My New Kentucky CSA

Zuchhini Lasagna

2011-07-12T13:31:00.000-04:00

Mike and Megan made the zucchini lasagna last night for dinner and it turned out really good. They used a combination of the recipe at http://allrecipes.com/recipe/no-noodle-zucchini-lasagna/detail.aspx and our regular recipe (mainly leaving out the mushrooms, spinach, and red wine because we didn't have any of those). The girls liked it too although Isabelle was a little iffy on it - if you put one layer of lasagna noodles on the top, no one would probably realize that it wasn't regular lasagna!

It did have a little too much liquid so we had to serve in bowls, so next time we won't add any extra water.

Week 7 - July 7

2011-07-11T12:27:00.000-04:00

Definitely moving away from the greens this week! Mike and the girls are back home so there will be more cooking in the house and more recipes to share. The plan for tonight's dinner is zucchini lasagna.

Carrots

Beets

Squash

Zucchini

Cucumbers

Turnips

Green Onions

Red Russian Kale

Garlic

Pesto

2011-07-05T12:12:00.000-04:00

Made a ton of pesto this weekend! I'm the only pesto fan in the house so I froze it in ice cube trays so that I can pull out what I need from the freezer. The only down side to freezing more stuff is that I really need to clean out our freezer so we can find everything - our newest attempt to keep the freezer organized is a whiteboard stuck to the door but first I have to figure out what's in there...

Basic Pesto

2 cups basil leaves, loosely packed
1/2 tsp. chopped garlic
1/2 cup of olive oil
2 T. pine nuts, toasted
pinch of salt
1/2 cup parmesan or Romano cheese

Mix garlic, half the oil, pine nuts, salt and basil in the food processor and process until well mixed. Add the cheese and additional oil then process to get to the desired consistency.

Kohlrabi & Turnips

2011-07-05T12:06:00.000-04:00

For the family cookout this weekend, we tried this recipe with the kohlrabi and turnips we still had from Week 5 and some parsley, onions, and carrots from this week.

http://www.chow.com/recipes/11695-mock-potato-salad

Changes I made
- Added a few turnips as we were a little short on the kohlrabi
- Used carrots instead of celery because we didn't have any but I think the celery would have been better.
- Mixed in some green onion along with the red onion.

It tasted pretty good but next time, I'll be sure to have celery on hand :)

Week #6 - June 30

2011-07-05T12:01:00.000-04:00

This week's share

Carrots

Scarlet Turnips

Green Onions

Collards

Chard

Lettuce

Parsley

Basil

Grilled Beets and Turnips

2011-06-29T13:03:00.000-04:00

Last night, Mike grilled beets and onions for part of our dinner. The beets are definitely a taste that has to grow on you, but I really liked the turnips. These probably won't be on the list of favorites for any of the girls and they sufficiently smothered them in ketchup to eat their required tasting of them!

Beets and/or turnips
Olive oil
onion & garlic seasoning
salt

Slice the beets and turnips thin with the food processor and toss with olive oil and seasonings. Cook on grill until tender. Add additional salt to taste.

Sweet Restaurant Slaw

2011-06-27T10:48:00.000-04:00

I did use some of our cabbage, carrots, and green onions to make some slaw last week from the recipe below. I cut back to about 1/3 cup of sugar like many of the reviewers suggested.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/sweet-restaurant-slaw/detail.aspx

I'm not a big vinegar fan so I look for recipes without much but I wasn't crazy about this version either. My aunt Mary Carolyn has the magic touch and makes the best slaw. Maybe I just need to go watch her make it!

Week 5 - June 23, 2011

2011-06-27T10:45:00.000-04:00

With everyone out of the house except me last week, there wasn't a lot of cooking going on then when they got back, we all went to Pennsylvania for the weekend. Here are the goodies from the last share.

Kohlrabi

Carrots

Beets

Green Onions

Red Russian Kale

Lettuce

Basil

Savory

Fennel

Chives

Week #4 - June 16

2011-06-17T16:44:00.000-04:00

Some new things for the season in this week's share!

Turnips
Chinese cabbage
Beets
Green onions
Lacinato kale
Lettuce

I need to find some things that keep well as leftovers or ways to freeze them since it's jut me around he house for a big part of the week.

Kohlrabi Hash Browns

2011-06-16T12:34:00.001-04:00

Here's a recipe we tried last night that tasted really good!
http://www.jennifersanborn.com/2009/08/kohlrabi-hash-browns/

The towel that you dry the kohlrabi with will have a lingering odor the next day even if it's left outside to dry :)

Asian Sugar Snap Peas

2011-06-15T10:49:00.000-04:00

Technically an appetizer, but we had it with dinner last night along with steaks and a salad (with our CSA lettuce and snow peas, among other toppings). It tasted great but will probably use a little less olive oil next time. They still kept some of their crunch and tasted great.

Asian Sugar Snap Pea Appetizer
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Asian-Sugar-Snap-Pea-Appetizer/Detail.aspx

Week #3 - June 9, 2011

2011-06-11T22:56:00.000-04:00

This week's share was broccoli, kohlrabi, turnips, green onions, swiss chard, lettuce (and lots of it), and cilantro. We're still working on last week's lettuce so it's going to be a lot of salads this week although we did bring some to my in-laws this weekend. You can only eat so many salads!

Salads and kale chips

2011-06-08T14:27:00.000-04:00

It's been a little busy this week so we've been enjoying all the great lettuce from last week in salads with broccoli, kohlrabi, and radishes over the fresh lettuce and arugula. We picked sugar snap peas and snow peas on Monday so the girls have been munching on those as a snack.

I tried kale chips again and they turned out a little better this year but I think they still need some work. If anyone has any suggestions for something different, let me know. Preheated the oven to 400 degrees. Mixed season salt with olive oil and tossed with bite size pieces of kale. Baked in the oven for about 10-12 minutes until some of the leaves started looking a little brown.

Stir fry is sounding good for tonight!

Dill & Salad

2011-06-04T22:15:00.000-04:00

A picnic on Thursday and Tae Kwon Do testing on Friday meant that we didn't get to enjoy any of our veggies until today. But the lettuce mix made a great salad before our evening bike ride/date night and the dill is all frozen away in cubes.(http://www.preservingyourharvest.com/FreezingDill.html)

Week #2 - June 2

2011-06-04T22:13:00.000-04:00

A big share this week!

Broccoli
Kohlrabi
Radishes
Pac choi
Kale
Lettuce
Salad mix
Arugula
Spinach
Fenugreek
Dill
Sugar snap peas (Mike's going to pick these on Monday)

Turnips, Radishes, Lettuce, and Greens

2011-06-01T23:39:00.001-04:00

Tonight's dinner included

Turnips, radishes, and bell peppers tossed with olive oil and seasonings and cooked on the grill. (We need to get more practice with grilling veggies!)
Turnip greens and rest of braising mix cooked similar to sweet & savory kale recipe (also on our burner on the grill)
Lettuce and remaining arugula made a great salad.

Can't wait to see what tomorrow's CSA share will bring! Hopefully plenty of grill-friendly foods as we haven't turned on our AC in the house yet. Mike and I both recently read No Impact Man and thought some of it was pretty interesting so we are going to try the No Impact Experiment next week. A documentary about their year is also available and is streaming on Netflix. While we aren't going to cut the electricity off completely, we decided we would leave the AC off next week and didn't want to get used to it this week only to turn it off.

Spinach Dip & Kale

2011-05-30T21:45:00.000-04:00

Used up the spinach with this great dip recipe and took it to our family cookout this weekend. Served it with corn chips and Wheat Thins - both went well with it and it makes a lot!.

http://www.food.com/recipe/worlds-best-spinach-dip-310735

Now, I'm off to make Sweet & Savory Kale (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sweet-and-Savory-Kale/Detail.aspx) for dinner.

Cilantro and Sugar Snap Peas

2011-05-27T22:25:00.003-04:00

Mike went to the farm for this week's u-pick and we ended up with sugar snap peas and cilantro. Tonight was a little "relaxed" so we didn't fix a big meal. I made and froze some cilantro puree. Can't want to try it over some pasta! I froze about half the sugar snap peas for a stir fry later on and will have the rest of them fresh for our family cookout this weekend.

Herb Puree
2 c. Fresh herb leaves (thin stems okay), rinsed and dried
Salt
1/2 clove garlic, peeled, or more to taste
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 T. Lemon juice

Combine parsley with pinch of salt, garlic, and ~half the oil in a food processor or blender. Scrape sides as needed. Add rest of oil gradually. Add lemon juice, then a little more oil or some water if you prefer a thinner mixture.

Recipe from "How to Cook Everything" by Mark Bittman

Tonight's Dinner

2011-05-26T20:54:00.001-04:00

We kept it simple tonight with a mix of lettuce and arugula for a salad with some sliced radishes and other toppings we already had in the refrigerator. This went well with the chicken spectacular casserole we had thawed out. (more about our adventures in freezer cooking at http://asoult.blogspot.com/search/label/freezer_cooking)

Week #1 - May 26, 2011

2011-05-26T20:34:00.003-04:00

Welcome to Week #1! Wereceived our first share from the UK CSA today. I hope you enjoy taking this journey with us and I welcom any recipes you might have to share - just leave a comment with the recipe or a link.

This week's share includes the following:
- Braising mix
- Turnips with greens
- Radishes
- Lettuce
- Arugula
- Spinach
- Red russian kale
- Sugar snap peas