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CSA Food Box Recipes

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Community Supported Agriculture Weekly Food Box Recipes.

 

John’s Sweet Potato, Sausage, & Greens Soup Recipe

Friday, January 20th, 2012

It’s winter, it’s cold, it’s finally raining … brrrr..

On Sunday I am going to a Soup Swap at a food blogger’s house in Santa Cruz. You bring 6 quarts of frozen soup and the recipe to swap with others.  So I’ve been thinking a lot about soups and we also just got a huge chest freezer that we need to fill up.  Soup is the best thing to freeze and eat on weeknights.  This soup is hearty and healthy.  We served it with varied toasted bread slices topped with cheese, spinach, and tomato, broiled to deliciousness.

John’s Sweet Potato and Greens Soup Recipe

  • 1 c. canned pinto beans (or white beans)
  • 2 qt. chicken broth (or veg. broth)
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 3 large celery stalks (optional)
  • 2 cups chopped greens or kale (any, or mixed) cooked to soft with olive oil/lard but don’t brown
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1 large bell pepper, diced
  • 1 jalapeno, chopped
  • 1 1/2 lb. sweet potatoes, peeled, and cubed in big chunks
  • 1/2 to 1 lb. Polish sausage, sliced 1/4″ (or any sausage you have in the freezer)
  • 1 tsp. thyme
  • 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
  • 1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper

Cook the greens in olive oil or lard in a saute pan first, until soft (don’t brown). Combine beans, chicken broth and bay leaves. Simmer 1 to 1 1/2 hours until beans are soft. Remove bay leaves when beans are cooked.

Saute the celery (if using), garlic, onion, bell pepper in oil until onion is translucent.  Add sauted veggies to beans and simmer for 15 minutes. Then add the sweet potatoes and sausage.  Simmer 10-20 minutes or until the potatoes are barely tender. Stir in the thyme, red pepper, and pepper; simmer 10 minutes.

Posted in CSA Food Box Recipes, Greens, Home Cookin', Soup | 1 Response »
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Brussels Sprout & Arugula Salad Recipe

Wednesday, August 17th, 2011

This is a tasty salad, a bit time consuming, but worth it.  Potlucks are some of the best places to catch a new recipe worth your time, so thanks Tee for this one.  You have to blanch the Brussels sprouts first and then peal them off as leaves to put into the salad.  Then you mix all the right stuff from arugula to almonds and Parmesan together for a hearty and crunchy salad.  It’s a hit!

Brussels Sprouts & Arugula Salad Recipe ->

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Tassajara Kale Salad & Esalen Kale Salad: I’ve heard kids will even eat Greens like this!

Friday, May 13th, 2011

First off, I LOVE this salad! It is now my favorite way to eat greens.  I’ve made it three times in two weeks.

Feed your kids greens early on … as a salad, and it just might stick … so I’ve heard! At least this is what some photographer friends in Santa Cruz told me who recommended the recipe.  They were eating Carob, given to them by their parents, a generation before I was.  Thinking nothing of it, they said, kids like this salad too.  I started laughing, thinking to myself, not a chance I would have been excited about eating greens as a kid unless it was seamlessly slipped-into my Ohio, kid diet as a cold salad that has a bit tougher lettuce and that had no description that it was kale.  I mean, we flipped out when my mom made stuffed peppers for dinner as kids.  A story about a cousin who grew up in California came to mind when thinking about kids eating kale.  This cousin had eaten such healthy, organic food as a kid that when his parents were forced to stop by KFC and get him some fast food one time, he threw up!  Don’t worry, when I moved out to CA, I corrupted him by introducing him to loaded baked potatoes.

  • TASSAJARA KALE SALAD vs. ESALEN KALE SALAD

In terms of these two variations on the cold kale salad, I would recommend combining aspects of both.  I over salted the Tassajara Kale Salad the first time but liked the fruit aspect, ginger, honey, and lemon dressing in this recipe but would add the sprouts, red onion, and nuts from the Esalen Kale Salad recipe in the future.

KALE IS SO GOOD FOR YOU!


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Roasted Rutabaga & Sausage with Berry Preserves Recipe

Thursday, March 3rd, 2011

This is a quick recipe with little preparation time because you are using store-bought sausages (original recipe called for lamb sausage but I found them difficult to find) and you only have to chop a few veggies.   Then you grab some Rosemary off of your plant and open a nice bottle of Berry Preserves (I used one a friend had made and given to me, handy dandy).  This recipe came from Simply Organic: A Cookbook for Sustainable, Seasonal, and Local Ingredients by Jesse Ziff Cool (seriously, you can get this cookbook now, used on Amazon for $3).

If you live in CA and go to the farmer’s market weekly, this cookbook is really helpful because it is sorted into seasonal cooking sections:

  • First of Spring
  • Late Spring
  • Early Summer
  • Indian Summer
  • Autumn Harvest
  • Early Winter
  • Deep Winter

Roasted Rutabaga with Sausage Recipe

  • 2 lbs. lamb sausage (pork or chicken will work too)
  • 1 large rutabaga, peeled & cut into thick wedges
  • 1 large red onion
  • 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
  • ½ cup blackberry or raspberry preserves (Cherry preserves in MI might work too, w/ cherry sausage …hmmm… OR blueberry preserves in Maine?)
  • 2-3 TBSP balsamic vinegar
  • Salt and Fresh ground black pepper
  • 1 TBSP chopped fresh rosemary

Preheat oven to 500F.  Place the sausage in a shallow roasting pan.  Cook, turning occasionally, for 15 minutes, or until no longer pink.

Reduce the temperature to 350F.  Remove the sausage to a plate and add the rutabaga, onion, garlic, rosemary, and preserves to the pan with the sausage drippings.  Toss to coat well.  Place the sausage on top of the vegetables.  Cover and roast, tossing occasionally, for 45 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender and the sausage is cooked through.

Transfer the sausage to a platter.  Drizzle the vinegar over the vegetables.  Mix well and season with salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste.  Serve with the sausage.

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Crazy-Cool Cousin’s ‘Eat it Everyday’ Salad Recipe

Saturday, February 26th, 2011

This salad recipe got me thinking, are favorite dishes or recipes those that you could eat over and over everyday (regardless of calories)? If so, this salad will be on my favorites list for this year and it is only February.  This salad has really grown on me, so much so, that I desire it at every meal where our cousin’s are present.  In this family we eat salad at the end of the meal,  so by the time you are done eating everything, with this salad, you are actually craving it.  Cousin C says this is a variation on a salad his mother made growing up and then he also saw a variation of it at Esalen in Big Sur when he worked there.  Now we can all try and make it.  I think Bragg Liquid Aminos (made from health-giving, NON-GMO soybeans and purified water) is one of the secret ingredients here.  Another fun part of this salad is that you can really add or take away ingredients based on what you have in the fridge as long as you have the onion, lettuce, and the dressing ingredients.

Cousin’s Salad Recipe

Serves 4 as a side salad

Salad:

  • 2 cups of Romaine Lettuce
  • 1 cup of Arugula
  • Dried Cranberries
  • Sweet and Spicy Pecans (from Trader Joe’s or an alternative)
  • Grated Parmesan (Raw Parmesan from Trader Joe’s or an alternative)
  • Avocado, peeled, pitted and diced
  • Red Bell Pepper, sliced
  • Red onion, sliced
  • Cilantro, coarsely chopped

Dressing:

  • 6-8 TBSP of Olive Oil – per cup of lettuce (2 TBSP per cup of lettuce)
  • 3 TBSP of Bragg Liquid Aminos (1 TBSP per cup of lettuce)
  • 3 tsp of Balsamic Vinegar (1 tsp per cup of lettuce)
  • Garlic powder, sprinkled over top of salad
  • Squeeze Lemon juice of 1/2 lemon over-top of salad

Preparation:

Prepare all salad ingredients and place in a large salad bowl.  Toss together.  Then sprinkle dressing ingredients over-top of salad and mix well again. Serve!

Posted in CSA Food Box Recipes, Home Cookin', Salad | 3 Comments »
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Baked Quinoa Recipe – Gluten-free & still good!

Friday, February 25th, 2011

We are still onto the vegetable dishes in a gesture to be more healthy and I have found some great new ways to use winter vegetables.  This Baked Quinoa dish is a mac and cheese (cheese makes it not vegan unless you use vegan cheese) alternative that was prepared and sampled by a teacher friend’s middle school in Maine during a Healthy Recipe Contest.   The concept of introducing students to new vegetables and food items that they may have never sampled and learning about healthy eating at school is so awesome, we love it.

Ok, so the Baked Quinoa competed against a Vegetable Soup and a Chili Recipe all prepared by a guest chef at the school.  The Baked Quinoa won!  The recipe includes mushrooms, greens, and fresh corn in it but you could really add any veggies you like.  The other great aspect to the Baked Quinoa is that it is gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan friendly.  We ate it for lunches and as a side dish at almost every meal this week.

When I first read the calorie count on quinoa, I was overwhelmed because the package said:

  • 1 cup of uncooked quinoa has a total of 637 calories

Then I was relieved to realize that:

  • 1 cup of COOKED quinoa has only about 254 calories and 9 grams of protein

This recipe was posted by KelliesBelly.com – Thanks guys for sharing!

Baked Quinoa Recipe

  • 1/4 c. finely chopped onion
  • 1 small clove of garlic, finely chopped
  • 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 c. fresh chopped kale or spinach
  • 1 c. fresh corn
  • 1 c. fresh chopped mushrooms
  • 2 c. dry quinoa
  • 1-2 c. of cheese (swiss, monterey jack, feta or your favorite – we used pepper jack)

1.  Cook quinoa according to the directions (2 parts water, 1 part grain) and set aside.

2.  In a medium pan, sauté the onions in the olive oil over medium high heat until almost tender. Add the garlic for 1 minute and then add the kale or spinach until softened.  You may need to add a tablespoon or two of water to wilt the greens.  Add the corn and mushrooms and cook for an additional minute and remove pan from the heat.

3.   Combine the quinoa, vegetables, ½ of the cheese with salt and pepper to taste.  Mix well.  Put the mixture in a pam sprayed casserole dish, sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top and bake for 20-25 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Alternative: If you wanted to add meat, you could add cooked sausage, diced. Or if you are vegan you could add a meat alternative to the dish as well.

Posted in CSA Food Box Recipes, Greens, Home Cookin', Main Dishes, Vegetable Side Dish | 3 Comments »
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Herb Salad Mix & North African Lemon Dressing Recipe

Saturday, January 15th, 2011

Are you still on your New Year health kick?  We have been able to keep our food baby bellies pretty quiet so far even though we have cut back on carbs and booze.   The reason we have been able to keep the grumbling to a minimum is because we haven’t sacrificed flavor for healthy food, this time around anyways!  This recipe is a perfect example of flavor trickery on your health-o-meter.

This is one of those recipes that we just added to our, “Impress your Friends at a Dinner Party, Recipe Card Box” because it is that good!

Over the holidays we made this North African Lemon Dressing from the Tassajara Cookbook and paired it with a Mixed Herb Salad and served it with a Foret Saison Farmhouse ale.   I had read that you should pair Saison Farmhouse ale with spicy sausages and meats.  For a vegetarian pairing I picked this salad recipe because of the spice kick to the dressing, from the cayenne, and it did hold its own with a great Belgian beverage.

North African Lemon Dressing Recipe

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Posted in CSA Food Box Recipes, Home Cookin', Salad | 3 Comments »
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A Fresh Start for the New Year: Lemon Lentil Soup with Spinach Recipe

Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

I was introduced to this Lemon Lentil Soup with Spinach recipe (from Fresh Food Fast Cookbook) last year by our Aunt who consistently makes great vegetables and vegetarian soups and sides.  She cooks at home a lot and finds recipes that make healthy vegetables the star.  Her soups and sides are often packed with unique flavor and each dish is so different from the next, a Northern California Slow Food Movement kind of approach.  You know on Sundays, when you go out for a big brunch, afterward you feel so full (and full of guilt) that you think there is no way you will ever overcome it.  Well, the meals Anne creates on Sundays are the kind that get you ready for a new and healthy start to your overwhelming week ahead, a “Blameless on the Food” meal if you will!

Last year she made this Lemon Lentil Soup with Spinach a lot and added a nice touch to the end by serving it with a dab of sour cream and some fresh chopped herbs on top.   I’ve gotten better at looking at recipes and guessing whether it would be worth making, or at least I thought I had.  I have to say, this recipe surprised me because I thought it looked skimpy on flavor-punch.  So if I hadn’t had it prepared for me first, I would have never guessed it would be one of my favorite recipes of 2010!

Some favorite Vegetarian Cookbooks that Anne introduced me to are:

Lemon Lentil Soup with Spinach Recipe

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Posted in CSA Food Box Recipes, Home Cookin', Soup | 2 Comments »
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