WHAT I’M DOING WITH THE SHARE PRODUCE

My personal CSA “box” challenge for this week:

OREGANO: with such a bounty of oregano, I am going to freeze half of it and and dehydrate the other half.  To freeze, fill ice cube tray wells 2/3 full with herbs, pour in extra virgin olive oil to cover, freeze over night, then remove to freezer bags and store in the freezer.
SPINACH:  A salad, of course, a soup, and a smoothie
KALE: Ah! I do love kale. There isn’t really that much, so I will probably make massaged marinated kale, and throw in some of kohlrabi leaves for good measure.
SUGAR SNAP PEAS : I’ll just have these for a snack. They are already in my bag to go to work today.
 KOHLRABI: I’m going to make kohlrabi ravioli with jalapeno smoked cheeze – I’ll just slice the kohlrabi on the mandoline, add a dab of the cheeze, fold over, and pop in my mouth.
GARLIC SCAPES: I’ll finely chop some and add them to the kale, then make a little garlic scape pesto with some of them, to eat over zucchini “pasta”.
RHUBARB: I know I’ll be making a strawberry/rhubarb smoothie or two, and I will likely halve the strawberry/rhubarb pie recipe

MORE RECIPES FOR PRODUCE IN THIS SHARE

RHUBARB
RAW STRAWBERRY RHUBARB SMOOTHIE
RAW STRAWBERRY RHUBARB SMOOTHIE #2
SIMPLE RHUBARB SMOOTHIE (Rhubarb Smoothie #3)
RAW RHUBARB COMPOTE
RAW VEGAN STRAWBERRY RHUBARB PIE

KOHLRABI
You can simply chop up kohlrabi and add it to any salad you are making, or you can thinly slice it on a mandolin and use two slices to make a ravioli with nut cheeze (it will stick together), or you can use one of these recipes
FERMENTED RAW JALAPENO-GARLIC DILL KOHLRABI
KOHLRABI APPLE SLAW
KOHLRABI BEET CARROT SALAD
QUICK AND EASY RAW KOHLRABI PICKLES
KOHLRABI RAWVIOLI WITH PINE NUT CHEEZ
KOHLRABI CHOPPED SALAD
WHAT TO DO WITH KOHLRABI LEAVES

KALE
You can just tear kale leaves and use them in a salad, either alone, or with other greens, or you can try out some of these recipes . One of my favorite recipes is marinated kale mixed with wakame seaweed (or a seaweed mix), and other basic salad ingredients (onion, bell pepper, sprouts, garlic, etc) with sesame oil and apple cider vinegar dressing.
KALE CHIPS – TWO KINDS
THAI GREEN CURRY KALE CHIPS
CASHEW KALE CHEEZE ON TOMATO SLICES
SESAME KALE AND WALNUT/KALE PESTO
WHAT TO DO WITH GREENS (KALE/COLLARDS/SPINACH/TURNIP GREENS/BEET GREENS/KOHRABI GREENS, ETC)

SPINACH
CASHEW SPINACH CHEEZE ON TOMATOES
RAW TOMATO SPINACH SOUP

GARLIC SCAPES
GARLIC SCAPE PESTO

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STRAWBERRY/RHUBARB SMOOTHIE

Last night, I was feeling lazy, and did not want to go to great lengths to prepare dinner, so I just capped all of the strawberries in my CSA share and then added cashews, and three stalks of rhubarb and 16 oz. of water, blended it all, and drank it down.

Yumm!

STRAWBERRY/RHUBARB SMOOTHIE

2 C strawberries

1 C rhubarb, chopped

1 C cashews

12-16 oz water (to taste)

optional: add agave syrup or other sweetener of choice to taste

Process in VitaMix until smooth.

NOTE: I did not add any sweetener, but you might like to.  It comes out sort of bland and tart at the same time.

RAW RHUBARB COMPOTE

Rhubarb has a kind of mouth-puckering flavor like lemon.  I usually just blend it with water and make a lemony drink.

Here is another way to prepare rhubarb – a compote that is great over your choice of “ice creme”  (now I have a new way to eat the simple banana ice creme I make by by processing bananas through the Champion juicer).  This compote would be good atop fruit, or to make a cake special.

RHUBARB COMPOTE

NOTE: for dried fruit, the recipe amount is for the soaked fruit

1 C raw rhubarb, finely chopped
½ C dried apricots, soaked 1 hr., finely chopped
1/2 C fresh cranberries,  finely chopped in a food processor (or 1 C dried cranberries, soaked)
1/2 C raw honey
1/2 T rosemary, dried  (or 1 T fresh rosemary)

• In a glass jar with a lid, combine honey and rosemary. Seal tightly, and refrigerate for 8 hours (or overnight).
• Mix the rhubarb, cranberries, and apricots together, and add honey until the mixture is the consistency of a chutney (more rhubarb and fruit, with honey to hold it together).

STRAWBERRY/RHUBARB SMOOTHIE – a raw rhubarb delight

Strawberry Rhubarb Shake
based on a recipe found at goneraw.com

1 lg stalk of rhubarb (or 3 small), chopped
1 C strawberries (fresh or frozen)
4 dates
handful of macadamias or cashews
dash of cinnamon
agave to taste
water

• Place all ingredients in the VitaMix.
• Add water to cover
• Process to a smooth consistency

RAW RHUBARB SMOOTHIE

I had two bunches of rhubarb from a share a couple of weeks ago, and I had not done anything with it, so I decided to take a chance — I remembered that the rhubarb tasted lemony last year…..

I put 10-12 stalks of rhubarb into the Vitamix with 2 cups of water and a sprinkle of stevia and let the Vitamix do its thing.

I got a lemony smoothie textured drink. Yum…. My room-mate wanted to know what was in it (she likes to copy things I make on occasion)

CSA SHARE 6/19/08: what I got

I will be honest.  I did not pay  close attention to what was in the box. I did not pay close attention to what was written on the board. I just bagged leaves and more leaves, and noticed the things that were NOT leaves. I bagged it all, brought it home, and stuck it in the refrigerator. I did not prepare dinner last night and I am not going to eat tonight, so I am not at all sure what all those leaves are that I got.

This is what the email said we would get:

SWISS CHARD
TOSCANO KALE
ROMAINE LETTUCE
GREEN CRISP LETTUCE
STRAWBERRIES
BABY ARUGULA (1/2 POUND)
GARLIC SCAPES
BROCCOLI
CILANTRO
KOHLRABI

It  is  not on the list, but I got  rhubarb!!!!

I have dehydrated the cilantro.

What is kohlrabi?  It is a cruciferous vegetable related to broccoli. It looks like a big pale green bulb with some leaves on top.  I will probably grate it up and throw it in a salad.

What are garlic scapes?  They are the stems of garlic, with little things on the end that will, if left, develop garlic seeds. I got them last year and chopped them up in salads. They taste just like garlic.  This year, they will probably go in some smoothies, too. Yumm.

I’m excited again!!! Vegetables coming!!!! Just seeing how excited the other people looked when they opened their boxes last week brought me back to wonder of the CSA distribution.  Yippee!!!! Yes, I remember how I struggled to make the payments earlier in the year, but… now it is like free food, all of  it good, some of it mysterious….

Here is what they promise this week:

TOSCANO KALE………………..1 bunch
RAINBOW SWISS CHARD…….1 bunch
BROCCOLI……………………….1 piece
RED ROMAINE LETTUCE…….1head
GREEN BOSTON LETTUCE…..1 head
STRAWBERRIES…………………1 pint
RHUBARB.……………………….1 bunch

I’m very excited about the rhubarb – I still need to figure out some raw recipes, but last year, I made a very nice citrus-y drink with some of it.  The strawberries are a plus!!!! How nice of them to include some strawberries in the regular distribution (for those of us who did not order the “fruit extension”) I will be getting the regular fruit share when that starts, but this is a nice nice plus.

I love kale – I make a nice raw marinated/massaged kale dish — I will post a new variation shortly.

I am not your biggest fan of lettuce, so I will probably trot off to get some apples and bananas to make smoothies with the lettuce.

This is my first experience with chard. It looks like lettuce. I will have to play with it.  Maybe it is marinatable.

Broccoli is broccoli. Maybe I can come up with something new to do with it this time.

I went to a raw food fair this past weekend and stood by the Vitamix lady (she was a new one, and very cute – I mean, she had the patter, but she added something to it… it almost seemed like she was talking to a pal in her kitchen, rather than just repeating the same spiel over and over again.) I watched her make about 4 things, so I got some new ideas.