The days get short, the light's gone from the sky, we wake up and come home to darkness as wintry weather turns the sky gray. This is not a fun time of year in the Northeast. So to cheer things up, here's a recipe that pulls together a variety of foods and textures in a single healthy dish. And it's so bright! Be sure to serve it in a glass dish so you can see the colorful layers.
Warning: this recipe will take time! It's best prepared with leftovers. So go ahead, cook a whole pumpkin. Make soup, pie, toast the seeds, and leave a little for this recipe. Need an excuse to cook cranberries? Make juice! Greens and tempeh can be cooked easily as needed. The measurements are vague estimates since it can all be prepared to taste or ingredient availability. Overall, this turned out to be a wonderful mix of ingredients on hand – both delicious and pretty!
A mixture of colorful fall foods that are good for your body, your palate and pleasing to the eye!
Colorful Harvest Medley
created by Sarah Johnson
- ½c wild rice
- ½c brown rice
- 1c roast pumpkin cubes
- ½c fresh cranberries
- ¼c sugar
- 4 leaves chard
- 4 slices tempeh
- 4T olive oil
- Cook the rice. For me this means 1c rice, 2c water, bring to a boil, simmer covered for 40min.
- If your pumpkin is fresh, cut in half, place face down on a baking sheet, cook at 400F for about 20-40min until just soft.
- Place cranberries and ½c water in a small pan, bring to a boil, then simmer covered for at least 5min. Cranberries will turn totally red and taste sweet (add more sugar to taste). Strain and save the juice for drinking!
- Chop tempeh into squares and cook in a pan with 2T oil until tempeh browns on both sides.
- Layer the ingredients: rice, chard, tempeh, pumpkin, cranberries.
- Drizzle olive oil over the mixture and enjoy!
Tags: chard, cranberry, fall, food, harvest, pumpkin, recipe, rice, tempeh, vegetable, vegetarian, wild rice
