CSA Share 10/18/2011

I am excited to be receiving fresh organic veggies again this week.

Eggplant:  Eggplant Parmesan

Radishes (Tops): Radish Top Soup

• This turned out fabulously.  My family wasn’t a big fan, but they
  

  Soup in a Mug, Perfect for the cold spell that hit today

  don’t really eat soups well in general.  I, on the other hand, have almost eaten the entire batch in one day.  The soup tastes really potatoe-ish and was super easy to make….even on my first try.  I added a little cheese to it while it was hot for a little extra flavor

Sweet Potatoes: Sweet Potatoe Fries

Okra: Gumbo

Garlic: Will save and use up as various recipes call for it.  This is one item that doesn’t tend to hang around long, even without planning.

Collard Greens: These will become food for a friendly tortoise I know…because I think we need to enrich animal’s lives as well  If you are looking for Collard Green inspiration though here is a recipe you might try.

Peppers:  That I will leave to my husband who likes all things spicy.  He has a tendency to add peppers to anything, pizza, burgers, burrito, whatever.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still give away the cucumber, and it’ll be stretch for me to figure out a new kohlrabi recipe, but little by little, I’m getting it.  I’m cooking more, eating fresher foods, and eating junk food less.

In the bag this week:

Cantaloupe:  Oops, it’s already eaten…that didn’t last long.

Spinach: Will make a quiche

kohlrabi: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/squash-and-kohlrabi-empanadas/detail.aspx

cucumber:  I’m such a sweet friend I’ll pass that one on

tomatoes: those must be fried…I live in the south, it’s what we do, right?

Finished Product!

I did in fact finally try my Kohlrabi recipe.  I was really pretty and tasty in the end.  When I read “puree” I thought it would end up kinda gross looking, but using the leaves, bulbs, and some mushrooms gave it a bit of color.  It ended up taking me forever, but I am starting to realize that that’s a personal issue I have when trying recipes for the first time.  Usually things are slow the first time I do it, and then get faster on subsequent tries.  For example, I am now the master of kale chips and can whip up a batch in 15 minutes…it took me 2 hours the first day.

Anyways, I’ll give this recipe a thumbs up!   It utilized both parts of the plant, had a nice presentation in the end, and was yummy.

boiling the bulb

Cooking the leaves and mushrooms

CSA this week

Now we are getting into some fun stuff.  It’s just happy to look and see a bag overflowing with basil and flowers.  Then to dig down deeper and find watermelons, celery, cucumber, kohlrabi, and oh wait, I have no idea what that other root is

For this week my plan is:

Flowers – Put in vase, add water, enjoy the color in my home.

Watermelons – eat it all!  I love the little bitty watermelons, they are just the right size that I can cut into one and we will eat it all without it going to waste.  I was doubly happy to see some watermelons from Gary, because we bought a watermelon at Walmart for the 4th of July yesterday and I was soooo disappointed when we cut into it and it had no flavor.  I’m telling you, it was bland.  I know Gary’s  will give me that sweetness I’m looking for.

Basil – Pizza!  We’ve tried this recipe before and the basil really taste wonderful on here.

Kohlrabi – Didn’t get around to trying my recipe from last week, so I think I’ll combine the new with the old and try this…hopefully, maybe.

Celery – I’m thinking maybe this celery stuffing?  We aren’t big celery eaters, so I have to try to hide it in things.

Cucumber – I don’t think I’ll try it, but this cucumber salad looks really cool & I give a lot of points for presentation.

Mystery Root – hmmm???

Spoils from the farm

This week I could smell my bag of food from across the room.  It had the coolest, fragrant flowers in it.  I think Gary stuck them in as a happy, and they made me smile.  They are called Cock’s Comb & do in fact look like the comb on a chickens head…except prettier of course.

In the bag this week:

• Lamb’s Quarters – Gary said to remove the tough stems and keep the leaves for cooking.  Sautee a big onion with salt and pepper, then add the leaves until done.  I’m going to try that recipe.
• Malabar Spinach – Found this recipe for Spinach Brownies that looks kinda yummy.
• Cucumbers – My girls and I are going to cut one up and use the slices as eye treatment at a pretend spa. Hopefully the other will end up in a salad.
• Thai Basil–
  

  Thai Basil

  First thing I did was put some of these in a vase.  It looked and smelled so nice.  Still had a big bunch left which I’m thinking about either freezing or drying out.  I’m finding lots of cool recipes, but nothing that’s very simple which is a necessity for me at the moment.

• Cabbage –
• Kohlrabi – Apparently this veggie is pretty versatile even though I personally have never encountered one in my life before.  Here is the recipeI plan on trying:4 kohlrabi bulbs with leaves
  2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  1 large onion, chopped
  3 cloves garlic, minced
  4 ounces cultivated mushrooms (I used Baby Bellas), quartered
  3 Tablespoons cream (or milk, chicken stock, olive oil, or water)
  salt and pepper to taste

  1. Trim the kohlrabi bulbs, peeling them if the skins seem tough. Rinse the leaves (discarding any that are yellow) pat them dry, and coarsely chop. Set aside. But the bulbs into 1-inch chunks.

  2. Bring a saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil, and add the kohlrabi chunks. Reduce the heat and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes.

  3. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a skillet. Add the onion and sauté over medium-low heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, another 1 to 2 minutes. Don’t let the garlic brown.

  4. Add the mushrooms and the reserved kohlrabi leaves to the skillet. Cover, and cook 5 minutes. Then uncover, and cook, stirring, until all the liquid has evaporated, 3 minutes. Set the skillet aside.

  5. Drain the kohlrabi chunks and place them in the bowl of a food processor (I love my 12-cup KitchenAid processor). Add the mushroom mixture and the cream (or whatever substitute you’re using). Purée until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste.

  6. Transfer the purée to a saucepan and reheat over low heat, stirring, 2 minutes. Serve warm.

  Makes 6 portions.

Spaghetti Recipe:  In one large pot bring water to boil…add noodles…boil until noodle sticks to wall…drain

In a separate large saucepan brown 1 lb hamburger meat with chopped onions…drain grease….add 1 can tomato soup and 1 can cream of mushroom soup and seasoning (usually I put in a lot of chili powder, and a little bit of italian seasoning and garlic powder)….simmer while the noodles are boiling. After noodles have been drained cover them with the sauce….ENJOY!

I’ve also enjoyed having frozen broccoli.  I have pulled it out and steamed it, and also used it again in the Tilapia recipe.

My turnip greens I have pulled out and added to a veggie soup & I still have some squash waiting to be turned into squash braid bread.

In general though, I have to admit, the quality (and certainly the diversity) of the food I serve has gone down now that we aren’t getting the CSA bag every week.  I am not very good at mealplanning & it tends to end up being, darn I didn’t plan anything for dinner, here have some macaroni and cheese and a can of veggies.  Almost as much as I am looking forward to the fresh veggies coming in, I am more excited about the catalyst that it seems to be for helping me to cook.  It’s almost like that show on Food Network “Chopped”  I get this bag of food and now I have to figure out what to make from it.  It adds some fun and definitely some motivation to an otherwise unmotivated mother.

This year Gary is expecting:

April, May – Carrots, Beets, Dinosaur Kale, Red Kale, Collards, Green Red Savoy, Napa Cabbages, Cauliflower, Fennel, Romaine Iceburg Lettuces, Chard, Broccoli, Kohlrabi, Turnips, Arugula, other specialty greens, Watermelon, Daikon Regular Radish, Dill, Parsley, and other herbs, Asian grens, Sugar snap peas, mustard greens.

June, July – Many tomato varieties, string beans, eggplant, peppers, squash, zucchini, basil and other herbs, corn, rutabaga, butternut squash, all kinds of melons, bulb onions, red and white irish potatoes, tomatillos, cut flowers.

I am so excited!  I can’t wait until the food starts rolling in again.  I’ve already begun to miss it, and the winter stuff wasn’t even any of my favorite foods.

To get a share, call Gary @ Red Root Farm 334-243-4072

Squashed!

Today I tried the squash braid bread.  I was afraid it would be difficult to cut up the squash, but it turned out to be pretty easy.

The squash yielded pretty much exactly 2 cups of squash after it was cooked and mashed, & my recipe calls for 1 cup and recommends freezing the remainder, so I did & I have enough for bread another day.  If I had been clever I would have just doubled my recipe, but alas.

My dough was pretty sticky so I was afraid that I had miscounted  the amount of flour I added or some other such silliness (don’t judge…it’s easy to do when you have 3 kids distracting you), but in the end I think it was right.

Almost Ready for the Oven

The one thing I definitely underestimated was the time investment in making bread.  It’s something you have to keep coming back to.

But in the end it turned out really well.  My bread was yummy, pretty, and had a nice texture.

The finished product!

Next time I will spray the pan because it did stick just a little.

My husband and children all ate it happily, so I’m calling it a win all around.

This Week's CSA

This is our last week of CSA until spring!  This week we got a bunch of green onions, a few sprigs of rosemary, a beautiful head of lettuce & a lot of collard greens.

Bite-size pieces

Essentially you wash the Kale and cut the stalk out of the leaf.  Cut the leaves into bite size pieces.

Olive Oil & Seasoned Salt

Put a Tablespoon of Olive Oil and a teaspoon of seasoned salt into a bowl.  (I actually found that mine were a little salty with this ratio, will probably reduce the amount of salt next time)

Kale coated with oil/salt mixture

Add the Kale pieces back in and toss them until they are coated with the oil mixture.

Before Going in the Oven

Lay them out on a pan and bake at 350 for about 5 minutes.  I found that you want to get them out sooner rather than later.  Once they turn brown, they taste kinda gross, but being still green and moist is yummy.

Final result

Approved!

They are definitely not potato chips, but they were pretty good to munch on.  My 2 year old daughter liked them and we took them over to a friends house and they liked them as well, including her 8 year old son.  I think that speaks pretty highly of the recipe.

It probably took me a good hour to prepare and then bake these guys, but I did it with the help of my 2 year old who really enjoyed the project.  It was  a fun morning in the kitchen.  Not something I’d have the time to do everyday, but something I’m glad I made the time for today.