RECIPES: Warm up to these hearty, healthy winter dishes
Winter’s bounty of root vegetables and winter squash provides Tatiana Gonzalez with a rich source of inspiration for hearty, nourishing meals planned around soups, stews and salads packed with vegetables and grains.
Inspired by watching her Puerto Rican family in the kitchen, Gonzalez appreciated home cooking, but it wasn’t until she was working on her master’s in public health that cooking became a regular part of her routine. “I was studying the link between urban agriculture and public health, and that fueled my passion for cooking and incorporating seasonal produce into my daily meals,” Gonzalez said.
With her degree acquired in May 2022, she became a service member with FoodCorps, partnering with the Wylde Center in Decatur as a garden and nutrition educator at Parkside and Cleveland Avenue elementary schools in Atlanta. “I help the schools create community garden spaces and educate students on how to grow food and what it means to eat seasonal produce.”
She teaches students how to grow things like sweet potatoes, and then teaches them recipes to use what they grow. “That’s a really wonderful experience. Eating what they grow connects them to their food. It helps them want to know more about what they’re growing and learn more recipes.”
Those experiences plus her occasional shifts helping Athens-based Woodland Gardens at its farmers market booths broadened her exposure to seasonal ingredients, and when she wasn’t sure what to do with something, she searched for ideas. “When I wanted to cook something new, I would look on the internet for options, choose the most appealing, and adapt to my taste. What could I do with leeks? What about recipes using cannellini beans?”
She started doing chef demos with Community Farmers Markets, which broadened her exposure to seasonal produce as she shopped at a market’s vendors and then developed recipes to demonstrate on-site, offering samples to market shoppers and encouraging them to shop with the farmers and adapt her recipes at home.
Her White Bean Chili with Sweet Potatoes is an example of her creativity in the kitchen. “I wanted to do something with cannellini beans which I hadn’t cooked before. I searched for recipes and found some ideas for Mediterranean-flavored dishes. I love cherry tomatoes, so I added those. The result is a dish full of nutritious vegetables, as well as protein and fiber, that I love to eat so much that I make it every week.”
She developed her Potato Leek Soup as a result of coming home with leeks from Woodland Gardens. “The leeks looked delicious but I had never cooked with them. A little research at Once Upon a Chef for inspiration, some tweaks and I ended up with a tasty, nourishing, super-simple soup.”
One day when she was craving a salad and had butternut squash and beets on hand, she scrolled through social media for ideas for salads using root vegetables. She was inspired to create her Butternut Squash, Beet, Couscous and Arugula Salad, which she particularly loves for the toasted chickpeas. She says they turn into “crispy protein croutons.”
If you’ve resolved to cook more and eat well in the new year, her recipes offer a great place to start.
RECIPES
To satisfy appetites during the cold months of a Georgia winter, Tatiana Gonzalez shares three recipes for hearty dishes that incorporate the season’s most bountiful vegetables. Her recipes call for Italian seasoning. She uses a mix that includes basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary and parsley.
White Bean Chili with Sweet Potatoes
At first glance, this might not look like a standard chili recipe. But the adobo seasoning, with its mix of salt, cumin, garlic, black pepper and oregano, provides the expected chili punch.
- 4 cups 1/2-inch diced sweet potatoes (about 1 pound)
- 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning, divided
- 3/4 teaspoon adobo seasoning
- Salt and pepper
- 1 (15.5-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half
- 2 red or yellow peppers, cut into 1/2-inch dice
- 1 yellow onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- Brown rice, for serving
- Crumbled feta, for garnish
- Heat oven to 425 degrees.
- Put diced sweet potatoes in a medium bowl and toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add 3/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning and adobo seasoning and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Transfer sweet potatoes to a rimmed baking sheet and roast 20 minutes.
- While sweet potatoes are roasting, in a medium bowl, combine beans, tomatoes, peppers, onion and garlic. Toss with remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, remaining 3/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- In a 2-cup measuring cup, mix water and tomato paste and stir into bean mixture. Pour bean mixture into a small Dutch oven and put in the oven, uncovered, alongside the sweet potatoes.
- When the sweet potatoes have cooked 20 minutes, carefully stir them into the bean mixture, cover the Dutch oven, and continue cooking until sweet potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes.
- Serve over brown rice and garnish with crumbled feta.
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per 1-cup serving without rice: 179 calories (percent of calories from fat, 36), 5 grams protein, 25 grams carbohydrates, 6 grams fiber, 7 grams total fat (1 gram saturated), no cholesterol, 200 milligrams sodium.
Potato Leek Soup
Gonzalez adapted the concept of the French classic cold soup, vichyssoise, and created a lighter version to be served hot. She suggests using your own vegetable broth or if you don’t have homemade broth available, making broth from a vegetable soup base like Better Than Bouillon, available in the soup section of the grocery store.
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 cups roughly chopped leeks, white and light green parts only, rinsed to be sure any sand is removed
- 2/3 cup chopped yellow onion (about 1 small onion)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 7 cups vegetable broth
- 2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
- 5 sprigs thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- Salt and pepper
- Italian seasoning, to taste
- Heavy cream and chopped chives, for garnish
- In a Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Add leeks, onion and garlic and cook until vegetables have softened and leeks are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add broth, potatoes, thyme, bay leaves and a generous pinch of salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat so soup is simmering. Cook 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Remove and discard thyme sprigs and bay leaves. Using an immersion blender, puree soup until smooth, then season to taste with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Let soup simmer 5 minutes, then serve, drizzled with cream and garnished with chopped chives.
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per 1-cup serving: 139 calories (percent of calories from fat, 26), 3 grams protein, 24 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber, 4 grams total fat (2 grams saturated), 10 milligrams cholesterol, 536 milligrams sodium.
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