This is supposed to be a vegetable dancer. Hold me closer – veggie dancer.
Last week’s CSA: Yams, peppers, carrots, garlic
This week’s CSA Arugula, Kale, Spinach, Peppers, Garlic. Yummy!
Did you know?
That yams can weigh up to 120 pounds a piece? Yikes!
Clockwise: Salad mix (bagged), garlic chives, bell peppers, beets, kale, red kuri squash, watermelon
Did you know?
That watermelon’s have more lycopene per pound than fresh tomatoes? Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant that aids the body in fighting off free radicals. While fresh tomatoes are also an excellent source of lycopene, cooked tomatoes can have up to three times as much. All the more reason to eat watermelon now and jar/can our tomatoes for winter. 🙂
Potatoes, Salad Mix, Peppers, Garlic, and of course – Beets!
Did you know?
Lots of groups like to highlight the best things to buy organically – as in the foods that are treated the most heavily with pesticides. I like to check on the “Dirty Dozen”, which I have listed below for 2012. Click here for the full list of heavily treated crops.
These are ordered with #1 being the absolute worst. Hence, why I get peppers, lettuce and potatoes as much as possible in our CSA!
1.Apples
2. Celery
3. Sweet Bell Peppers
4.Peaches
5. Strawberries
6. Nectarines – Imported
7. Grapes
8. Spinach
9. Lettuce
10. Cucumbers
11.Blueberries – domestic
12.Potatoes
Happy Thursday! (If you follow the blog, this is the official announcement that “What’s Cooking” will now be a Thursday feature.)
So, I was recently granted a beautiful blogger award from a fellow blogger who is a revolutionary riot grrl looking out for all of our furry friends, Life of Bun! She mans a great cruelty free blog, with gusto. Thanks to Life of Bun, and I graciously accept!
With that being said, when you accept such an award, it is customary to list 7 random things about yourself, and pass the award on.
First, I would like to pass this award to In Her Chucks, and Maggie’s One Butt Kitchen. Check out their blogs for some yummy ideas! In Her Chucks is an ardent CSA supporter, and Maggie’s One Butt Kitchen is just chock full of crack food that makes me wish I grew up in her house!
And on to the 7 random things:
1.) I have had over 35 jobs ranging from being a perfume model to teaching ESL to llama shearing to costume design, and am only 27! In other words, I am a jack of all trades. I usually hold down more than 1 job at once, so largely they are part-time things and there is overlap. I haven’t been a lounge singer yet though, and that was “what I wanted to be when I grew up.”
2.) In addition to our lovely ladies (chickens), I also have 4 cats, Dylan, Cleo, Bebe and Vishnu. They needed their 15 minutes.
3.) I’ve broken my nose 4 times…. There is no cartilage left in the front, so it is squishy now.
4.) In my “real” life, I currently work for a college in the Alumni Relations office, assisting with coordinating, planning and executing events, as well as with Down Home Acres selling organic produce.
5.) I was a vegetarian for 10 years before doctor’s told me I had to stop. I still eat largely vegetarian, but admittedly when I took that first bite of a pizza burger hoagie after 10 years, I was pretty blissed out.
6.) I have a degree in Creative Writing with a focus in Non Fiction and Poetry, and my first official published poetry chapbook “Heart”, debuted in 2006.
7.) I’m an only child, and actively work to defeat the stereotype.
Thanks for reading everyone, and thanks for the award Bun! 🙂
This week’s bounty – Salad Mix, garlic chives, beets, peppers and potatoes!
Peppers, Yukon gold potatoes (These are now my absolute favorite potato. I seriously could live on these.), Swiss chard, blackberries, monster cabbage!!!!
A Czechoslovakian Black Pepper from our garden.
Did you know that the inside of a purple pepper is green? After the purple carrots last week, this was somehow not so surprising.
Clockwise from garlic – garlic, tomatoes, Hungarian wax peppers, red gold potatoes, bag o basil
Did you know that the inside of purple carrots (see last weeks “What’s Cooking Wednesdays”) is actually not purple? 🙂
Purple carrots
With all of the yummy greens in the fridge, it’s been hard to even begin where to plan meals. The other day we made sandwiches, and when we sat down to eat, Eric said “Man, what’s wrong with this lettuce? Why is it so hard?” I took the piece of lettuce from him to discover he had pulled a leaf from the cabbage bag for his turkey sandwich. Something drastic had to happen! I had to catch up with our produce before we hit attack of the killer cabbage mode.
Veggie stir-fry
Ingredients
1 box of pasta, cooked. I wanted Udon noodles, but made do with spaghetti.
Stir Fry
1 small head of local, organic cabbage
3 cups local, organic arugula
3 local, organic carrots thinly sliced
1 head local organic tat soi
1 bunch local, organic Swiss Chard
1 small, local, organic onion in large slivers
6 cloves local, organic garlic, chopped
3 Tbsp Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 cup white wine (I used home-made Gewürztraminer)
Peanut Sauce
5 Tbsp all natural peanut butter
1 cup hot water
8-10 large basil leaves from our garden
1 tsp organic yellow curry
2 tsp organic sugar
a healthy squeeze of siracha
3 Tbsp Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Topping
Sesame Seeds
1 local, organic carrot shredded
2 local, organic garlic scapes cut into thin slivers
Soy Sauce to taste (optional)
1.) Tear the cabbage, arugula, tat soi and Swiss chard into large pieces. Wash greens thoroughly in a colander. Shake off excess water and transfer to a large wok.
2.) Add onion, carrot, garlic, oil and wine to wok. Simmer over medium low heat, covered for 10-15 minutes. Stir occasionally.
3.) In a separate small sauce pan, on low heat, combine all peanut sauce ingredients. Stir occasionally.
4.) While everything is cooking, prep the topping of sesame seeds, carrot and scapes tossed in a bowl.
5.) Pour the pasta into a 9×13 baking dish. If it is sticking together, add a bit of oil to spread it about.
6.) Add peanut sauce to wok, and incorporate into vegetables. It is OK if there is a bit of residual liquid in the wok, it is full of vitamins and will mix with the sauce.
7. Pour wok contents over pasta in the casserole dish. Sprinkle dry topping on the top. Serve with soy sauce on the side.
Clockwise from beets: beets, kale, salad mix, peas, swiss chard, butter lettuce
Clockwise: Beets, Kale, Arugula, Green Beans, Peas, Butter Lettuce x2, Oregano
Normal CSA Requests: salad mix, radishes, arugula, broccoli
Extra CSA Requests: beet greens x2, beets, garlic scapes
kelynskitchen 