Since the holiday season is a time when many of us will celebrate with delicious food, we thought we would conclude our series of holiday articles by sharing some ideas about bringing delicious, local, seasonal food and herbs to our holiday meals.

This past month on HerbMentor.com we co-created a Thanksgiving Feast, and members wrote in with all sorts of creative ideas.

One member has lots of chickweed growing in her yard, so she was going to fry some small pieces of bacon and stir the chickweed in with it, bringing a local wild food to her table.

Another member suggested Fruits of the Forest pie – made with anything that grows in your area – apples, cranberries, rhubarb, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries…

Yum!

Well, since we’re moving into the root time of year (the plants are returning their energy to their roots as their leaves and stems die back for the winter) I wanted to cook up a root dish for my Thanksgiving meal.

This recipe adapted from The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook by Alissa Sergersten and Tom Malterre was just the thing.

You will need:

• 3 beets

• 2 or 3 medium burdock roots. At this point, you can dig and clean the first year roots. You can also purchase this at many natural foods coops as well as Asian grocery stores, where it is called Gobo root. We purchased these roots at our local natural foods grocery store.)

• 1 bunch of kale

• 1 cup raw walnuts

• ½ cup feta cheese

Dressing:

• 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

• 2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar

• 1 Tablespoon maple syrup

• 2 Tablespoons finely chopped basil (1 Tablespoon dried)

• 1 tsp. tamari or ¼ tsp. sea salt

Peel the beets if you like (I usually don’t) and chop them into cubes. Slice the burdock roots and chop the kale into bite size pieces.

Steam the beets and burdock for 25 minutes, add the kale to the basket and steam for another 10 minutes until everything is tender. Transfer to a serving bowl.

While the vegetables are steaming lightly roast the walnuts in a skillet on the stove over medium heat – keeping them moving so they don’t burn. Remove from heat when they are lightly browned. You can also roast them in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes at 350 degrees. Add the walnuts to the bowl with the vegetables.

In a small bowl, wisk together the dressing ingredients.

Pour the dressing over the vegetables and walnuts and mix.

Top with feta cheese and freshly ground black pepper if desired.  (I forgot, and it still tasted wonderful!)

I added the burdock to this recipe because it is one of my favorite nourishing roots and I try to add it to my diet as much as possible this time of year.

In her book Healing Wise, Susun Weed writes, “Even occasional use of burdock root, or any part of the plant, will help provide optimum nutrition to the glandular and immune systems, liver, kidneys, blood, lungs and nerves, as well as providing overall power and emotional stability to the whole being.”

Need I say more?

I also just got a book called the magic teaspoon by Victorka Zak and I love it! It details the benefits of many, many culinary herbs and also gives specific, delicious recipes for how to bring the herbs into our everyday diet.

One such idea is to make an herb butter, which we also included in our Thanksgiving feast. Check out the bonus article below.

Happy Holidays and Delicious Dinners!

-Kimberly

An herb butter is a simple and delicious way to bring herbs to your everyday table. This recipe comes from the magic teaspoon by Victoria Zac. You will need:

• 1 stick of butter at room temperature (or ½ cup)

• 1 ½ tsp. lemon juice

• 4 tsps. fresh parsley or other herb of your choice (or 2 tsps. dried)

Using a blender or whisk, cream the butter while gradually adding the lemon juice. (I gave up on the whisk and used my hands.)

Blend in the parsley.

Chill.

If you are preparing this for a fancy meal you can put it into a dish that will create a nice shape.

When you’re ready to eat, turn the better out of the dish onto a small plate.

Adding parsley to your butter gifts you with “an antioxidant, blood builder, cancer fighter, and green energizer!”

Enjoy!

-Kimberly