Eating in Season – Winter
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Eating in Season – Winter

Eating in Season – Winter

We on the farm have always believed in the practice of eating in season for its numerous benefits including; a healthier lifestyle, reducing your carbon footprint and because we’re farmers and live closely to, and are in touch with the land. An eating in season lifestyle enhances your body with foods and nutrition required to thrive in… Read More »

We on the farm have always believed in the practice of eating in season for its numerous benefits including; a healthier lifestyle, reducing your carbon footprint and because we’re farmers and live closely to, and are in touch with the land.
An eating in season lifestyle enhances your body with foods and nutrition required to thrive in that season, affords better taste & flavor from consuming locally grown food that has been picked ripe in the fields, reduces your carbon footprint as foods are consumed locally where they are grown and not transported great distances, all while providing more harmonious living with nature.
As most people are spending more time at home right now, we thought it the perfect time to reintroduce you to the practice of eating in season with some of our most favorite recipes along with how to stock the perfect winter pantry. We encourage you to share time preparing meals with the ones you love for a lifetime of wonderful memories and to enjoy healthy, nutritious, seasonal meals.
To your health!
From your friends at the Alstede Farms Kitchen
How to Stock the Perfect Winter Pantry
The first step in aligning closer to the seasons is to make sure you

have a fully stocked pantry. Here are a few of our top picks to help you cook with ease and obtain optimum nutrition in winter.

Here’s our farm kitchen winter pantry checklist;
aromatics  shallots, onions, garlic
hearty root veggies – potatoes, winter squash, beets, carrots, turnips
herbs spices – fresh or dried herbs and spices, such as; curry powder, sage, nutmeg and thyme.

nuts/seeds/dried fruit 
almonds, walnuts, pepitas, dates, cranberries
grains & pastas – brown rice, noodles, risotto
Beetroot highlight of the week 
This week we are highlighting the importance of beetroot in the seasonal diet. Beetroot is simply the root of the beet and is harvested on our farm all through the summer late into the fall and keeps for months making it the perfect vegetable for wintertime. Not only does it store well, it is also a very popular item for canning & preserving into pickled beets or canned borscht soup so that it can be consumed during the winter months

when the supply of vegetables in this region is low due to seasonality.

Beetroot contains high levels of nutrients and minerals, brings an earthy grounding taste to dishes, and can be easily prepared in a variety of different ways. Our favorite way to consume beets in our farm kitchen is to roast them as we feel they turn sweeter when roasted.
How to make a Creamy Roasted beet hummus.
We’ve roasted the beets in this recipe to bring out the earthy flavor which is a great compliment to the nutty chickpeas also retaining it’s deep rich color aiding to the overall nutritional value. If you have already followed the steps to stock the perfect winter pantry, you will only need the additional minimum ingredients namely beetroot to prepare this recipe at home for your family.
Click here for recipe.
roasted beet hummusTry our Alstede Fresh homemade Apple Beet soup, lovingly made by our Chef Johan using our own homegrown apples & beets. So delicious and nutritious and eating in season friendly.  Available while in season.
Click here to learn more.