Maple Glazed Turnips in a Mizuna Nest

Scrub the turnips, there is no need to peel them, but they look a bit fancier if you do. Cut into 1 inch chunks.

Heat the oil in a large skillet and add the turnips (as you can see I did this in reverse, either way works). Cook for about 2 minutes or until the edges begin to brown. Stir a couple of times to make sure all sides get seared.

Add the juice, maple syrup and vinegar. Cover and bring to a boil (it will be almost instant). Reduce heat and simmer until the turnips are just tender.

While the turnips simmer and make the kitchen smell irresistible, make your mizuna nests. It looks nice, but cutting up the mizuna is probably better if you are planning to eat with others!

When the turnips are just tender, uncover and turn up the heat until the turnips are fully tender and the liquid is reduced to a syrup.

Remove from heat, stir in butter if using, and serve.

Karl added soy sauce and sesame seeds to his, but then tucked in before I could get a picture.

Ingredients

Turnips
1 cup apple juice, water, or broth
½ cup maple syrup (the real stuff)
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp butter (optional)
1 Tbsp coconut oil
salt and pepper to taste (added at serving)

How do you like your Jalapeños?

Do you like your Jalapeños pickled so you can savour them, or do you make a batch of poppers and devour them all in one go? We eat a lot of pickled Jalapeños, but I will confess they are mostly store bought. Sometimes if I am too lazy to make poppers I will slice up some Jalapeños and put them in the pickle jar - they don't keep too well this way, but I find that is not a problem - they are usually gone in a day or two.

I don't deep fry the poppers, so they probably ought to be called something else. I halve them, stuff in some cheddar, a few breadcrumbs on top and into the oven until everyone starts asking if they are ready.

Last week Jack came home to tell me that cream cheese with Jalapeños was really good on bagels (a reward from his generous Human Geography teacher to the whole class for not scaring the substitute teacher too badly). I didn't even know he liked cream cheese! I don't buy it, but I do make a nice vegan quark with soy kefir - so I might try that in the next round of poppers.

Any good recipes you want to share?

Happy 1st National Kale Day!

It's wordless Wednesday, but the people over at National Kale Day have so many ideas and recipes and a mission to celebrate "kale’s incredible health benefits, highlights kale’s culinary versatility, and promotes eating, growing and sharing kale throughout America." If you need help celebrating this wonderful vegetable, why not hop on over to check them out: http://nationalkaleday.org/