CSA Week #2

Just as we had almost finished eating all of our veggies we got from week #1, it was time to pick up our vegetables for week #2. In just these two weeks, we have had to completely change the way that we make dinner. When I was a teenager, my mom taught me that dinner should consist of a meat, a vegetable, and some type of starch. When you have two shelves of the refrigerator plus the crisper full of vegetables, things start to change. Starches are more or less out of our diet. We will occasionally have pasta for dinner, or share a baguette, but fruits and vegetables have definitely taken center stage. Breakfasts have become fruit salads, lunches have become wraps filled with different types of greens, and dinner has become meat with a side or two of vegetables. We absolutely love it, and just two weeks in, pick up days have become something that we look forward to every week. Thom is already talking about renewing our investment for next year.

This week's share consisted of a head of Boston lettuce, a bunch of Japanese turnips, a bunch of chives, a baggie of mixed fresh herbs, a kohlrabi, 1.5 pounds of potatoes, a zucchini, and 1/3 pound of arugula! Again, this is early in the season, and our shares will get bigger as the growing season continues. So far, the lettuce has been used in lunches, some of the chives have made friends with the potatoes to create an amazing batch of mashed potatoes, the zucchini was sliced and sauteed with fresh lemon juice and garlic, and the arugula was transformed in to an amazing lemon arugula pasta dish that I found on Pinterest. I promise I will post the recipe in the future. I need to have a chance to take a picture of the finished product. We still have turnips and the kohlrabi to figure out. The turnips can easily be sauteed and are really tasty, but I have never had kohlrabi. We were told it can be shredded and turned into coleslaw. Does anyone have any experience with this? Or other recipes that involve kohrabi?

One of the things I love about participating in a CSA is discovering new vegetables that I have never tried before. At the same time, that can also be the most frustrating aspect.

Creamed Spinach

I have been craving creamed spinach for a while now, but I refuse to buy the frozen processed variety that is loaded with salt, preservatives, and... pardon my French, crap. When spinach turned out to be one of our picks at our CSA pick up, I knew exactly what I was going to make with it. I just had to find a recipe.

I was disappointed to find that so many recipes for creamed spinach call for frozen spinach. Fresh spinach has a beautiful green color, and I find that it is actually easier to work with than frozen spinach. This is because frozen spinach is sold in bricks that is often times freezer burned and once you thaw it out, it is water logged. No fun, and not very tasty. Emeril Lagasse has a recipe on the Food Network that uses fresh spinach. The man has never done me wrong with a recipe in the past, so I decided to give it a try. Needless to say, my craving has been fulfilled.

The original recipe can be found here. I opted against the nutmeg because that just did not sound right. I also cut the recipe in half because I only had a half a pound of spinach versus the two pounds the original recipe calls for.

What you need:
1/2 pound of fresh spinach
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 cup chopped shallot (which turns out to be exactly one shallot)
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic (one clove)
a healthy pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup heavy cream

What you do:
1. Bring a pot of water to boiling, cook spinach for two minutes, then immediately drain in a colander. Press the spinach with a spoon while in the colander to squeeze out as much water as possible. Chop the spinach. I just sort of dumped the pile of spinach onto my cutting board and made four cuts across the pile.

2. Melt the butter in a medium sized skillet over medium-medium high heat. Saute the shallot and garlic until soft and fragrant, about two minutes. At this point, your kitchen will smell amazing. Add the spinach in, and saute for another minute or so.

3. Add the heavy cream, pepper, and salt. Stirring occasionally, cook until the cream has reduced by half, approximately 4 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

Roasted Cauliflower

Years ago, a friend of mine introduced me to roasted asparagus. It was love at first bite. The tips got all crispy and it was just... love. Not to mention, crazy easy to make. In recent months, I have tried roasting other vegetables, both as an alternative to steaming, but also as a means of introducing olive oil into our diets. Olive oil is crazy healthy for you, it is an antioxidant, which means it helps clean toxins out of the blood. A recent study also found that olive oil helps reduce risk of heart disease when paired with a diet rich with vegetables, fruit, nuts, and whole grain cereals.

I have yet to find a vegetable that did not respond well to roasting, however, I definitely have my favorites. Cauliflower is certainly at the top of the list. Thom and I purchase a head or two of cauliflower whenever we go grocery shopping and frequently use it as a substitution for a starch, like potatoes or rice. Roasting cauliflower gives it a crispy outside with a nice soft interior, it kind of reminds me of tater tots.

What you need:
A head of cauliflower (you could use frozen, but fresh works best)
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

What you do:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Chop of cauliflower into florets. Place cauliflower into a single layer on a cookie sheet.

2. Drizzle cauliflower with olive oil, just enough to add a little moisture, don't go overboard, we want crispy not soggy. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

3. Roast at 425 degrees for 45 minutes, stirring on occasion. You know it is done when it turns a nice golden brown color.

Enjoy!

CSA Week #1

Thursday evening marked our first CSA pick-up. We really had no idea what to expect, and I am happy to report that we are more than impressed. We were expected a light pick-up because previous emails from the farm indicated that pick-ups would be light early in the season and larger towards the end of the season. When we got to our pick-up location, we were surprised to find out the amount of veggies we would get to take home. Every CSA member got a head of lettuce, 1/10 pound of chives (that is a lot of chives), and half a pound of Japanese turnips, then we got six additional picks, which we used to get another head of lettuce, a half pound of spinach, two half pound picks of baby bok choy, and two half pound picks of rhubarb. I would say we made out quite well, and if this is a light week, I am excited to see what is in a heavier week towards the end of the growing season.

Now we are in the process of figuring out how to use all the fresh veggies. 1/10 of a pound of chives goes a long way and we have been adding them to dinners for extra seasoning. The rhubarb was combined with a container of fresh strawberries I purchased from the local grocery store and became pie. The lettuce and spinach will be used for fresh salads for our lunches, and I am going to use some of the baby bok choy in a batch of Asian noodle soup. As for the rest, we will see what Thom and I come up with. The best part? We pick-up more veggies on Thursday!

CSA Update

Source

I got an email last week from the farm that we invested in to inform me and Thom that our first pick-up will be tomorrow! (Squeee!) On Monday, we received an email that explained what our available selections would be. The way our CSA (community supported agriculture) works is you pick out a size of share to invest in; small, medium, or large. Each week, everyone gets certain vegetables, then, depending on the size of share you purchased, you get a specified number of picks out of a selection of other vegetables.

Our CSA is a bit different from traditional CSAs in which everyone gets an evenly distributed mystery box. Thom and I can be picky eaters sometimes and we were concerned abut the possibility of getting a box of bell peppers or onions. This way we get a little more say into where our investment goes. We were also looking at a CSA that utilized a debit card system, the way that works is once you purchase your share, a certain amount is loaded into your account to spend at that farm's stand. After a little deliberation, we opted for our current CSA; it sounded like a better value over the course of the season, we do not have to keep track of numbers, and they have pick your own peonies.

Thom and I purchased a medium share. This week we get a head of lettuce plus six additional picks. The choices are rather scant right now because it is very early in the Maine growing season, but the farm promises to make up for everything in August and September. Regardless, I am still excited to have fresh, local, organic lettuce for our lunch wraps, zucchini for our grill, fresh potatoes, and baby bok choy, which will be a new vegetable for me.

Pasta and Vegetable Salad with Homemade Italian Dressing

Spring is here, the snow is gone, the weather is warm, and our grill is in full use. Thom and I had been discussing different marinades to use for meats on the grill. This brought us to the topic of how chicken marinaded in Italian dressing is pretty much love on the grill (seriously, go try it); from here we digressed to memories of making Italian dressing at home by opening up the seasoning packet and mixing in vinegar and olive oil. I am not sure if they still make the product or not, but I am sure that it is full of preservatives and junk that we really should not be eating.

On a whim, I searched the internet for a recipe for Italian dressing mix, and to my surprise, I found one that makes multiple batches of Italian dressing. The first round was used on chicken breasts for the grill (surprised?). The finished dressing turned out so awesome that I decided to experiment with it further. When I was a kid, my mom used to make a simple pasta salad with rotini primavera and Italian dressing as a summer side dish. It was simple, yet tasty. This pasta salad is based off that simple recipe, with some added veggies because, well, veggie are cool.

What you need:
1 16oz box of shaped pasta, I used wagon wheels
2 cups of veggies, I used cauliflower, sugar snap peas, and Brussels sprouts, but any combo would work
1 finished batch of Italian dressing (recipe below)

What you do:
1. Boil the pasta until tender, if your veggies require cooking, toss them in with the pasta.
2. Drain your pasta/veggies in a colander, rinse with cold water.
3. Place pasta and veggies in a serving bowl, pour Italian dressing on top and toss.

Italian Dressing Mix, based off recipe that can be found here.
What you need:
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried basil
1 tbsp dried parsley
2 tbsp salt

What you do:
1. Mix all dry ingredients in a container with a tight fitting lid, recipe makes approximately 1/2 cup of mix
2. To make dressing, combine 1/4 cup white vinegar, 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, 2 tbsp water, and 2 tbsp mix.

Asian Noodle Soup

I love perusing Pinterest for recipes and this one caught my eye a few months ago. The blogger that posted the recipe calls it Homemade Ramen, and I guess in a way it is like ramen noodles in that it is very easy and quick to make. At the same time, the soup has a wonderful broth, not the salt packet seasoning packet that comes along with ramen. It is also possible to pronounce all the ingredients in this soup, which is always a plus. Thom and I love this recipe and use it as our go to recipe on days we are feeling under the weather or just too lazy to cook anything.

The original recipe was posted on Frugal by Choice, Cheap by Necessity and can be found here. Thom and I are not onion eaters, so we omitted the green onion and made a couple other small changes.

What you need:
2 cups chicken broth, I use bouillon
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp soy sauce
Buckwheat noodles (found in the Asian section of the supermarket, they come in three bundles of noodles, I use a bundle of noodles of a batch of soup)
3/4 cup broccoli
1 chicken breast
olive oil
ground or freshly grated ginger
garlic powder or diced garlic

What you do:
1. Bring your chicken broth to boil, add the sesame oil, soy sauce, broccoli, and noodles. Boil for about 4 minutes until the noodles are cooked through. I like my broccoli to still be a little crunchy, if you like yours softer, boil the broccoli for a few minutes before adding the noodles.
2. While the soup is cooking, coat the bottom of a skillet with olive oil, add a small amount of ginger and garlic to season the oil. Sautee the chicken breast until cooked through. Slice thinly.
3. Fill your bowl with soup, I find it is easiest to divide the noodles first with a pasta fork, and then pour the broth on top with a ladle. Top with sliced chicken.

That's it! The above recipe is good for two lunch or appetizer sized servings. I have been known to double or triple the recipe for a dinner sized meal. You can also get creative and swap around the veggie and the meat, another good combination is sugar snap peas and shrimp.

Cheesy Cauliflower Pancakes

With our CSA starting up in June, I have been searching Pinterest for vegetable recipes. The last time we went grocery shopping we were able to get a really good price on cauliflower, so I decided to give one of the recipes in my collection a try. Cheesy Cauliflower Pancakes sounded good, and I happened to have all the ingredients in my pantry.

I am happy to report that the recipe did not disappoint. Thom was a little nervous about them at first, but we were both in love with first bite. The flavor and texture are very similar to a potato latke, just instead of potato you are definitely eating cauliflower. This is definitely on our "make again" list.

The original recipe can be found here.

What you need:
1 head of cauliflower
2 large eggs
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (the sharper the better)
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (the original recipe calls for cayenne)
salt to taste
olive oil

What you do:
1. Chop the cauliflower into chunks and boil/steam until tender. Drain well, and mash the cauliflower while it is still warm.
2. Add cheese, eggs, bread crumbs, pepper flakes, and salt to the cauliflower. I added my eggs on top of everything else because the cauliflower is still quite warm and I did not want scrambled eggs. Fold everything together, the mixture will be quite moist.
3. Coat the bottom of a skillet with olive oil over medium high heat. Drop cauliflower by large spoonfuls into the oil, I was able to make three pancakes at a time. Cook until the bottoms are golden, then turn.
4. Place the finished pancakes on a cookie sheet in a warm oven, repeat step three as many times as necessary.