Blueberry Kale Super Smoothie for Holiday Detox

Blueberry Kale Smoothie

With the holiday season in full swing, sometimes it is nice to have a healthy antidote on hand to help your body detox from all the tempting holiday treats available around every corner. I recently bought myself an early Christmas present to help me get a few more leafy greens into my daily routine ... a Ninja Blender. A Ninja Blender is a much less expensive competitor to the super-pricey Vitamix but very, very good at blending frozen fruit, ice cubes, leafy greens, and more into your super smoothies.

Blueberries are pretty much a standard ingredient in every smoothie I make these days. I was able to purchase a couple of gallons of frozen organic berries from one of our local farms this fall and I also did my best to bring back gallons of my own hand-picked fruit from my parents' house up in Massachusetts. I was even able to get a lot of them frozen before my children could eat them all. It was hard to restrict their blueberry consumption but I knew that I would really be needing those berries come winter!

Homemade Mac & Cheese (Gluten Free!)

Homemade Mac & Cheese

Since moving here to Charlotte, three years ago, I have learned a lot about southern food from all different sources. Last week, I was teaching in a fourth grade class and working on a Thanksgiving Word Scramble with some fabulous students. I was a fan of this class assignment because a lot of the scrambled words were foods. Yum. However, as we worked through the paper, my class was completely dismayed that one of the words on this Thanksgiving Scramble was not macaroni and cheese. Hmmm... Macaroni and cheese as a holiday side dish? Truly. They assured me that it was a holiday requirement in the south. I was intrigued and set about to make my own as soon as I got home.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Turnips

Roasted Butternut Squash and Turnips

The other day, I was going to be uber-productive and roast some butternut squash early in the day so that I could whip up a quick roasted butternut squash soup after work but before my kids got home from school ... Alas, the roasted butternut squash was too tasty to resist so I ate it all for lunch and needed a new plan for dinner. Overcome with mommy guilt, I prepped a second pan of butternut squash to be roasted but this time I added in some turnips I had lying around on the counter. Little did I know that this combination would prove to be even more tasty than just the regular roasted butternut squash all by itself.

NC Turnips

The combination of roasted turnips and butternut squash, tossed in a little olive oil and coarse sea salt, is absolutely out of this world. It takes only a few minutes to prepare, about 45 minutes to an hour to roast, and seconds to devour. The combo was so delicious, I even added it to my Thanksgiving Day menu this year and it was a huge hit.

This time of year it is really easy to get your hands on some fresh, delicious, local turnips and butternut squash. Keep them in a cool, dark place, and they will last you for quite a while this winter. My friend even dropped some beautiful turnips off the other day ... you know I never turn down a gift of fresh, local vegetables. Yum.

Holy Hot Habanero Cornbread (Gluten-free)

Holy Hot Habanero Cornbread

I recently picked up a new toy at one of my favorite Charlotte farmers markets, Atherton Market ... a cast iron pan for breaking cornbread sticks. I did not know that I needed a cast iron cornbread stick pan until I saw this one. Who wouldn't want this pan? It's gorgeous!

Cast Iron "Cornbread Stick" Pan from Cluck Around

The other highlight of my morning at the market was that I also met the awesome gal who peddles these cast iron wares - Trish Vevurka. If you live in Charlotte, or come to visit Charlotte, you must stop by Atherton Market and look for her. Trish and her husband have just recently opened this unique stand at the market with the most endearing name - Cluck Around. They sell stunning handmade wooden kitchen utensils, lots of cast iron pots and pans (of course), but, most importantly, this girl knows her stuff! If my children weren't sneaking off heading for the honey sticks every time I looked away, I would have pulled up a chair and spent the whole day discussing the important things in life like cooking, preserving, raising chickens... Alas, another day!

Although we did not have much time to chat, I did pick up a couple of tips for using my new cast iron pan: 1.) use coconut oil to grease the pan and,  2.) never ever let cast iron soak in water. Easy. I felt confident. I raced home to test out a new cornbread recipe in my fancy new pan. I'm pretty sure that the new pan put this recipe over the top. Burn-your-fingers-delicious.