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  • CSA Thanksgiving Recipe Ideas

    11/25/2024 Happy Thanksgiving. Here is a blog repost of  several dishes really love, and make during the holiday season. I hope one or two can maybe inspire you to use some of your CSA bounty in your feasts this week and in your holiday meals this season. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Thanksgiving than with our beautiful local organic vegetables. 

    Mo

    Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love making dishes with vegetables I grew or got from my CSA share.

    I thought I would pull together some Thanksgiving worthy dishes from our archives to maybe inspire you to cook with your local seasonal food.

    My extended family is 1/2 vegetarians and 1/2 omnivores so we need two main dishes. I always cook a turkey for omnivores. One year for the vegetarians I made this pumpkin macaroni and cheese and everyone loved it. This cabbage panade has also been a big hit at our Thanksgiving table. Both these main dishes are rich enough and substantial enough to stand along side the rest of the Thanksgiving side dishes.

    I have never blogged on this fun dish but I have made it for our vegetarian holiday meal several times and can highly recommend it. Pumpkin stuffed with everything good.

    I almost always make a mixed root vegetable mash using whatever root vegetables I have in the refrigerator.  This makes me so happy.

    Another really great potato dish that goes well with Thanksgiving food is this mashed potato and roasted green chili dish. If you have some green chilies frozen from this summer maybe trot them out this week!

    I feel like you really need a hearty green salad to cut the rich food. This kale salad is perfect for Thanksgiving and rounds out any vegetarian main dish perfectly. I am saving my braising mix from last week to make it for our thanksgiving dinner. You could use collards or spinach, or a mix of any greens you like. This dish travels well and is fine served at room temperature.

    This beet dish is so good with potatoes, can be made well ahead and brings some much needed acidity to the meal.

    This celery salad would be great for non-cranberry lovers. Like cranberries, it will cut the richness of the rest of the meal. Bonus, it’s a pretty dish.

    This Brussels sprout dish would be festive also. Sub cabbage or collards for the Brussels sprouts if you like.

    Any roasted vegetable is welcome at Thanksgiving. This roasted cauliflower with the pumpkin macaroni and cheese will knock your socks off!  Roasted kohlrabi or parsnips are delicious too. These roasted Hakurei turnips are probably the most made dish on this website, everyone loves them.

    Any roasted vegetable dish can be made ahead of time and quickly rewarmed.

    Finally dessert. This parsnip cake is so delicious and feels like a hug from Mother Earth to me. Kai wanted it for her wedding cake but our parsnips weren’t ready, that’s how special this cake is.

    This skillet apple crisp is a perfect end of a big meal, and if you want a classic ‘pumpkin’ dessert-here you go! Use any squash or pumpkin you like.

    I have so much to be thankful for; abundant food, friends and family, health, furry friends, a home. And each of you, who give a local family farm your love and support.

    Thank you friends. Happy Thanksgiving.

    Mo

  • Winter Minestrone Soup

    This is one of those ‘clean out your vegetable drawer’ meals and a testament to the adage that what grows together tastes great together.

    I accidentally deleted the photo of the vegetables I used to make this before I chopped them up. It kind of doesn’t matter because you can use any of your CSA vegetables you have and a few pantry items you probably have too. You need 4 to 5 cups of cut up vegetables. I had lots of leeks, celery, parsnips, carrots, kale and a kohlrabi. Celery root, onions, potatoes, rutabagas and any leafy greens would work too.

    I peeled and cut vegetables until I had 4 cups and then I added the kale to make a heaping 5ish cups of vegetables.

    Winter Minestrone Soup

    • 4 to 5 cups winter vegetables washed and chopped into bite size pieces
    • 1 1/2 to 2 cups navy or cannellini beans and broth if homemade. 1 can of white beans, drained and rinsed if you are using canned beans.
    • 1 15 oz can of tomatoes and their juice. I canned my tomatoes, that is why they are in a jar. Store bought is fine.
    • 2 cups of water
    • optional 1/2 cup pasta
    • Croutons, parmesan cheese and olive oil for garnish

    In a large pot heat a few tablespoons of oil and add all the vegetables, except leafy greens, and a few pinches of salt. Cook for about 5 minutes.

    Add one cup of water and let that simmer for about 10 minutes and the vegetables are about 1/2 way cooked-tender but not all the way soft.

    Add the tomatoes, leafy greens if you are using them and beans.

    Stir and decide if you need more water. I added another cup of water.

    If you are adding the pasta, bring the soup to a low boil and add the pasta now and cook until it is done.

    Taste and see if it needs any salt and add a few good grinds of pepper.

    That’s it. This is a quick satisfying meal loaded with tons of CSA goodness and love.

    I like to serve this topped with croutons, parmesan cheese and a drizzle of olive oil. Hearty and delicious.

    Have a great week.

    Mo

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Brothy Simmered Beans

    I love making beans from scratch. Canned beans are ok, fine even for some things but slow simmered homemade beans are just so much better.

    It’s all about the broth with homemade. Canned bean water is not good-ever.

    There are probably as many ways to cook beans as there are bean varieties. I make pinto beans in my pressure cooker because I almost always want to mash them into refried beans and I find the pressure cooker cooks them quickly and just fine but I end up with broken beans, which I don’t mind for refried beans.

    I like to slow simmer beans on the stove when I want a rich broth and intact beans. That is what I am making today.

    To make delicious beans  you don’t need much more than beans and salt and maybe an onion. I added a few more ingredients because I had them from our CSA share this week.

    One pound of beans makes about 6 cups of cooked beans. Cooked beans keep in the refrigerator for at least a week and can be used to make so many quick meals like greens and beans or quick soups, or make some toast and spoon some beans and broth on it, add an egg! If you don’t think you will use all of them in a week or so freeze them, they freeze beautifully.

    Soak or not to soak beans? I soak if I remember, I just cook the beans a little longer if I didn’t remember to soak them. The beans I am cooking today were soaked for about 6 hours.

    After soaking your beans you want to drain the soaking water and start with fresh water. There is a protein called lectin on the skin of legumes, lectin is why some people can’t digest beans very well. Lectin is water soluble and you want to get rid of it, so rinse and drain your soaked beans. You can read more about it here if you want. If you didn’t soak them just rinse them really well.

    I used;

    • 1 pound of cannellini beans, you can use any type you like.
    • 1 onion-a large carrot-a couple stalks of celery-a few garlic cloves.
    • Optional-parmesan rinds (adds great flavor) olive oil
    • Salt

    Now put your beans in a large pot and cover them in fresh water and bring that to a low boil for about 10 to 15 minutes. The beans will foam, I don’t know why but they all do.

    Skim off the foam and add your vegetables and parmesan rids if you are using them.  I added a couple of bay leaves too.

    How long it takes to cook beans is anyone’s guess. It depends on how old the beans are, how big they are and probably other things. It takes as long as it takes, I’d say usually 1 to 3 hours. Leave them on low making sure to check that the beans are always covered with an inch or two of water. Add more hot water as needed.

    After an hour of simmering I add a couple of teaspoons of salt and some olive oil. The beans are just starting to get soft. I am guessing these will need an other hour or two. I added more hot water and I’ll just leave them simmering and check back in an hour or so.

    OK. It’s been another hour and they are almost done. The parmesan rinds have melted and you can see the beans are much bigger and the vegetables are breaking down. At this point taste a couple beans. These are really soft and just a little ‘grainy’. “Grainy’ tells me they are just about done. They are done when the beans are creamy not grainy. I’ll leave these another 1/2 hour.  The broth is so so good.

    Now I have beautiful beans and broth for several meals. I’ll start with just beans and broth.

    I hope you are enjoying your winter vegetables. I know I am.

    Mo

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Mashed Root Vegetables

    In the Fall when vegetables like rutabagas, parsnips, purple top turnips, and celery root (aka celeriac) start showing up in our CSA share it’s the first time some people have seen these and of course they want to know what to do with them. I always say the same thing; anything you can do with a potato you can do with any root vegetable and, they are all interchangeable. Not only are they interchangeable they are so interesting and delicious together, mix and match any and all you have.  Baked, mashed, roasted, au gratin, scalloped, and grilled you can do it all with any of them.

    Today I was making some mashed potatoes and I had some parsnips, celery root, carrots and a rutabaga so I am making a mixed root vegetable mash instead of just plain mashed potatoes.

    Peel and cut up whatever vegetables you are using. I didn’t peel my potatoes or carrots but I did peel everything else.

    Put the peeled and diced vegetables in some salted water.  Bring that to a low boil and cook until the vegetables are very tender. I cooked mine about for about 25 minutes. I added some pepper and herbs too. Celery root floats, weird huh?

    Drain the cooked vegetables and fish out any herbs if you added them.

    I was making this for a simple weeknight meal so I wanted to keep it light so I used milk and some olive oil. If I was making this for Christmas or Thanksgiving I would use heavy cream and lots of butter. The cream and butter make it fluffier.

    I just eyeball the amounts and err on the side of less because I can always add more.

    Milk and olive oil in the pan, oh, I rinsed out the pan.

    Add the veg back and mash and taste to see if you want more salt or olive oil or butter if you are using that.

    I like my mash a little lumpy. Keep mashing if you like yours lump free.

    That’s it. So easy and quick and deliciously earthy and complex compared to just plain mashed potatoes.

    So good. Enjoy your winter vegetables.

    Mo

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Braised Brussels Sprouts and Leeks

    I love braising vegetables. It is a simple mostly hands off preparation method.  My favorite part of braising vegetables is that you get a bonus sauce or glaze that elevates the dish beyond roasting or steaming.

    This dish is good hot or room temperature and travels perfectly so this would be a good vegetable dish to bring to a friends house for Hannukah or Thanksgiving, but it’s simple enough for a weeknight meal.

    Here is what you need.

    1 pound brussels sprouts
    1 tablespoon unsalted butter
    1 tablespoon olive oil
    Salt
    Freshly ground black pepper
    1/2 cup dry white wine-I used vermouth
    1 cup broth (chicken or vegetable)
    1/2 to 1 cup of leeks or shallots or onions
    2 tablespoons heavy cream-optional. I wasn’t going t use it then in the end I added a little.
    1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

    Those cubes on the dish are frozen chicken stock. I make and freeze it in small portions so I can use what I need. Use what you have.

    Wash trim and cut the Brussels sprouts in half and cut up your leek or onion.

    Heat the butter and oil in a large skillet with a medium heat. I used my biggest skillet, it’s 12 inches, put the Brussels sprouts cut side down in the pan, they all fit in my skillet. If yours is smaller you might need to do 2 batches to brown them.

    Let those brown and cook without moving them for about 5 minutes. Then add the leeks, wine, stock and salt and pepper and give it a stir and cover it and let is gently simmer for about 15 minutes.

    After 15 minutes they look like this. A lot of the liquid is magically absorbed and the sprouts are soft but still pretty firm, not crunchy.  You could stop here and they would be delicious.

    I scooped out my sprouts and was left with this much liquid. I added a little Dijon and just a splash of cream. You could use sour cream or butter, or nothing.

    I stirred that up and let it reduce just a little and added my sprouts back to mix it all up to get that sauce in all the nooks and crannies.

    We happened to be having cod and rice for dinner the night I made this, so we had this for our vegetable and you know what? It was unbelievably good. The strong flavors of the sprouts and mustard were perfect with the cod and rice and there was just enough sauce to not overwhelm the plate.

    Anyway….

    I have a couple other braising recipes here you might want to check out and this Brussels sprout salad recipe that I love too.

    Have a great week. I hope you are enjoying these great winter vegetables.

    Mo

     

     

     

  • Welcome Winter CSA Members!

    We are excited to welcome you all to our second Winter CSA! To be honest, we started our first Winter CSA in 2020 out of desperation because of the pandemic. It was such a strange year for all of us and it was certainly not a “normal” year on the farm so we had to come up with an additional source of income for the year. It was sort of a last-minute decision to try it and we weren’t able to put that much planning into it, but it turned out to be a huge success! Our Winter CSA was 7 weeks long last year and ended in mid December. This year we intentionally planned to do it again and increased the length to 13 weeks and we plan to feed you all until the end of January!

    Caterpillar tunnels
    Caterpillar tunnels

    We’ve planned a lot of crops for our Winter CSA and in the last month we’ve been building caterpillar tunnels. They’re like an unheated mini greenhouse. They help give the crops a little more heat and also protect them from our winter winds! We also tuck the crops under a kind of blanket inside the tunnels to give them an extra bit of protection. We’re looking forward to feeding you with all of these cold-weather crops we’ve grown with care!

    Amy

    Caterpillar tunnel interior
    Caterpillar tunnel interior
    Kale inside caterpillar tunnel
    Kale under the blanket in a caterpillar tunnel

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Pumpkin Maple Muffins

    I roasted a pumpkin the other day to make some pumpkin soup and I had some leftover pumpkin puree so I thought I would make these muffins. They were so tasty and quick to pull together I thought I would share the recipe with you.

    This is a New York Times recipe, it calls for browning the butter, which I did and it does add a really nice toasty element that comes through loud and clear in the muffins. You can skip that step and just melt the butter and proceed with the  recipe, but I recommend taking the extra few minutes it takes to brown the butter.

    ½ cup/114 grams (1 stick) unsalted butter
    1 cup/145 grams all-purpose flour
    1 cup/140 grams whole-wheat flour
    2 teaspoons baking powder
    1 teaspoon baking soda
    1 ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
    2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
    1 teaspoon ground ginger
    ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
    ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
    1 ½ cups/355 grams pumpkin purée
    3 large eggs
    1 cup/200 grams light brown sugar
    ⅔ cup/150 milliliters maple syrup

    PREPARATION
    Step 1
    Heat oven to 350 degrees.
    Step 2
    Spray muffin molds with nonstick spray or line them with paper liners.
    Step 3
    Heat butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, swirling
    occasionally, until the butter has melted, foamed and started to brown,
    about 5 minutes. Use a whisk to scrape up any browned bits at the
    bottom of the pot. Remove from heat and set aside.
    Step 4
    In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda,
    salt, cinnamon, ginger, turmeric and nutmeg.

    Step 5
    In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin, eggs, brown sugar and maple
    syrup until totally smooth. Whisk in dry ingredients, followed by
    browned butter.


    Step 6
    Divide among prepared muffin tins and bake until the tops are puffed
    and spring back slightly when pressed, 20 to 25 minutes.

    I haven’t made muffins in ages and I’m so glad I did. These stayed fresh for 3 days. I think these would freeze really well if you wanted to keep them longer than a few days.

    Fall is in the air. It’s soup and muffin season.

    Have a great week.

    Mo

  • End-of-Season Thank You!

    Here we are at the end of another CSA season! It feels like a real accomplishment that we were able to feed our CSA members for all 23 weeks of the season. I thought 2020 was a challenging year, but I think 2021 has been even harder. If you can remember all the way back to the spring, we had weeks and weeks of rain and we were really far behind in planting because it was just too muddy to get into the fields. Then we had to struggle with the labor shortage that so many other businesses had to navigate. We usually have a farm crew of about 20 people and this year we had just 15 people. I don’t know how they pulled off all the farm work each week and got food to all of our CSA members–thank you to everyone on the crew! I know everyone is exhausted from putting in such a hard season.

    We are so thankful to you–all of our CSA members. Your commitment to our farm makes it possible for us to get through each season. It makes it possible for us to keep growing food for you year after year. Farming is challenging for anyone who does it for a living, but knowing we have a home for all of the food we grow takes one huge challenge out of keeping our farm going.

    We can only hope that 2022 is a little less bumpy for all of us! Have a great winter and we will look forward to seeing you in the spring!

    Amy

  • Winter Squash, Spinach and Broken Pasta Bake

    I saw this Yotam Ottolenghi recipe in the Guardian a while ago and was intrigued. You basically thinly slice or cube winter squash, add a few other ingredients, mix it and and bake. There is no roasting the squash first, no boiling the pasta. The one hitch in that recipe is it calls for fresh lasagna noodles. Thus the reason I hadn’t made it. I rarely make pasta from scratch.

    Then one of my favorite bloggers made a few user friendly changes to the original recipe. She used broken dried pasta, not fresh and different ratios of cheese and omitted the tomatoes. So I made it.

    I combined what I liked of the two recipes, as always using what I have. The result is a really easy dish that is more vegetable than pasta and is worthy of being on a holiday table.

    I used 1/2 this butternut squash and peeled and sliced it thin on a mandolin, you can use a knife and cut it thin or in chunks. It looks like cheese, it’s not. It’s butternut squash sliced thin.

    In hindsight I think I would use a kabocha or delicata squash next time so I didn’t have to peel it. I forgot to take a picture of the spinach I used, but there was about 1/2 a bag of spinach. You can use kale or chard if you like. I used the odds and ends of the cheese I had in the refrigerator.

    Preheat your oven to 350F and gather the ingredients.

    • 1 large egg
    • 1 cup (250 grams) ricotta
    • 1 cup (100 grams) finely grated parmesan, divided in half
    • 1 cup (85 grams) coarsely grated cheese I used aged cheddar and mozzarella
    • 1 1/4 cups (300 grams) water or two tomatoes, I used tomatoes
    • 2 tablespoons (45 ml) olive oil
    • 1 1/2 – 2  teaspoons kosher salt, depending on how salty your cheese is
    • Freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
    • Freshly ground black pepper
    • 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, to taste-optional
    • 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced-I used a shallot
    • 2 tablespoons thinly-sliced sage leaves or 1 teaspoons chopped thyme leaves (optional)
    • 5 ounces (1/2 a bag) spinach or another green, roughly chopped
    • 1 1/4-pound (560-grams) butternut or another sturdy winter squash, peeled, seeded, sliced thin or 1 pound (455 grams) in prepared chunks, sliced thin
    • 8 ounces (225 grams) dried pasta (see Note), broken into pieces if large/long

    Mix the first 12 ingredients in a bowl

    Then the last 3 ingredients.

    Mix them together and put them in a casserole dish and sprinkle the rest of the parmesan cheese on top and cover with foil and bake for 1 hour.

    This is after one hour.

    Take the foil off and bake it another half hour until it is brown and crispy.

    Let it sit for a half hour or so before you cut it to let it set so it is easier to cut and get out of the casserole. There you go. Lovely side dish or vegetarian main dish.

    Well, this is it, week 23. Another CSA season in the books. Thanks for a great year. Maybe I’ll see some of you at the Winter CSA pickup, if not hopefully next year.

    Be well and happy.

    Mo

     

  • Celery Salad

    I love celery. I always, always have some in my refrigerator to add to just about every dish I make- salads, stir fry’s, soups, sandwich fillings…I love the crunchy slightly bitterness it adds to dishes.

    I also really like celery salads where celery is the main ingredient. I like crunchy salads like this as a side dish with soups, chili, egg dishes or just with some nice bread and cheese. Celery salads are a great addition to heavy holiday meals and travel and keep really well so they are great for potlucks.

    This is a clean out the refrigerator/use what you have type of dish for me usually. Today I had some celery, a watermelon radish, some blue cheese and walnuts. Almond and parmesan are one of my favorite combinations. Any cheese or nuts you have will do. You’ll probably want some sort of allium in your salad. I had some scallions that I used, any herbs are a nice addition too. I ended up adding some arugula. I had some walnut oil in my refrigerator and decided to use that. You can use any oil and any vinegar, don’t forget the salt and pepper! Whenever I am making an oil and vinegar based dressing I add just a little lemon. I find it balances out the one note tartness of the vinegar.

    You’ll want to wash and trim your celery. I use a really steep bias cut when I cut celery. That reduces the strings per bite and makes for more pleasant eating, I think.

    Cut up the rest of your salad ingredients.

    Put everything in a bowl.

    Dress it with some vinegar, oil and a squeeze of lemon and salt and pepper and mix it up.

    I use my clean hands.

    Now taste and adjust the seasonings and enjoy.

    If you have any leftover, celery salad makes the best avocado or cream cheese toast topping you’ve ever had.

     

    Have a great week. I am loving this Fall weather, see you at pickup.

    Mo