice, topped with leftover pan seared salmon, local goat cheese, and salted pumpkin seeds. So, kale is a great wintertime leafy green that is 10 times more nutritious than romaine or iceberg, and it can be insanely tasty if made right... or you can always eat it like this guy: