CSA Veggies

I think I've mentioned here that this is our families first season as part of a CSA. I was a bit worried at first (and still am!) about how to use all of these fresh veggies, many of which I had never eaten before. The farmers have been great about giving me suggestions each week of different ways to prepare the veggies. Here are few things we've done (and a few things I need ideas for!):

Bok Choy - I wash and chop the whitish stem part and then the leaves too. I just make separate piles because the leaves cook faster and need to be put in the recipe later than the stems. I make stir fry with the bok choy and a package of sliced assorted veggies I grab from the produce section at Meijers. The assorted veggies includes baby corn, mushrooms, peppers, broccoli, and a few peas. I just find it quick and easy to mix the package with the bok choy rather than buying and chopping all of the veggies individually. I've also used a frozen package of stir fry veggies as well. We've been making stir fry every Tues night after CSA pick-up and its tasty, but getting a bit old. I do like that it gets us to eat a lot of veggies I don't normally serve otherwise. I wonder how much longer bok choy is in season? I got the recipe for the stir fry sauce off of a package of Freshlike brand stir fry veggies:

2 tsp beef bouillon

1/2 cup water

4 Tbs soy sauce

2 tsp corn starch

1 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp garlic powder

Mix together.

Heat vegetable oil in pan. Stir fry chopped up chicken. Add veggies for 2-3 minutes, add sauce and cook until thickened. Serve over brown rice.

Kohlrabi- Last week was the first time the inside of my fridge had ever seen a kohlrabi. I'd call it a success! Katie, one of the farmers, told me that it tasted similar to a broccoli stem, and she was right. She suggested eating some raw, but we ended up putting it all in our stir fry. I chopped off the top leaves and then sort of peeled/ chopped away the outer skin until I just had the inside part of the bulb. I diced it and threw it in the stir fry. The taste was so mild I probably could have just steamed it and served it with butter and salt on top. I'll have to check into more ways to use kohlrabi.

Spinach- We like to eat spinach raw in salads. Another favorite recipe is Tofu Pasta Shells- large pasta shells stuffed with cheeses, chopped spinach, and a bit of tofu then covered with spaghetti sauce. Lucy loves this dish and chose it to have for her birthday dinner this week. I'm not sure if I can post the recipe, its from the book The Healthiest Kid In The Neighborhood.

Salads- I usually pick out whatever type lettuce is mildest tasting when I pick up our share and we make up a big salad several nights a week. I add my homemade croutons and some chopped tomatoes on top. My biggest problem is that we tried buying organic ranch dressing, but didn't like it. I feel bad topping my fresh organic lettuce with junky ranch dressing! I have a recipe to make your own that I need to try. We also use Italian dressing, which is healthier. I usually save some of the greens like Sorrel and others to put in tortilla wraps to send with DH for his lunches. Sorrel has a tasty lemony flavor that is nice in a wrap. I use a wheat tortilla, cheese, lunchmeat (I can find nitrate free at the Meijer deli now.), lettuce, and some ranch. I have been wanting to make up some sprouts again to add to the salads and wraps, they add a nice tasty crunch and are sooo healthy. I posted my first sprouting adventure series here.

Chives - We've chopped some of these a few times and added them to mashed potatoes which was tasty. I still have too much and am not using it all though. I wonder if there is a way to freeze chives? I think DH would probably like some in an omelet, but he doesn't often eat breakfast at home.

Green Onions - I spread cream cheese on a piece of ham and wrapped up a green onion, a tasty treat I'd had before. These were too spicy for me! I tasted green onion all afternoon and that was not helping my pregnancy nausea. They did eventually get eaten by other family members though everyone agreed they were spicy.

Radishes - Again, too spicy for me! I sliced them and put them in a bowl beside the salad so that people could add them if they wanted to.

Basil - I have made pesto sauce in the past and frozen it in ice cube trays. We use this on pizza, pasta dishes, and tortilla wraps. I need to harvest a bit of basil from my garden and add that to my CSA basil and make a batch. Homemade pesto is so much cheaper than buying it at the store and we really enjoy the flavor. When I put it on pizza I spread the pesto on, then add slices of tomato, cooked chicken, garlic, and mozzarella - delicious.

Cilantro - We have cilantro growing in our own garden as well, because DH likes it and wants to make fresh salsa with it this summer. Tomatoes aren't quite ready yet, so I'm planning to puree this in the blender with a bit of olive oil and then freeze it in an ice cube tray until we need it.

Parsley- I think I used some of this in a potato soup that I made once, but otherwise I'm not sure what to do with it.

Kale, Swiss Chard - Sadly, I haven't used this the past few weeks! I did just try this recipe for Creamy Swiss Chard Pasta this week. DH and I both felt kind of sick after, I think it had too much milk in it for us. Another idea would be to just add a leaf or two to a smoothie, which both girls love and would probably not mind it being green. It was also suggested that I chop these and add them to omelets.

Vegetable Stock - I've been meaning to do this. Someone suggested making vegetable stock with the leafy tops and veggies that I might not be able to use up. I guess you just simmer everything with some onion and garlic for 20-30 minutes and then strain and freeze it. I could use this for cooking rice with or making soups. I've been afraid to do it because I'm never quite sure what to use - if I use the radish tops, will the stock be spicy? Can I throw in the kohlrabi leaves or not? I just need to try.

Cookbooks - I have Simply In Season, which is a wonderful cookbook about using produce in season. I've had this cookbook for a year or so and we've been trying recipes from it. Some have been successes, some not. I'm waiting to purchase the cookbook From Asparagus to Zucchini from our CSA. Otherwise I've been looking up ingredients on recipezaar.com, I like that the recipes are rated so I can pick and choose the ones with lots of good reviews.

Other - I picked up an OXO brand salad spinner on sale 50% off at Meijers a few weeks ago and after some conversation with OXO I did find out that it is BPA free. (Pampered Chef refused to tell me what their salad spinner was made of and I've been searching for a safe one ever since.) I also got some of these green bags to keep produce fresh. I'm still deciding, but I think they are helping a bit.

Overall I think I'm doing fairly well so far. Considering that I'd never even held bok choy or kohlrabi or sorrel before, and I have a nauseous, not very adventurous feeling pregnant stomach... If you have any more ideas for the things I've mentioned, please let me know! If you've never tasted a kohlrabi, go buy one! Or better yet, sign up for a CSA next year. :)

(This post is linked to Kitchen Tip Tuesdays.)

Croutons (Salad Series part 2)

This year is our first year as part of a CSA.  I'm loving all the fresh veggies we get each week, although its definitely challenging me to figure out how to eat some things we wouldn't normally (bok choy, kale, swiss chard, anyone?).  So far we've had lots of fresh lettuces and have been enjoying salads with our meals.  This recipe for croutons is extremely easy and tasty.  My girls love to help me make these and they beg to snack on them as soon as they are cooled and ready to eat.  

Croutons

Cut bread into bite size pieces.  Mix 3-6 Tbs olive oil with spices (1 tsp garlic salt, onion powder, basil, seasoning salt, Parmesan, or Italian spices) and toss with bread.  Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, stirring once.  (You can use up old bread or leftover buns.)

Here are my bite size cubes.  We had leftover French bread to use up, but these are just as tasty (and healthier) with wheat bread too.

I started with 1 tsp of each spice but had to add almost twice as much oil and more spices since I was using a good amount of bread.  Its not hard to figure out, just keep adding spices and oil until you have enough.  Be sure the bread all gets covered with oil when you mix it together.

And finally, a blurry picture of the finished product.  My girls have already eaten almost half of this batch for a snack this afternoon.

For more yummy salad ideas check out A Slew of Summer Salads and Laura's Eat More Fruits and Veggies Challenge.  Thanks for stopping by!

Dandelions (part 1 of Salad Series)

I have a whole series on salads planned. How can salad be that interesting you ask? Just wait and see! We'll be talking about how to make your own croutons, homemade salad dressings, and more. If you haven't seen my post on sprouting, check it out as an easy way to give your salads a big nutritional boost. Today's post is about dandelions.

Those pesky plants that grow in your yard are actually good for you! If you want to get rid of them, try serving them for dinner. Dandelions are the ultimate in "eating locally"! Dandelions are actually very healthy. Their official name is "Taraxacum Officinale" which means "the official remedy for disorders". This website says:

"Modern science has analyzed dandelion greens. They are a good source of calcium, potassium, vitamin A, and vitamin C. They have twice as much vitamin A in a one-cup serving than most vitamin pills. They also have as much calcium as a children’s vitamin or half a glass of milk. That’s more than most other vegetables."

The French actually grow dandelions in their gardens for consuming. Early settlers from Europe brought dandelions with them and used them as a spring tonic to cure their ills. Dandelions are reported to help with a host of problems including acne, excema, psoriasis, arthritic conditions, and improving gallbladder, kidney, and liver function. With all my research on toxins I'm particularly interested in the fact that dandelions help detox the blood and liver and remove toxins from the body! Dandelions are a diuretic (help the body release excess water) which can help with weight loss and PMS swelling.

For best flavor, pick the leaves when the blossom bud first appears, before the stalk starts to grow. Be sure not to pick dandelions that have been poisoned with chemicals or are growing too near a road where they will be contaminated. You can serve the greens as a fresh salad, make a coffee drink from the roots, make dandelion tea, or fry the blossoms.

We picked some dandelions from our yard today and fried them! I hate frying anything in oil, so I'm not sure why I decided to do this. After I dripped a bit of oil on the burner and it burst into a small flame I screamed for my hubby to come finish the frying. Lucy tried one or two and decided that she didn't like them. Julia put one in her mouth but spit it out when she tasted the mushy dandelion inside. (She is fussy about food textures.) The dandelion blossoms didn't have a bad flavor but I didn't care for the mushiness of them on the inside. We'll probably make a tradition of frying dandelions once a year in the spring just for fun anyway. I'm planning to add dandelions to our salads as much as I can this spring and I told my husband that I'm putting him on a dandelion detox. I'm considering trying to make him some tea to drink daily for a week or so. We're also going to try using the juice from a dandelion stem to cure a corn on his foot, another dandelion remedy that I read about.

Check out the links below and then take your kids outside to pick dandelions for dinner! Let me know how it goes.

Fried Dandelions recipe

Dandelion Salad hot recipe

Article on dandelions

Health benefits of dandelions

More health benefits and info on dandelion tea