We are moving this week, out to the country after a near three years in our current rental house. I’m currently sorting through a hefty volume of amassed possessions in the midst of regular work obligations. Meals at home are still happening as usual thanks to my wife’s diligence (and incorporating my homemade project additions), but I taught on Monday night and we ate pizza out after class. Yesterday’s lunch reminded me of why I esteem Jenny McGruther, author of Nourished Kitchen book, and blog.

Early in my journey of figuring out what to eat and why, I acquired Sally Fallon Morell & Mary Enig’s book Nourishing Traditions. An essential volume that provided real science to back arguments about why the mainstream food business isn’t advocating on our bodies’ behalf with things like the low fat crusade that began in the 70’s and the subsequent laurels placed on cooking with vegetable oils. (The big food industries of course pay for the science behind their arguments.)

Cooking from this elemental volume might leave one less than excited about their new nourishing diet as Morell and Enig are/were both nutritionists (Enig passed away this year), not cooks. The recipes need a little extra love in many cases, to make them blog-worthy dishes. Jenny, has been doing just that by coming up with recipes that fit a nourishing, traditional foods lifestyle and making us drool over them since 2007 over at her blog, Nourished Kitchen. From real food meal plans for busy families to teaching folks how to ferment anything, the site is a wealth of knowledge. Her beautiful book of the same name came out in April 2014 and is a cookbook based on seasonal cooking with whole foods and real food ingredients. 

In addition to all the wonderful recipes and things you can find in both the book and on the blog, I appreciate Jenny’s instagram feed because she reminds us that she is a normal person who has an occasional doughnut and that is absolutely fine. We need to be flexible in our food lifestyles enough to remember we’re humans.

Our lunch yesterday was just leftover pizza until I found a simple (move-friendly, even) and nourishing side dish in the book from things already in our fridge, a radish, parsley and butter. This is what Jenny’s book is about for me, not needing to adhere to a strict nutritional code, but finding a way to make more nourishing components of meals and wrapping that into your lifestyle.

Blistered Radishes

(excerpted from The Nourished Kitchen by Jennifer McGruther)

16 radishes

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Freshly ground unrefined sea salt

Chop the radishes into 1/4-inch dice and set them in a bowl while you prepare the remaining ingredients. 

Melt the butter in a wide skillet over medium-high heat. When the butter foams, decrease the heat to medium-low and stir in the radishes. Cook the radishes in the butter, stirring frequently, for 8 to 10 minutes, until their skins blister slightly. Sprinkle them with the parsley and season with the salt to suit your preference. Serve warm.  

Win a copy of this book by using the widget below. Please note that 10 Speed Press will be mailing the winner’s copy directly to them and they have requested that I accept only entrants from the Continental U.S. Thank you for understanding their restrictions.

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Disclosures: My agent (who is also Jenny’s agent) sent me a complimentary copy of the Nourished Kitchen book, and 10 Speed Press, Jenny’s publisher, will be mailing a copy to the winner of this giveaway. The Amazon links to the books in this post offer a small kickback to me if you purchase via these links.