What’s In The Box with Recipe Suggestions
Green Top Red Beets: The green top on a bunch of beets is an indicator of freshness, but it also means you get two vegetables in one! Beets, as well as their green tops, are packed with nutrients that you’ll want to take advantage of! Beet greens may be cooked on their own or alongside other greens, but they may also be eaten raw in salads or blended into smoothies!
Warm Lentils with Roasted Beets, Wilted Chard and Goat Cheese
Roasted Beet Salad with Kale and Maple-Candied Nuts
Broccoli or Cauliflower: Our first crops of spring broccoli and cauliflower are just starting to ripen! While many only eat the crown of the Broccoli, or flowering portion of broccoli, the stems are also very edible. Using a vegetable peeler or a paring knife, remove the outermost layer of skin from the broccoli stem to reveal the tender, juicy, light green flesh inside.
Rainbow Chard: Also known as “Swiss Chard,” we consider this to be one of our “summer” greens. Chard and beets are in the same vegetable family, so you may use chard and beet greens interchangeably or together in recipes. Chard may be eaten either raw or cooked. When cooked, you may want to cook the stem a little longer than the greens.
Sausage and Swiss Chard Lasagna
Green Cucumbers: Cucumber season is starting! This means it’s time for simple cucumber salads or just simply slice, salt and eat them as a snack! Cucumbers are also best if enjoyed within a few days of receiving them. Until then, store them either at room temperature or in a warmer part of your refrigerator.
Fennel: While the bulb is the most used portion, the feathery fonds and the stalks are also usable. Fennel has a distinct flavor, reminiscent of anise or licorice. The flavor is more intense when eaten raw, so if you are looking for something milder, consider cooking it. Add it to pasta dishes, roasted vegetable blends, soups, stews, sauces, or stock where it will function more as an “aromatic” and add a nice, slightly sweet, background flavor.
Garlic Scapes: This is the curly, skinny, wild looking green vegetable in this week’s box! They grow out of the center of a hard-neck garlic plant, but we remove them so the plant can focus its energy into making a nice, big bulb. While we used to throw them away, one day we became enlightened and realized they are actually edible and quite flavorful! Use them anywhere you would use bulb garlic.
Kohlrabi: This week you may have purple, white or green kohlrabi in your box. Regardless of the color on the outside, the edible portion on the inside looks the same!
Kohlrabi Slaw with Fennel & Apple
Mini Green & Red Lettuce: This lettuce has tender leaves that are best suited to vinaigrettes and lighter creamy dressings. You can also use lettuce to make a nice summer soup.
Boston Lettuce Salad with Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
White Scallions: Scallions are in their prime this week, so we’ve packed two bunches in your box! Onions are often used as a background ingredient, but they can be the star of the show too.
Salad Mix: This will be the last week The nice thing about salad mix is that we’ve done all the hard work. The only thing left for you to do is keep it cold until you’re ready to eat it!
25 Easy Salad Dressing Recipes
Fresh Spring Rolls with Pork, Mango and Mesclun
Strawberries: Sadly, Richard thinks this will be the last week for Strawberries. It was a fast season this year for us. Hopefully you enjoy this taste, and who knows, maybe mother nature will surprise us 😊
Baked Strawberry Cream Cheese French Toast
Green Zucchini: We kicked off this first week of summer with our first zucchini harvest! Zucchini is one of the most versatile vegetables we grow, which means we can find a lot of different ways to enjoy this vegetable over the course of the season. For starters, consider slicing it thinly and grilling it! If you want to kick it up a bit, top it off with some fresh basil pesto!
Zucchini, Fennel, Mint & Basil Soup
Vegetable Feature: Chard
Chard is a gorgeous leafy green with crinkly green leaves and bright, vivid rib-like stems in a variety of colors including red, yellow, orange, and pink. It is actually in the beet family and bears resemblance to beet greens, which may be used in place of chard in some applications. While chard is most often considered a cooking green, the leaves are tender enough to also be eaten raw. While less of a traditional use, you can use it in salads, such as in this week’s recipe for Swiss Chard Salad with Lemon, Parmesan and Breadcrumbs. Chard has a taste similar to spinach, but it is more earthy & full-flavored. Some describe it as having a “mineral flavor.” Since minerals are what help give food its flavor, that means chard tastes really good! It’s packed with nutrients including vitamins A, C & K, calcium, iron, magnesium and a variety of antioxidants and B vitamins. Most of the time chard is referred to as “Swiss Chard.” It really has nothing to do with Switzerland, rather the origin of this term goes back to how this vegetable was identified in France many years ago. Just know that Swiss chard and chard are the same thing.
In the Midwest, chard is available from early summer to late fall. Unlike kale and collards, chard is not very frost tolerant. Because of its long season of availability, you’ll see chard used in a variety of applications with both summer and fall/winter vegetables. While there are many ways to use chard, some common ways include vegetable gratins, soups, or just simply sautéed in olive oil with garlic and a drizzle of vinegar.
Chard pairs well with bacon, lentils, white beans, chickpeas, cream, cheese, black pepper, raisins, pine nuts, vinegar, olive oil, and lemon juice. It also goes well with fresh herbs (thyme, cilantro, basil), and other vegetables (potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, winter squash). You can eat both the leaves and the stems, although the stems require just a tad longer cooking time. In addition to eating chard raw, you can also steam, sauté or stir-fry it. When properly cooked, the leaves are tender and silky. Take care not to overcook it! Store chard in a plastic bag in the refrigerated until ready for use.
Farm Update
This week is all about the hustle! We are in party planning mode and that means we have to make sure all of our harvesting, washing and packing are all taken care of before Saturday! The crew is doing an amazing job, as usual. Kelly says, “we may just pull this Saturday party off without any major hitches!” Even with Richard’s sad Strawberry field report earlier this week, we still have members wanting to come and visit us, and we appreciate each and every one! We have the hamburger patties are pulled to thaw, as are the pre-frozen prepared strawberries and rhubarb. As you may have guessed, we will be grilling hamburger patties as our contribution to the potluck, as well as all the fixings. What about the strawberries and rhubarb? If it works out the way Kelly plans, we will be making Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins and fingers crossed for some cold brew maple latte too!
Aside from party planning mode, we are also keeping a close eye on future CSA box produce. We should be seeing peas, cabbage, fresh garlic and in couple weeks, green beans!! We say this every season, but wow it sure goes fast!
