Week 12: Final Spring CSA Week

This is the last week of the my Spring CSA share. Next week is the first week of summer shares. I was so happy to see tomatoes! Even though they are greenhouse-grown, they are leaps and bounds beyond whatever is in the grocery stores right now. This week also included kale, parsley, cilantro, 2 bags of spinach, two bags of lettuce and a bag of joi choi with nasturtiums. I originally had some tatsoi but I traded it for an extra bag of lettuce in the swap box.  One bag isn't enough for my family for a week!
We had our usual Taco Salad, so as of now, we're one bag of lettuce, one tomato down and the cilantro is gone. I'm thinking of spring rolls on Friday with the joi choi, carrots, and some shrimp. The kale is going to be in a chicken, kale and carrot soup. The spinach will be a dip or spanakopita. I'll still have enough extra to make a great salad and the parsley will probably end up in a compound butter.

I'm so glad we signed up for the spring share, and I'm looking forward to my third bountiful summer share.

Sausage and Spinach Dip

We had just come home from an evening of errands, popcorn, and ice cream. We needed something hot for a light dinner and I was thinking snack foods. I took my favorite spinach dip recipe and went from there. We ate it with peppers and some dipping chips and went to bed happy. This is a one-pot meal.

Sausage and Spinach Dip:
6 links Italian sausage, casings removed or 1 lb of loose Italian sausage
1 generous cup cooked, chopped spinach
1 shallot, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt
crushed red pepper
3 cups shredded cheese
3 packages of cream cheese
2 tablespoons fresh chives, chopped

In a large oven-proof skillet, cook sausage with shallot. Drain excess oil. Chop briefly in food processor if it doesn't break apart. Before adding sausage, wilt spinach in pan. Pre-heat oven to 400. Add garlic, sausage and crushed red pepper (to taste), with spinach allow to cook 1-2 minutes. Add cream cheese a little at a time and stir. Add chives and shredded cheese. Allow cheeses to melt and combine well. Place in oven for 10 minutes on 400, serve with crudites or crackers. This makes a ton, so you might even reheat it for lunch the next day and it can most certainly be made ahead. Enjoy.

Spanakopita

 I've made spanakopita so many times that I don't even use a recipe any more. You can make any size based on what is in your share, as long as you have a few ingredients and do what I say.

I split my cooked my spinach, which was three bags pictured in my share, and divided it. Part was for spinach dip and the other was for the dish pictured above. I didn't bother measuring it but it must have been, in total 4 cups cooked.

Spanakopita:
2 cups spinach, wilted, cooled, squeezed of excess water
8 ounces feta, crumbled with into large pieces
1 bunch green onions, sliced
1 package phyllo dough
1 egg beaten
salt
pepper
1 stick butter, melted

Pre-heat oven to 375. Prepare your spinach. Wilt it well, cool it, get the extra water out and chop. If you try to add it to the other ingredients while the spinach is warm it will dissolve the cheese and more water will come out making your dough soggy.

Mix the chopped spinach with cheese, green onions and season to taste. Some people don't add salt, I don't always, because feta is saltly, but sometimes it needs it to bring out the flavor of the spinach. Add beaten egg and mix gently so as not to break down the feta too much.

Use melted butter to grease a 9x12 baking dish. Open phyllo dough and cut to fit baking dish, brushing butter lightly between each layer of dough in the dish. After about 10 layers, add filling and repeat layering with phyllo dough and butter.

Bake at 375 for 40-55 minutes (ovens can be crazy) until golden brown on top. Remove, allow to cool about 5-8 minutes and brush top with any remaining butter.

Spring CSA Week 11

 

What a week! I was really surprised to find tomatoes and chives with flowers in my share. My son had to carry one bag of spinach because I should have brought two bags this week. We ended up with three bags of spinach, kale, tatsoi, nasturtiums, lettuce mix, carrots and a lovely bunch of oregano. No swaps this week for me, but I really had a hard time deciding between cherry tomatoes and a big, ripe whole tomato.

I've mostly been making things that I've made before as I tend to do when I am busy. I made a whopping bowl of spinach dip last week and will probably make another this week. I like spinach almost every way so it isn't hard to use up three bags. It looks like salad with the lettuce this week and I might have all the ingredients for a nice dressing. The tatsoi will be for an Asian dish one night and I am thinking about making a kale and feta pie. I feel like the carrots don't get attention but I can't make enough of them when we have a roast, so they are always great to have on hand. The oregano is enough for some herb butter, and then some, probably two batches for the freezer. The tomatoes and the chives might be components of a salad dressing or just part of a salad with edible flowers. If we're grilling, I might even throw the tomatoes on the grill.

Spring CSA Week 10

This was a great week for spinach. I traded my bok choy for an extra bag, making a total of three bags of spinach, a bag of mixed lettuce, carrots, chives, dill, kale, a cucumber, and a few nasturtiums.

My plan for the week: dill dip for potatoes, salad, a green smoothie with kale, preserve the chives, spinach dip, and a main dish or soup with spinach. If we don't use all the cucumber for salad, I slice them thin with a mandoline and use them in place of chips or crackers.

Someone recently asked "What do you do to use your share up before it goes bad?" For many people a CSA share can be overwhelming in quantity and variety. When I bring my bounty home, I usually photograph it and take inventory.

Root vegetables last the longest and go into the fridge or storage right away. I put the vegetables stored at room temperature away next. Lastly, anything that has to be wrapped or stored for maximum freshness, such as herbs or leafy greens gets packaged and put in the fridge. I make note of what needs to be eaten first and cannot be preserved, usually lettuce and pea tendrils. Normally, I make a salad in the first few days after a pick-up, using the other vegetables.

On a big week, in the summer or fall, I make a menu up based on what needs to be eaten first. I write out a plan for snacks, sides, lunches, and main meals. I also decide what I want to preserve in the freezer, by canning, or other means. I will normally preserve the food the same say or 1-2 days after a pickup at the latest.

As for veggies like eggplant, squash, root vegetables, I usually plan to use them over the weekend or when pick-up day is closer. I pick up my share on Tuesdays, the vegetables that last longest are perfect for weekend meals that require longer cooking times.

Lastly, I think the first year or two of a CSA can be an adjustment period for some people. Learning new recipes and becoming familiar with new food takes time. When a food becomes familiar to the cook, preparation time decreases, as well as waste. My advice is to be patient, try to avoid waste but realize you are still learning and that sometimes things will go bad, it gets easier after the first year. If you are determined to make it work, the benefits are fantastic. You will become more prepared, self-reliant, frugal, and you will have a full freezer and pantry--not to mention a kitchen full of fresh delicious vegetables--so don't let waste discourage you!

Spring CSA Week 8

Lettuce, nasturtiums, oregano, chives, carrots, cucumbers, braising mix, and spinach! We're leaving for a trip and I've already planned to take part of my share on the go. I'm going to make a spinach dip to spread on sliced cucumber, pepper strips, and crackers for the road. We'll be taking a salad, as well as eating one for our last meal here at home. The carrots will keep until we get back. I've chopped the oregano and frozen it in a cube of ice for a future sauce. The chives are chopped and stored in the freezer for another day as well. I traded my joi choi for an extra bunch of chives in the swap box because they freeze so well and I didn't want anything to go to waste. There were a lot of chives in the swap box, I can't even imagine not wanting them! I'm sure that other people feel the same way about the beets, kohlrabi, and extra cukes that I exchange in the regular season.