As you know, 2010 has been the year of trying new foods for me. I started the year at a feverish pace (as there were many foods that were new to me!). The pace has slowed, and while there are still plenty of new things out there for me to try (there are over 20,000 species of edible plants, yet fewer than 20 species make up 90% of our food – source), I was feeling pretty happy with my New Food Accomplishments.

That is, until Fall set in.

Gone are the cherries and blueberries and the juicy fruits of summer. Only the strawberries and raspberries seem to be hanging on, and they’ll be gone soon, too.

I’d never bought fresh raspberries until recently. I thought I knew what they tasted like (having had many raspberry-flavored things in my life), and I thought I didn’t like them enough to buy them. But in the fruit draught that fall pulled over my grocer’s produce department, I was desperate. I brought home a carton of raspberries.

I should not be surprised. Raspberries are delicious! They taste almost nothing like the fake raspberry flavored things I’ve had in the past. It made me think: do kids growing up today even know what real food tastes like? The fake food revolution only began part way through my life, so in theory I should have had a least a brief foundation of eating real food. But years of eating test tube food and food-like substances made me believe that I don’t like raspberries – even though I’d never actually eaten a raspberry in all my life.

The lesson here: don’t write off the raspberry till you’ve actually tried one.

In other deliciousness this week, I gave brussels sprouts another day in court. This time, I steamed them. Easy peasy, throw some salt on those cute little veggie-balls and nom. Guess what? I think I like steamed brussels sprouts even better than roasted ones. They get this melt-in-your-mouth sort of texture, and the flavor mellows out quite a bit.

I’ve resurrected this old microwave steamer contraption that I had in my cupboard for years. It’s a simple device – a shallow sort of pan, with an insert that keeps the veggies from touching the bottom (so that you can fill the bottom with a layer of water). Add the vented lid, and nuke it. I do prefer to steam veggies on the stove, when I have the time, but this makes for a quick and easy alternative. Apparently, my rice cooker can also be used to steam stuff, but I’ve never tried it.

I have a confession to make. I cannot, for the life of me, seem to kick the ranch dressing habit. I’ve had zero luck finding a vegan ranch dressing recipe that I can live with, and I just absolutely love dipping things in ranch. My brother would agree – ranch makes everything better. Brussels sprouts dipped in ranch? I was in heaven this week. So if anybody has a vegan ranch dressing recipe to share, I’m all ears!

That’s about all the excitement in my kitchen this week. The weekend will see me try another new thing: sliced mushrooms, via an almost-vegan mushroom cream sauce, that I plan to serve over spaghetti squash. We’ll see how it goes!

{Posted: October 8, 2010 at 11:43 am}
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