Healty Alternative

As some of you may know I've been trying to spend more and more time in the kitchen cooking. It's a something that I've only recently become passionate about. The last year and a half or more. As part of my culinary experiments in the kitchen, I'm always looking for healthier recipes and finding ways that I can take dishes that my wife and I love and try to make them a lot better for us. With that I offer up one of my first eating recommendations for you all. However, in all honesty I can not take too much credit for this one because I learned it from wife, who in turn learned it from her mother. But that's how the best cooking really comes about though. Anyways, my great suggestion for you all is using turnips instead of butter. Not for everything. I don't think you can saute food with a pad of turnip, but I'll look into that one. Turnips, if you've never eaten a raw one before, have a great buttery flavor to them and they go great with other root vegetables. So if you're thinking about making mashed potatoes, try using turnips instead of butter next time. My recommendation is to use about twice as much potato as turnip. If you want it a bit more buttery, use more turnips. Just make sure you boil both of them together and long enough to mash well. Another quick tip. Put them in cold water then let the temperature rise to a boil. Potatoes cook better that way.

I made a great mashed potatoes alternative last night that both my wife and I enjoyed so I figured I would share my first ever recipe with you all. Again, this isn't completely my recipe, I did take some of it from elsewhere, but made it healthier and more my own. My recipe is for Parsnip Puree. Parsnips are those things at the grocery store that look like rotten carrots. They are identical in shape except they're white. They are really delicious if you've never had one, I suggest you do. Here's my recipe, it's one hundred percent dairy free so even vegans can eat. Although I don't condone veganism. I hope you all try it and enjoy.

Parsnip Puree:

6 Large Parsnips
1 to 2 Good Sized Turnips depending on how you want it to taste
6 Cloves of Garlic
1 Large Shallot
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil
Aluminum Foil
Baking Sheet
Food Processor (you can also use a potato masher if you don't have a processor)

Preheat your oven to 350 Degrees

Wash and peel your parsnips and turnips

Rough chop your parsnips and turnips. Try to get the pieces to be roughly the same size if possible for even cooking.

Peel your garlic cut out green stem if needed. (The stem creates a bitter taste if left in, but it is edible.)

Place aluminum foil on baking sheet and place the chopped turnips, garlic and parsnips on top of the foil.

Coat the the turnips, garlic and parsnips with a fairly generous amount of olive oil.

Season the turnips, garlic and parsnips with salt and pepper. It's okay to use less than you may normally here because you can always add more as your pureeing them later.

Cover completely with aluminum fold and fold all the sides so it's sealed.

Roast in oven for 40 minutes or until they are all the way tender and soft.

Peel wash and rough chop your shallot (you can add the shallot to the roasting as well, however I did not).

Pull the vegetables out of the oven and place everything, in the food processor. Even the olive oil. There is a lot of flavor in there with the vegetable juices etc. Put the chopped shallots in the food processor.

Puree the vegetables until they are an even consistency. Check halfway to make sure you don't need more salt and pepper. Add more salt and pepper if necessary.

Serve. Because of the shallots and parsnips, it will be on the sweeter side, so a good savory dish goes great with these.

So that's my recipe. Try it out and let me know what you think. I look forward to your comments. Let me know if you have any questions. And I'll try to post some more recipes as I come up with them.