DINNER: CASHEW KALE CHEEZE ON TOMATO SLICES, CORN SALAD, INSTANT KIRBY PICKLE

I am very pleased with myself: I can make a nice dinner tomorrow with 3 of the items from my CSA share

CASHEW/KALE CHEEZE ON TOMATO SLICES
1 C cashews, soaked and rinsed
2 C kale, chopped fine
2 – 3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 C onion, chopped
1/4 C extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and pepper to taste

In the food processor, process all to a fine consistency.
Spread on 1/4 inch-thick Roma (or other) tomato slices

INSTANT KIRBY PICKLE
1 small kirby cucumber, thinly sliced
1 t minced onion
1 T raw apple cider vinegar
Sea salt to taste
Black pepper to taste

Place in a tightly covered container and shake well. (Otherwise stir thoroughly to mix well.  Let set for 1/2 hour or more.

RAW CORN SALAD
1 C raw corn kernels (this can also be done with cooked corn)
1 T onion
3 T sweet red pepper
1 t cumin powder
1/4 t minced garlic
1/2 t raw apple cider vinegar
1/2 t olive oil

Toss to mix well

Advertisement

7/14/14 CSA SHARE: What we got and what I’ll do with it

GOT                                                                          TRADED FOR
1 bun Cilantro, parsley or purple basil
1 hd Lettuce or radicchio…………………………..1 bun kale
1 bun Kale
5 Cucumbers (full-size or pickling)
2 ears Corn
2 Leeks or new potatoes……………………..………..2 ears corn
Zucchini or cauliflower…got 1 lg yellow squash
1 pt Cherries
1 pt blueberries

WHAT I PLAN TO  DO WITH THIS BOUNTY
CILANTRO: dehydrate (I may hold back a few sprigs for a corn salad
KALE: dehydrate for chips!!!!
CUCUMBERS:  old-fashioned cucumber salad with onions and ACV
SQUASH:  spiralize for a pasta dish
BLUEBERRIES: process in the food processor – they gel up nicely for a dessert or pie filling – you can only do this with fresh blueberries!

CSA SHARE 7/15/14: What they say we will get

What they say we will get:
Cilantro, parsley or purple basil
Lettuce or radicchio
Kale
Cucumbers (full-size or pickling)
Corn
Leeks or new potatoes
Zucchini or cauliflower
Cherries

Fruit Share:
Cherries
Blueberries

I am not going to think about what I hope to see or what I want to make until I see what the real deal is.  I’ll let you know.

7/8/14 CSA SHARE: What we got, etc.

We got pretty much what they promised. Here are the specifics:

Basil or sage………………….1 bun Basil
Cabbage or lettuce…………1 med. hd Cabbage
Collards……………………..1 bun Collards
Peas……………….……………..@ 1/2 lb. Snow Peas
Beets with greens………….1 bun beets, no greens
Yellow or green zucchini…1 big Zucchini
Cucumbers or onions……..1 big Cucumber
Cherries…………………………1 pt Cherries

I also got 1 quart of Cherries in the fruit share.  I think I have to find a new cherry recipe that is more than just pop a cherry in your mouth, savor it, spit out the seed, repeat.

The lady who prepares the featured recipe each week was making a raw beet salad. I loves my beet salad, so I was all ears and eyes.  Hers was much more designer than mine is,but I can definitely see myself adding some of the ingredients she uses to my own delicious recipe My Famous Beet Salad (you can find other beet recipes on that page, too). I will write a separate page with the CSA recipe – it is goooood!

PLANS
Basil – I am going to try to find something new with basil other than to use it as a main ingredient in a salad (yes, I like it that much). Maybe some in a cheeze?
Cabbage – this is a no-brainer. I need sauerkraut! (I made sauerkraut with the last head)
Collards – Easy would be to make marinated massaged collards but maybe I should try a wrap with them. Got it! 2 leaves go to wraps (that will be 4 or so), and the rest go to collard greens!
Snow Peas – right now, I have no clue. I should have traded them. Must meditate on this.
Beets – these are small beets, so there is really no point in trying to spiralize them. Okay, default to my famous beet salad
Zucchini – I haven’t had spaghetti in a while! The spiralizer probably thinks I’ve forgotten it. I think I’ll get out my old Ann Wigmore almond tomato sauce recipe!
Cucumber – I have had a hankering for something cucumber for a few days now. I could slice the cucumber thin and put it in vinegar with salt and pepper and have that old Southern summer salad.  I could. Or, I could make some jalapeno cheeze roll-ups.  Must think quickly! Cucumbers don’t last long in my fridge.

What the heck am I going to do with all these cherries?
Cherries

 

 

 

7/8/14 CSA SHARE: What they say we will get

Here is what they say we will get:

Basil or sage
Cabbage or lettuce
Collards
Peas
Beets with greens
Yellow or green zucchini
Cucumbers or onions
Cherries

What’s coming in the extra Fruit Share:
Cherries

I have enjoyed the cherries this past week, but I do believe I am about cherried-out. I believe I have eaten more cherries since last Tuesday than I have eaten in my life. Don’t get me wrong! I have nothing against cherries, but they have never been my go-to must-have fruit, ever since I ate the entire jar of maraschino cherries when I was 8.

7/1/14 CSA SHARE: WHAT WE GOT

WHAT THEY SAID WE WOULD GET, WHAT WE GOT,
AND WHAT I TOOK HOME

WHAT THEY SAID……………………..I TRADED FOR

1 hd Lettuce or cabbage                         1 bun Garlic Scapes
1 bun. Mustard greens or chard
1 bulb Fennel
1 pc.Broccoli
2 Yellow squash or zucchini
1 bun.Radishes, onions, or cucumbers
1 bun. Garlic scapes
1 pt Cherries

The fruit share was 2 pts of cherries!

I know! I always say that I am going to eat the lettuce next time, but …. I just am not Salad Girl!  I do like garlic, and garlic scapes are the next best thing, so it was a no-brainer.

The mustard greens will go to marinated greens or else get dehydrated.

A woman at the distro demo’d a nice raw fennel and mint slaw (recipe below), and so I kept that. 

I kept the big piece of broccoli because I *am* going to challenge myself this week to do something with it. No clue what that will be yet.

Next week’s FERMENTED FOODS meetup is about miso.  I am just not the type to make miso, but there are miso pickled/fermented vegetables! Some squash, some radishes, maybe something else will get in the miso tomorrow night an lie there until Sunday.

Now, the big challenge is what to do with all of these cherries. I’ll take some to work tomorrow to much on. Then what? Can you dehydrate them?  And, if you did, what would  you do with them later?

I’m a little busy tonight with another project, but I will post my recipes, as well as the fennel one from the CSA, tomorrow.

FIRST SHARE AT CORBIN HILL FOOD PROJECT: What they say we will get

I’m excited. Tomorrow I will pick up my first CSA share from Corbin Hill Food Project. This CSA is completely new to me, so I don’t know exactly how they will do, so I am going to make an effort to be there when they open up at 4:30 (shares can be picked up between 4:30 and 7:00).  Will there be a mob scene at the door at 4:30?  Who knows.  I will get there about 3:30, to get in line for the Supper Club, and then, if it looks like there’s going to be a mob scene for the CSA pick-up, I’ll just put everything from the Supper Club in containers to bring home . I’ll report back with my experience tomorrow night.

HERE IS WHAT THEY SAY WE WILL GET (for a number of years, I was a member of a CSA related to Golden Earthworm Farms. Often they would say were going to get something, but we didn’t, so, out of habit, I’m saying what they said, and I’ll report back tomorrow with the true “get”)

Oregano
Lettuce
Spinach
Kale
Peas (English or sugar snap)
Radishes, Kohlrabi, or Zucchini
Parsnips
Rhubarb

FRUIT SHARE
Parsnips
Strawberries

I have signed up for a “medium” share, but I’m going to try to see what the “large” share looks like.

Tomorrow, when I get back with my booty, I’ll let you know  what this CSA is really like

MY NEW CSA – YOU CAN STILL SIGN UP HERE

The history of Pretty Smart Raw Food Ideas is directly tied to my first venture into CSAs.  Some years back, I saw an announcement for a CSA a couple of blocks from my home, and I signed up right away.  As CSAs often deliver vegetables folks have never seen before, I began to hear people asking what they should do with what they had received in the box.    Me? Being raw, I just went on-line, found out about the vegetable in question, and then started experimenting.  People started asking me for recipes.  I asked the CSA if we couldn’t have a way to publish recipes for the benefit of the members. They poo-poo’d my idea.  My blog was born the next day, with raw recipes for the vegetables I found in my box. 

Now, I have found  a CSA which allows you to casually  join whenever you find out about it, and allows you to pay by the week.  (I have had to leave that first CSA because they require an up front payment which I could not manage).  I’m telling you this because, if you have thought about a CSA, but didn’t sign up for one in the spring (most CSAs require you to sign up before May), there is a CSA that you can still join.

Corbin Hill Food Project is a CSA that works with local farmers to provide low cost organic vegetables and fruit (and other products, as add-ons), mostly in low-income neighborhoods (that doesn’t mean that you can’t join if you are not low-income – it just means that you might have to travel a bit).  The beauty of this CSA is that you can sign up at any time during CSA season (summer to fall), and, if, for any reason, you cannot receive your share the next week (for example: you will be away, or you can’t afford it), you can put your share on hold, simply by notifying them a week in advance.  If you are interested, please visit Corbin Hill Food Project to find the most convenient location for you to receive your share (I’ll be going to the Community Kitchen and Food Pantry on 116th St in Harlem – it’s familiar to me, and I want to support its programs, and, also, the commute there and back home is reasonable, even if it is not right near my home – heck! Fairway, Costco, and Trader Joe’s involve commutes so it is not really that big of a deal). 

The first deliveries are June 18th and June 19th (depending on your chosen location – I’m set to receive my share on Tuesday, the 18th), and the last day to sign up for that week is June 10th. 

Just saying.

10/31/13 CSA SHARE: What they say we will get

POST #983
It is a very good thing that tomorrow is CSA day.  I will be quite hungry by then, I am sure.  I have just come back from vacation, so all there is to eat around here is what I have in the freezer (not much – I am not really big on freezing vegetables), a jar of fermented salsa, and some dehydrated crackers).

Kale – Red, Green or Toscano – 1 bun
Swiss Chard – 1 bun
Beets – 1 bun
Bok Choi – 1 bun
Broccoli – 1 hd
Cauliflower – 2 hds
Carrots – 1 bun
Long Peppers – 7+ pcs

Oh, goody! Lots of things I like. Yumm!

9/26/13 CSA SHARE: What we got, what I took, and what I’m going to do with it

POST #976
WHAT THEY PROMISED           WHAT I TRADED FOR
Salad Turnips – 1 bun
Baby Bok Choi – 2 pcs
Spinach – 1 lb
Arugula – 1/2 lb                              1 bun turnips
Toscano Kale – 1 bun
Long Red Peppers – 2 pcs
Make-up Item 1 green pepper      2 long red peppers

I know I have said that I am going to use everything in the box, but sometimes (okay, most times) I just can’t.
I am not a real salad girl — I mean, if I am in a restaurant with people, sometimes salad is all there is; and, if I am invited to dinner, and they serve salad, or I am at a meet-up and all there is besides what I brought, is salad I’ll eat it; but, at home, I do not go for salad. You may think this strange for a raw foodist, but that is who I am. I am a lazy chewer. Leaves are work. I avoid them if I can. That’s not to say that I cannot make cool food with leaves – it just means that things that work best in salads and nothing else don’t normally get on my menu.

So, all that said, I sniffed the arugula, and put it aside. I looked in the “trade” box (where we can put what we don’t want and take something someone else didn’t want – I usually go at opening time so I can get good picks from the trade box, but, yesterday, I arrived just before closing time, so the pickings were slim). There was a nice bunch of white turnips with good greens. I grabbed them and put the arugula in the trade box. Then, I looked at that green pepper. I used to like green pepper a lot, but, I much prefer red pepper now. I don’t care which kind: it can be sweet red pepper, it can be spicy red pepper – I don’t care. One small green bell pepper versus two fair-sized long red peppers (sweet)? No question there. Those were the trades.

Now, what am I going to do with the goodies?
KALE: I am going to take a few of the leaves and make a small batch of kale cashew cheeze (I checked before I went, and I still have about 2 C of cashews)
SPINACH: I saw a spinach/cashew mix which was basically my kale/cashew mix and sounded interesting, so I think I’ll take about half of the spinach and make another cashew mix/cheeze
BEETS: These salad beets are fairly large, so I can peel them and then grind them up and add some apple cider vinegar and garlic -Yum! The greens are very nice, so I will make them into marinated greens, adding some onion, garlic, and apple cider vinegar to sweeten them up. I may even add in some red pepper in for more flavor. Since I have two bunches, I may make a small jar of fermented beets.
BOK CHOY: I discovered a new way to deal with bok choy last week (that was the first time I decided to keep the bok choy, if truth be told). I took a bunch to work and tore off the leafy part, rolled it up, and dipped it in cashew/thai curry mayo. That was a nice lunch. I dipped the bok choi ends, too.

This weekend, I think I’ll wrap up the kale/cashew cheeze in the bok choi. If I have time, I may make some thin slices of red pepper and add them to the mix.