Produce CSA box for Week 1

All the produce is harvested and in the cooler. Boxes have been made. What you can expect in your box this week:

Full Share - red and green sails lettuces, green onions, radishes, turnips, sweet potatoes, baby carrots, strawberries, swiss chard, baby beets, various herbs(mint, rosemary, thyme, French tarragon and garlic chives) and possibly one other thing.

1/2 Share - same as above but in smaller portions.

We washed the lettuces. However, you still need to rinse the leaves before you use them in sandwiches or salads as it is really hard to get all the dirt out at the base of the heads of lettuce.
With the baby beets, there was a small portion of them this week. I suggest drizzling them with olive oil and sea salt and roasting at 425 until they are ready and then using in a salad with goat cheese or feta cheese, toasted walnuts and a balsamic vinigrette.

The turnip roots would be lovely in a stew like lamb provencal with white beans, white wine, tomatoes and either lamb shoulder, neck stew or lamb shanks. You can substitute beef for the lamb. Another option is to cut them up in chunks as well as some diced potatoes, drizzle with olive oil, sea salt, black pepper and chopped rosemary and roast like you do the beets. I would consider saving the green turnip tops and adding them to your swiss chard to saute.

For the swiss chard and turnip tops, you should rewash them, cut off the stemmy ends and then cut into pieces or strips crosswise. Let them drain dry, while you chop a couple of cloves of garlic. As for me, I just heat up my saute pan to just below high, add a couple of table spoons of Olive oil and quickly saute the garlic being careful not to burn it. Then add the chard mixture in portions giving it time to cook down in the saute pan. Probably 10 minutes or so will do. You want it to wilt but not wilt to nothing. When you finish lightly season with salt and pepper and drizzle with the juice of 1 lemon (if you like the tartness). But taste it first to see how much lemon juice you want to add.

With the strawberries, you can do so many things. You can even make a beautiful salad with roasted nuts (pine nuts, walnuts or pecans), strawberries and goat cheese and mandarin orange slices.

Sweet potatoes will be good in a pie, homemade sweet potato biscuits, or roasted and then added to sauteed spinach. There is just unlimited things that you can do with sweet potatoes. Store your sweet potatoes at room temp. Also, with your strawberries, you will need to place them in a ziploc bag or something so that the refrigerator doesn't deteriate the quality.

Those of you with an egg supplement might enjoy some thyme or in your scrambled eggs or omelet. Tarragon goes well with chicken.

Recipes

Spring Radish Salad
adapted from Verdura Vegetables Italian Style by Viana La Place

1 bunch fresh radishes

2-3 very sweet carrots

2 bunches arugula (can substitute mesclun salad greens)

salt and pepper to taste

E.V. olive oil

2 Tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Lemon wedges

Trim the radishes and slice them thinly. Peel the carrots and cut them on the diagonal into very thin slices. Snap off the tough stems from the arugula. Gather the arugula into a bunch and cut it crosswise into strips. Arrange the arugula on a platter. Scatter the sliced radishes and carrots over the arugula. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle with enough olive oil to lightly moisten the vegetables. Sprinkle the Parmesan over the top. Serve with lemon wedges to squeeze over the salad.

Here is a link to a recipe for roasted heirloom baby beet salad. http://www.kvbc.com/global/story.asp?S=8300852

Turnip greens, swiss chard and kale are all considered to be some of of the world's healthiest foods. They are chocked full of Vitamins A and C, calcium, potassium and daily fiber. Here is a great recipe for Winter Greens Saute. This recipe has garlic, mushrooms, dried fruit and nuts. Yum. http://winter-recipes.suite101.com/article.cfm/recipes_sauted_winter_greens

Turnips go well in a lamb stew or beef stew. Here is a couple of recipes.

http://www.easy-french-food.com/lamb-stew-recipe.html or

http://southernfood.about.com/od/lambstewrecipes/r/bl30131e.htm

Hope you enjoy your produce and finding creative ways to incorporate these healthy veggies into your diet. If you get some of our grass-fed meat to go along with that, you will be well on your way towards reducing your carbon footprint and helping to create a sustainable local food system here in North Carolina. Thank you for everything.

Genell, Hardy, Alena, Jeffrey and the whole Rainbow Meadow Farms family.