Roasted Delicata Squash with Quinoa, Apple and Arugula Salad

Delicata “delicious” squash has a smooth, rich creamy taste and texture similar to butternut, without the peeling. The skin is thin, edible and add’s a crisp texture. It can be steamed in as little as seven minutes when cut into 1-inch cubes, baked, grilled or roasted in up to thirty minutes, and has a savory sweetness when caramelized.

This light-weight squash is easy to cut, clean and cook. If you’re feeling adventurous, the seeds can be roasted for a crunchy snack! Delicata squash is excellent paired with Sage Mountain Pork, onions, maple & cayenne pepper or simply with a pinch of salt!

Today I’ve decided to boost squash’s antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic and insulin-regulating benefits with two super foods! The most protein-rich food available, Quinoa contains all nine essential amino acids, is rich in iron, magnesium, B2, manganese, and lysine essential for tissue growth and repair.

Arugula, my favorite green discovered last summer working at Sage Mountain Farm, has surprising health benefits. Inactivating cancer-causing chemicals, arugula protects cellular DNA from damage, induces cell death in cells that have already become cancerous, and prevents tumor blood vessel formation and tumor cell migration. Wow! Arugula’s vitamin and mineral rich content are necessary for soft subtle healthy skin, healthy eyes by preventing eyestrain, strong bones decrease rick of osteoporosis, boosts mood naturally by increased production of serotonin, creates red blood cells and is an excellent blood cleanser and oxygenator.  Chlorophyll rich arugula has a strong detoxification effect, increases energy levels and is being studied to prevent against heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and depression.

Arugula, squash and apples are great weight loss food too! Replace foods that promote weight gain with leafy greens & veggies as a simple way to boost your nutritional intake and minimize body fat storing insulin spikes. In the long term this is a far easier way of keeping the weight off than restrictive dieting.

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Roasted Delicata Squash with Quinoa, Apple & Arugula Salad

Toss quinoa with arugula, apple, raisins and fresh herbs, then spoon the salad into a halved baked squash.

Ingredients:

• 2 Delicata squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 tablespoons golden raisins
• 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 Granny Smith apple, finely diced
• 1 large shallot, minced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 tablespoons chopped mint
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 2 cups arugula

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Brush the cut sides of the squash with 1 teaspoon of the olive oil and season with freshly ground Himalayan salt and pepper. Place the squash cut side down on a baking sheet and roast for about 45 minutes, until tender.
2. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, bring 2 cups of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the quinoa, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the raisins and simmer, covered, until the water is absorbed, about 5 minutes. Transfer the quinoa to a large bowl and let cool.
3. In a small bowl, whisk the vinegar and honey with the remaining 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons of olive oil and season with freshly ground Himalayan salt and pepper. Add the dressing to the quinoa along with the apple, shallot, garlic, mint and parsley and toss well. Add the arugula and toss gently.
4. Set the squash halves on plates. Fill with the salad.
5. Give thanks… and enjoy!

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Additional Recipe

Healthy Roasted Squash Seeds:

Scoop the pulp and seeds from inside the squash and separate out the seeds. Place them in a single layer on a cookie sheet and lightly roast them at 170°F for 15-20 minutes. By roasting at a low temperature for a short time you help to preserve their healthy oils.

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*Winter squash is a vegetable that might be especially important for us to purchase organic. Recent agricultural trials have shown that winter squash can be an effective intercrop for use in remediation of contaminated soils, according to whfoods.com. For this reason, make a special point of purchasing certified organic winter squash from a local, small certified organic farm. We at Sage Mountain Farm are dedicated to growing the most nutritious, delicious certified organic fruits and vegetables.

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At Sage Mountain Farm, we supply only the best nutrient rich produce grown in good healthy soil, mountain rich air using the cleanest natural volcanic spring water available to our local customers in San Diego County, Riverside and Palm Springs.

Let’s make small farms in our region stronger and profitable.

NOW AVAILABLE!

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This week in my Sage Mountain Farm CSA box:

Local Raw Clover Honey, Strawberry Watermelon Jam, Local Farm-fresh Eggs, Concord grapes, Certified Organic tomatoes, a variety of Apples, Oranges, Radishes, Candy Onions, Tomatillos, Delicata & Butternut Squash, Dates Medjool, Watermelon, and a bag big of luscious Arugula.

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Thank you for visiting the Sage Mountain Farm BLOG!
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Comments, suggestions and questions?
Contact me directly: amy@sagemountainfarm.com
Visit www.sagemountainfarm.com & www.sagemountainbeef.com
for more information about our farm.
Together, let’s get healthy!


Many blessings to you and yours!

The Mighty Onion Prepared with Acorn Squash and Yogurt

It’s hard to pinpoint just one reason to love the onion!

Eating onions gives more to our lives than simply flavor to our food. Incorporating onions into our diet can alter the course of major disease, such as heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and most forms of cancer. Beneficially effecting a staggering multitude of other diseases and disorders including cataracts, cardiovascular disease as well as cancer of the breast, colon, ovarian, gastric, lung, and bladder while helping to reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease and stroke. You can see that the onion is mighty, in deed!

The richest dietary source of quercitin, onion holds a powerful antioxidant flavonoid that has been shown to thin the blood, lower cholesterol, ward off blood clots, and fight asthma, chronic bronchitis, hay fever, diabetes, atherosclerosis and infections. Onions antioxidants and amino acids allow your body to function optimally, help prevent damage and are used in virtually every vital function in the body. Oh that’s all? No, there’s more.

“Onions are excellent at killing cancer cells.” Published recently in Food Research International, “Onions activate pathways that encourage cancer cells to undergo cell death. They promote an unfavorable environment for cancer cells and inhibit growth by disrupting communication between cancer cells.”

“Altering dietary habits may be a practical and cost-effective means of reducing cancer risk and modifying tumor behavior. Approximately 30–40% of cancers are preventable by appropriate food and nutrition, physical activity, and maintenance of healthy body weight.” Said in the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health research article: ‘Garlic and onions: Their cancer prevention properties’ published in 2015. Summarizing that, “Mechanistic studies provide compelling evidence that garlic, onions, and their (stinky) sulfur components alter the biological behavior of tumors, tumor microenvironments, or precancerous cells, and decrease cancer risk.”

Do you smell breakthrough? Onions pungent smelling sulfur compounds are actually a powerful detox element which help the body to release toxins, especially from the liver. Foods naturally high in sulfur also help the body detox itself of heavy metals and other dangerous toxins. Damage to DNA caused by environmental toxins is thought to be the cause of most cancer. Eating organic, local sustainable food never sounded better!

“Organic conditions boost flavonoids and antioxidant activity in onions” said the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry in a study published on June 14, 2017. They went on to say, “organic foods contain more health-benefiting phytochemicals.” Now, researchers have found that flavonoid levels and antioxidant activity in organic onions are higher than in conventional onions. Their investigation, in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, is the longest-running study to address the issue.

An organic onion a day? A study conducted at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle found that eating a teaspoon of fresh garlic and a half cup of onions per day increases the levels of a key enzyme for removing toxins in the blood cells. As told by FOX News, “eating onions can get your blood sugar-and your weight-on the right track. So here is a simple, powerful health-enhancing recommendation: Eat an onion every day. One medium-sized onion equals approximately one cup of onion when chopped.”

In addition, other factors including the gut microbiome, may also influence responses, giving last weeks blog post about gut-boosting Okra something more to think about.

You see, organic onions are an essential ingredient, to the flavor of wellness through-out our life.  The taste of a good life, absent from disease is the most savored quality offered up in the onion. So next time you start to cry over an onion, let them be tears of joy! Breakthrough is yours.

“It’s hard to imagine civilization without onions.”
— Julia Child

Acorn Squash with Onions and Yogurt

Ingredients:

• 1 acorn squash, halved, seeded and cut into 8 wedges
• 1 medium onion, cut into 8 wedges
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• ½ cup Aris plain sheep’s milk yogurt
• 2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
• ¼ cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 375. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss squash and onion with oil; season with salt and pepper. Roast until squash is tender, 30-35 minutes.
   
2. In a small bowl, combine yogurt and lemon juice. Transfer squash and onion to a serving plate. Top with yogurt and mint.
   
3. Serve with a refreshing glass of mint green tea or lemon water..

Give thanks… and enjoy!

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Onion Preparation & Storage TIPS:

Preparation:

Onions are healthy raw & cooked, though raw onions have higher levels of organic sulfur compounds that provide many benefits, according to the BBC. A 2005 study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that there is a high concentration of flavonoids in the outer layers of onion flesh, so you’ll want to be careful to remove as little of the edible part of the onion as possible when peeling it. Never microwave your antioxidant-rich foods since the process decreases the antioxidant content by more than 75% in just one minute.

Storage:

Best not to leave an onion cut open in the fridge because it will absorb bacteria. Either use the whole onion, or buy a variety of small, medium and large onions to have on hand; and use accordingly.  Sage Mountain Farm CSA box shares typically include a variety of sizes in a season, seeing to it that in my kitchen, an onion never goes to waste. However, once an onion is in a salad in a sealed container, it is safe and can be eaten at a later time.

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Thank you for visiting Sage Mountain Farm BLOG!
Subscribe & follow. Posts weekly. Stay connected.
Comments, suggestions and questions?
Contact me directly: amy@sagemountainfarm.com
Visit www.sagemountainfarm.com for more information about our farm.

Together, let’s get healthy!

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To be engaged in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), offers you a chance to share in a sustainable small farm’s hand picked, certified organic seasonal daily harvest.  There truly is a difference in taste, quality and variety! 

Let’s make small farms in our region stronger and profitable, for theirs is a labor of love. Support your local small farm and become a CSA member today!

Thank You!

Hello everyone!  Thank you to those of you who submitted recipes, photos and ideas for using the delicious food that we grow here at Sage Mountain Farm.  I will be posting some of them here so you can see what others are doing.  Keep comin’ back and you will be inspired by your fellow CSA supporters!

On another note, I wanted to share something with you.  Well, I guess every time I post I am sharing something, but this is more personal.  I finally followed the advise of so many wise kitchen gurus…I prepped all of my veggies this weekend.

What a Time Saver!

What do I mean, specifically?  I washed and chopped lettuce.  I trimmed and sliced onions and garlic.  I washed, trimmed, and ate all of the strawberries right away, of course.  In other words, I made it super easy to use all of my organic veggies and fruits!  Since I prepped, I have used green onions on a few things, onion and garlic in a few recipes, and I have eaten countless small salads.  When this stuff is ready to use in the fridge, it’s easy to use more of it.  When I am hungry I can just reach in and grab a few containers and have a meal started in no time.  I wasn’t taking the time everyday to chop a little lettuce, or slice up one onion, etc.  So when the end of the week came I had items that weren’t used and some which were wilted and destined for the chickens or the compost.  Sad, I know.  Especially considering that this is the freshest and best produce around!

No more…I have done this weekend prep for two weeks now and I am not only being less wasteful in the kitchen, I am also eating more of what comes in my weekly CSA box.

Speaking of being less wasteful, you guys know about saving your vegetable scraps for broth, right?!  I hope so, it’s an awesome way to extend the usefulness of your veggies.  I usually use a plastic freezer bag, placed in the freezer at all times, and fill it with the trimmings from onions, garlic, peppers, celery, broccoli, etc.  Basically any vegetable that you would consider a soup vegetable you can place the trimmings into the bag.  When that bag fills up, dump it into a stock pot and fill with water.  Boil for an hour.  You could also do this in a slow cooker if watching water boil isn’t your thang’.  When you strain out the veggie solids you are left with an unseasoned broth.  Salt and season to your taste, then either use right away or freeze.  I like to freeze my broth in 1-2 cup portions, just right for recipes!  Easy peasy!

Homemade broth from the best organic veggies!

TriColor Radishes

  Here’s a quick storage tip for all you radish lovers out there!  Wash and trim the radishes as soon as possible.  Then slice ’em up how you like them. I prefer circles, but you could go with semicircles or chunks. Then place them in a lidded container and cover with cold water. This way, your radishes stay rad all week! 😀

Green Garlic Storage Tip

Hello!  You know, the first week we got the green garlic in our boxes I just chucked it in the crisper and went about the business of unloading the rest of the box.  Then later in the week, when I wanted to use it, I found it had wilted.  It still tasted great, but it looked sad and less of the green leaves were usable because they had become withered.

Not wanting a repeat of that I decided to store it differently this time.  This time I thought…hey it still has roots, it’s a plant, right?!  So I put it in a glass, filled with an inch of water and set it on the counter.  Guess what?  The rest of the week the green garlic was firm and upright!

Winner! We have a winner!

There is a trade-off, the tips yellow a bit but I think that it is a better storage option because throughout the week more of the plant is useable than the wilted version from the crisper.  Just trim off the tips where they have yellowed (from overwatering, I think) and enjoy more of that mouth-watering garlic flavor!

Do you store your green garlic differently?  Have you had success? Failure?  What works in your kitchen?  Let’s have a conversation!

Fresh Ginger Storage Tip

A long time ago I bought some fresh ginger at the store to make a ginger tea.  Boiling water poured over a few small slices of fresh ginger, let steep, voila!  Ginger Tea!

Then I had a knobby ginger root to store, so I put it in the fridge.  Life has a way of moving along and then you forget about little things like the knobby ginger root that is waiting ever so patiently for you to use it again.  As it turns out, the fridge and/or the counter are not great places to store fresh ginger unless you are going to be using it all up fairly quickly.

Keep fresh ginger in the freezer.

The best place, in my experience, to keep fresh ginger is in the freezer.

I place the ginger root in a plastic freezer bag and store it in the door of my freezer so I always have fresh ginger available for tea or for my Citrus Ginger Sauce!

Use the back of a spoon to “peel” ginger.

Oh, I almost forgot…another tip (it’s a twofer!), when peeling the papery covering off of fresh ginger, use the back of a spoon and scrape.