The “Tell” – Springdell Winter CSA Pickup #7


Hi everyone, Jess here hoping that you had a great couple of weeks. We had a bit of an adventure with this week’s goodies, as well as an adventure abroad!

2 sweet potatoes, peeled & cubed (1 inch chunks)
1 tomato
Clove of garlic, minced
Couple of handfuls of spinach
Green curry paste 
Handful of cashews
Handful of frozen peas
1 can coconut milk
Parsley
Oregano
This is all you need for a simple green curry! The paste I use is in a small can from the Asian Market, I usually keep a red, green, and Massaman can of curry paste on hand. I kind of winged this one a bit… I boiled the cubed sweet potatoes ahead of time for about 10 minutes (I read somewhere that it’s better to do that than cook them in the curry so that they don’t get soggy and suck up all the sauce, but I kind of like when that happens too… Up to you if you want to add them and simmer them directly in the curry sauce or not.) In a medium saucepan, add a bit of oil and fry your onion, until it starts to get transluscent, then add garlic, tomato, parsley and cook down for a few. Add the curry paste and let it cook for about a minute, add the coconut milk and bring to a low simmer. Add the peas, cashews, then the spinach and let it wilt down into the curry and simmer to desired tenderness.
Here are the Lasagna Roll-Ups getting prepped! I love how forgiving this recipe is. This time, I started with the sweet lamb sausage I had on hand. I sautéed an onion until it started to soften, then added the sausage with some chopped parsley and spinach and wilted that down. I drained the mixture and removed it from the heat. Next I added in my tub of Mozzarella House ricotta, 1 cubed Ovoline, some grated Parmesan (maybe 1/4 cup) and 3 eggs. Salt and pepper to taste.
I coated the bottom of my baking dish (this was my 13×9) with tomato sauce. 
For the roll ups, I add the filling to the noodle, leaving about 1-2 inches unfilled at the bottom and roll them toward the unfilled edge. Each one is placed in the pan and more tomato sauce is spooned on top.

I followed up with a slice of tomato and a slice of my remaining Ovoline. These baked at 375 for 20 minutes covered, and 10 uncovered. There was a bit of soupiness on the plate (from the spinach or something else I didn’t drain well) but they were yummy!
Here’s a Slow Cooker Carrot Cake in action. I love this one because it uses a whole lot of carrots and very little bad stuff.
This version was a little grainy because I used home-ground wheat berries and I didn’t grind them very fine. It was still amazingly delicious! I’m always dubious about pouring cake batter into my slow cooker, but it really works! (Line your cooker with foil greased with cooking spray, and leave a little give on the side so that you can easily lift out your cake.)

The cream cheese frosting is even not too bad as it’s blended with greek yogurt. (I’m really wishing I remembered the maple cream, I might have added some to the frosting as well). If you have carrots starting to bend in your crisper drawer, shred them up and try this one today!
I had a bit of a parsley overload at my house this week, (I had just purchased a bunch before two more bunches came in the share) which was okay because there are always options! Click on the “Parsley” link above for ideas, or try this one for Chimichurri!
This was an interesting use for sweet potatoes, and this version is vegan! Sweet Potato Nice Cream tasted more like a pudding than an ice cream, but it was still very chocolatey, had only a splash of maple syrup for sweetness, and a rich chocolate taste from the cocoa powder. Now, it won’t be winning any awards in an ice cream contest, but considering it’s actually a healthy snack, it’s not a bad substitute!

I’ve been wanting to try these Easy Tasty Beets for a while, and here’s what my non-beet lovers had to say. My other half was like “meh, they are still beets, but I’ll eat them.” My oldest liked them (hooray!) and my youngest ran screaming after one taste (typical). Nan, a beet lover thought they were “wonderful”, which is a word she never uses. I thought they were pretty good, and I love beets. If you don’t like beets, give these a try, they are so so good for you!
The beets were enjoyed on top of this salad with Fat Moon Oyster mushrooms (have I mentioned Fat Moon’s Mushroom CSA? It’s running for 8 weeks, check it out!) The mushrooms were sautéed in a bit of butter and Madeira, this dish made me feel like I was eating a tender lobster salad.
Here was another quick Buddha Bowl this week, using some of the summer corn from the chest freezer. Good stuff, especially when a great sauce or dressing ties it all together.
The last of my CSA spinach, and an egg went into this baked ziti recipe courtesy of my friend Allison. It was very filling, the perfect simple dish for dinner guests.

Since our last check-in, we finished struggling with a bout of flu, and once we were germ-free, went away for a vacation someplace nice and warm. Some of our more shelf-stable goodies remain, (shallots, potatoes, maple cream), but I look forward to cooking them along with the coming wave of CSA goodies.

You’ll also notice our diet this past couple of weeks was very much plant based. It’s because I forgot to turn in my paperwork to renew my meat subscription, a good reminder for all of us to get that paperwork in! Summer CSA applications are due now, don’t miss the boat for our summer 2019 culinary adventure!

Meanwhile, thanks for reading, questions, comments and tips of your own are always welcome and appreciated. I’ll see you back here in a few hours for our next installment of the Springdell Show and Tell!


About Jess

Jess Anderson is the creator of CSA|365 and is passionate about the local food movement. A long time member of Springdell and a busy mother of two, Jess loves keeping her family fed by honest local food.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *