The reality of being a twenty something these days is that things often tend to be fairly up in the air, “lets see what happens”, non-committal.  Some might (and do) call this being a big ol’ flake, but reality is it can be hard to plan ahead and make commitments when even where you’ll be living in a few months is uncertain.

Recently I celebrated my one year anniversary of being in my current house. The first time I’d accomplished such a feat in almost 10 years. This was pretty good. Feeling pretty confident it my new-found settledness, I took the next logical step. I joined the EAC’s community root cellar. Because, well, the idea of having a root cellar is pretty damn cool.

In the fall, as part of the root cellar group, I ordered apples, leeks, potatoes, beets, carrots parsnips, squashes, and onions. Not really knowing how much to order, but aiming enough to fill my root-veg quota for the winter.

Then. With over 50 pounds of root veg squirreled away, my new-found settledness, swiftly came to an end. I got a new job. In Cape Breton. While this is a good  thing, it now means I have a tone of root veg, jars of preserves & frozen berries, that will no be making the trip to CB with me.

Nothing like a deadline to put the push-on and renew ones focus to eat more meals centered around seasonal vegetables. This past week, that’s what I did. I’m not hard-core enough to say all my food came from my root cellar, but I tried to use as much a possible. And so here we are

“Recipes to deplete your root cellar reserve in one week (or at least try…)”

I’ve included links to the recipes below, and, because I find its almost impossible to follow recipe to a T, my tweaks and comments.

Thursday: This Winter Vegetable curry  calls for potatoes, onions, carrots, parsnips, squash and canned tomatoes. AKA,a good way to make a dent in your root-cellar stalk.

Friday: Favorites meal of the week: this Warm cabbage salad. Quick, simple, colourful, and oh so delicious. I added sausage.  I also made perogies (which allowed me to use up not only potatoes but some  homemade pesto from the freezer) but I wasn’t completely with my attempt. Tip: Make sure you’re mashed potatoes are smooth and fluffy before you start with your pierogies. I  might try this recipe (Pierogies) next time.

 Saturday: Crispy cornmeal sweet potatoes and parsnip fries. I skipped the sauce, but added more garlic to the fries.

Sunday: I had friends over for a waffle brunch. Root-veg was not on the menu but did get to use up some of my frozen blueberries , strawberries, blackberries and preserves. If you’re like me, you like the idea of making preserves but often forget to use them. Here’s are some good tips on how to use these. 

Monday: The Winter Abundance Bowl . Often in a rush, I  skip out on sauces and dips. But this sauce was absolutely delicious. So take the time, and make it. If you like garlic, you will thoroughly enjoy. The recipe said steam, but I roasted the sweet potatoes (the last of them- check!), parsnips, carrots, garlic and onions.

Then, I had the oven on, so why not make some muffins. These Morning glory muffins turned out really nicely. Instead of sugar or oil, I used Apple sauce  and grated zucchini from the freezer.

Tuesday: This Beet salad takes 8 healthy beets.

Wednesday: Roasted Butternut squash and bean tacos with salsa!

Now you’re all probably all dying how I did. How much did I manage to eat?

The week’s end  Tally:

From the root cellar: 12 Carrots, 5 Parsnips, 2 Squash, 5 Onions, 2 Leeks, 5 Sweet Potatoes, 8 Potatoes, 12 Garlic cloves, 1 Cabbage, 8 Beets

In Jars: 1 jar tomatoes, 3 jar apple sauce, 1 jar chocolate cherry macaroon conserve, 1 jar cranberry rhubarb chutney, 1 jar maple syrup, 1 jar salsa

From the Freezer: Pesto, zucchini, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries

Not too shabby!