Hi everyone, Jess here to bring you the 4th week of the Springdell Summer CSA! Whether you are joining us from Springdell, another CSA, or a home or community garden, I hope you’ll find these weekly ideas useful!
Lots of cooking this week, so let’s get right to it and revisit this week’s CSA!
Butter & Sugar Corn
- Boiled for 5 minutes and devoured instantly. Returned to the farmstand for more and did the same thing.
- Black Raspberries
- My boys ate them all just after the photo was taken.
- Turnips
- Broccoli Crowns
- Steamed and enjoyed as-is
- Freshly Dug Garlic (one of my stems had a garlic scape still attached!)
- Pressure cooked Collard greens with Bacon and Garlic Scapes(I had grabbed more scapes from the swap box, thanks!)
- The rest are hanging in my pantry for later use (hanging them by the stems can help them last for a long time!)
- Roasted Turnips, scapes in the Creamy Turnip Soup
- Salad Cukes
- Enjoyed as-is
- I picked a bunch of cucumbers from the Community Garden, and I think Refrigerator Pickles are coming!
- Lettuce
- Green Mermaid Rolls
- Under Tequila Grilled Shrimp
- Salads with various dressings (and yes, I’m still enjoying the Peanut Sauce)
- Collard Greens
- Rainbow Chard
- 2 batches of white bean and chard soup
- Stems simmered and reduced in butter and cream
- Another batch picked up and cooked fresh as-is on pickup day
- Radishes
- Honey Roasted
- Some still in my fridge –Quick Pickled
- Kale
- Kale and Berry Breakfast Smoothies (if you don’t like smoothies or kale, try kale brownies!) If you really have a lot of kale building up, try kale powder!
- Salad Mix
- Tossed with Peanut Sauce Dressing (the Homemade Peanut Sauce recipe with a bit of rice vinegar added)
- Pea Tendrils from Johnny Putt Farms
- A couple as-is on day one
- Pea Tendril and Mint Pesto
- Eggs
- Bacon and Egg Sandwiches
- Eggs in a Nest
- Steamed Eggs
- Blueberries
- Eaten as-is by the boys
- Strawberries
- Eaten as-is by the boys
- A flat picked up from the farm was jarred as jam and frozen for smoothies
Let’s take a trip through my kitchen this week!
On Sunday, I swung by the farm for one of the last of the jam berry flats. I made two batches of jam, and froze the rest for smoothies and whatnot. Looking forward to sharing some at the canning swap at the end of September!
This was my dinner table on Monday, along with some fresh cooked eggs to order.
Remember the herbs from last week? They are still going strong on my table! Try picking some and fill up a couple of glass mason jars, keeping the leaves out of the water and stripping stems as needed. Some of the heartier herbs will root right in the glass and leave fresh herbs on-hand for impromptu recipes and beverages. It also makes a lovely display for the table!
I was able to post the Green Mermaid Rolls recipe this week. So incredibly good, I only wish I could afford the crab meat splurge on a weekly basis.
A little butter, a little salt and pepper, and simmered just long enough to make it tender- this is how Nan made my swiss chard growing up, and eating it this way brought me right back to childhood.
These collards, bacon and garlic scapes were incredibly delicious in the pressure cooker! The scapes really made it special, and I’m sad to see them go… Next year, my friends!
I baked the other 1/2 pound of bacon (not used in the collards recipe) on parchment in the oven.
The boys had egg and cheese sandwiches while my other half and I went to town on the collards. We had some leftover buns from our BBQ and they didn’t waste.
Happy campers all around!
The turnips made two appearances on the dinner table this week. First, we enjoyed them roasted.
Next, we enjoyed a turnip soup. Light and buttery at the same time, this soup would be so incredibly good topped with lobster or crab. Thyme leaves and freshly ground pepper worked, too.
Tequila grilled Jordan Brothers shrimp using the last of the frozen jalapeños from our 2016 CSA. We love this one and I’ll be sure to post it when jalapeño season approaches.
This was our dinner table last night with pasta meat sauce, noodles, pea tendril and mint pesto, creamy turnip soup, our remaining blueberries and strawberries, and a garden salad. I am fresh out of preserved tomatoes and hoping the kids don’t request spaghetti again before the tomato season rolls around! Just a tiny bit longer!!!
The pea tendril and mint pesto was inspired by the many recipes I’ve seen for pea and mint soups and purees. The problem is, my kids love peas so much as-is that I never end up with enough to make these recipes. I went for the next best thing and used pea tendrils for that pea flavor. It was a worthwhile experiment, not one I’ve perfected by any means, but definitely something to work with!
This one doesn’t come from my kitchen, but that of Fat Moon‘s own Farmer Elizabeth. Her in-laws are visiting from India, and I stopped over with the boys to feed the chickens and we ended up staying for an impromptu lunch. I enjoyed Arlene’s delicious Goan dish called Chicken Cafreal, this version made with cilantro, onions and summer squashes. Thanks for a lovely afternoon, Arlene and Elizabeth!
Let’s see what the rest of my farm family has been up to this week!
Fellow Springdellian Crystal R. brought up Kale Brownies, and I can confirm they are delicious and a great way to move the kale in your fridge. There are many recipes out there, here’s the one that we posted in 2015, credit to fellow Springdellian Alissa W. for bringing this one onto our radar a couple of years back!
Some folks asked about different ways to make strawberry jam without using lots of sugar. I was no help as I went with the full blown sugar version this time. Fellow Springdellian Nikki W. tested a recipe for Strawberry Chia Jam, adding a few extra seeds, and Ravenlyn C. uses Pomona’s low-sugar vegan pectin to make her jam. Thanks for sharing, ladies!
Sarah R. reminded us that though the greens can be plentiful, they wilt down to almost nothing when cooked. Check out this recipe for “Pasta With All The Greens“.
Ann B. reminded us of this delicious recipe for Blueberry Zucchini Cake with Lemon Buttercream. As blueberry and zucchini season come into full swing, keep this one in the repertoire!
Photo by Mandy C.
Speaking of building up the zucchini repertoire, Mandy C. shared this Zucchini Tian recipe from a french cookbook, and it looks very good! I’ll post it on Meatless Monday.
We had many items left in the swap box this week, and this prompted an influx of recipe ideas.
Photo by Jamie Cruz
- BBQ Baked Beans & Sausage from Eating Well, Posted by Mandy C. (quick and delish use for Collards)
- Pancetta, White Bean and Chard Pot Pies from Smitten Kitchen, Posted by Crystal R.
- Fusilli with Sausage from Molto Mario, Posted by Mandy C. (Kale!)
- Kale and Potato Gratin from The Kitchn Mandy C.
- Wilted Kale with Bacon and Vinegar from My Recipes posted by Mandy C.
Remember that Veggiescope is also here to help you when you get overwhelmed or are looking for more recipes. Don’t become the sad stick figure in this video, we are here to help, and your farm family is your support group! See you Monday for the beginning of week 5!