First chard of the season. And I expect more. (Cause there are a couple of plants coming up in our garden.) Peeping over at an earlier post about favorite ways of using greens. First thought that comes to mind is that peanut butter, banana, chard wrap. We don’t have basil yet, but I might be musing in that direction,
Nevermind. We swapped the CSA chard for fennel. Another casserole?
We harvested our first radishes, all four of them, on Friday. The CSA returns today. We have family in town, with more on the way, for multiple celebrations. Time to think about some menu options.
Today’s Box
Baby Green Bok Choy
Green Garlic
Green Leaf Lettuce
Rhubarb Asparagus
Things in the fridge
Sunchokes
In the Garden
Radishes
Open Preserves
Ha! You think I’ve managed to inventory the preserves? I haven’t even carved the time to brainstorm a meal plan reliably over the past year. Thankfully we’ve eaten anyway.
Springtime celebration foods
The cranberry beans got overcooked. Yikes! Let’s try making a dip to go with the radishes. And maybe this egg pudding. Sidebar: What’s the difference between a souffle and an egg pudding? What about a gratin, which apparently it was called previously? Whatever it’s called, I bet it’ll go nicely with a very simple salad of lettuce and dressing.
Rhubarb custard pie. Because it’s been too long.
Green garlic and bok choy sure sound like stir-fry to me. Maybe sometime simple with some tofu? Or dried mushrooms? [Edit. NOPE. I went looking for my links and before I got there came up with the ginger, garlic, bok choy soup and that sounds just right on the rainy day when I’m writing.]
Related: We have some leftover rice. Could do our standard fried rice. Or we could do a kimchi baked rice again. Either way, plan to add in radish tops and some frozen collard stems.
We still have some of the sunchokes from this year’s harvest. Mostly because we didn’t make sunchoke burgers or preserves this year. Do we want to make the burgers for the company? Or maybe do smashed sunchokes on salad? Or somehow make them a side dish for the risotto we’ll make for our big meal? In any case, let’s try to use them soon before we get caught in the glories of our produce bin.
A week ago, not long after we’d picked up our lettuce and bok choy for the week, some neighborhood friends texted. They’d gotten a CSA and now had a fridge full of greens that would surely go bad before they ate them all. Would we like some?
So, I came back home with a bag full of chard and kale and fennel and I don’t even remember what else. I suggested asking around to find someone to split the share for the rest of the season. And also sent an email with a few of our favorite ways to cook up greens, when salad won’t go through them quickly enough. I have a feeling we’ll be needing these in the coming weeks, so for easier searching.
Turmeric black pepper stir fry – Okay, not vegetarian as written. We sub the chicken for tofu and asparagus for greens. or green beans.
Braised cabbage and glass noodles – They have some other cabbage and glass noodle recipes that we also use. Dried mushrooms are a kitchen staple for us now. Also, this is one that we haven’t tried with other greens.
Steamed greens and tofu in a glaze – In case you have a health struggles and suddenly go on extra low-fat watch, but are still allowed sugar. But really, I’ve used this one for years. Usually with brown rice.
Sweet potato, kale, and quinoa fritters – Maybe more in the fall when sweet potatoes are in abundance. definitely served on top of salad, using even more greens 😉
Tacos! – Cannot vouch for this recipe. I read the list above to you and you said tacos were missing.
Enfrijodlas – Ooooh. I do like this recipe though. And would totally stuff them like enchiladas, but with wilted greens
We bought starts on Saturday. Put them in the ground on Sunday. When we arrived, I was surprised at how green our plot already was. The radishes and turnips (pictured) were thriving–we left with a shopping bag full. The lettuce was actually forming. The calendula row from last year was quickly becoming thick with plants, so we’ve thinned and tried replanting at home. One edamame was actually recognizable. The peas were tall enough to think about training them on their tent poles. I think we have cosmos volunteering, but who knows, maybe those sprouts are actually weeds.
Beyond the greens
Look, I picked up extra fennel from the swap box before we got fennel from the neighbors. We’ve already had fennel with braised lentils. Twice. And turnip yogurt poppy salad with fennel fronds as our herb. I’m eyeing this fennel and bean casserole. Planning to pickle up some stems (because we’ve actually used up the previous jars). Contemplating a fennel pesto vs fennel fritter.
We have yet to make lettuce soup, but it has been mentionedpreviously. This might be the week for it. (Especially since the lettuce from yesterday’s box hasn’t made it to the refrigerator yet….)
The changing seasons–when there are pears and watermelon.
Hi John,
It’s getting easier to come up with recipes for this extra low-fat regimen. I miss cheese and the ease of drizzling oil into the pan. I would’ve fried an egg instead of soft-boiling it. And I do miss the pies and ice cream and brownies. Also hummus.
But we’ve figured out risottos. And made pizza from scratch with me weighing out the cheese so I actually do go as lightly as I should. (It still beat the calzone.) Actually measuring the oil at the beginning of a recipe, and using a fraction of what the recipe calls for, has brought back the pasta dishes and fried rice. It seems worth documenting that my salad dressings have been replaced with no-fat yogurt. Yogurt with salt and lime. Yogurt with turmeric, paprika, and cumin. It’s not the same as a version with fat, but it’s working.
Today’s Box
Italian plums
Mini Red Seedless Watermelon
Red Bartlett Pears
Baby Green Bok Choy
Banana Peppers
Green Beans
Green Zucchini
Things I think are in the fridge
Peach
Cantaloupe
Watermelon
Nectarines (farmers market)
Blackberries (farmers market)
Roma tomatoes
Eggplant
Cranberries
Celery
Sweet corn
Greens: Kale
Spaghetti squash
Jerusalem Artichokes
Coming in from the Garden
Basil
Kale
Tomatillos
Roma tomatoes
Occasional ground cherries
More peppers?
Dahlias and marigolds
Papalo when we want it
Rosemary
Open Preserves
Preserved eggplant
Lacto-fermented green cherry tomatoes
Lacto-fermented blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
Pickled banana peppers with oregano, basil, and black pepper
Banana peppers are already pickling. One batch in reused brine. One batch loosely following this.
Plums will become prunes.
I really want to pair the pears with nuts and cheese. Maybe wine. And while we could try poaching them, even that wants a dollop of whipped cream. Instead, let’s get the ice cream maker out of storage. Invite friends for a porch hang where we make pear sorbet. Molly Moon has a recipe. You decide if we go electric or hand crank.
From the box: Broccoli and Bok Choy. Lettuce and asparagus.
Dear John,
The past month has brought lots of heartburn and plenty of fatigue. Meal planning has been sparse at best, partly because it’s hard to know what I’m going to be up to eating.
I think we went three weeks between garden visits at one point? The radishes came! The spinach bolted! The cilantro is off to seed! The mixed stirfry greens have filled many grocery bags with their leaves already! The peas didn’t take off, but the nasturtium are looking pretty leafy. The dahlia that we neglected to dig up last fall has already started blooming.
We bought starts for peppers and tomatoes and tomatillos and ground cherries and herbs. They’re in the ground in the garden and in pots at the house. The sunchokes are in giant pots and earlier today I thought I saw the barest beginnings of a sprout. (The potato that had sprouted went mouldy before we got it in a pot. It is in the compost instead.)
At the house, the lead service line is finally replaced. Without having done any soil testing of our yard, I don’t want to plant edibles there. Flowers sound lovely. A couple more dahlia bulbs. Seed bomb from a friend’s CSA. Extra zinnias and nasturtium. Why not? We can see what wins out in the rocky, bricky, soil + weeds underneath the mulch.
In The Most Recent Box
Asparagus
Bok Choy
Broccoli
Head Lettuce
Still in the Fridge
Strawberries (farmer’s market)
Cranberries
Greens: Kale
Alliums: Green Garlic, Garlic Scapes, White Scallions, Red Scallions
Black radishes, Purple Daikon radishes, Rainbow radishes
Turnips
Potatoes: Sweet
Jerusalem Artichokes
Growing in the Garden
Radishes
Stirfry greens
Nasturtium leaves (as we thin the plants)
Open Preserves
Preserved eggplant
Dill pickle juice
Lacto-fermented green cherry tomatoes
Lacto-fermented blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
Pickled banana peppers with oregano, basil, and black pepper
Meals that use the greens when heartburn makes things tricky
Still trying to eat salads. This week was greens + potatoes + hard boiled eggs + radishes or turnips + parm + mustard vinaigrette. Also arugula or other greens + strawberries + turnips + chevre + almonds + rosemary infusing olive oil. (It’s a new batch and the rosemary flavor isn’t strong yet.)
Omelettes. Scrambled eggs with greens. Breakfast tacos with greens. We haven’t made a quiche yet, so I think that’s coming soon.
Summer rolls (aka salad you can eat with your hands) with peanut butter dipping sauce
Coconut turmeric rice (if coconut milk is available. *sighs at supply chains and decades old planting decisions and climate change and sighs*) with added beans and greens.
Saag aloo, nearly omitting the peppers. Womp womp. But it meant I could sleep at night.
Do not make pizza. Even if it’s kale stem pesto instead of tomato sauce and has plenty of cheese. It took a couple of days to recover an appetite after that single meal.
Yes, the sweet potatoes are larger than the broccoli and the cauliflower.
Happy Veteran’s Day John,
We biked the trail along the river to a restaurant we visited in the first month of living here, and hadn’t been back to since. We’ve done takeout, but this was our first dining out locally since February 28, 2020. Outdoor patio. Masked when we weren’t eating. It was familiar and delicious and so, so foreign. Maybe that’s what everything feels like these days. The return of beloved experiences that were familiar. But with the edge of awareness of different risk tolerances, different boundaries.
Sometimes I manage to be intentional about the small interactions. Asking the Dad if he wants a picture of both of them after he’s posed his kid and snapped a shot. Complementing the woman on her coordinating blues from glasses to shirt to shoes. Bigger conversations still feel awkward, but I can practice bit by bit. Maybe someday it will just feel familiar.
Soup nomination: knock-off pho. Aka rice noodles in garlic-ginger broth with bok choy. Add some dried mushrooms, soft tofu. Top with lime, jalapeno. We’re out of basil, alas. And the cilantro isn’t quite established enough to want to pick its leaves. (It might die before we get there. That’s okay.)
Aloo gobi! I think this is the recipe we used for virtual Indian Friendsgiving. It feels weird to make it with the different cauliflower and blue potatoes. I bet it still tastes delicious.
Roast the broccoli? Serve with lemon juice and pasta and feta/chevre?
Celery salad with dates and parm + apples. Expand the recipe in Six Seasons.
Planning Inside The Box 