Wednesday Dinner - Root Vegetable Shepherd's Pie with Whipped Parsnip-Potato (June 2)

European Night

Is it just my kids or do all kids and root vegetables not get along? Is it something in their genes?? Hubby and I thoroughly enjoyed this variation of Shepherd's Pie, with sweet potatoes, adzuki beans, turnips, carrots and peas, but the kids...well, didn't. I bet they will when they get older. I've learned that children actually are very sensitive to certain taste profiles, especially bitter. My job, as I see it, is to keep exposing their juvenile taste buds to different flavors, and let them figure it out later.

Mission accomplished tonight.

3 out of 5 stars

Root Vegetable Shepherd's Pie Recipe 

Tuesday Lunch - Braised Sweet Potato and Cauliflower (June 1)

Braising the vegetables in tomato puree and orange marmalade certainly gave this dish its flavor profile. Adding the black-eyed peas was a good touch because it balanced out the sweetness of the marmalade with some earthiness of the peas. Overall it was pretty good; very easy to make, too - the whole thing took about 20 minutes. I served it with a hearty whole grain slice of bread.

Maybe not a make-again-please-mommy-dish, but definitely worth making it at least once.

3 out of 5 stars

Braised Sweet Potato and Cauliflower Recipe