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My Grandma Vangie made this recipe for us at lunch today, and it was totally DELICIOUS!  Best of all, the four garden ingredients are in your box this week — just waiting for you to make Creamy Cucumbers!

 

Creamy Cucumbers
from the St. Pat’s church cookbook

2 cukes or 1 long seedless cuke
1 med onion
1 tbsp. vinegar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
½ cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tbsp. chopped fresh dill
1 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

Thinly slice cucumbers and onion.  Mix into vinegar, salt and sugar.  Let stand for 30 minutes, then drain off the liquid.  Mix mayonnaise, sour cream, dill and parsley.  Pour onto cucumbers and mix.  Makes about 2 ½ cups.

CSA member Lynn sent along this recipe, saying, “I couldn’t handle the heat and didn’t want to eat hot food.   This was great!”

Thanks for sharing, Lynn!
Others (CSA members or not), please feel free to share your favorite vegetable-based recipes too!  You can just put them in a comment and I will paste them into their own post.  And, if you can, send along a picture too, since people love to SEE what it’s going to be like.

 

Asian Green Bean Salad 

 2 pounds green beans, ends trimmed

1/4 cup rice vinegar

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

1 tablespoon soy sauce, more as desired

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon honey (I used Mirin about 2 tblsp)

1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion, rinsed and drained

1 1/2 cup fresh bean sprouts, rinsed (I didn’t have so I didn’t use)

In a 6-quart pan over high heat, bring 3 quarts water to a boil.

Add beans and cook until tender-crisp to bite, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain, immerse in ice water until cool, and drain again.

In a serving bowl, mix vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce to taste, ginger, sesame seeds, garlic, and honey.

Add green beans, onion, and bean sprouts and stir gently to coat.

Serve at room temperature, or chill airtight up to 3 hours, and serve cold.

What to do with all the bok choy we’ve been blessed with lately, from CSA member Lynn:

 Unwrapped Spring Roll Salad 

1 pack thin rice noodles – cook and save some of the water.
2 small bunches of Bok Choy thinly sliced including the greens.
1 bunch green onions thinly sliced including some of the green.
1 cup diced cucumber.
1 grated carrot.
handful of chopped mint
handful of chopped cilantro

Toss together. 

Make a dressing using:

½ cup of the reserved water
½ cup chunky peanut butter
¼ cup Hoisin sauce (or less depending on your taste)
And for a little kick a dash of garlic chili sauce

If serving later, wait to add the dressing.   I had some shrimp left over from the night before so I tossed these in with the salad.  You could add just about any vegetable.

You can thank your farmer (and my mom) Carol for finding this recipe!

Fennel Salsa

Ingredients
1 English (seedless) cucumber, diced
1 large fennel bulb, diced
1 avocado – peeled, pitted, and diced
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/2 cup pickled banana peppers, diced
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
2 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Combine the cucumber, fennel, avocado, red onion, banana peppers,
cilantro, honey, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Allow mixture
to sit 20 minutes before serving.

Share your tasty discoveries and inspire your fellow CSA members!  To get the ball rolling, here are FOUR recipe ideas from CSA member Melanie:

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I’m absolutely loving my first ever harvest from my first ever CSA!! I’m so glad I joined. I’m pretty much obsessed with food and cooking so I thought I’d give you all a couple new recipes that I came up with this week. On Monday I could not wait to eat my baby bok choi so I made a Asian dish with it (one of my favorite cuisines).

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VEGGIE LO MEIN
4 oz. soba noodles, cooked, rinsed in cold water and drained
2 tsp light olive oil
8 oz mushrooms, any kind, sliced
1/2 cup onions, any kind, chopped ( I used some of this weeks green parts)
4 radishes, chopped (I used the icicle radishes)
1 baby bok choy, sliced thickly
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tbsp oyster sauce (or molasses could work too)
2 tbsp dark sesame oil
1 tbsp liquid aminos (or low sodium soy sauce)
1/2 tsp sugar
squirt of Sirracha or other hot sauce
cilantro, optional garnish
chopped peanuts, optional garnish

Heat oil in a skillet or wok over med high until almost smoking (use lower heat if you pan is non-stick, which I don’t recommend). Add mushrooms and leave them alone, without stirring for a couple minutes until browned nicely on the bottom. Toss around the pan and after another couple minutes add the onions and radishes. Cook a few minutes, then add the bok choy and garlic. Mix together the oyster sauce, sesame oil, liquid aminos, sugar and hot sauce. Pour the sauce over the veggies and toss. Add the noodles and toss until coated and heated through. Garnish and eat. Serves 2.

Tonight I was trying to use up some leftover cheese and remembered a recipe I saw on Alton Brown’s show Good Eats called FROMMAGE FORT.

It is a cheese dip that uses up 1 lb of assorted leftover cheese, any kind!! And along with some white wine and garlic I added some lemon thyme instead of the parsley. YUM!!

I’m thinking that if I don’t eat it all tonight it would be an excellent idea for

FANCY MAC AND CHEESE:
Make some pasta but save a little of the cooking water. Stir in some of the cheese dip into the drained noodles with some lamb’s quarters, some of the pasta cooking water and a dash of lemon.

I’ll also be eating RADISH SANDWICHES tomorrow in honor of my grandma:
Mix softened butter with some minced radishes and spread over your favorite bread, OR just put some thinly sliced radishes over buttered bread, sprinkle with salt and eat!

Happy gardening and even happier eating!

Melanie Foster

Mom, Dad, and I went down to LaCrosse last weekend for the annual Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference.  It is always a good time full of excellent food, informative workshops, and meeting up with other farmers.  I personally find it inspiring to see the diversity of people involved with organic farming:  young and old, rural and urban, red and blue, dreadlocked and beer-bellied, talkative and stoic, community organizers and self-sufficient livers.  Sustainable farming is good for the land, providing us with healthy food and a more robust local economy.  By keeping your food dollar circulating within the local community, you are directly helping to create a healthier food system and higher quality of life for all of us — you the eater and us the growers, but also the non-local food eaters who still benefit by having cleaner water, more wildlife habitat, and more resilient rural and urban economies.  I think part of the reason that sustainable farmers are a diverse crew is that a vibrant local economy is something that people from all walks of life can agree is a good thing.

This year we had a few things in mind to focus on, so we went to sessions about pastured poultry, hoophouse season extension, and permaculture orchard design.  There was also a really nice panel discussion of and for CSA farmers.  Partly because of that discussion, there have been some new collaboration and support initiatives for CSA farmers that deliver to the Twin Cities, such as peer-mentoring options and potlucks for farmers.  A few of us are also hoping that we could hold a CSA-specific conference in LaCrosse the day before the usual annual conference begins.

I love being a farmer in Minnesota, and having the winter to rest, dream, study, plan, organize, and collaborate.  I honestly don’t know how they do it year-round in warmer places.  The annual organic conference is one of the signs that spring is right around the corner.  We are tapping maple trees right now, and getting ready to start the onion seeds next weekend.  Another growing season is upon us, and as the days get longer and longer we too are feeling more energized and excited.  Here we go again for another trip around the sun!

Looking forward to sharing the growing season with you,
Chris.

Our CSA member Nancy has been RAVING about this recipe ever since we started harvesting cauliflower.  She says it is the perfect  (and tasty) way for two people to eat a whole head of cauliflower in one meal. 

From Nancy:  “Sorry to hear we may have a big blight coming our way – Leaving for Ireland on Saturday – I will research the Irish potato famine first hand for all members! If I can – I’ll stop it!!!!!” 

Promised recipes –
Recipe courtesy of:  Fatfree Vegan Kitchen

Roasted Cauliflower Soup

I used a blender to get this silky smooth, but a food processor or hand blender might also work. Be careful not to burn yourself opening and pouring from the blender because the mixture can be super-heated.

1 cauliflower
1 onion, cut into wedges
2 cloves garlic, peeled
4 cups fat-free vegetable broth
1 large potato, peeled and cubed
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
salt and pepper, to taste
4 drops truffle oil (optional, but good)
Smoked Spanish paprika, to garnish

Preheat oven to 400. Cut the cauliflower into florets and place them into a large baking dish sprayed with oil. Lightly spray the top of the cauliflower with oil. Bake for 20 minutes. Sprinkle the onion wedges and garlic on top of the cauliflower, spray lightly with olive oil, and return to the oven. Cook for 20-25 more minutes, stirring once halfway through.

While the vegetables are roasting, heat the vegetable broth and add the chopped potato. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat. Cook covered on very low until cauliflower is ready.

Add the cauliflower mixture to the broth. Puree it, in batches, in the blender until very smooth. Return it to the pot and add the nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 10 minutes. Just before serving, stir in a few drops of truffle oil, if desired. Ladle into bowls and serve, sprinkled with smoked Spanish paprika.

Makes 4 large servings. Per serving: 45 Calories (kcal); trace Total Fat; (5% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 10g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 11mg Sodium; 2g Fiber. Weight Watchers Core / 1 Flex Point

Copyright 2008 Susan Voisin and Fatfree Vegan Kitchen
blog.fatfreevegan.com
All rights reserved. Ask first!

Thanks to CSA member Syneva:

Ingredients:
2 zucchini, 1 finely chopped and 1 grated
1 small onion, chopped or 1/2 cup green onion
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
3 cloves garlic finely minced
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1/4 tsp. salt
pepper to taste
2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 cup fresh basil chopped (you could also try cilantro)
vegetable oil for frying

Directions:
In a large bowl, mix together the zucchini, onion, eggs, chesse, all spices, adding in flour and cornmeal last.

Heat about 1 Tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Drop 1/4 cupfuls of the batter into the skillet, and flatten slightly with the back of a spatula.  Turn fritters over when the center appears dry.  Cook on the other side until golden brown.  Set aside and keep warm.  Add more oil to skillet as needed, and continue with remaining batter.  It is essential that all fritters are cooked immediately after stirring in flour or the batter will get glutinous.

This is my Grandma Vangie’s tried-and-true recipe for refrigerator pickles.  This is an especially easy kind of pickle to make because you don’t need to worry about properly sealing any jars, and they keep for a very long time in the fridge.  They are also an excellent way to use up some of the lovely cucumbers in your box!

SWEET REFRIGERATOR PICKLES

4 cups vinegar
4 cups sugar
8 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons turmeric
2 teaspoons celery seed
2 teaspoons mustard seed
enough cucumber slices to fill a one gallon or 5-quart ice cream bucket
optional: onions and green peppers

Boil the sugar and vinegar.  Let cool.  Wash and slice enough cucumbers to mostly fill up your container.  Add other ingredients to bucket of cucumbers.  When the boiled mixture is cool pour over the cucumber slices and spices.  Cover.

Put in fridge, stir/mix daily for 5 days.  They are then ready for eating.  Store covered in your fridge — keeps a long time (my Grandma says easily for many months).

CSA member Amy found this recipe and loved it!  It’s super tasty, and thanks to the Bok Choy it is packed with loads of calcium, iron, and vitamins A & C.

Due to copyright issues for this one we can provide the link but not reprint it.  The recipe also includes chives/green onions, ramen noodles, and wasabi peas.

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