The “Tell” – Springdell Summer CSA Pickup #3 4

Hi everyone, Jess here. Hope everyone had a good Fourth! I had a pretty busy week, but still managed to get some cooking done along the way. I hope you’re enjoying the CSA as much as we are here at the Anderson household.

Look at the beautiful colors and shapes of this pickup!  

• Oriental Cabbage 
  • Picnic Salad Encore
  • Little Cabbage Garnishes (see below)
• Kale
  • Kale and Strawberry Breakfast Smoothies
• Rainbow Chard
  • White Bean and Chard Soup Encore (2 batches- one using ham hock broth in place of veggie broth)
• Garlic Scapes
  • Sauteed in “Zoodles” stir-fry
  • Vegetable Fried Rice
  • Garlic Scape Pesto Dip
• Head Lettuce
  • Green Mermaid Nori Rolls
  • Crab Meat and Pea Shoot Salad
  • Lettuce Wraps with Maple-Bourbon Glazed Springdell Pork Cutlets
  • Lettuce for BBQ fixin’s
• Greenhouse Grown Green Slicing Cucumbers
  • Enjoyed as-is, and in lettuce wraps
• Strawberries
  • Strawberry Rhubarb Mojitos
  • Kale and Berry Smoothies
  • Strawberry Vinaigrette
• Radishes
  • Picnic Salad
• English Peas
  • Shelled and Steamed
  • Pasta Primavera
• Summer Squash
  • Vegetable Fried Rice
  • Tossed with Zoodles in Soy-Ginger Sauce
• Zucchini
  • Zoodles with Soy-Ginger Sauce
• Broccoli Crowns
  • Steamed and served with dipping sauces (Sour Cream and Garlic Pesto Dip, and Homemade Peanut Sauce)
  • Vegetable Fried Rice
     
• Strawberries
  • Cleaned and frozen for berry smoothies and other uses
• Eggs
  • Fried Rice with CSA veggies
  • Scrambled
  • Eggs in a Nest
    
• 2 Boxes of Johnny Putt Farm Microgreens (I got pea tendrils and Sunflower Shoots this time)
  • Sunflower shoots tossed in daily smoothies (providing a creamy & nutty flavor) and in a small personal salad with honey mustard dressing.
  • Pea Tendrils Sauteed with Crab Meat
  • Pea Tendrils in Pasta Primavera

Let’s take a quick rewind of my kitchen this week:

Zucchini Noodles, or “Zoodles“, are great at the beginning of the season when the veggies are young and tender. Try these healthy noodles as you would pasta. This Meatless Monday dish was made with ginger-soy marinated tofu.  

Most days, the boys like their veggies plain.  When the first round of broccoli and english peas came through, they forewent the fried rice and Zoodles and instead went for steamed broccoli, peas tofu and white rice.

This is their dinner, and they couldn’t be happier. 

Glen and I preferred the veggie fried rice, complete with summer squash, peas, broccoli and eggs.

I had one head of broccoli crowns left that I saved for a snack during the week.  We dipped with garlic pesto sour cream dip, and more homemade peanut sauce dip (sorry for the peanut sauce rerun- after making a batch of peanut sauce, it ends up on just about everything for the next week or two.)

Here’s a Fourth of July Strawberry Rhubarb Mojito!  It was pretty darn tasty!

Pasta primavera made it onto the table for lunch during the week, the “primavera” consisting of broccoli, pea tendrils, garlic scapes and peas.  Light and delicious!

Bourbon maple glazed Springdell pork cutlets.  With chopped cucumbers and lettuce, they made great wraps with the homemade peanut sauce (I know I know, more peanut sauce…  But it is so good!)

Mid week, after a visit to the Jordan Brothers Seafood truck, I was really feeling creative.  I mixed the pea tendrils with some lump crabmeat and sautéed it in olive oil and Amish Roll Butter.  It was divine.

I found further inspiration after spending last weekend camping in Provincetown. We stopped at a little vegan place called Grab ‘N Go Health Bar. I had a dish called a “Green Mermaid” which was avocado and fresh greens wrapped in nori.  I tried to recreate it, except I toasted the nori sheets over the stove, and well, added the crabmeat and pea tendril mixture. Oh, and the greens were in a lime vinaigrette.   

This was totally heavenly. I would make this again in a heartbeat.  I’ll try to get the details posted this week. The family preferred no nori, so the salad version was also enjoyed.

I just had to share this quick photo of the core of the Oriental cabbage.  It was covered in tiny cabbages, and they made very fun little garnishes! 

I finally posted the ham hocks and collard greens recipe.  For those of you out there with collard greens, go see Farmer Jamie and grab a ham hock or two and try this one! It is delicious, especially with a dash of cider vinegar. The best part is that it creates this hammy stock which is great in a bean-based recipe.  

Remember last week I tried that white bean and chard soup? It was scrumptious in vegan form, and so for my Saturday Barbecue, I made another vegan batch, and a batch using half of the ham hock stock from the collard greens recipe above. Here are the last of my storage onions sautéing in preparation.And here are both the soups in the crock pots at the barbecue.  The vegan version and the not-so-vegan version were both great!When swinging back to the farm to get that extra bunch of swiss chard for the soup this week, I had an idea, and so I picked some spearmint, mint, and thyme…  I made a whole mess of lemonade, and set the herbs on a high top table with some citrus, simple syrups, and various liquors. I had concocted a little list of cocktail options and left it out, and we all had fun trying lemonade margaritas, whisky thyme sours, lemon drops, lemonade mint julieps, shandies, and some unnamed tasty numbers. After feeling a little woozy, I switched to lemonade “nojitos” which were equally delicious. Such a fun time, I was ready to dance in the summer thunderstorm.

We also had an encore performance of Simply Recipe’s Picnic Salad at the BBQ. The cabbage holds up nicely, making it a great salad for a barbecue.  This time, the snap peas were from our Community Garden plot. 

I forgot to take pics of the garlic pesto dips that made their appearance at the barbecue. We had it mixed in a sour cream dip with tortilla chips, and I served it with some cheese and crackers.  All that was left by the time I took the photo was a half-devoured brie and some pesto on the knife. The party is over!  

Thanks so much for reading, I know this was a long one! Remember to get your applications in for the Winter and Spring Shares for next year if you’re interested! Meanwhile, I’m looking forward to picking up a new crate of goodies tomorrow, and hope you’ll tune in to read the 4th “Tell” of the Springdell Show and Tell!