CSA DEMOS: My suggestions

POST #760

Here is an exerpt from the post I sent in answer to the CSA’s call for food prep demos.  Let’s see if they go for anything.  If not, well, it would be a volunteer gig anyway, and I would have to supply all the ingredients and equipment…

Based on my previous experiences doing demos, I wrote them and told them I could do these things:

• beet or turnip salad might be the best/most accessible — lots of people have a food processor. (I learned from a Greek member that she makes beet salad in much the same way, only she cooks the beets).
•  What I do that is kind of cool is make pasta from raw vegetables (zucchini, carrot, beet — anything that is hard enough to work with the spiralizer)  That is interesting to people because it makes another way to do salad, or a way to have a cool dish in the summer, etc…..(I could suggest where people could get spiralizers– mostly on-line, or in Japanese stores in town)  If I did this one, I would probably make a simple raw tomato sauce to go on it. (BTW, I did this demo as the first demo the CSA ever had — many people were interested, but they thought I was selling the spiralizer.  I now understand how to handle that more effectively)
•  I could also demonstrate how to make a raw vegan cashew cheeze  pate that is very nice as a tomato stuffing, or on individual tomato slices — this would be a trifle more expensive for me to produce because of the tomatoes. but I could also put it on zucchini or cucumber slices for tasting (I do this one several ways – my favorites are with kale, or with shiitake mushrooms and jalapeno)   It can also be used to make a nice “raw-violi” with thin kohlrabi or beet slices — which I’ve been doing for the past 2 weeks, btw)
•  I also have a very easy quick recipe for a raw vegan cheddar cheeze that can be used as a dip for raw vegetables, or as a sauce for other food (this uses red bell pepper, lemon, and cashews), 
•  I could, also do a demo for how to make guaranteed 3-day sauerkraut that doesn’t smell up your kitchen or take up much space.  (I’ve just opened the one I started on Saturday night!)  I would just need to make up some sauerkraut 3 days before the event, and then have the ingredients to show (or not even — I could just explain it)  This demo would not be on-going at all – it would be a one-off – if you are there, you see it, but I will hang around and explain how it is done to late comers, if you like.  

 the sauerkraut  is also a possibility for a workshop, if you are at all interested in doing workshops.  Such a workshop would take all of 1/2 hour (or more, if you wanted it to be hands-on) – you show what is needed, you show how it’s done, you give ideas for variations, you give a tasting, and send them on their merry way (or more, if you wanted it to be hands-on)  The demo way would be more like a youtube video – here is how you do it.  (Here are the things you need, watch me, here are extra things that you could add, here are variations that you could do, here is what you absolutely really really need for success, here is a taste.)

So, we’ll see if they bite on any of these.  I have already done the beet salad and the spiralized vegetable pasta, but that was a couple of years ago.

 

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6/28/12 CSA SHARE DISTRIBUTION #5

 POST #758

Here is what we got and what I came home with:

Zucchini – 4 pcs
Cipollini Onions – 1 bun
Fennel -OR- Kohlrabi – 1 bun…We got broccoli instead, I traded for more kale
Baby Spinach – 1 bag
Radicchio – 1 hd
Swiss Chard – 1 bun………………I traded for more kale
Toscano Kale – 1 bun
Red Boston Lettuce – 1 hd…..…We got a HUGE bunch of escarole instead

I traded the broccoli because it was mostly yellow, and I don’t care for broccoli that much anyway.

I kept the radicchio because I have never eaten radicchio, and I can’t know if I don’t like it until I try it.  Wish me luck.

I was going to trade the onions for something, but they are so nice and big – I have some store-bought onions, which will last for a while, but these nice fat onions will be good in salads for the next week, I think.

I just made it through last week’s escarole (gasp!), and now I’m saddled with more.  Oh well. Wraps worked last week, I can deal with a salad or two, and then, of course, there are (yuck) green smoothies.  (I was just checking my skin today to see if I have turned green from all the green smoothies occasioned by the farms insidious desire for me to consume green leaves.)

I will be up by Fairway market tomorrow afternoon, so I will stop in there and pick up some cabbage (I’m out of sauerkraut), tomatoes, mushrooms (I want to make a cashew/jalapeno/mushroom cheeze filling for kohlrabi ravioli with the kohlrabi I still have left), and some more lentils to sprout (I really do love lentil sprouts)

BTW, last week, I bought this bag of sprouting grass for the cats from the supermarket, and it turned out to be wheat mixed with vermiculite.  I opened the bag wrong, so I ended up putting a paper towel in my old Kitchen Garden sprouter.  I have never seen wheat sprout that fast!  It grew to be short grass (standing up and everything) in 2 days.  I watered it twice a day for about 5 days, then set it out for the cats, who would have nothing to do with it – oh well, I guess they are not into healthy food.  Meanwhile, I saw it was so easy, I am thinking about growing wheat grass for me (mind you, I am still in the thinking stage. I could probably put a window box inside the kitchen window – our only window that gets sun).

It’s really hot here, but, I’m happy to say that my last living fan (2 died over the winter) is cooling my room off nicely.  Yea!

10/28/10 CSA SHARE: What they say we will get and what I think I will make

Here’s what they say we will get:

Arugula…1/4 lb.
Golden Beets…..1 bun.
Daikon Radish….2 pcs
Sweet Potatoes….3.5 – 4 lbs
Green Cabbage…1 hd
Toscano Kale…..1 bun.
Guy Lon (Chinese Broccoli)… 1 bun.
Leeks….2 – 3 pcs
Mixed Red and Golden Delicious Apples

I love golden beets – mainly because they don’t stain your hands.  One of my students has reported that she added lemon juice and ginger to her grated beets – that sounds like a good thing to try out.

Toscano kale is also called lacinato kale and dinosaur kale.  I wonder why it has that many names.  I find it funny.  Regardless, I think I will make some more kale chips .  The chili/cheddar-cheezy ones I made a few weeks ago were really yummy, and the “smoked jalapeno” cheezy ones I made were very nice and spicy.

It’s time to make Amazing Sweet Potatoes again.  Yumm!

I’ll be making sauerkraut this week, of course.  What else to do with cabbage?  Perhaps I’ll make a little coleslaw, as well. We’ll see.

Daikon Cheeze Bites!  I’ll use my usual cheddar cheeze instead of the fancy one I originally posted – the usual one has fewer ingredients, so is cheaper and easier, and I like it better.

CHEEZE as MAYONNAISE – you decide! Jalapeno Cheeze, fresh and fermented

I made up my smoked jalapeno cashew cheeze again tonight, and I realized some things that I had not thought about before when I was working with this and similar recipes… or, shall we say, I paid attention to how I use the things I make, once they are made.

SMOKED JALAPENO CHEEZE
2 C cashews
2 jalapenos (or to taste)
1/4 – 1/2 C water (or rejuvelac)
1 t sea salt

Put all ingredients in VitaMix and process to a smooth consistency.

Tonight, I added two large cloves of garlic to the blender mix before processing.

I have made this recipe before, as is, and totally enjoyed it added to sandwich combos. 

Two weeks ago, I made it with probiotics, and aged it for 24 hours (wow!)
I added 1 T of probiotic powder to the mix and hung it in cheesecloth over a bowl, to let it age for 24 hours.

Today, I made a fresh batch, and, when I went to use a little of it, I  realized that it works like mayonnaise.  I had a lovely sesame/sunflower seed bread sandwich with tomato, onion, and cucumber, using the jalapeno cashew cheeze as a mayonnaise).  Yumm!