Thursday, May 28, 2009

Week 5 Produce CSA Box




The transition to summer vegetables has begun. The garden is now keeping the kid's quite busy. After we finish homeschooling they hit the garden. Harvesting, succession planting and weeding. Lots of work to do. Plenty of bounty coming from the garden also. This week's box includes:

Small amount of herbs, mesclun salad, romaine lettuce (until it runs out), kohlrabi, broccoli, zucchini, yellow squash, sugar snap peas, new potatoes, cabbage, bok choy, beets and maybe a cucumber or two and some Lacinato (dinosaur kale).

Cucumbers are just starting to come off. We should have some cherry tomatoes in a week or two.

Lots of zucchini. There are a diversity of things that you can do with zucchini. You can grate them and make zucchini bread. They are great in summer stir-frys. The very large zucchini are perfect for stuffing. Scoop out the middle and stuff with Lundberg's wild rice blend (pre-cooked) and browned extra sage pork sausage or italian pork sausage. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees until the zucchini are starting to brown a little on the edges and are softened. Top with Italian Cheese blend and continue baking until the cheese melts. Makes a great supper before you head out to work in the yard. I love yellow squash the best in a squash casserole.

This week you have Kohlrabi in your box. Many of you may not know what Kohlrabi is or what to do with it. This link describes the veggie. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohlrabi If you eat Kohlrabi raw, just cut off the leaves, peel the bulbous root and slice off pieces, dip in your favorite dip. You can also cube and roast or boil then add salt, pepper and cheese like you would to broccoli. One of my favorite recipes is for a Kohlrabi and Apple Slaw. Here is the link to that recipe http://kitchen-parade-veggieventure.blogspot.com/2008/02/kohlrabi-apple-slaw-with-creamy.html

You can cut off the green tops from the Kohlrabi and add to your Lacinato Kale for sauteed greens. Lacinato (dinosaur) kale is my favorite type of kale. Packed full of essential vitamins, beta carotene and calcium as well as antioxidents. A great cancer-fighting food. I can tell when my body needs more calcium as I will actually crave this kale. I usually just strip the leaves off the stalk, julienne and saute.

You also have some beautiful beets in your box. Alena wanted to share her favorite recipe for beets. Actually we are making a batch tomorrow with the cabbage and beets. Here is our family recipe for Ukrainian Borscht. As you know both Hardy and Alena were born in Ukraine. They love this stuff. https://foodgeeks.com/recipes/recipe_print.phtml?recipe_id=4532&scale=10&ftod=f&im=I You can also make a vegetarian version like we use during religious fasts.


Blueberries, shelled garden peas, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes are coming soon. Hope you're enjoying the vegetables. We are.


The Rainbow Meadow Farms Family


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