red radishes

Boxing Day, October 4

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Today’s Box

  • Asian Pears
  • Gala Apples
  • Butternut Squash
  • Fennel
  • Green Kale
  • Green Leaf Lettuce
  • Red Radishes

Things in the fridge

  • Apples
  • Plums
  • Pears
  • Lemongrass
  • Tomatoes
  • Greens: Chard, lettuce
  • Squash: Acorn, white acorn
  • Yummy peppers
  • Hot peppers

In the Garden

  • Habaneros, jalapenos, fish peppers, other peppers, still getting peppers
  • Rainbow chard
  • Dried beans
  • Edamame
  • Beets? Maybe. We should pull them some day.
  • Parsley if we want (we should pop some on the dehydrator)
  • Rosemary
  • Oregano
  • Dahlias and cosmos and gomphrena for the table

Open Preserves

  • Preserved eggplant
  • Lacto-fermented blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
  • Pickled kale stems
  • Pickled fennel stems
  • Radish kimchi
  • Green tomato chutney
  • Tomatillo salsa
  • Cran-kin kraut
  • Cranapple chutney
  • Watermelon rind dill pickles
  • Probably still more uninventoried

Meals that might make leftovers

  • Squash and kale soup? I think I want to get sausage to put in it. Something like this. Maybe a fennel and bean soup?
  • Though, also, fennel and lentils was really good in the spring.
  • And let’s just make fennel pesto with the fronds. Can be mixed with yogurt for a dip, and you know how I feel about dips these days. (I want them all the time.)
  • Check out apple and pear salads in Pulp.
  • I still want that squash lasagna.

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, April 25

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Seasonal shift to the smaller boxes.

Dear John,

The visit was good, and I am, predictably, exhausted. We’ll have some easy meals of leftovers the next few days while you finish your conference. (Because making enough for everyone to have leftovers is more of a trick than I know how to do.) And maybe some other of our go-to easy meals. I’m optimistic that by the weekend I’ll be cooking to restock our freezer. Turn the accumulated apple cores into a chutney and a jelly. Fill the space with one last round of sunchoke burgers.

Today’s Box

  • Green Garlic
  • Jerusalem Artichokes
  • Red Radishes
  • Spinach

Things in the fridge

  • Cranberries
  • Cilantro
  • Scallions
  • Carrots of the rainbow
  • Daikon Radishes
  • Turnips
  • Sunchoke

In the Garden

  • Garlic chives
  • Rosemary
  • Oregano
  • Dahlia bulbs

Open Preserves

Meanwhile at the garden

Baby bunnies that another gardener spotted in our plot.
Hello Peter and siblings.

Here’s hoping that we have done a proper Mr. McGregor and discouraged them from staying.

Dinners for just us

  • You know what I’m thinking? This is probably our best opportunity to make a major dent in our produce stash. Smaller box (I’m ignoring the more frequent detail). Our produce isn’t coming in yet. Nevermind that I didn’t plant more last time I was there. Figured the bunnies had enough to chew.
  • I’m back to simple side salads with the spinach and carrots and turnips and red radishes. Dressed up with beans if we need it to be the meal.
  • With the sunchokes going to burgers (and maybe a relish), really the thing that’s left is the daikon. I looked at some turnip cake recipes to use them, but honestly, pizza and stirfry seem straightforward uses.

Sarah

Boxing Day, April 6

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So many onions. Such an easy staple to use, that I’m not even going to pretend to look for recipes for them.

Dear John,

Easter dinner is upon us. Macaroni and cheese. Biscuits. Triple threat galette. Simple salad. Some sort of lemon cake, or cake with lemon curd, or lemon cream tart. Friends. Family. Seemingly straightforward. With luck, we’ll have leftovers to carry through a busy week of work. (Time to raid the freezer if we don’t!)

Today’s Box

  • Asian Greens Mix
  • Broccoli Rabe
  • Cilantro
  • Onions
  • Orange Carrots
  • Rainbow Chard
  • Red Radishes
  • Spinach  

Things in the fridge

  • Cranberries
  • Chioggia Beets
  • Purple Daikon Radishes
  • Italian Parsley
  • Spinach
  • Yellow Carrots
  • Yellow Onions
  • Robins Koginut Squash
  • Shallots
  • Sunchoke
  • Red Beets

In the Garden

  • Garlic chives
  • Rosemary
  • Dahlia bulbs

Open Preserves

Quick meals for busy days

  • We have cilantro. We have chard. You know what to do.
  • Simple salads. Greens + carrots + radish. Add quinoa and a miso-tofu dressing. Add beans and the leftover oregano-lemon dressing. Switch it up for greens + beets + grapefruit + blue cheese.
  • Really the broccoli rabe is the thing that isn’t essentially a salad or soup staple these days. I vote pizza.
  • And we should see if that squash is still good…. It’s been a minute. Stuffing it would be a solid dinner.

Sarah

Boxing Day, March 31

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Last week we got purple daikon radishes from our CSA share splitters. This week we left them the green cabbage.

Hi John,

This week the house’s internal network is being rewired, we’re getting quotes for replacing the lead service line, and we’ve reached out to a couple of companies for advice about whether to get quotes for solar panels before or after we replace the roof. Home ownership is fun?

[Edited to add that the one of the plumbers who we gave a quote for the service line advertised discounts on additional services done at the same time. And our home inspector did say that we should replace the water heater soon. So, we have also been researching the merits of electric tank vs electric tankless vs heat pump aka hybrid water heaters. All the contractors are pro-gas tankless, but anti-electric tankless. The hybrid is more expensive up-front, but our calculations show that the energy cost savings should be substantial. And the warranty is four years longer.]

In This Week’s Box

  • Cremini Mushrooms
  • Garnet Sweet Potatoes
  • Green Garlic
  • Mixed Specialty Lettuce
  • Red Radishes
  • Red Russian Kale
  • Rutabaga (not turnip like you think)

Still in the Fridge

  • Cranberries
  • Celery
  • Greens: Green Cabbage
  • Carrots
  • Parsnip
  • Black radishes, Purple Daikon radishes
  • Turnips
  • Potatoes: Sweet
  • Onions
  • Jerusalem Artichokes

Open Preserves

  • Preserved eggplant
  • Dill pickle juice
  • Lacto-fermented green cherry tomatoes
  • Lacto-fermented blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
  • Lacto-fermented habanda jalapeno hot sauce
  • Pickled red onion
  • Pickled banana peppers with oregano, basil, and black pepper
  • Plain pickled banana peppers
  • Pickled fennel stems with orange
  • Spicy pickled fennel stems
  • Radish kimchi
  • Sunchoke relish
  • Green tomato chutney
  • Freedom berry jam
  • Cranberry orange marmalade-ish
  • Probably still more uninventoried

Successful meals we’ve made

I’m late posting this week, which has the benefit of knowing what we actually ate. (If not the help of figuring out what we could eat.)

  • Salad greens + radish + avocado + grapes + toasted walnuts + goat cheese + either balsamic dressing or simply rosemary olive oil = a happy salad (It would’ve been great if there was still broccoli for it, but that has already been finished in twice baked potatoes.)
  • Kale + pinto beans + radish + carrots + sweet and spicy vinegary dressing = a solid salad
  • Spinach + quick cook sweet potato + black beans + radish + homemade ranch = the salad I kept eating last week.
  • Sunchoke burgers used half the mushrooms
  • Spaghetti with mushroom marinara use the other half. (And honestly would’ve been better with more mushrooms, but we were out. Need to go to the Asian market and stock up on dried mushrooms too.)

Less success

  • Rutabaga rosti. I’d seen a video that talked up potato rosti the week before. So when I looked for ideas with rutabaga and saw a post about rosti it sounded like it’d fill a craving I hadn’t known I’d had. But cooking in the cast iron skillet and otherwise trying to follow the video, well, it was a less successful dish. I kept burning the bottom layer and it never really stuck all together. Next time, let’s consider going closer to latkes. They can still get topped with sour cream and the green garlic.

Yet to come

  • More sweet potato! (This time at least we only got a single three pounder.) I’ve been going through our frozen gnocci stockpiles, so maybe more there? More roasted on tacos and salads? Thai curry with radish greens?
  • Actually make that root vegetable lasagna that I posted last time.
  • Finish off the cabbage. More of the shaved salad with lemon garlic parmesan dressing?
  • Eventually, I really should try to pickle those black radishes.

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, March 3

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End of day photo means the greens look a bit wilty. It’s okay. Water will perk them up.

Heya John,

After two years of pandemic, a flood, a rebuilding, a death, and I don’t even remember what else, we made the trip to visit your parents at their home. The snow was timed perfectly for us to be able to go skiing. (Though my rental skis resisted sliding so it was somewhere between skiing and snow-shoeing in long, narrow shoes.) You provided tech support. We both considered which furniture might be worth making the cross-country move. And, we mostly let your mom do the cooking.

There are more unused veggies this week than sometimes. I think we’re making a dent in them, but it might be time to make some meals to freeze.

In This Week’s Box

  • Beauregard Sweet Potatoes
  • Broccoli
  • Celery
  • French Breakfast Radishes
  • Italian Parsley
  • Purple Top Turnips
  • White Mushrooms
  • Green Kale Hearts

Still in the Fridge

  • Cranberries
  • Greens: Red Cabbage, Green Cabbage
  • Kohlrabi
  • Carrots
  • Parsnip
  • Black radishes, Red radishes, Winter radishes
  • Turnips
  • Squash: Butternut
  • Potatoes: Sweet, Purple
  • Onions
  • Jerusalem Artichokes

Open Preserves

  • Preserved eggplant
  • Dill pickle juice
  • Lacto-fermented green cherry tomatoes
  • Lacto-fermented blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
  • Lacto-fermented habanda jalapeno hot sauce
  • Pickled red onion
  • Pickled banana peppers with oregano, basil, and black pepper
  • Plain pickled banana peppers
  • Pickled fennel stems with orange
  • Spicy pickled fennel stems
  • Radish kimchi
  • Sunchoke relish
  • Green tomato chutney
  • Freedom berry jam
  • Cranapple
  • Probably still more uninventoried

Can we talk about that sweet potato?

That is seven pounds + nine point two ounces.

In the back of the veggie pile, the potato looks large. But then you actually see pick it up and realize that is closer to the size of my head than a baby’s head.

It’s a lot of sweet potato.

My plan is to wash it, prick it, and then put it in the instant pot for, oh, let’s start with an hour. It should go quicker if I cut it up first. But it looks a bit unwieldy for the cutting.

Anyway, later today we should have much sweet potato mash. Once it’s cooled, I’ll put it in the freezer. We can use it for sweet potato waffles/kofkas/crème brûlée/whatever. Presumably for quite a while. (Especially considering we have other sweet potatoes to use between now and then.)

Meal-spiration

Love you,

Sarah

Boxing Day, February 3

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Not pictures, sweet potatoes we left for the box sharers.

Hi John,

The boxes are fewer, though it still feels like they surround me in most rooms. The kitchen is inching towards usability, and in fact gets cooked in most days. At least the counters mostly make sense. We haven’t figured out a good place for dishes to go between being washed and dried, but I could clear a space to pose for this week’s produce picture.

That said, my summary of the past few weeks is that for someone who wants to be less consumption focused, I sure am spending a lot of time shopping. Both you and the friends who have heard this comment remind me that there’s good reason for that. We’re at a confluence of life transitions. Getting furniture now that fits the house we expect to be in for years makes sense. For instance, we’re currently on the lookout for the right kitchen island/cart. The cabinets don’t actually have a place that fits most pots and pans. Or the baking sheets. It’s a bit of a problem. While a kitchen remodel is probably in the long-term plans for the house (along with figuring out better insulation in that space), it’s not the top priority. So, we get to figure out what we can add that will make the existing facilities more functional. A 44 inch kitchen cart sounds promising.

In This Week’s Box

  • Cilantro
  • Kossak Kohlrabi
  • Rainbow Carrots
  • Rainbow Chard
  • Red Radishes
  • Purple Top Turnips

Still in the Fridge

  • Apples: last of the season
  • Cranberries
  • Greens: Red Cabbage
  • Celery
  • Carrots
  • Parsnip
  • Black radishes
  • Red beets
  • Squash: Spaghetti, Butternut
  • Potatoes: Sweet, Purple
  • Sunchokes

Open Preserves

  • Preserved eggplant
  • Dill pickle juice
  • Lacto-fermented green cherry tomatoes
  • Lacto-fermented blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
  • Lacto-fermented habanda jalapeno hot sauce
  • Pickled red onion
  • Pickled banana peppers with oregano, basil, and black pepper
  • Plain pickled banana peppers
  • Pickled fennel stems with orange
  • Spicy pickled fennel stems
  • Radish kimchi
  • Sunchoke relish
  • Green tomato chutney
  • Freedom berry jam
  • Cranapple
  • Probably still more uninventoried

What to eat

  • We’ve already discussed that next time you are making soup, consider making one and a half recipes so you’d use all the parsnips instead of leaving a single, half pound, parsnip in the fridge. That said, I’m thinking some sort of shepherd’s pie situation is in order. Probably want to buy some mushrooms for it. Consider having the topping include kohlrabi as well as potatoes.
  • Oh! Buy enough mushrooms to use some more in the Freekeh, Mushrooms, Turnips, and Almonds recipe from Six Seasons. We’ll substitute another grain, of course. Perhaps sorghum? Or maybe change it to French lentils.
  • Chard and Cilantro means we get to make this soup again! Bonus for using some of the dried volunbeans.
  • Confession: I haven’t touched the beets. I think it might be time to roast, puree, and freeze. (To be added to hummus or yogurt or the beet pistachio soup from Midnight Chicken at some later date.) Maybe save one or two to shred for a salad with carrots and walnuts and some citrus. This might actually be sounding good. Use up the rest of the cabbage to go with it or nah?

Sarah