End-of-CSA Soup

I fell behind on my CSA veggie consumption for one week and needed something warm, and filled with vitamins, that could include every veggie that was on the precipice of becoming compost. This recipe is a variation on Jacques Pepin's Instant Vegetable Soup, from a favorite cookbook - Fast Food My Way.

5 cups of water
1 zucchini - shredded
2 leeks - thinly sliced
1 cup carrots - shredded
1/2 cup of celery - thinly sliced
2 cups greens - cut into ribbons (I had tat soi on hand, but you can use spinach or kale)
3 tblsps steel cut oats (you can also use grits)
Salt and pepper to taste

Throw it all into a stock pot and simmer for 10-15 minutes. When ready, serve in bowls with a pat (or two) of butter and lots of Swiss or Gruyere cheese. Don't skip the cheese. I repeat, Don't skip the cheese. Also, a big hunk of cornbread is a nice side bit to this soup. I wish I had a tempting photo for this post, but how it looks just doesn't do the actual taste any justice. Just visualize melty cheese atop a yummy broth. Magic.

I am such a fan of Jacques and I stalk his website. Every time I visit, I scheme about renting his condo in Mexico. 'Cause it is so unrealistic, but dreamy just the same.

This Was Kinda Awesome (And Other CSA-Inspired Meals)

The Onion Tart from Alice Waters (photo above). Sweet Jesus, it was yummy. And rich.

Glazed baby turnips and carrots. Steam the sliced veggies and toss them in a little butter/brown sugar sauce. My mom used to make this and it is like a visit to her kitchen.

Bittman's cucumber salad (#3 on his list of 101 Salads). Normally when I spy the pile of CSA cucumbers, my eyes gloss over in a bored haze. No more! This went really well with last night's lemon-thyme chicken and satay dipping sauce dinner.

Beet and goat cheese salad with fresh Buttercrunch lettuce. I never get sick of goat cheese and beets. Maybe some day, but not this year.

Garlic scapes, onions and fresh oregano in Cuban Black Beans. Then, wilted swiss chard and Cuban Black Bean quesadillas.

Cauliflower disguised in a roux, wrapped in a gratin.

Sauteed Red Russian kale and onions with toasted pine nuts (our new favorite greens recipe).

Carrot and yogurt cole slaw with red cabbage. The Moosewood Cookbook recipe.

Also - it is peach season and we have several orchards near our house. I have been loving super-sweet donut peaches drizzled with blackberry sauce.

Lest this post mislead you, this is a compilation over several weeks. There are plenty of nights where we are doing scrambled eggs on-the-fly or take-out for dinner. Because I am a working mama, not a super mama.

The Slower Side of Summer

Drying lavender.

Eating calendula biscuits - with Foster's Seven Pepper Jelly (not pictured, but you get the idea).

Sand and sun at Mint Springs. Picnics with friends.

A Sunday supper with Uncle Chris out on our back deck.

Making the most of our CSA and our gardens. Willa has taken a liking to snap peas. Lucky her! Weeks 2 and 3 of the CSA involved many, many salads; bok choy with toasted sesame oil, red pepper flakes and garlic (Thanks, Sarah!); spinach pesto; and Red Russian kale wilted in our favorite Jacques Pepin sausage-potato-onion packet from Fast Food My Way.

I'm trying out this recipe tonight - to use more lettuce and spring onions.

Remembering that some of the best moments are the ones that lack focus. And that summer is best experienced in as many girly skirts as possible.

(This one is from anthropologie a few years back.)

********************

All of my spring work in the front (newish) garden is paying off and getting ready to burst. Butterfly bushes, rose-y coreopsis, nasturtiums, bachelor buttons, daylilies and echinacea.
I need to find some vintage garden chairs so I can watch the show.

The CSA and Our Garden :: Week One

Chives from our garden were nice additions to CSA salad greens.

Last week, we picked up our first CSA package. My only worry about joining a CSA was that there would be wasteful behavior involved. I have taken a silent oath these days to use up everything we already have in the house (garden supplies, crafting supplies, pantry stock, etc.) in the constant pursuit of zero-dollar days and I wanted to carry that thrifty behavior through to our CSA. I also wanted to make sure I was pulling goodies from our garden and using them up, as well.

What we received from the CSA:

Salad mix
Red Russian Kale
Spinach
One dozen eggs

How it was put to use (with additions from our plot):

Salad Mix - Lots of dinner salads with toasted sunflower seeds, cranberries, dried blueberries, shredded carrots. One night, we had enough strawberries from our garden to put on top of a salad (Due props to Gradually Greener for the idea). I also took a salad for lunch with leftover salmon. Chopped up chives from our herb garden were also a nice addition to the salads.

Red Russian Kale - This was used immediately. My new favorite type of kale. I made the Hot and Sour Greens mentioned here.

Spinach and seven eggs became a spinach fritatta. Recipe out of the Sundays at Moosewood Cookbook.

Three more eggs were used in a Sweet Almond Cake from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook. I topped it with stewed rhubarb (from our garden). It is the closest thing to homemade marzipan that I have yet to experience.

This is both a good and a bad thing. I found I had to say out loud, "Step away from the Sweet Almond Cake" more than once this past weekend. Half the time I did, the other half, not so much.

Now if I could just summon that attitude with our insane bounty of salad greens.