Snow, snow and wait for it…more snow. I am doing my best to take this part of winter in stride. Like I’ve said before, I love snow days, but I also like summer and would prefer not to continue the school year too far into it. Class at the beach, anyone?
We look outside and everything is covered in white. As beautiful as the snow and ice can be, you start to forget what the grass looks like. Our winter Farmer’s Market helps ground me. The market takes place at our local, family-owned garden center. You walk in and are immediately surrounded by plants, garden supplies and a wonderful array of fresh locally grown vegetables, meats and homemade products. What could be better when every other day you feel like you’re on the set of Dr. Zhivago.
One of the inspiring items at the market are the root vegetables. As you will see in the photos below, we purchased some purple, orange, and yellow carrots, yellow beets, watermelon radishes and some micro greens. We also bought some grass fed meat and free-range organic chicken. What we made that night was roast chicken with greens and a root vegetable mash. The mash is the recipe I want to share with you today. We don’t really eat a lot of potatoes in our house and I’m dairy free, so it’s great to have a mash that’s satisfying and not feel like it is inferior to creamy lovely mashed potatoes. It was so good and can be made with any root veggies in any combination you choose.
Root Veggies Mash
1 large yellow carrot, peeled and chopped
1 large orange carrot, peeled and chopped
1 medium yellow beet, peeled and chopped
1 large parsnip, peeled and chopped
1 stalk fresh rosemary
¾ cup coconut milk
¾ cup chicken stock
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Put all veggies into a pot and add coconut milk, chicken stock and rosemary. Season with 1 tsp salt and ½ tsp pepper. Bring to a boil then simmer until veggies are soft. Pour off excess liquid, discard rosemary and then mash. I used an immersion blender, but feel free to use a regular masher, food processor, or whatever you like. Taste for seasoning. Add more salt or pepper as needed. Enjoy!