Let's Get Ready!

New year! Let's Go!

I have to admit, last year, I had a hard time with the CSA again. I still adore it - the bounty of fresh veggies and herbs, being forced to use all the different ingredients. And we certainly did MUCH better. Sure, I ended up throwing some of it off the deck to the birds and animals, and just found a random squash in the outside fridge behind a bunch of beer that had degenerated to its primitive state...but hey, can't win them all.

Plan for this summer: use this blog (which I still ADORE the idea of, even if it has been woefully underused). Make lots of yummy dishes. Head to the farm every other week - the half-share has been working great for us, supplemented with a CSA at an orchard which allows you to buy anything at a discount - to grab our fresh local food and let Penny hang around with some farm animals for a bit. Head to Birchrun Hills Farm for locally raised pork and veal, plus absolutely fabulous cheese. Drink homebrewed beer - not really because it is local, but because Matt's brews are really better than 95% of everything out there - and margaritas - just because I've been dreaming about margaritas, crabs and friends on the deck.

Oh yeah, and adjust to having a baby in the house again.

First step? Sign up for the CSA! It is time to find a local CSA. I am going to stick with the same one we used last year - even though we have to go to the actual farm, it is worth it, and I like that Penny gets to see where the food comes from. Signing up now generally gets you a reduced price, so it is worth thinking about it early!

Coming up soon - ideas on how to get ready for the CSA season.

That time of year...

Welcome back for another year of eating healthily and locally with your local CSA! We here at the CSA Cafe are gearing up for the year. We are looking to expand our focus a bit this year - sharing recipes and tips on how to make the best use of your CSA box each week, but also ideas for activities and crafts to do with your family and anything else we think of related to using your CSA effectively.

If you haven't already, now is the time to find a CSA in your area. Many CSAs do sell all their shares by the beginning of the growing season. If you are unfamiliar with local CSAs, a great place to start is your local farm market. Many farms also offer CSA programs with weekly or biweekly pickups at convenient locations.

Hope to see you often back here at the CSA Cafe!

Veggies for Breakfast

I want my family to commit to a new dietary principle: vegetables are delicious any time of day.  We're talking breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  My latest yummy veggie breakfast idea is zucchini frittata.  It is quick, easy and only dirties one pan.

Ingredients:
- 1 medium to small sized zucchini
- 1 medium sized onion
- olive oil
- oregano
- 6 eggs
- a splash of milk
- palm full of shredded mozzarella cheese (optional)
- salt & pepper

1. Splash a little olive oil in a medium sized pan.  Turn to medium heat.
2. Dice up onion and zucchini.  Cook in pan.  Sprinkle with oregano.
3. Crack eggs and whisk them in a bowl, like you're making scramble eggs.  Add a little milk and stir.
4.  Pour eggs into pan.
5.  Add oregano, cheese, salt & peeper.
6.  Cook until eggs are bubbling. 
*I like to lift the sides of the frittata with a spatchula and pour uncooked egg from the center over to the side to cook up.
7.  Slide or flip out of the pan onto a plate.  Slice it like pizza and enjoy.
 

Keeping It Fresh

Inside our box the veggies are in a large plastic bag.  I find that even our lettuce will last up to three weeks if I put it in the fridge inside the bag.  We often have a large amount so storing it all in one big bags requires clearing out an entire shelf in our refrigerator, but it's worth it to have tasty, fresh greens for weeks.  It's been my experience that a few things will just last and last.  Three weeks ago we received a large bunch of garlic scapes and they are still crunchy and delicious chopped up into hummus. 

Our CSA share comes every two weeks and I want our food to be crisp for at least that long.  When our share arrives I will put whatever we haven't use so far into our new bag with the newest, freshest veggies.  One of the joys of a CSA is that the food is recently picked, some times that day, so you can feel good about saving it and keeping it fresh for weeks. 

Healthy Living: Fresh Salad, Homemade Dressing, Warm Bread and Local Cheese

Today, I picked up our CSA items at the farm and was impressed at all the other items that they have available. Our CSA last year kept mentioning that extra items would become available, but that never really happened. So this year, I was suspicious when the same claims were made. They had some basic organic dry goods - flour, honey, maple syrup. This week, though...there was a refrigerator full of fresh, local cold items, plus a local coffee company offering samples as well as coffee to purchase, organic local cheese, etc. Local milk - extremely local, as in within my zip code - was a treat to find. I had no idea there were any dairies so close that were selling to the public. To say the least, I am extremely excited about my CSA this year. Add a growing list of classes on everything from bread making to honey farming to witchcraft, and I am fully onboard.

As for this week's haul...one small head of Chinese Cabbage, one kohlrabi, 1/2 lb. of spring mixed greens, 1/2 lb. of spring onions, a small head of broccoli and a bunch of dill. A random batch, to say the least. The amounts and number of items will continue to pick up as the weeks go by and the harvest grows. I am really looking forward to fresh picked strawberries next week.

I am still trying to come up with some good recipes for kohlrabi and dill aside from simply tossing them into salads. For tonight, I kept it simple - a salad of mixed greens with broccoli florets and local blueberries, plus a wonderful honey poppyseed dressing (recipe below). Add a fresh loaf of bread from the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day Cookbook (an almost daily occurrence anyway in this house), the last of the pesto from a trip to Claudio's in Philly's Italian Market last weekend and the remains of a triple creme goat cheese from DiBruno's South Philly, and you have an excellent healthy, local yet decadent dinner.

Below is the recipe for the Honey Poppyseed Dressing, slightly adapted from the Joy of Cooking cookbook. It goes well with any type of salad, but it really goes excellently with strong greens and a few berries.

Honey Poppyseed Dressing
1/4 c. honey (any will do, but a good local honey really makes it shine)
3 T. apple cider vinegar
2 T. olive oil
2 T. dijon mustard
1 t. poppy seeds
2 shallots (you can also use scallions, green onions, spring onions...even one small yellow onion if that is what you have on hand)

Put all ingredients in a glass mason jar, then shake well to combine. This recipe is great to double or more, then keep in the fridge.

They Are Coming

This week...finally...my CSA starts. The CSA to which I belonged last year started a bit earlier, and I am surprised to find that I actually miss it. I complained at the time about box after box of greens, but this year I find myself buying more greens and even planting lettuce to compensate.

However, I am very excited about my CSA this year, mainly because it has a lot more direct involvement than my previous one. While last year, the convenience could not be beat - pick up a box once a week at a location about 8 minutes from my house - this year I am going a little bit farther to pick up my produce on the actual farm. The procedure was explained at an informal Meet & Greet at the farm last week, where we were able to pick up our membership cards, meet the farmers and key personnel as well as other CSA members and take a walk around the fields. While this CSA is definitely a bit more DIY, I look forward to the weeks when we will have chances to pick a pint of our own strawberries or beans, as well as seeing the people who put in all the hard work in person. I also think that this will be a great activity for my daughter, who is almost one, since it seemed like most of the members also had young children. As she starts walking, I hope she will enjoy walking through the fields with me on our pickup days.

After an extended weekend of eating out and barbecues, I hope to put up some more recipes that focus on the local ingredients available now. My herbs are coming up nicely - we should be able to use some in another week or so and maybe even get our first lettuce harvest. I want to go get a few more seed packets to fill in some gaps (how did I forget rosemary?), plus grab some heirloom tomato plants before they get picked over. We garden almost exclusively in large pots placed on the deck due to the abundance of deer and rabbits that just love to eat all my plantings, but it actually has worked out so far! I would recommend it to anyone - a few big planters, some good soil and a few seed packets will lead to more than you can imagine!

Happy Planting!

It's Been Awhile

CSA boxes start arriving next week!

Can we get a Yay? Maybe a Meep?

Ok, so we have taken a small hiatus from posting, but we are all excited about our upcoming summer of fresh, local produce. Today I finally got around to the most rewarding bit of spring cleaning - emptying the fridge and freezer. I even finally got off all the frozen blue goo from the ice cream cake we had the first summer we lived here - four years ago! I am now ready for an influx of...greens?

Yep, greens.

The first few weeks of a CSA can be frustrating, especially for first-year members. It seems that all you are getting are boxes of green leaves (Kale! Oh the Kale! Dinosaur, green, purple!). This can be the hardest time of the year to make the most of your box as few of us have enough recipes to really make use of these greens. We will try to post recipes using early spring vegetables as often as possible.

Projects for the week: clean out the fridge of any miscellaneous remnants of the winter (I had 4, count them, 4 boxes with small amounts of stock/broth left, two cans of extremely moldy tomato paste and a soy sauce mixture for sushi that I am fairly sure was spawning); gather any frozen stock and find recipes to use them in (look for these on our site soon); and make sure check with your CSA to find the exact date, time and location of your first pickup!

Dessert: Greek Style Sweet Crepes

When I studied abroad in Greece for a summer in college, I never thought that my favorite snack would be a very typical French food. But that was exactly what happened - Crepes were the new popular food, especially in Santorini where there seemed to be a Crepe stand every few shops. I had always loved Crepes growing up - my mom would make big pans of crepes stuffed with chicken on a regular basis - but the Greeks made it into something new. These were huge, thicker circles of fluffiness then smeared with "chocolate" that was unfailingly actually Nutella, filled with fruit (I liked strawberries), then folded over twice and put into a twist of wax paper. You could have savory crepes too, filled with cheese and meat and veggies, but the sweet crepes are absolutely amazing, especially at two am after a long night and you need to get ready for class in the morning.

These seemed like too much trouble to make at home...until I did. They are so amazingly simple and easy - you can make a small batch for a treat or ramp up the recipe for a great party pleaser. This recipe is adapted from the Joy of Cooking, which recommends making it in a blender or processor, but I just whip it up with a whisk and it works fine. There are a few more changes too, mostly to make it simpler. You can make any size crepe, but use a large pan to make the Greek style crepes.

Why is this on the CSA Cafe? This is a great way to use any type of fruit as they come into season. I have been eyeing up the rhubarb at the local farmer's market, and I think I am going to stew some up this week to use in these crepes on Mother's Day.

Recipe: Greek Style Sweet Crepes

In a large bowl, whisk together very well until smooth:
1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. warm water
2 eggs
1 1/2 T. sugar
Pinch salt

At this point, pour the batter into a pitcher, cover and refrigerate. You can leave it in the fridge for up to two days, but make it at least 30 minutes ahead of time for best results.

Just before you are ready to cook, stir in:
2 T. melted butter

In a large nonstick pan, melt some butter. You really need only a little bit - it is more for taste than anything. Pour in enough batter to cover the bottom of the pan in a thick layer. Swirl to ensure an even layer, then leave the crepe alone until the crepe is set on top and the underside is golden. Flip the crepe - you know you have the batter perfect when it flips easily and stays in a perfect circle. Spread half the crepe with your chosen toppings, then fold in half, and then half again. Slide from the pan onto a piece of wax paper, fold the paper around the crepe and twist the bottom, then serve! Repeat until the batter runs out.

Suggested fillings: nutella, fresh or stewed berries, bananas, butter with cinnamon sugar, cinnamon apples, pumpkin pie filling in the fall, anything else you can think of!

Recipe Made: Spring Vegetable Risotto

Last night, I made a recipe from Cook's Illustrated - Spring Vegetable Risotto. Both my husband and I agreed, it was absolutely amazing. It was bistro quality, and due to some external interruptions (i.e. extremely cranky 10 month old who needed to go to sleep right when I should be stirring constantly), I was not as attentive as I should have been to a risotto but it still came out perfectly. 

The recipe uses leeks, asparagus, mint and parsley - all things you can get locally this time of year, though the herbs may be a stretch. It also uses lemons, garlic and frozen peas, which makes it a very economical dish for how amazing it is! I would definitely make it again, probably soon while everything is still in season. As with most risottos, it is complicated to make the first time, but next time I could definitely streamline the steps (knowing what you can prep ahead of time is half the battle, and I have found that Cook's Illustrated really does not clearly define this; most times I find at least one "surprise" prep item hidden in one of the steps).

Also, Cook's has this recipe up on their front page for free right now, but it will quickly fall into their Paid Subscription Only section. We do have a Cook's subscription, and it is a great source for recipes, product reviews, etc. The only issue that you need to keep an eye out for is that the online access does NOT come with the magazine subscription. Also, the website recently and silently created two levels of access, so you now need to pay extra for some of their recipes (I don't know what differentiates the two levels). It feels a bit like nickel and diming...just my two cents(/pun).

I would definitely print this recipe out to keep in my spring repertoire! 

Fridge Clean Out: (Detox) Cabbage Soup

So, this soup originally comes from a diet that was popular awhile back (late 90's? ish?) - the Detox Diet, also known as the Dolly Parton Diet. No idea why on the second one, but the first name makes sense. According to the diet, you are supposed to also drink hot water mixed with grade B syrup and cayenne pepper in the morning and a specific set of veggies and fruits over the next seven days. If you are interested, the specifics of the diet can be found here.

HOWEVER - this is just my version of the soup. I make a HUGE batch whenever I have a bunch of veggies I need to clear out, or I have put on a few pounds, or right after the holidays, or after a brewfest weekend. It tastes great, is extremely low in calories, really fills you up and is perfect for cold, rainy days throughout the year. It is extremely versatile and freezes very well. When I make it, I usually split it up - enough for a week in a container in the fridge, a big container for my grandparents, another for my mom, then the rest into a few quart size freezer bags for when I don't feel like cooking but still want something healthy.

And yes, it really makes this much. You really can't halve the recipe, since you use a whole head of cabbage plus enough veggies to balance the soup. I guess if you use half a head of cabbage for another recipe you can make a half batch, but I like the big batch with leftovers.

This is an EXCELLENT way to CLEAN OUT YOUR FRIDGE! Below I list the ingredients I generally use, but you can use almost anything to suit your tastes and the state of your pantry. This is a soup that is well suited to experimentation and adjustment for your family. If you have frozen and canned items left from last summer that need to make way for this year's harvest, this is the perfect soup for you!

Detox Cabbage Soup Recipe

First note: you need a BIG pot for this recipe! I use my 16 quart soup pot, which if you don't own one, I suggest one sized to fit your family. It is actually a good investment for making big batches with summer harvest vegetables.

Roughly chop the following into bite size pieces and smaller:
1 Head Cabbage
2-3 large onions
2 - 3 cans tomatoes (I use already diced ones) including any juice
2 - 6 peppers (red, green, yellow)
4 -6 stalks celery
4 - 6 carrots
8 oz. asparagus
Other options: zucchini, peas, eggplant, green beans, leeks, parsnips, etc.

Toss all these items into the pot, starting with the cabbage. You should end up with about an even amount of cabbage to other veggies. Add in:

15 - 20 oz. V8 juice (I use 3 little cans of the Spicy Hot version, which gives a nice kick to the soup)
1/2 - 1 cup of balsamic vinegar
Hot water, enough to cover all the veggies plus about an inch

I would put on the heat now, all the way on high. The soup takes a good amount of time to come to a boil.

Add in your spices. This is my general starting point:
Handful of parsley
Handful of dried onion
Handful of dried soup greens (if you have them around)
Tablespoon of black pepper
1 - 2 teaspoons of crushed red pepper
Spoonful of oregano
Spoonful of basil

You can adjust the spices, especially the pepper, according to taste. I don't put in any salt in the beginning, since it cooks for a very long time and the taste changes so much.

This is how my soup looked at this stage:

Bring the soup to a boil, then lower to a high simmer. Simmer for 2 - 3 hours with the lid off, until the veggies are soft all the way through. Depending on the mix of veggies, this can take awhile. I suggest starting the soup when you are going to be cleaning the house and can stir the pot every once in awhile when passing by the kitchen.

The soup is done when the veggies are nice and soft and the soup is reduced to the consistency you desire. Taste and adjust the seasonings as needed. Some more parsley and oregano at this stage add a nice kick, as well as some more red pepper if you like spicy food. Eat your fill, then leave the soup on the stove with the lid on until it cools. Again, this takes a long time, so I generally just leave it overnight. In the morning it is still warm but ready to be doled into containers for storage and passing along!

This was my final product:

Enjoy!