CSA Meals 2014: Week 4

Week 4: yellow squash, cucumber, spring onions, mushrooms, beets, lettuce, spinach, blueberries, muenster, rosemary-lavender foccacia, eggs.

Prep:
- wash spinach, beet greens, lettuce, and pack in tupperware with layers of paper towels
- wash and chop beet stems 
- hard boil eggs
- wash and chop spring onions
- eat blueberries and munster

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Meal: Green burritos
Tortilla
Leftover stew meat, sliced thin
Provolone
Avocado
Beet greens
Spinach
Scallions


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Meal: Stir fry
Bacon fat, salt, balsamic
Manzanilla olives
Kale, green beans, beet stems, spring onion
Canellini beans
Sauce: yogurt, lime, cucumber
Served with three cheese tortellini

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Many Meals: Stuffed Braided Breads Inspired by http://imgur.com/a/2tFbp
For these bread thingies, I used the dough from Smitten Kitchen's Braided Lemon Bread , but omitted the 1/4 sugar in the dough.

Savory Veggie Filling:
Mushrooms
Beet stems
Sad leftover turnip
Spring onion
Beet greens


All sauteed in:
Bacon fat
Garlic
Balsamic

Spread on the braid base and topped with:
Cheese
Refried beans


Peanut Chicken Filling
Sauce:
Peanut butter
Lime juice
Garlic
Soy sauce
Fish sauce

Sesame oil
Chicken
Spring onions
Spinach

Cooked the chicken, then sauteed in sesame oil with the spring onions and spinach. Tossed all with the peanut sauce to coat.

Nutella mint filling:
Nutella
Chocolate mint, sliced fine

Aww yeeah.

Baked at 375F for a little over a half an hour.
I made four bread doohickies from the single dough batch, so the dough was quite thin. The size is much better for our purposes, though - more like single meals. I made 2 of the peanut chicken, one savory veggie, and one nutella and mint. So tasty.


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We planted some of last year's overwintered withered potato blobs. The plants looked alright for a while, then started to look a bit peaked, so I was dubious about the state of the plants and if they were truly potatoing deep down inside. I have read that you can actually do multiple (planned) harvests, so I took a peek. I love harvesting potatoes, it's like searching for Easter eggs!
Sure enough, they had been potatoing.

I replanted the tops - I'm curious if they'll reboot.

CSA Meals 2014: Week 3

Week 3: spinach, cucumbers, potatoes, apples, green beans,yellow squash, lettuce, blueberries, manygrain bread, eggs.

Prep: 
- wash spinach and lettuce
- pack spinach and lettuce in tupperware with lots of paper towels
- put potatoes in a dark cabinet
- eat blueberries

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Meal: Kitchen sink salad
Lettuce
Apple (tossed in lime juice)
Cucumber
Avocado
Brie
Blueberries
Kale stems, green beans, chickpeas (stir fried in garlic sesame oil
Hardboiled egg
Toasted sunflower seeds

If this salad were any more decadent, you'd have to eat it with a spoon.
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Meal: Cheese melt veggie and egg bowl
Spring onion
Kohlrabi
Kale
Garlic sesame oil
Provolone
Hard boiled egg

Chop veggies, stir fry a little in oil. Heap veggies in center of pan, lay provolone slice on top, wait for it to melt. Chop egg small and stir fry it all around to warm egg.  Crazy salt to taste.

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Many meals: Tom ka gai with even more vegetables
Chicken stock
Ginger
Lemongrass
Fish sauce
Lime juice
Green beans
Kale
Spinach
Turnips
Radish
Yellow squash
Baby corn
Rice

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Meal: Balanced Bowl
Egg noodles
Spinach
Steamed zucchini
Braised Stew beef

CSA Meals 2014: Week 2

Week 2: Kale, kohlrabi, bean sprouts, turnips, lettuce, spring onions, zucchini, blueberries, bread, eggs.

Prep:
- wash kale, rip leaves off of stems
- rip stems off of kohrabi bulbs
- chop all the stems into wee pieces
- pack everything in tupperware
- hardboil some eggs


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Meal: CSA Fritters
1 Turnip, grated
1 Kohlrabi, peeled and grated
1 Onion, mandolined and chopped
1 Beet, sliced fine
2 Potato, grated
Lots of kale, ripped up and chiffonaded
Handful of Beet stems, finely sliced
1 Radish , finely sliced

Egg
Salt, pepper
Some white whole wheat flour for glue

Mixed all together, fried in bacon fat, served with garlic-lime yogurt sauce. SO TASTY and deals with leftovers and kohlrabi + turnips. Could have doubled the amount of kohlrabi and turnip and radish, really.

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Meal:  Green things with parmesan and nuts
Kohlrabi greens
Kale stems
Radish
Asparagus
Bean sprouts
Peanut oil
Garlic
Balsamic
Parmesan
Pepitas

Stirfry everything except the parmesan and bean sprouts, add those after removing from heat.

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Many meals: Tom ka gai with veggies
A chicken
Lemongrass
Ginger
Limes or lime juice
Fish sauce
Mushrooms
Kale stems
Turnips
Spring onions
Baby corn (or regular corn)
Rice
Coconut milk

Get a chicken (cooked, or roast it yourself). Strip meat off the boneses. Make broth by boiling  the boneses for a couple hours. Add lemongrass, ginger, chopped limes or lime juice. Boil up to an hour. Remove the lemongrass, ginger, and limes. Add veggies. Once veggies are cooked, add back the chicken.  Add rice, simmer until done. Add 1-2 cans of coconut milk.

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Meal: Tom ka gai with more veggies

Sauteed radish, zucchini, kohlrabi kale stems, and more mushrooms. Added to a bowl of the tom ka gai with veggies above. 

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Ingredient: Sweet mint water
Stevia has  a greenish taste to it. It's fine in baked goods and in anything that has veggies. Ooor… with mint leaves! I cut a big sprig of stevia (trying to get the plant to grow a bit bushier), stripped the leaves off, and dumped them in a jar with a bunch of freshly picked mint leaves (harvested for the same reason). Poured hot water in, shook it up a bunch, let it rest. Shook it up every time I passed through the kitchen.
Tasted. WOW. It's very sweet and minty. I will add it to cookies and things.

CSA Meals 2014: Week 1 cont.

Two more meals and two desserts this week:

Meal: Sliced beef'n'veggies
Radish, finely chopped
Beet stems, chopped
Asparagus, chopped
Beet greens, shredded
Beef, finely sliced (cooked earlier)
Garlic
Relish
Peanut oil

Stirfry veggies in  oil with garlic. Add beef and relish, stir around until heated.

Meal: Bacon-asparagus tilapia
Bacon fat
Asparagus
Capers
Relish
Greens (beet, radish)
Tilapia.



Stirfry veggies in bacon fat. Add tilapia, stirfry until cooked through.

My chocolate mint plant (picked up at Lowes) is growing quite vigorously, as mint is wont to do. Mint is supposed to be harvested regularly to encourage a bushy habit, and conveniently enough, a couple of big sprigs makes enough minced mint leaves to put in a baked dessert...

Dessert: Chocolate Mint Cookies

Almond meal (1/2 c?)
Oats (2 c?)
Flour (1 c?)
Salt (tsp)
Baking powder (tsp)
Cocoa (1/4 cup? 1/3?)

Coffee (1/4 c?)
Butter (1/4 c?)
Almond oil (1/8 cup?)
Olive oil (1/4 c?)
Eggs (3)

Mint (three springs of leaves, chopped)
Chocolate chips (1 c?)

Mix all dry ingredients. Add the eggs, coffee, butter and oils, adding more if necessary until dough is appropriate consistency. Mix in the mint, chocolate chips. Bake at 350 for 12ish minutes.
These things are unspeakably tasty. I baked half the batch and ate ALL OF THEM.



Dessert: Beet Cocoa Mint muffins. Yes, you read that right. Beets.
Olive oil
Flour
Salt
Baking powder
Eggs
Beets
Mint leaves
Cocoa powder (LOTS)


Combine all in bowl. Blend with wand blender until mixed. Bake in buttered pan at 350 until done. Serve with mint chocolate sauce.


These are actually really, really good. The mint and cocoa powder add a certain decadence, while the beet adds sweetness but no veggie flavor. Also, please note that this is basically breakfast: flour, olive oil, eggs, beets. Cocoa powder is perfectly healthy, thank you, and mint leaves are also a plant. A+ dessert!

CSA Meals 2014: Week 1

A CSA share is a lot of vegetables, many of which are not your usual fare. For the rest of the CSA season I will document how we deal with all these dang veggies, starting with the week's haul, then detailing what preparation I did after picking up the share, and then the recipes. (We supplement the CSA share with food from farmer's markets and the grocery store, so the recipes aren't limited to the CSA pickup.)

Week 1: Potatoes, apples, mushrooms, kale, beets, radishes, asparagus, lettuce, (traded for more beets), eggs, bread. Good start!

Prep:
- wash kale, rip leaves off of stems. let dry, pack in huge tupperware with a paper towel
- wash beet greens and radish greens, let dry, pack in tupperware with a paper towel
- wash beet and kale stems, pack in tupperware with paper towel
- wash asparagus, set in big mug of water in fridge
- hardboil eggs
- boil beets and potatoes


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Meal: Greened Potato
Garlic sesame oil
Beet greens, chopped
Asparagus, chopped
Great northern beans
Boiled potato, cut in half and the insides kind of mooshed
Cheese, shredded

Stir fry beet greens and asparagus in the garlic sesame oil. Add great northern beans and stir around until heated. Pour over potato and top with cheese.

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Meal: Beets'n'Eggs on Toast
Beet, boiled, peeled, and sliced
Egg, hardboiled and sliced
Mayo
Crazy salt
Hearty bread or toast

Slather bread with mayo. Pile beet and egg on bread. Salt. This is especially good on the many-grain great harvest bread.

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Meal: Beet Asparagus Beef

Beet, boiled peeled chopped
Asparagus, chopped
Beefs, cooked, in whatever form. We had some tough weird steaks that we chopped small against the grain.
Garlic
Peanut oil

Saute asparagus in peanut oil with garlic. Add beet and beef, stir until heated.

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Meal: Curry Lentil Mushroom Kale soup
Celery
Lentils
Bacon fat
Mushrooms (chopped)
Garlic
Kale (chopped)
Sweet potato (cooked)
Lime
Curry powder

Cook lentils in water with celery. While lentils are cooking, melt bacon fat in a pan and add chopped mushrooms, lime, and garlic. Stir around, wait a few minutes, then add kale. Stir to coat, then cover and cook on low for awhile. When the kale is all wilty and cooked, add mixture to the now-cooked lentils. Add sweet potato. Add curry powder to taste.

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Side dish: Greens stir-fry
Butter
Garlic
Balsamic vinegar
Mushrooms, rinsed and chopped
Asparagus, chopped
Boiled radish, chopped
Beet stems, chopped

Saute it all in butter with garlic and balsamic to taste.