Sunday, August 17, 2014

If you are going to have a CSA, you need these required kitchen staples

In addition to basics like milk, salt, pepper, flour, and sugar, there are a number of things that will make your food from your even better. I now have these in my house at all times and I use them a bunch. 

Eggs: an omelette or egg scramble is easy and a great way to use up a ton of veggies- check out my recent omelette. It included cabbage, zuchinni, squash, shallots, and tomato. A fine combination but made extraordinary by the addition if the next ingredient. 

Goat cheese: this is so good on anything with eggs or quinoa. In fact, the Eason I tried it was because my CSA recommended a recipe for goat cheese and beet salad. It was awesome. 

Real bacon bits: if you are like me, if you have bacon in the house you will eat it. This is a great way to be able to add bacon to recipe without being tempted to make a whole bunch and eat it. Make sure you get the kind that's made of real bacon. You can even heated up just a bit and it taste like fresh made bacon. If you're really creative, you can make your own- I just don't know how. 

Red Pepper Flakes: after the first few weeks of the CSA, I realized I was getting really bored with vegetables. I got a recipe that required crushed red pepper flakes and added it to the greens. My mind was blown- the food tasted great and you couldn't even taste the crushed red pepper, it just tasted flavorful. I find that it's a milder taste when it's heated up and used when cooking rather than adding it at the end. However anyone who has had pizza and added the flakes to the pizza knows that can also be great. 

Lemon pepper seasoning: I always thought that lemon pepper had to be used as a dry rub for a barbecue. Turns out it's awesome with greens, in omelets, and in almost any soup. It's just an all-around great seasoning. 

Soy sauce & teriyaki: while these two things aren't at all the same thing, they're both key ingredients in a stirfry. A weekly staple in my house is to make stirfry with the leftover vegetables. 

Rice: and since I make so much stirfry, it's really important to always have rice on hand. I strongly recommend that you buy a rice cooker because the rice comes out perfect every time. 

Well, that's my list for now. I'm sure I'll have more later. 

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Amazing Oatmeal

Ok, so this isn't related to the CSA but it does fit with my attempt to be healthier. 

I had the best oatmeal this morning. Here's how I made it:

Follow directions on label for cooking the oatmeal (don't use instant).  I cooked them in water with a smidge of salt)

Put 1 tablespoon of butter in bowl
Put 1 tablespoon if brown sugar in bowl
Add 1-2 cups of the cooked oatmeal
Stir together until all incorporated

Add 2 little international delight vanilla coffee creamers
Add some salad toppers. My Kroger sells a dried cranberry and sugared pecans mix that is perfect. 

So very good!

Monday, July 14, 2014

Cleaning your CSA veggies pt. 2


I read another person's blog and found they had a different suggestion for cleaning veggies. So I decided to try it out this week.

http://www.idreamofclean.net/how-to-clean-fruits-vegetables-from-your-csa-box/ 

They recommended filling a sink with lukewarm water and adding either vinegar or baking soda. I decided to try white vinegar this time. I took apart the lettuce heads so that the leaves could soak. I didn't rinse them after and they seem to taste fine. I didn't notice much of a difference except that I didn't get as much water all over my kitchen.


I still used my salad spinner to dry and I totally agree that having a salad spinner is a MUST if you have a CSA. 

Red Pepper Flakes


I bought red pepper flakes for a recipe that I didn't use a few weeks ago. When visiting a great friend in Phoenix, AZ, I decided to try the red pepper flakes on the table with my pizza. It was wonderful and I began to think how I could use the flakes I had purchased at home.

I found that a recipe I like (garlic, lemon, parmesan cheese ANYTHING) can include red pepper flakes. I added it to the olive oil while the garlic was softening. Turns out, it wasn't overpowering and added mostly just an awesome flavor. Not hot at all.



So, I will now become a regular user of red pepper flakes. I found that it made vegetables just so much more interesting.


Week 7: Cucumbers

This week, we got a bunch in the share. It was raining at pick up so we grabbed the share, split it, and headed home. I tried a bunch of cool stuff this week! See other blogs for more info.

Did you know that you can eat pickling cucumbers similar to what you do with regular cucumbers?

In my part of my share:

  • lettuce
  • raddichio
  • kale
  • rainbow chard
  • green onions
  • basil
  • cucumbers
  • pickling cucumbers
  • garlic scapes


In the full share that I gave to my share partner: 
  • carrots
  • broccoli



Week 6: U Pick Garden

I thought folks might be interested in seeing what a u-pick garden looks like. So, this week, I brought by camera so I can take you on a journey.

The path to the u-pick garden (no driving allowed):

The fruit forest:

How you know you are in the right place:

All the greenhouses are actually part of the full CSA garden. We can harvest from this open area and a small green house. Otherwise, the students and workers of the farm are the ones who work this HUGE farm.

Monday, June 30, 2014

The benefit of a CSA with a u-pick garden

Since our pick up time is Mondays from 4:30-6:30pm, I am always there right after work in my work clothes. This time, we decided to check out the u-pick garden, even though we were on the dressy side of farming decor. It was absolutely worth it and I want every CSA I ever have to have a u-pick option.

Here is how it worked this week:
In our normal share, we got enough for 4 people. However, I really love snap peas and so excited to hear that the sugar snap peas were in the u-pick garden. We asked one of the student farmers to show us the u-pick garden. They required a guide the first time because they don't want novices to harvest things wrong. 

In our u-pick, not everything is ready for harvest at any point. Here is what they have overall:
  • chard
  • kale
  • collard greens
  • sugar snap peas
  • basil
  • dill
  • parsley
  • sage
  • rosemary
  • tomatoes
  • strawberries
  • wildflowers
  • a fruit forrest (no clue what is in there)
This is a completely separate garden and there are some rules: 
  1. don't harvest things not ready for harvest
  2. first come, first served
  3. leave enough for others
I absolutely loved it. I could get extras of what I liked and even some things that weren't in this week's share (like more kale and chard). 

So, if a u-pick garden is an option for you- DEFINITELY DO IT!