The “Tell” – Springdell Summer CSA Pickup #20

Thank you for joining us for the 20th Summer CSA “Tell” of the Springdell Show and Tell.  Let’s recap this week’s goodies, shall we?

•  popcorn cobs
  • Popcorn, of course!  (and a few burnt kernels for practice)
  • Popcorn with a Citrus Brown Butter 
• apples
  • Roasted with Brussels sprouts
  • Honey crisp enjoyed as-is
  • In lots and lots of smoothies
  • Awaiting their fate in Cranberry Scones and Cranberry Apple Relish
  • Rotkohl
• red cabbage
  • Taco toppings
  • Honey Roasted Sweet Potato and Red Cabbage
  • Rotkohl
• bag of cranberries
  • Awaiting their fate in Cranberry Scones and Cranberry Apple Relish
  • Sauce stirred into the Winter Squash Soup
  • Frozen for future use
• bag of Brussels sprouts
  • Roasted with Apples
  • Roasted with olive oil and salt
• broccoli
  • Broccoli “Crunchies”
  • Quick Broccoli Cheddar Soup (in Vitamix)
  • Slow Cooker Chicken Rice and Broccoli
• watermelon radish
  • In the root cellar for the moment
• dumpling squash
  • Tofu Taco Scramble
  • Winter Squash Soup
• spaghetti squash
  • Spaghetti Squash and Spinach Ebelskivers
  • Tossed with Garlic Butter and Grated Parmesan
  • The giant Spaghetti Squash is being stored and hardened for later use
  • Awaiting tomorrow’s dinner!
• onions
  • Spaghetti Squash and Spinach Ebelskivers
  • Spinach Dip (see below)
  • Tofu Squash Taco Scramble
  • In sauce for Slow Cooker Barbecue Chicken
  • Tougher peels saved for Veggie Broth
  • In Beef Bone Broth (post coming soon)
  • Pork stew
  • Stored for later use
• sweet potatoes
  • Sweet Potato Oven Fries
  • Honey Roasted Sweet Potato and Red Cabbage
  • Mashed sweet potatoes with butter and brown sugar
• spinach
  • Spinach Dip (see below)
  • Spinach and Ricotta Filling
  • With leftover Crockpot Chicken Thighs
  • Simple salads
  • Smoooooothieeeeees!

All veggie scraps composted unless otherwise noted.

Now, for a word from Jess:

There it goes, the very last Summer CSA Share Box of 2015 in all it’s glory!  In the days of old, this would leave me feeling bummed out, and braced to return to the zombie walk through the supermarket aisles. No more! Thankfully, having learned (still learning) how to preserve some of the harvest, I’m able to make it through the winter using the summer bounty.  The Winter CSA is only a couple of weeks away as well, and this combination will happily carry us through until the next season.  

On to tonight’s recipe.  I was craving a good spinach dip.  I’m grateful that this is exactly what I got!  

One trick I learned that came in quite handy tonight is that you can soak your radish slices in water.  If you change the water regularly, they’ll keep for a while (these are from the 19th share box) and also lose some of that bite while still keeping their crisp.  This makes them a great stand-in for the water chestnuts that you often find in a good spinach dip.  Dice the whole radish, or chop up only the white centers if the pink color is off-putting to you in the dip.  I had a swapbox pepper and small onion that really came in handy with this dish.    Both were tiny which is good as the recipe only called for a tiny amount (the corn kernels in the photo are for scale.)A few good pulses in the Vitamix and I had a dip that was so good I was ready to bathe in it.  It’s awesome with carrot sticks, broccoli, peppers and just about anything else that was a healthy harbinger of dip.

For the next couple of weeks we’ll be working from some of the ingredients that we’ve been storing, then onto the Winter CSA.  We hope you’ll stay tuned!