Raspberries

Alright, so the raspberries are not from RHG, but I did go to a local pick-your-own place today, and picked just over 4 quarts. I was intending to make some jam with them, until my husband started to talk about the "raspberry preserves" his grandmother used to make. It's one of the only ways he likes to eat raspberries. After some discussion and recipe perusal, we concluded that it's not a true "preserve". She actually just canned raspberries, as they were whole berries in a very thin syrup. Easy!

I used a light syrup recipe (1 part sugar to 2 parts water), and gently packed my berries into pint jars. Next I added the hot syrup, and processed for 15min in a hot water bath. I now have 8 pints of summer deliciousness cooling on my counter.

One of my favourite sounds in summer is the musical "pop" of jars sealing after being canned. It makes me happy to hear, as I know I've got little bits of summer tucked away for another day. Oh- just heard my first two pops!

This year, I've already put away two batches of Strawberry Vanilla jam, and a batch of Strawberry Lemon jam as well. I still plan to make some raspberry jam... maybe Monday? And of course blueberry! I can't live this close to a blueberry farm and not go pick some. A few years ago I made a delightful Blueberry-Lime-Ginger jam (which didn't set... long story) and I want to do it again. Except maybe this time I'll get it to set.

Ukrainian Borscht

This is how my husband's grandmother made borscht. His aunt gave me the recipe. I sometimes vary the veggies depending on what I have on hand. Cabbage is a good addition.

Ukrainian Borscht
8 cups water

3 medium beets

2-3 carrots, peeled

3 potatoes, peeled if desired

1 small chopped onion

2-3 chopped stalks of celery

1 can of diced or whole tomatoes

1 tsp salt (or to taste)
pepper to taste

1 can of brown beans

1 T parsley

1/2 cup of fresh dill

 

Boil beets, carrots and potatoes until softened.

 

Sauté onion and celery in a pan with a bit of butter or oil.

Love the pretty purple carrots.

Remove vegetables from water, remove skin from beets and chop beets and carrots, and mash potatoes. Return vegetables to water, add all other ingredients and simmer together until cooked through.

We enjoyed some whole wheat rolls and garlic butter with our borscht.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream on top. You can also add a squeeze of lemon or a bit of vinegar if you prefer a more sour taste.

I don't often add something sour, but tonight I was having trouble achieving the characteristic sour taste since all the veggies were so young and sweet. Adding some fresh lemon juice seemed to do the trick.

hurrah!

New Veggies! It's always a happy day when new veggies come home. This week our share included:


orange and purple carrots (2 bunches!)
red potatoes
multicoloured swiss chard
young onions
dill
green head lettuce
red, orange, yellow, and purple cherry tomatoes
green and yellow baby zucchini
yellow beans (and a few purple ones)
hakurei turnips

You may have noticed that our share seemed very "rainbow". That is one thing that I particularly love about RHG- they grow all sorts of heirloom varieties, which are fun to eat, and also good for plant diversity. So many great veggies are being eliminated in the supermarkets' quest for "perfectly normal" items. "Good produce" in the grocery store is defined by being consistent, always the same.

I was especially reminded of this at work today as I sat eating my colourful cherry tomatoes. One of my co-workers asked what in the world I was eating this time. (I am known for having unusual things in my lunch) Once I explained what they were, and where they were from, she said she'd not want to even try something weird like that. Even after being assured that they tasted just as good if not better than "normal" ones.

I very much enjoy trying new varieties of veggie, and am so happy I have the opportunity to share the adventure with my husband and 1 year old daughter. Susannah is a wonderful eater so far, and enjoys food. I hope I can instill in her an adventurous palate. Last year, her first carrots were purple, yellow, and white ones we bought at the "Taste of the Valley" event where we discovered Rainbow Heritage Garden.

One thing I am very excited to make this week is borscht. We still have some beets from a previous week, and with the fresh dill and other veggies it will be amazing. The "recipe" I use for borshct is an all-veggie variety, handed down from my husband's family (Ukrainian). I use quotes as it is more just a list of ingredients, and I find it turns out different every time. But it's always delicious.

I'm hoping there is enough dill left to try out the garlic and dill roasted potatoes, although if the weather stays warm I'm not going to be using my oven- BBQ it is!

I am also looking forward to making the turnip two ways again. We especially enjoyed it with feta cheese, so I plan to use that again.

Tonight we had chicken tacos, with some of the lettuce and tomatoes. A fairly basic meal for us, but not every night can be veggie-centric (and veggie-tastic!)

missin' my veggies

Sorry for the lack of posts- we were away on vacation, enjoying the sun and the heat while swimming in the lake. It was a great time with my family, and it was hard to leave.

So because we were away, we did not get our veggies last week. And I am in veggie withdrawal. Sure, we got a few fresh carrots and potatoes from my brother-in-law's parents farm (we gobbled those up pretty fast!), and we did have some from the grocery store. But somehow, it is just not the same. And now arriving home to a veggie-less house... it just seems wrong. On a more positive note, we did take our veggies from the week before along, and my family enjoyed them.

I hope Wednesday gets here soon!

kale convert

Ok, so I had some misgivings about the idea of kale, but I made kale chips out of it, and they were quite delicious! I added a bit of garlic, and used balsamic vinegar and some sesame oil. I think I'll try a different vinegar next time (the recipe suggested sherry vinegar, but I didn't have any). Cider vinegar would be my next try. I liked the garlic, and I am thinking maybe some ginger too. See, I am already making plans for the NEXT time I eat kale! I also baked the chips a tad longer than they needed, and a few had a rather burnt aftertaste. I'll know better next time.

I am also excited to try kale other ways. I am curious to try it raw. I tasted a little as I was preparing it to become chips, and I enjoyed it. And I am starting to get more comfortable with putting green leafies into things like stir frys and pasta dishes. It's not so weird after all.

the dinner dilemna

It's Friday evening, 5pm. Husband is out mowing the lawn after work, toddler is clingy, wanting to be held and read stories. Which is nice, but after a less-than-productive day, I was feeling the need to actually make something for dinner. So I tried to think of something to make.

A few stories later, and it's 5:30. I still have no idea what to make. I look up some beet recipes cuz I know we have beets we should eat. Most of them require roasting the beets. Which takes an hour. Which is too long, since Andrew needs to leave again by 6:30 for an evening event. Or they require grating, which is messy and also takes a long time. And I'm wearing a white shirt today.

So what to do? I open my fridge, and pull out ALL my veggies. I start a pot of water for pasta, and a pan to saute some veggies. I start washing and chopping. What cooks fast? Broccoli. Zucchini. GARLIC! Mushrooms. Beet Greens. By that point, I had a pretty big pile of chopped veggies, and figured that was probably enough.

I started with the garlic with some olive oil, and added in the broccoli. Then the zucchini and mushrooms. A bit of fresh ground pepper. Then the beet stems, and finally the beet greens, along with the juice of a zest-less lemon I had sitting around. (The beet roots went back in the fridge for another day!)

When the veggies were cooked, I added some fresh basil from my garden, and a jar of alfredo sauce. Mixed it all together, and added the whole grain penne. It was surprisingly even better than I expected. A successful experiment.

comfort zone

Everyone has a comfort zone. Mine can be pretty small! So when I had to make the choice between fennel and kale, it was difficult! Weird fluffy green-feathered peacock, vs. tough-looking, green frilly lace.

Fennel- these have less "feathers" than the ones at RHG-

they really did remind me of peacocks

Kale- at least the ones I chose were single leaves in a bunch

Ok, so kidding aside, I was quite intimidated at the prospect of either of these vegetables. I do enjoy trying new things, but it's much easier if I'm forced into it. (as in, it's in my share, I have to take it!) Having to choose which I am going to discover is a whole new level out of my comfort zone.

In the end, although I was very curious about the fennel (and tempted at the photo opportunities) I went with the kale, cuz I've heard a lot of people mention kale chips. My husband loves all "crunchy munchies" so I'm thinking kale chips might be a hit. (now I just have to find a good, easy recipe!)

The rest of our share contained salad mix, red head lettuce, young onions, garlic, parsley, beets, and TWO BROCCOLI! I am so excited about the broccoli. It is one of our favourite veggies and we often had it at least once a week. Since we started our CSA I've been missing it, so I am very happy to have my familiar friend broccoli back for a visit. I'm sure Susannah will agree.

new week

Once again, I am excited at the prospect of new fresh veggies! This week we've done fairly well at eating them, but we had a few meals away from home, and we've both been working lots. So we have a few veggies left over. We managed to eat all of our salad mix (finished that up tonight for supper, along with some leftover turkey-taco quesadillas), but we still have our spinach/chard mix and our head of lettuce left. However, I'm not too worried because I see our upcoming list doesn't contain many green leafies. It's nice to have the variety.

I definitely like eating things fresh and in season, but sometimes, it can almost be too much of a good thing. A few years ago, when my husband and I lived in Hamilton, we participated in a CSA there, and we got soooooo much salad mix that we got a little tired of it. Although our previous CSA was a much larger operation, they didn't seem to have the variety of vegetables that Rainbow Heritage Garden does. I continue to be amazed at the number of "new" items in our baskets each week. Sure, there have been a few things we've gotten more than once, but many of the items are ones we have not yet received. And from the sounds of it, the variety is not going to end any time soon!

experiments

I like to experiment in the kitchen. I usually start off with a recipe, or at least an idea of what I'm going to do, but it often ends up producing something completely different! Sometimes these experiments result in things we want to remember, other times they are quickly forgotten. My one problem is that I don't know what to call my successful creations.

Tonight we had a "throw it together" supper, which turned out to be amazing! I wanted to try the thai noodle and bok choi recipe, but couldn't find miso paste at any of the grocery stores I visited. (Please let me know if you have found it locally!) So I figured I'd just do some other sort of sauce. Then, the store I stopped at after work didn't have wide rice noodles- only the very skinny vermicelli. So I thought we'd try them out. And when I got home, the head of pac choi looked a lot smaller than I remembered, so I decided to add some scapes and zucchini as well.

When I started to cook, I didn't even bother to look at the recipe... instead I decided to experiment on my own.

I diced up the chicken breasts, and stir fried them in the wok along with a little sesame oil, and I added a little salt and pepper. When the chicken was cooked, I removed it, and put in a handful of scapes (chopped in 1" pieces), one zucchini (diced), and 5 cloves of minced garlic. Yes, it is a lot of garlic but we like it! When that was well on its way to cooked, I added in the chopped pac choi.

Meanwhile, I put the vermicelli noodles in hot water for 4 minutes (as directed on the package) and then added them to the mix. I also put the chicken back in.

For a sauce, I used hoisin sauce that I found in my pantry. And I put in the remainder of the cilantro from last week's share. And that's it!

our dinner... not sure what to call it!

Susannah, excited for her dinner

We all very much enjoyed this meal, and the only thing I would do differently would be to add more sauce. These noodles really soak it in, and need a lot more sauce than you might expect. When I first dished it up, it was great, but by the time we took seconds (and thirds!) it was starting to get a little dry. We added a little more sauce, and it was excellent again.

Spinach Casserole

This is a favourite in our family.

Spinach Casserole

2-3 eggs

6T whole wheat flour

2c cottage cheese

2c grated cheddar cheese

1/2t salt

1 lb fresh spinach (which is actually quite a lot!)

3T wheat germ

Beat eggs and flour until smooth. Stir in cheeses and salt. Add spinach (torn up if large leaves).

Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle wheat germ over top.

Bake at 350F for 45 minutes.

It is excellent with cooked carrots- the vitamin C will help you absorb the iron from the spinach.

It is also great with some scapes, green onion, and/or regular old onion chopped up and added with the spinach.

busy busy

When our schedules get busy, I find it hard to take the time to cook. And this week has been busy. We have not eaten many of our beautiful vegetables yet. Last night, we just threw some burgers on the BBQ and had lettuce along with them. (I hesitate to claim it was salad, since it was just lettuce with dressing on, but that's "salad" in my house!) And the night before, we had dinner out. But tonight I cooked up the turnip two ways again, and we loved it even more than the first time I made it. Finally, a real veggie meal.

This time, I had a larger bunch of turnips, I used feta cheese (last time I used parmesan), and I remembered the salt and pepper! I also used the young garlic. It almost seemed like a different meal.

Tonight, we really enjoyed the creaminess of the melted feta. Last time the pasta had more of a light dressing, this time it seemed more sauce-like. The turnip rounds are little bursts of sweetness amid the salty sourness of the lemon-feta sauce. I cooked them a little slower this time, which I think enhanced their natural sweetness even more. And the greens add beautiful colour. Last time, the lemon was almost overpowering (I thought it was ok, my husband thought it was a little strong), but this time it seemed the perfect amount. I think the cheese made the difference.

An excellent meal- one will be featured frequently in our house!

the unexpected

My husband would be the first to tell you- I do not always deal well with the unexpected. So when Susannah and I went to the farm to pick up our veggies today, and I discovered that our veggie list was slightly different than that posted on the farm blog, I was slightly disappointed. Not a huge bit- just a little. I completely understand why things happen like that- I grew up on a farm. I know how the weather can play havoc with plans, and how things don't always grow exactly as expected. And so while I was not upset in any way, I was a little disappointed. I had seen the choice items on the list, and had easily made my choices. Or so I thought!

Our beautiful veggies (and strawberries).

Our veggie share this week consisted of:
salad mix (huge bag of it!)
pac choi
spinach and chard mix
head of lettuce (surprise!)
green garlic
hakurei turnips (big bunch!)
strawberries
peas (surprise!)
green peppers (which we didn't take since we don't eat them... but they looked cute!)

zucchini
scapes (or cilantro- tough choice, but we took the scapes since I have a bit of cilantro left over from last week, and because scape season doesn't last forever)


The farm worker who assisted us with gathering our share was kind enough to offer me an extra zucchini because we didn't take our green peppers. I had been looking forward to giving Susannah her first taste of local broccoli (her favourite veggie!) but that will just have to wait another week. It was hard though, seeing fresh broccoli there that others would be receiving!

But, in spite of my slight disappointment, I am very excited about our veggies for the week. Tonight we're having turkey tacos, so we'll be using some of the garlic (with the meat), and some lettuce. we discovered we are out of ground turkey! So we had perogies that we found in the deep freeze while looking for the turkey. Once the perogies were cooked, we threw the peas into the water, and enjoyed the fresh peas (what was left after snacking on them). We supplemented the fresh peas with some frozen ones, but they're just not nearly as good.

This week, I am also excited to try this recipe for pac choi with rice noodles. And I foresee a lot of salads in our future! I want to make the turnip two ways again as well, since we all enjoyed it, and our bunch of turnips looks even bigger this week.

Once again, Susannah made a beeline for the strawberries as soon as we got home.

My little strawberry thief.

She loves her fresh local berries.

last day of the week

Last day of the week... the end of the veggies. Sigh...

The end of the week usually means eating up the veggies we're either less fond of, or don't know what to do with. It's hard to get excited about something you haven't found a way to like yet.

And there is always the question... What's for dinner? This week we have a few green onions and some radishes left. What kind of meal can you make from that? Well, we had radish sandwiches! (Susannah had some leftover turkey burger). Radish sandwiches is something my dad would make when I was a kid. They're still as good as I remember. It's the only way I've ever liked a radish. My husband enjoyed the sandwiches as well.

Radish Sandwich: Two slices of whole wheat bread, butter, thin slices of radish, a bit of salt (and pepper if you wish). That's it! Using the easter egg radishes made them even prettier than usual. I even made a pattern from the purple, pink, and white circles.

The last day of the week is also the day that our CSA posts the produce list for the next day. Maybe they know we need the excitement. This week, there are two "choice" items that I am excited about. We can choose between green peppers or broccoli, and between cilantro or mint. For us, the choices are no-brainers- we're not pepper eaters and we LOVE broccoli (it's one of Susannah's favourite foods), and the only thing I use mint for is tea, but many of our favourite recipes feature cilantro. We're going to see lots of greens coming our way. There are some repeats from last week, as well as some new intros for the season. I can't wait to pick up our veggies tomorrow :)

chinese cabbage

After using less than half of our enormous chinese cabbage in the pad thai a few days ago, I needed something else to do with it. I had planned to use some in a stir fry or pasta dish (easy) but I was intrigued by this chinese cabbage salad that I came across. I actually had all the ingredients in the house, so I decided to try it for dinner tonight.

The recipe calls for a medium head of chinese cabbage. Since I wasn't sure what size they normally are (mine seemed big, but maybe that's how they come?) I googled it! I discovered that "chinese cabbage" is basically synonymous with "green or green-and-white asian vegetable" and there are many different varieties, including napa cabbage and bok choy. Based on the amounts of the other ingredients in the recipe, I concluded that my now-just-large head of chinese cabbage was probably still too much. I still have enough left to add to a stir fry!

Let me tell you... this salad is AMAZING! The perfect blend of sweet and sour flavours. A very light but zippy dressing. A nice assortment of crunches from the apples, cabbage, and almonds. This has become my favourite salad, and I've only made it once! I am looking forward to the rest of it in my lunch tomorrow. The recipe says it works well to make ahead, so while I normally hate "second day salad" I am willing to give this one a try. We will definitely be having this again... as soon as we get another chinese cabbage!

Turnip Two Ways

One of my favourite things about discovering new vegetables is finding new recipes to try. I love to read cookbooks, just looking at the recipes and imagining what they might be like. Although I love to cook and try new things, it's easy for me to get into the same old "same old" routine, just because it's easy and I'm busy. But when I have foods that I'm not quite sure what to do with, new recipes seem like much less of a bother. And having them handed to me is even better!

Tonight for supper, we tried "turnip two ways" which was actually a very delicious dish, and quite simple (and quick!) to make. I used some whole grain spelt linguini, which paired nicely with the hakurei turnips and greens. Since I didn't have green garlic, I used a clove of regular garlic, and a few scapes. Next time I would definitely add more scapes! The lemon and olive oil was a very light taste, and I did add some fresh grated parmesan as suggested in the recipe. I forgot to add salt and pepper until I saw my husband adding some at the table. oops! Adding them brightened up the flavour a bit. Once again, we had a few leftovers, and I got a freezer meal out of it too!

Delicious!

Yesterday I made spinach casserole with some of the scapes. We all enjoyed it, and there was even some leftover for a freezer lunch. (I freeze leftovers in lunch-sized portions for taking to work).

Tonight, I'm made pad thai with the fresh cilantro, green onions, garlic scapes, and chinese cabbage. Usually I use zucchini, carrots, and cabbage for the veggies, but I'm embracing the CSA lifestyle and using what I have. (I did buy some bean sprouts though!) I only used less than half of the chinese cabbage- that thing is HUGE! We all greatly enjoyed the meal, and there was enough left over for several freezer lunches. :) Those will be some yummy days.

Our strawberries disappeared very quickly- Andy and I had some on Wednesday night with vanilla ice cream, and Susannah finished them off for breakfast the next morning. There's something about fresh-picked local berries that makes them so much better than the overgrown ones from the grocery store. I want to go "pick your own" sometime this weekend- maybe tomorrow. (I want to make strawberry-vanilla jam again.)

So far this week, we have eaten CSA veggies each day, but have needed to supplement them with some store-bought veggies. Once the season gets rolling I'm sure our store supplements will decrease, being limited to a few favourites. I love the idea of eating only what is in season, but with a toddler, sometimes having consistency is important as well! (Plus, what would I do until this year's garlic is ready for harvest?)