spinach

Boxing Day, July 11

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At the beginning of the box life there are more “wait, what is this?” moments. Learning all the different greens that are given, for instance. A decade of on-and-off, but mostly on CSA–half of which we’ve also be gardening in one community or another–three of them with this particular set of farms, that feeling is pretty rare. But I saw blue hyssop on the predicted contents list this week and the only thing I could think of is “Purge me with hyssop and I shall be white as snow.”

I know the Bible is a compilation of many different types of texts, but I generally think of Psalms as the poetry/music collection. Not a cookbook.

Masterclass mastered the SEO. So…..I dunno. Use as one of our herbs of the week? Toss in a salad with the cabbage? Blend with yogurt or hummus for a dressing? Sneak into the morning smoothie?

Today’s Box

  • Blueberries
  • Yellow Peaches
  • Watermelon
  • Blue Hyssop (unless it’s mint. Or sweet basil. But it doesn’t look like either of those.)
  • Celery
  • Gold Zucchini
  • Malabar Spinach
  • Red Cabbage

Things in the fridge

  • Cherries
  • Peach
  • Red Spring Onions
  • Fennel bulb
  • Greens: Cabbage, Chard, Collard, Beet
  • Carrots, turnips, beets
  • Green plums

In the Garden

  • Rainbow chard
  • Basil leaves getting pinched with flowers
  • Dill flowers
  • Calendula flowers still getting dried by the trayful
  • Rosemary
  • Oregano
  • Calendula and cosmos bouquet

Open Preserves

Garden glimpse

We hadn’t touched last week’s chard when we went by the garden this weekend. So bare minimum thinning for this week’s harvest.

In lieu of garden flowers, a picture of the new color of cosmo that popped open at home. Hello pink petals! Hello yellow center!

Meals to make to celebrate summer

  • This is the spinach that I much prefer cooked. Maybe we mix with some rice or quinoa and stuff a zucchini or two? Or involtini.
  • Celery and fennel salad.
  • ‘Tis the season for blueberry peach pie.
  • A few beet reds snuck into a smoothie and I think I liked it? Expect a repeat. After I finish my cucumber innards muesli (made with the seeds scooped out of cucumbers before making a salad last week).
  • We haven’t used those collards for too long. How about a salad?

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 20

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Psst, photographer…hide the twist ties/rubber bands. Or at least make them less prominent?

Hi John,

My parents texted this morning that they’re on the road. They’ll arrive tomorrow and be here through next Tuesday, when we switch from the one-size winter box we split to the small-size summer box that’s just us.

Today’s Box

  • Baby Hakurei Turnips
  • Cilantro
  • Green Cabbage
  • Green Dandelion
  • Orange Carrots
  • Purple Daikon Radishes
  • Red Scallions
  • Spinach

Things in the fridge

  • Cranberries
  • Purple Daikon Radishes
  • Red Radishes
  • Cilantro
  • Carrots of the rainbow
  • Sunchoke
  • Red Beet

In the Garden

  • Garlic chives
  • Rosemary
  • Oregano
  • Dahlia bulbs

Open Preserves

Dinners with visitors

  • It turns out that the parsley I picked up as a bonus last week is actually cilantro. And we got more cilantro today. And rotted cilantro is a heartbreak. So, let’s use this. Cabbage and peanut slaw with cilantro on breakfast tacos and maybe in spring rolls. Roasted beets and carrots in a Thai-inspired curry. Ginger-garlic-not-quite-pho. Note: all of these should also use up the scallions.
  • Usually we’ve cooked up dandelion greens with beans. But we have pizza dough left from earlier in the week. Dandelion greens, garlic, and goat cheese?
  • The cilantro slaw will presumably be our main salad of the week. But let’s have spinach + turnip + carrot as our go to side salad.

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 30

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Lettuce and spinach and dandelion greens and parsley.

Dear John,

The equinox has come. Easter is quick on it’s way. Garden scheming time is here. This weekend we pulled out our box of seeds to start scheming. I’m surrounded by slips of paper scribbled with notes. Trying to decide what goes where. This year we’re going to try planting the tall plants on the north end of the garden and the shorter on the southern end.

Currently in the north end of the plot, it turns out the plants that we thought were the garlic that we sowed but then never figured out when to harvest are actually garlic chives. Which can take over as much space as we give them. So maybe let’s give them less space? And harvest a bunch? Which means cooking a bunch. Make some compound butter. Dehydrate some and make into a salt. Try some egg noodles where the chives are the noodles. Or just some eggs. If we ever make it to the Asian grocery, pick up some dried shrimp and try these or see if the spiced tofu is gluten free and we can make this stirfry.

Today’s Box

  • Italian Parsley
  • Jerusalem Artichokes
  • Little Gem Romaine Lettuce
  • Purple Daikon Radishes
  • Spinach
  • Yellow Carrots
  • Yellow Onions
  • Green Dandelion

Things in the fridge

  • Cranberries
  • Chioggia Beets
  • Purple Daikon Radishes
  • Robins Koginut Squash
  • Shallots
  • Jerusalem Artichokes
  • Red Beets

In the Garden

  • Garlic chives
  • Rosemary
  • Dahlia bulbs
  • Sunchokes

Open Preserves

Goes well with garlic chives (or not)

  • It feels like a stir-fry week. Mix up some sauce, put some rice in the pressure cooker, chop some veggies, and play.
  • We have beans in the freezer that are waiting to be cooked with dandelion greens. Let’s pick up some sausage and see if we feel comfortable pinching sage leaves from the herb plot in the garden. We have some dried if not.
  • Salads! We’ve been talking about adding more fish into our diet, perhaps we try a variation on a salmon salad? The ladolemono dressing sounds yummy! Or in for a vegetarian, but add oil, approach time to top with smashed sunchoke. I’m wondering if there’s a way to use the sunchokes instead of artichokes in a quinoa salad dish like this. Maybe easier to try adapting a pasta salad that’s halfway there first? (Use last summer’s pesto from the freezer!) Or just a straightforward green salad.
  • We haven’t been eating risotto as much recently, probably because we ate it so much for required diets previously. This sunchoke risotto intrigues me.

Sarah

Boxing Day, August 2

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Golden reds and oranges and yellows in the peaches and tomatoes

Hi John,

Saturday we walked to the garden, a feat unto itself. We pulled up some weeds and nibbled on berries from the common area. And we harvested. Edamame! Kale! Tomatillos! Roma tomatoes! And, some beautiful beefsteak tomatoes. That night, I snuck into the kitchen and cut the tomato into thick slices. Sprinkled with salt. Set on plate with knife and fork in hand. One of the moments of sheer, summer perfection.

Today’s box makes it clear that we are IN tomato season. And honestly, a few more meals like that Saturday night snack sounds just right.

Actually in Today’s Box

  • Yellow Peaches
  • Red Seedless Watermelon
  • Bicolor Sweet Corn
  • Malabar Spinach
  • Mixed Cherry Tomatoes
  • Mixed Heirloom Tomatoes

Things I think are in the fridge

  • Blueberries (farmer’s market)
  • Peaches
  • Fennel
  • Cucumber (farmer’s market)
  • Cranberries
  • Lemon squash
  • Green peppers
  • Celery
  • Greens: Savoy Cabbage, Kale
  • Green Daikon radish
  • Sweet potato
  • Jerusalem Artichokes

Coming in from the Garden

  • Edamame
  • Basil
  • Kale
  • Tomatillos
  • Aunt Ruby’s German Green (Beefsteak) tomatoes
  • Roma tomatoes
  • Occasional ground cherries
  • Shishito peppers
  • Jimmy Nardello pepper
  • 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
  • Pickled fennel stems with orange
  • Spicy pickled fennel stems
  • Radish kimchi
  • Green tomato chutney
  • Applesauce
  • Probably still more uninventoried

Snacks for now and meals to share

  • Lacto-ferment the green cherry tomatoes that we rescued from a pruned stem (no need to have them ripen on the counter forever and ever)
  • Blueberry-peach pie!
  • The corn, basil, blueberry salad from Half-Baked Harvest
  • Israeli-Spiced Tomatoes and chickpeas from Six Seasons
  • Cucumbers and papalo from Six Seasons
  • BLTs. Grilled Cheese with tomato slices.
  • More of the rosemary-spiced nuts
  • Watermelon-basil agua fresca
  • A meal of appetizers/sides. Edamame. Blister the shishito peppers. Maybe this tomato salad (note the ginger substitution). Or maybe the tomatoes and eggs. Side of rice.

Love,

Sarah

Catching up

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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
  • Plain pickled banana peppers
  • Pickled fennel stems with orange
  • Spicy pickled fennel stems
  • Radish kimchi
  • Sunchoke relish
  • Green tomato chutney
  • Applesauce
  • Cranberry orange marmalade-ish
  • Probably still more uninventoried

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.
  • Twice baked potatoes.
  • Risotto with turnips and their greens.
  • Pad see ew with stirfry greens
  • 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.

Hoping the heartburn dissipates soon!

Sarah

Boxing Day, March 17

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We had enough sweet potato from the last box. We gave our fellow share splitters the sweet potatoes from this week.

Hi John,

Friday afternoon I was curled up in your office, just starting the next book for bookclub, when you answered a phone call from my dad. Everything’s fine. But they were on the road home from visiting my sister and realized that the weather for the weekend wasn’t conducive for travel. With three hours notice, we managed to prepare for our for guests since we moved–slightly organize the moving chaos, wash the towels, and make dinner.

We’ve done minimal hosting these past two years. Occasional picnics with friends. Two visits from my sister, once where we had my cousin come over for dinner the day after he moved to town. Sometimes taking a dish over to a friends’ house. I think that’s it.

So it was reassuring to realize that we could still cook for more people (than just us). We had turnip fried rice, butternut and bean soup (using the volunbeans!), shaved cabbage salad with a lemon-garlic dressing, baked oatmeal, and wood ear mushroom congee. Successful hosting! Without intentionally stocking up for the visit! Or running to the grocery store! (To be fair, we have been able to keep a stocked fridge and pantry. And, while I’m trying to stockpile fewer dry goods than I was at this point of 2020, we still try to keep food on hand so that we could quarantine for two weeks.)

In This Week’s Box

  • Broccoli
  • Cilantro
  • Flat Leaf Spinach
  • Jerusalem Artichokes
  • Orange Carrots
  • Purple Topped Turnips
  • White Scallions

Still in the Fridge

  • Cup of cooked volunbeans
  • Cranberries
  • Broccoli
  • Mushrooms
  • Celery
  • Greens: Green Cabbage
  • Carrots
  • Parsnip
  • Black radishes, Red radishes, Breakfast 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

Meals for now (and maybe later)

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, October 28

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Offcamera, frustration at the squash that had been on display and is now rotting. Oooops.

Dear John,

It has been a whirlwind of a week. Right now I am tired and hungry-ish and don’t really know what’s in the fridge except that the only leftovers are a half-cup of macaroni noodles. Which does not a meal make. But may be enhanced into a snack? I will skip further preamble in order to peruse ingredients from the comfort of the couch.

In This Week’s Box

  • Asian Pears
  • Honeycrisp Apples
  • Celery
  • Cubanelle Peppers
  • Delicata Squash
  • Ginger
  • Red Beets
  • Spinach
  • Sweet Onions
  • White Kohlrabi

Garden Potential

  • Starfish pepper
  • Deciding how long to wait on the final jalapenos
  • Lombok peppers
  • Last of the tomatillos, for real
  • Volunbeans for drying
  • Tomato, possibly to ripen on counter

Still in the Fridge

  • Apples: Gala, Empire, Jonagold, U-pick, Granny Smith
  • Bartlett Pears, Asian Pears, Bosc Pears
  • Greens: 1/2 a cabbage, 1/2 bunch collards, Savoy Cabbage, Romain lettuce, Dandelion, Red leaf lettuce
  • Herbs: Fennel tops
  • Leeks
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Tomatillos
  • Broccoli
  • Edamame
  • Baby Hakurei Turnips
  • Peppers: Yummy, Lombok, Starfish, Banana, Jalapeno, Carmen
  • Carrots
  • Squash: Delicata, Red Kabocha, Spaghetti, Robins Koginut
  • Garlic
  • Potatoes: Blue, Sweet
  • 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
  • Radish kimchi
  • Sunchoke relish
  • Green tomato chutney
  • Sour cherry chutney
  • Freedom berry jam
  • Apple sauce
  • Apple butter
  • Quince jelly
  • Probably still more uninventoried

Things we’ve already eaten

  • Tacos! Braised collard stems with scrambled eggs and tomatilla salsa. Sweet potatoes and black beans with the fermented habanada jalapeno hot sauce. Take-out from the place near the canoe launch.
  • Tomato sauce (butter and garlic and sage and one red pepper) with macaroni noodles
  • Sweet potato and greens (mostly turnip, some spinach) gratin. Roux from here.

Things we may yet eat

  • Soup of the week: Smokey beetroot and pistachio soup from Midnight Chicken.
  • Or mix roasted beets with yogurt. Maybe adding some fresh ginger at the end?
  • Squash pizza. With the pickled peppers? With goat cheese and lemon slices? With blackberries (from the freezer)?
  • Remember a couple of weeks back when I was thinking of apple slaw. The recipe I was remembering then is kohlrabi and apple and ginger and we have all of those right now. Perhaps I will go prepare some for lunch.

Love,

Sarah