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Category: Recipes

  • Water-mule cocktail, and Corn Tomato Salad.

    Happy Labor Day. I wanted to share a couple things I made this weekend with the CSA bounty we got last week.

    My favorite thing to do with watermelons is to juice them and make cocktails. Last year I posted a watermelon margarita recipe. This year Moscow Mules are all the rage so yesterday we had Water-mules.

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    I extracted the juice the same way I did when making the watermelon margarita and used the below proportions and directions for the drink;

    Ingredients

    • 1/4 cup watermelon juice/pulp
    • 1 1/2 Ounces vodka
    • squeeze of lime
    • 4 Ounces ginger beer
    • watermelon wedge and mint leaves (for garnish)
    • ice cubes

    Directions

    Place the above in a (preferably a copper mug) glass, mix and enjoy

     

    I also made a nice tomato and corn salad.

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    I had everything except the basil and parsley from my CSA share, and I had the basil and parsley in my garden.

    I cut up two tomatoes and a few cherry tomatoes I had lurking on the counter, a red onion, and an ear of corn. That is raw corn. I just cut it off the cob and added handful of basil and parsley.

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    I dressed that with some red wine vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper and tossed it. There was so much juice from the tomatoes after I tossed it I thought; I need something to soak that up with. So I threw some croutons in the bottom of the serving bowl I was going to use and dumped the tossed vegetables on top of them. When you scooped up the salad the soaked croutons were an unexpected bonus!

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    And that was it. I think this could have been really good with some cheese on it, but we were having pizza so I opted out of any more cheese with the meal. You might want to add some mozzarella or feta though.

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    What’s not to love there?

    The croutons were leftover from a tomato and bread salad  I posted on last year. I made this night before. One of my favorite salads.

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    Yum and yay for fresh tomatoes!

    Have a great week.

    Mo

     

     

  • Freeze the Summers Bounty

    I hear lots of great comments at CSA pickup about how much food you are getting every week. Some people say they can barely get through one weeks share before they get the next.

    It’s a great problem to have! But, I do understand sometimes it is overwhelming. In fact this morning my refrigerator was looking full to bursting so I took a few minutes to take the time to steam and freeze some beans and cauliflower and cut up a melon.

    Freezing food doesn’t have to be a big production.  I probably had two pounds of beans and a head of cauliflower and half a melon. I steamed the vegetables and ran cool water over them and drained them really well in a colander and portioned them into zip-lock bags. I usually salt them a little after I cool them down and sometimes I add a little olive oil or butter to the back so when I warm them up I don’t have to season them. I think salting them really helps the flavor.

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    Make sure you label the bags. These are sandwich zip-locks, enough for two servings. In the winter I grab these when I am making soup, or to round out a meal when I need a little something else.

    I freeze cantaloupe for smoothies.

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    I keep all my odds-and-ends vegetables in one area in the freezer so I remember to use them up and they don’t get lost.

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    Most vegetables need to be blanched before freezing. The exceptions that I can think of off the top of my head are onions and peppers. I LOVE having peppers and onions in the freezer in the winter. I grab a handful to add to eggs, or to saute for a sauce. Fruit can be frozen raw or cooked.

    Here is lots of information you can trust for freezing food for the best results of safety and best taste.

    I am always so happy to have a little bit of the Farm in my freezer during those long winter months when I am longing for some kale or beans or chard.

    Put some of your bounty in the freezer, I know you will be glad you did.

    Have a great week.

    Mo

     

     

     

  • Worms and Organic Corn

    Oh my gosh. We grew corn! This is the first year Wyatt has grown corn and look at how beautiful it is!

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    And it is delicious. I ran home and cooked two ears and that was my dinner tonight.

    Eating corn isn’t what I wanted to talk about though. I want to talk about this;

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    The little worm (corn borer) that probably hitchhiked in on each ear of corn. There is almost always only one little borer per ear but still. I get it. It’s a little gross.  But honestly if you want sweet, tender, organic, healthy corn you are probably going to have to deal with one little borer per ear of corn.They don’t eat much and they are only in the tip of the ear of corn, they don’t travel farther than the tip.

    If you see a bin of corn at the store without any borers I promise, it was sprayed and sprayed with insecticides and probably shouldn’t eat it.

    If you go through and partially shuck each ear of corn until you find one that doesn’t have a borer you will probably go through a dozen ears before you find the ONE without. Two things are wrong with doing this; you waste a TON of corn and the one you find without the borer is probably a little under ripe and won’t be as sweet. Bugs and animals know when fruit and vegetables are ripe.

    So, what to do?

    Here is how I deal with this little  borer problem. I cut the tip off if all the ears before I cook and shuck them.

    Problem solved with no ick factor. You don’t have to find the borer, assume it is there.  Cut off the tip and throw it away, cook, shuck, eat.

    Enjoy this weeks bounty. I’ll see some of you at Thursday pick up at the Farm.

    Mo

     

  • Peaches-Storing and Keeping

    This week the CSA members who have Fruit Shares will be getting peaches from our friends the Western Slope this week. We will probably have several more weeks of peaches in the Fruit Share so I wanted to have a little chat about the peaches you get and how to handle, and keep them at their best.

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    The peaches we get are picked ripe off the tree. They are hand picked and handled very gingerly and packed in padded boxes so they won’t be bruised.

    We weigh them and very carefully put them in paper bags for distribution to you. Usually Lauren is the only one who will handle and weigh peaches. Sometimes I might, and if Lauren is busy she will carefully train one person to do this job. We treat the peaches like we would eggs. We don’t bang them or crowd them, or stack them more than two high. We only move one box of peaches at a time and don’t shove or throw the boxes in the truck.

    I don’t think there is any other fruit or vegetable on the farm that is as coddled like the peaches you get from us. A little piece of our heart breaks off and dies when we see CSA members shove a bag of peaches in a tote bag and then put the CSA vegetables on top of the peaches…it happens every now and then and we are very sad when it does. :(

    OK. So, now you have your peaches. If they are still a little firm for your liking they might benefit from spending a night or two on your counter. You want set them on the counter, or in a paper bag with their shoulders down like this. Preferably not touching if you have room.

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    See the little bump on the top of the peach in front? That is the blossom end, the stem end is where the shoulders are and fruit (i.e.peaches and tomatoes) ripen best with their shoulders down. Here is another picture of a peach showing the stem end, the second peach. The front peach is blossom end up and how you want to store yours.

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    The peaches are picked ripe, but peaches continue to ripen after they are picked so you need to decide if you want yours ripened more. If I am grilling peaches I might leave them a little firm. If I am eating them fresh I like them a little softer and leave them out for a day or two.

    To determine ripeness I  hold my peach in the palm of my hand and gently close my hand around the peach. Don’t press your finger into the peach or you will bruise it. You can feel with your whole hand if the peach flesh gives a little, or not.

    You can keep peaches in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days, not long I know. Put them in a plastic bag and store them on their shoulders if you have enough room.

    If you can’t use your peaches in the 3 to 5 days you can freeze them. They freeze beautifully.

    I’ll try to add a few peach recipe ideas in the next week or so to help you use up your bounty.

    Happy Summer!

    Mo

     

     

     

  • The Perfect Kale Chip Recipe: Guest CSA Member Recipe

    Hi CSA Members:

    Today I’d like to post a guest recipe from one of our CSA Members, Laura McCall. She has perfected the Kale Chip, a fun and easy way to transform your kales into a delicious snack.  Here is here recipe. Enjoy!

     

    THE PERFECT KALE CHIP

    After playing around with different kale chip recipes for the past few years, I was pretty sure I had my recipe down pat. Then, earlier this summer, one batch of kale chips blew all my previous batches out of the water. The texture was light and crispy as usual, but the flavor was what really startled me. These chips tasted down right buttery though I had added no new ingredients. What was the magic that made the perfect kale chip? Red Wagon Farm’s curly kale!

    In addition to being organically farmed on well-nurtured land, Red Wagon’s kale has the huge advantage of being picked the very same day we get to cook it and eat it. We’ve all heard that the nutrition of fruits and vegetables decreases each day they sit on delivery trucks and on store shelves. But did you know that the naturally occurring sweetness decreases too? In the case of kale, that means fresh-picked kale will be sweeter (less bitter) than older kale. It took some head scratching on my part to come to this conclusion but once I landed on it, I knew I now had the secret for the truly PERFECT Kale Chips: farm-fresh kale!

    If you haven’t tried kale chips, or have only had the store bought version, I highly recommend making a batch at home. They have this airy texture that is far removed from the crunchy, fibrous, takes-five-minutes-to-chew-one-bite texture of raw kale. It’s so unexpected, I’ve found that even people who dislike raw kale go back for seconds of kale chips. My four-year-old son can’t get enough!

    Yield: Makes 2 sheet pans of kale chips

    Active prep and cooking time: 30 minutes

    Total time: 1 hour and 30 minutes

    Ingredients

    • 1 bunch Red Wagon Farm Green Curly Kale
    • 2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil or Olive Oil
    • Fine Sea Salt

    Directions:

    • Wash the kale thoroughly and dry in a salad spinner, or pat it dry.
    • Cut the woody stem out of each kale leaf. Then cut them into bite-sized pieces, approximately 1.5 x 1.5 inches. Any smaller bits of kale can be set aside for a salad.
    • Place the cut kale on two sheet pans covered with tea towels. Leave them on the counter for one hour to dry, tossing them occasionally as you happen to walk by. Yes, this drying time is important! If any water droplets are on the kale when it goes into the oven, your kale will start to steam. Steam = soggy kale chips!

    • After one hour of drying, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
    • Remove the tea towels and place the kale directly on the sheet pans now. Drop one tablespoon of coconut oil on each sheet pan. Then, massage a bit of the oil onto each piece of kale. If you are in a hurry, you can alternatively just drizzle olive oil onto the kale and give it a quick toss.
    • Spread kale pieces on the sheet pans so they are not overlapping but they can be touching. They will shrink as they cook.
    • Cook in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes. Look for them to turn a bright green color and then a few will begin to be tinged with a golden brown color where they touch the pan. They will be light, crisp and airy.
    • Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle with fine sea salt. Enjoy right away or store in a container in your pantry (not refrigerator) for up to four days.
    • Variations: To add flavor dimension to your next batch, consider olive oil infused with garlic or chili peppers.   Spices such as cumin, garlic powder, pepper, lemon zest, etc. are also great flavorings. Your imagination is the limit!

     

     

     

     

     

     

    About Laura McCall: She joined the Red Wagon Farm CSA in 2016. You may see her at farm share pickup at Nevei Kodesh on Tuesdays with her two small kids in tow. She will probably be asking questions about the produce, swapping recipes, and generally talking about food with anyone who will listen!

  • Beet Tzatziki

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    I had never heard of beet taztziki, I thought all taztziki was cucumber based. I was at a friends house this weekend and this beet taztziki was in the center of the pre-meal snack table. Look at that color! I love everything about this dish. It is beautiful, it can be a snack a salad, a side dish for any grilled meat or fish,  a filling for a wrap or pita, or a spread for a nice vegetable sandwich, AND it is so easy-fast-healthy.

    My friend who made the taztziki at the party is a member of Isabelle Farm CSA and they send out recipes and this was included.

    I adapted it just a little bit from the Isabelle Farm recipe.

    Here is what you need;

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    Beet Taztziki

    3 beets roasted or steamed. Use red or Chioggia for the pretty red/pink. You could use golden beets and have a lovely gold taztziki too. I wouldn’t mix them though.

    2 garlic cloves crushed

    1/2 teaspoon salt

    Juice from 1/2 a lemon and the zest of 1/2 the lemon

    2 cups thick low-fat Greek style yogurt

    Black pepper to taste

    A splash of olive oil

    2 or 3 tablespoon finely chopped dill

    Grate the roasted beets on the large holes of a grater.

    Smash the garlic with the the side of a chef knife and mix in the salt.

    Add the lemon juice and zest, beets, dill, olive oil, and yogurt and stir.

    Add back pepper to taste, and adjust salt and more dill of you like.

    I served mine last night more as a salad. I used the red Romaine lettuce we got in our CSA share and made little boats out of the leaves. We just picked up the leaves and ate them like lettuce wraps, or tacos.

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    Tzatziki will last in the refrigerator for a week.

    I am so grateful for Wyatt and all the Farm Crew, for their work and passion for growing and bringing us beautiful, delicious food.

    Have a great week.

    Mo

  • CSA Calzones and Pizza-again.

    I know I just posted a chard pizza a few weeks ago. Maybe it’s too soon to post another pizza blog? This will be the last one for a while. I promise. In my defense, pizza is a quick easy summer meal and it is a perfect vehicle for all the beautiful vegetables we get, like the zucchini and zucchini blossoms in this weeks share. I made some pizzas and calzones with them and took a few pictures to maybe inspire some meals for you.

    For the filling for the calzones I used the onions and parsley we got too, oh and some beet greens.

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    I sauteed all that in olive oil and salt and pepper until they were just tender. Then I mixed up the parsley with some ricotta and Parmesan cheese. I don’t measure anything. I just mix what I have up.

    I then rolled out some pizza dough in an oblong shape and piled the vegetables and cheese parsley mixture on half and pulled the other half over the filling and make some slits in the top of the dough to let the steam escape.

    My oven was about 450 degrees and it cooked in about 25 minutes.

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    And it was delicious.

    For the zucchini blossom pizza, I just threw some zucchini blossoms on a pizza with some cheese. In hindsight I wish I stuffed the blossoms with some of the ricotta mix and then put them on the pizza. Oh well. Next time.

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    There will be a next time too, I’m sure.

    Hope everyone is enjoying the summer vegetables. Have a great week.

    Mo

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Chopped Salad with Romaine and Bok Choy

    I have probably made this salad 5 or 6 times in the last few months. This has become my go-to salad for family dinners and potlucks. It is substantial enough for a main dish but is great as a side dish too. I love me some leftovers and this salad is great the next day.

    I follow the original recipe here  pretty much to the letter, except the recipe calls for iceberg lettuce and radicchio. I use what I have, but I always use one lettuce and one more substantial green. This time I had some Romaine lettuce and Bok Choy.  I’ve made it with kale and chard, or Romaine and arugula.

    The vinaigrette is really simple. This makes more than you will probably need for the salad, but it will keep so go ahead and make it all, you will find a use for it.

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    You chop up all the ingredients into bite size pieces so every forkful has little bit of all the chopped up goodness. It’s like a delicious submarine sandwich without the bun.

    Those pepperoncini peppers are super delicious, but you can sub any pickle or pickled peppers you have, just make sure you use some sort of pickle. Olives are good, pepperoni, artichoke hearts, eggs… I can’t think of much that wouldn’t be good in this salad.

    Now add about 1/2 the vinaigrette  and toss, toss, toss. You want to get every single bit coated with the dressing.

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    Look at that. See how every bite has a little bit of everything in it?

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    Oh, avocados are good too. Looking at that I wish I had an avocado.

    Have a great week. See some of you at the Red Wagon Farm pickup tonight.

    Mo

     

  • Green pancakes

    These are some hardy savory pancakes packed with lots of greens. I really like this dish because it is really simple and quick to put together. You can make the batter early in the day, or even the day before and have a quick satisfying brunch or dinner in  no time.

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    Here’s how you make them.

    Green Pancakes

    You’ll need;
    1 cup all­ purpose flour
    1 teaspoon  of salt and few cranks of fresh pepper
    4 eggs
    1 garlic clove chopped or equivalent of green garlic or garlic scapes
    2 tablespoons dry white wine (optional I used vermouth)
    1/2 cup milk (or unflavored, unsweetened nondairy milk)
    a bunch of Swiss chard leaves or spinach or kale, finely chopped really chopped!
    Olive oil for cooking

    To make;

    In a medium bowl, combine the flour salt and pepper. In another bowl mix all the wet ingredients, then combine wet with dry. Cover and refrigerate the batter for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
    When ready to cook, remove the bowl from the fridge and mix in the chopped greens.

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    In a heavy skillet, heat some olive oil over medium heat. Add about 1/4 cup of the batter to the hot skillet for each pancake.

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    Cook until the edges are set, about 4 to 5 minutes. Flip and cook for 3 to 4 more
    minutes, take your time and go slow with the heat so the pancakes cook through.

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    This makes about 10 or 12 pancakes.

    You can serve them with yogurt or sour cream or some of that cashew aioli  we made last week, that is what I used.

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    These make great leftovers too and are good cold or reheated. I hope you try these.

    Mo

     

  • Chard Pizza

    IMG_0094Friday nights are often pizza nights here. I like to clean out the refrigerator vegetable and cheese drawer and throw whatever I find on the pizza. This Friday I had some chard, so I made a couple of chard pizzas and boy were they good. I took a couple pictures to share here, and maybe inspire you to do something a little different with your CSA  greens and maybe make a chard or kale or spinach pizza.

     

    I usually make my dough, but sometimes I’ll buy the dough from the store. I stretched out the dough, and I shredded about 1/2 a bunch of chard and mixed that with some cheese and a little drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper and red pepper flakes. Then I tossed it in a bowl.

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    And baked it. I could have used more chard. I will use about twice as much next time.

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    The second pizza I left the chard leaves whole and rubbed a little olive oil on them and I used fresh mozzarella (and pepperoni on 1/2 the pizza).

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    I liked the second pizza best, with the whole chard leaves.

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    I think anything we get in our CSA share would be great on a pizza I could have put lots more vegetables on and I will next time.

    Have a great week.

    Mo