My Pure Michigan Life

May 13, 2015

Roasted Turnip & Ramp Salad

Very unusual but very good.

So I bought all those gorgeous vegetables at the farmer's market last weekend and I bet you're wondering--what's she going to DO with all that produce?! Yes, well, I've been wondering the same thing.

But I've been cooking for such a long time that I'm pretty good at improvising-'"what do I have" kind of cooking. I found this salad recipe online for roasted turnips and ramps and since I just bought both at the market, I thought I'd give it a try.

Well, I cant' leave well enough alone so I borrowed this basic recipe then made it my own and it turned out very good.

Roasted Turnip and Ramp Salad
1 bunch turnips, trimmed, scrubbed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
4-5 small ramps, cleaned and trimmed
good extra virgin olive oil

couple tablespoons good mayonnaise
teaspoon or so of grated lemon peel
teaspoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice
tablespoon good prepared horseradish
tablespoon or so of whatever fresh herbs you have (parsley, chives, thyme) I used chives and thyme because that's what I have growing
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400.

Place turnips and ramps on baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and place in oven to roast. The ramps will be done after 10 minutes or so and the turnips will take about 20-30.

Meanwhile in mixing bowl, combine the remaining ingredients and mix well.

When ramps are done, remove from oven, chop and add to bowl.

Remove turnips from pan when finished and add to bowl.

The salad was good at this point but in my opinion, it was missing something, something crunchy. So I looked in fridge and found this lone radish from my last trip to Wiley Farms. So I cut it up, added it to salad and Done! It was delicious.

Sorry that the bowl looks kind of messy, but the salad was quite tasty. I'm not sure I'll be able to recreate it anytime soon, but it was good this once :-)

May 9, 2015

First Trip to the Farmer's Market

This is the first weekend the Farmers' Markets here in Kalamazoo were open and although I didn't expect much in the way of vendors and produce (it's still pretty early in the season), I was pleasantly surprised! There were quite a few vendors selling locally grown, seasonal vegetables and humanely raised and harvested meats. There were many people coming and going as well. Always a good sign ;)

I brought home an armload of fresh vegetables and meats. Take a look:

white turnips, baby carrots, green and purple asparagus, rhubarb and fingerling potatoes

bok choy, ramps and baby beets

whole chicken, gorgeous chuck roast, ground beef, pork tenderloin and pastured eggs

Not bad for a first trip, eh? :) I"m so excited that the markets are open and I plan to visit as often as I can. In addition to regular stops at Wiley Farms of course :)

I plan to write about the meals I create with all this yummy food so stay tuned :-)

Back Home in Michigan!

...and so very happy to be here :)

Harry and I got back to Michigan early in the evening on April 23rd. It was a long and uneventful trip of 1376 miles. But it is SO worth the two-day drive. Our lake is beautiful and it is wonderful to be back in our adopted home of Southwest Michigan.

I didn't blog much last summer while we were here but I intend to begin blogging again, hopefully quite regularly. Even if no one reads it. It's just a great way for me to document my life with Harry, our family and our travels. It's also a great outlet for me to write about how I feel as life events unfold. In any case, it's great to be home :)

December 4, 2014

Thanksgiving in Michigan

This past Thanksgiving was by far the best Harry and I have had in many years. My mom, both of my sons, their wives, and all their children (my four precious grandchildren) made the trip up North to see us and to spend the Thanksgiving holiday together. I had high expectations for this visit and they were exceeded tenfold.

It was such a joy to watch both my sons' families come together and get to know each other. Michael and Daisy are only three weeks apart in age and at 4 years old, they "get" who each other is and really enjoyed spending time together.

Because Mike and Keith are identical twins, each kid was like: "Your daddy looks like my daddy." That part was pretty cute.

I guess the best way I can communicate what an amazing time we all had is to simply share the pictures we took. I hope you enjoy :)

Katie, Daisy and Baby Gabe - Katie was showing Daisy how to burp a baby : )

Keith and I making Beef Stroganoff for dinner Wednesday night

Mike and Daisy and Abby, Michael and Jack reading and just hanging out

Poppy and Jack enjoying the early morning sunrise

Thanksgiving morning sunrise over our beautiful lake. It could not have been more perfect.

Harry, Katie, Jack and Mike watching the snow fall over the lake

Sweet Baby Gabe kind of wondering what was going on :)

Katie and Gabriel. Precious mamma/son moment

Keith and Abby : )

Mike and Katie : )

I'll take a moment to interject a thought here. My sons are very different young men and they married very different women. But, and this is a big but, each of them married their perfect life partner--the woman who completes them and brings them great happiness. Katie and Abby are beautiful women and wonderful mothers and I'm truly grateful to have each of them in my life.

Michael V - love that eyebrow look!

Pretty Katie

Katie and Jack Jack

Daisy and Michael - beautiful beautiful children. . . inside and out

What better way to bond with a cousin than to catch snowflakes on your tongue? : )

I love this picture!

Daisy trying to run away from the snowflakes

Sweet Jack and his puppy Kipper

No words needed - my greatest joy

Daisy and Michael still trying to catch snowflakes : )

Snow falling over our beautiful lake

Tickling Michael in his ear

Keith and Jack over breakfast

My happy hallway - filled with lots of shoes which means lots of people!

OK - so these next few photos show the process of building a snowman with only two inches of snow! But it was so fun to watch and I think a good time was had by ALL!