BACK HOME & BACK IN THE KITCHEN

POST #846
I’m home at last! The hurricane was coming in, my family valiantly worked to get me out of the Outer Banks, into Virginia Beach, onto a bus to Newport News, VA, and then I had a 10 hr. train odyssey back to New York City (Luckily, I had an arsenal of books and magazines, and…the train had electrical outlets and wi-fi, so I didn’t get a wink of sleep on the all-day train!)

After a long night’s recuperative sleep, I woke up bright and early this morning, did some work around the house, ran around the neighborhood scoring batteries and flashlights and some kale (I figure 2 lbs of kale will make enough kale chips that I can live through any power outage). Everyone’s hurricane-crazed here (insane lines with people in stores talking to total strangers (me) while standing in interminable lines that kept seeming to get longer or else not moving at all, or else both.

This evening, I opened the last jar of kohlrabi/garlic/jalapeno pickles and the last jar of cabbage/jalapeno sauerkraut.

I’d been unhappy about the first jar of kohlrabi, but, after a week, the second jar turned out fine (we ate them up at the beach last week!), and I had left the third jar to see what would happen if they went 3 or 4 weeks. Opening the jar today, I was faced with some busy fizzing, and, when I tried the pickles, I was glad to know that longer works very well. These pickles are even better.

The sauerkraut was a very happy experience! The first jar did nothing for me, but this jar (at 3-4 weeks) turned out very tasty. Yumm!

Right now, I have a jar of lentil sprouts working, and jar of sunflower seed sprouts. Tomorrow morning, after I make up the kale chips and stow them in the dehydrator, I think I will make some sunflower seed crackers from a recipe in Rose Calabro’s book, Living in the Raw … haven’t had those for a while (hopefully, we won’t lose power, and I’ll be able to get them dehydrated for 12 hrs).

Advertisement

ANOTHER GRAND OPENING – the Fermented Carrots & Kohlrabi

POST #835
I’ve opened the jar of cultured dill/garlic/jalapeno/ginger carrots and one of the jars of dill/garlic/jalapeno kohlrabi.  Both unexpected tastes, but both good.  I took them both back to work with me this evening and shared them around – got good reviews on both of them!  Yea!

I’m leaving the other two jars of kohlrabi for a little longer to see what will happen.

Meanwhile, I’ll be working my way through these delicious cultured vegetables for a few days. Yumm!

10/04/12 CSA SHARE: What they say we will get and what I am thinking of doing with it

POST #862
Here is what they say we will get:
Escarole
Mesclun Lettuce Mix with Baby Arugula
Baby Bok Choi
Japanese Salad Turnips
Green Boston Lettuce
Baby Yukon Gold Potatoes
Toscano Kale
Kohlrabi

So! We’re back to leaves again! Just means that I have to get to the share distribution early early early, so I can trade some of those leaves for maybe more kale, more bok choi or more turnips, and maybe more kohlrabi.

I’ll make cultured kohlrabi with whatever kohlrabi I get (probably “dill pickle” style). When it’s in the jar, I’ll tell you the recipe.

The kale will likely go to kale chips. I haven’t had any in a while. I won’t buy them commercially-made — too pricey.

6/28/12 CSA SHARE: What they say we will get

POST #757

This is what they say we will get:

Zucchini – several pcs
Cipollini Onions – 1 bun
Fennel -OR- Kohlrabi – 1 bun
Baby Spinach – 1 bag
Radicchio – 1 hd
Swiss Chard – 1 bun
Toscano Kale – 1 bun
Red Boston Lettuce – 1 hd

I’m looking forward to some zucchini pasta and kale chips.

6/21/12 CSA SHARE: What they say we will get

POST #754

This is what they say we will get tomorrow:

Kohlrabi – 1 piece
Fennel – 1 piece
Carrots – 1 bunch
Cilantro – 1 bunch
Escarole – 1 head
Scallions – 1 bunch
Arugula – 1 bag
Green Romaine Lettuce – 1 head
Green Boston Lettuce – 1 head

Most people cook kohlrabi, but I slice it thin on a mandolin, and use it as a wrapper for raw vegan ravioli.  Some folks slice it thin, salt it, and then eat it like that. You can also slice it thin and make matchsticks of it, and throw it in salads. 

I chop up fennel and put it in whatever I am making. It gives a kind of licorice flavor to a salad.

Everything else will go to salad (you know me – not going to happen that often).  Since I’m getting so much salad-y kind of stuff, I expect I will again be experimenting with green smoothies (hear, here, I hate green smoothies, but I can buy some bananas and some apples and experiment with adding those to lettuce drinks.  I am committed to using all of these vegetables (especially since I am way broke, so, once again, this is all the fresh food I have — I have some canned things and dried things in the pantry, left over from last year)

If you are like me, do not try to put arugula in your smoothie (it tastes like dirty feet — okay, like dirty feet smell — I’ve never actually tasted it because the smell was so off-putting)    Arugula does tastes nice in salads, and it is also tasty mixed into sprouted quinoa, with other vegetables.

LAST SHARE OF THE SEASON! What they said, what I got, what I took home, and what I’m going to do with it

Here is the reality of our last share, and how I made out

WHAT THEY SAID	WHAT I GOT/WHAT I TRADED FOR
Potatoes – 2 lbs	Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes– 5 lbs	Sweet Potatoes
Carrots – 3 lbs	Carrots
Red Kale – 1 bun	Kale
Rutabaga – 1-2 pcs	Rutabaga
Watermelon Radish – 1-3 pcs	Red Radishes/Watermelon Radishes
Cilantro – 1/8 lb	NONE!!! A nice member gave me hers
Kohlrabi – 1 pc	Kohlrabi
Butternut Squash – 1 pc	Bok Choi/ Cilantro
Broccoli – 1-2 pc	Broccoli/ Sweet Potatoes

I was slow!  Some guy went into the share box and took out about 8 rutabagas! How is that possible? Did he trade his entire box for rutabagas?
(or is it that they only watch when I pick things out of the box, to make
sure that I put a share portion in for the share portion I take out)   Oh well! Maybe he knows somebody.

I was hoping to score some extra kale, but it was not to
be.  I’ll have money for food in 2 weeks, and I’ll get some then, if they have it in the cheap market (actually, it is probably better – I’ve found that kale is not very good for me right now – I hope that will change, because I do love my kale).   This kind of kale is not very good for kale chips – it is not very “solid”… how can I say… the leaves are fingery.  It will chop well, but it is not large enough to make kale chips.

My kohlrabi is a nice size – I will make ravioli with it.  Come to think of it, those watermelon radishes might make nice ravioli, as well.

I did keep the potatoes because Mrs. Murphy, next door, seems to enjoy them (I tried to give her a mess of sweet potatoes, but she would have none of it, yet, when I offer her potatoes, she waxes ecstatic – she’s 83 – she can blow me off is she wants to – I drop by and offer her parts of my share, and she tells me what she’ll take.  Too bad we did not have a lot of potatoes this year.  She doesn’t much care for greens, which is what we mostly get).

I am really excited about the more sweet potatoes, since my
Thanksgiving sweet potato recipe turned out so well, and, yet, gave me a couple
of new ideas to try (and, fortunately, I have most of the ingredients in-house,
so I won’t have to spend much to do the new ideas)  I am also going to experiment with
some “few ingredient” recipes with them, since I have so many.

12/2/10 CSA SHARE: this is the last one for the year

This is the last share of the season. Boo hoo!  On top of that, it looks like I won’t be able to afford to pay for the winter share before the cut-off date (paying for the airline ticket home for Christmas wiped out my last paycheck’s discretionary funds, and rent will wipe out my next paycheck — oh well. I will have to get used to shopping for food again)

This is what they say we will get:

Potatoes – 2 lbs
Sweet Potatoes – 5 lbs
Carrots – 3 lbs
Red Kale – 1 bunch
Rutabaga – 1-2 pieces
Watermelon Radish – 1-3 pieces
Cilantro – 1/8 lb bag
Kohlrabi – 1 piece
Butternut Squash – 1 piece
Broccoli – 1-2 pieces

This share is good because many of these vegetables will store for a while.
My Thanksgiving sweet potatoes came out so well that I will be happy to have more sweet potatoes to do up that way(I did the “Amazing Sweet Potatoes” recipe in my holiday recipes). I think I want to add walnuts the next time.
Kale Chips? probably
Kohlrabi makes good ravioli, as do larger radishes (will have to wait and see what the radishes look like.
Rutabaga works up nicely with my beet recipe
Squash and an apple and some spices… yummy soup. Put some cilantro on it.
I’ll trade off the broccoli if I can (I’ve just come to learn that broccoli is not all that good for me — that explains why I have been steadfastly avoiding my former favorite vegetable this year — I had been wondering about why I *just didn’t want broccoli*!)

9/23/10 CSA SHARE: What they said, what I got and what I took away

Today’s share was pretty nice, if you like lettuce-y kinds of vegetables.  I paid a few visits to the “Share Box”, which is where people put the things they don’t want, and take things they do want.  (In my experience, going early is good if you think you need to play with the share box, but going late can be just as useful, because more people may have tossed things you want.  “Playing” the share box is basically a crapshoot, but you get a wonderful zing when you do hit a good trade.

Today, I ended up trading my unwanted lettuce-y things for other people’s unwanted tomatoes.  I am still in dehydrate mode (see a tomato, dehydrate it!), but now I am sort of back to where I can eat fresh tomatoes sparingly (I had a wonderful tomato, onion, cucumber sandwich with fresh garlic oil last night)

WHAT WE GOT                   WHAT I TOOK
Lettuce mix……………………….4 tomatoes
Arugula………………………..4 tomatoes
Crinkled Crumpled Cress
Romaine Lettuce……………….1 bun. Collards
Kohlrabi 2 pcs…………………….I only got one
Plum
Collards, 1 bun.

I also got 3 huge peaches and 3 small apples

WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH ALL OF THIS?
Tomatoes: I am going to dehdyrate most of them, but, since my mom says I should, I am going to food process some and freeze them for sauces. (Mom doesn’t realize, perhaps, that this might affect her Christmas present of a big jar full of “sundried tomatoes” — ha ha! Of course, it won’t! She’s my mom!)

Kohlrabi: I really love making ravioli with kohlrabi. I have this 4-inch wide slicer that slices kohlrabi very thin, and I can make nice ravioli with nut cheezes and/or other fillings.

Collards!: I will, of course, make some massaged, marinated greens, but I think I may try to make some collard wraps. (These are a challenge to me because I do not like to bite hard things, and I do not like to chew much, so I must figure out a way to make collards soft before I wrap things in them. I’m still working on it, so that will only be about 5 collard leaves worth of experiment. I know I like the massaged greens, anyway, and I haven’t made them in a couple of months)

Peaches: I will probably make some smoothies with whatever other fruit I have the freezer (I’m almost out of blueberries).

Apples: I will probably dehydrate the ones I don’t include in smoothies.  The dehydrated apples make nice snacks.

6/17/10 CSA SHARE: What we got

This is what we got.

• Toscano Kale 1 bunch
• Red Beets
• Red Boston Lettuce
• Kohlrabi
• Baby Arugula I traded for more kale – yumm!
  
• Garlic Scapes
• Baby Spinach

I made some marinated greens with 1 bunch of the kale.  Yesterday I made a green drink with 1/2 of the lettuce, 1 small beet, an apple, and 2 tomatoes.  It wasn’t so bad, but I wouldn’t use the apple again in that mix– maybe another tomato would work.  I plan to make a cheeze with the garlic scapes, some cashews, and some jalapeno, so I can make raviolis with the kohlrabi.  I’ll figure out what to do with the rest shortly — I need food to carry to work next week.  I would like to make some kale chips at some point.

WHAT TO DO WITH KOHLRABI LEAVES

WHAT TO DO WITH KOHLRABI LEAVES

STOP!!!!
You’ve been trying the kohlrabi recipes, but what have you done with the leaves from the kohlrabi???  You haven’t thrown them out, have you?

MIXED GREENS

• Chiffonade the the kohlrabi leaves (roll them to a cigar shape, then chop cross-wise to get thin.  ribbons, then, if you like, chop once agan cross-wise to the first chop, to make shorter pieces) Place in a large mixing bowl.
• Add other chiffonade (kale, collards, chard, spinach – whatever you have handy)
• Add finely chopped onion, chopped kalamata olives, seasonings (chili powder, or curry powder are good)
• Add 1 T olive oil and 1 T apple cider vinegar
• Massage the mixture with your hand to thoroughly combine and draw the liquid from the leaves.
• OPTIONAL: Add chopped tomatoes, and/or chopped avocado, and toss.
• Allow to marinate for 30 mins. to 8 hrs. (or more)

Will keep in the refrigerator for 5 days.