CSA 2016- Week 20 Kansas City

The items available for Week 20 of the CSA season are: Farm Selected Items (only 2 this week, so CSA members get an extra choice) : Sweet Bell Peppers and Stir fry Greens and for the Choice Items: Salad greens, Green Beans, Summer Squash (Patty pan squash, Yellow Squash, Zucchini) and Winter Squash ( Acorn Squash and Spaghetti Squash), Eggplant, Cucumbers, Green Onions, Baby Bok Choy,  Cilantro, Spicy Peppers (mostly Jalapeños) and Garlic. For additional recipe ideas, check out my CSA veggie Pinterest board: https://www.pinterest.com/sheriredfearn/csa-veggies-recipes/

Sweet Bell Peppers (Farm selected Item):  Store in plastic bag, in refrigerator. Meal idea: sauté sliced candy onions and sweet pepper for a tasty Philly Cheese Sandwich or Fajitas. Stuffed peppers are also a favorite main dish at our house; zucchini/ yellow squash can also be stuffed using the same recipe. Sweet peppers can easily be preserved by freezing and they can be frozen raw, without blanching first. Cut peppers into the desired size: diced for adding to winter casseroles, soups or sauces; sliced for fajitas; or halved (or the tops cut off) to be used for stuffed peppers (also, after freezing there is no need to parboil peppers before stuffing) and freeze in freezer bags.

Baby Stir-fry greens mix (Choice item): Store in plastic bag in refrigerator, use within a couple days. This greens mix contains a variety of nutritious cabbage family greens including Red Mustard, Green Mustard, Chinese Cabbage, Pac Choi, and Tatsoi. Basic cooking instructions: wash and spin dry, slice or chop greens, heat oil (olive or vegetable) over medium-high heat. Gradually add chopped greens, stirring to just wilt.  Season with salt and pepper.  Variations: add chopped garlic when you add the greens. Top the cooked greens with a fried egg(s). Here’s a detailed sir-fried greens recipe. Our family’s favorite way to enjoy stir-fry greens in alongside Korean Beef on a bowl of rice, topped with a fried egg. This recipe for Greens cooked with tomatoes and topped with eggs has helped many people enjoy greens. It is a highly adaptable recipe, and can be used with nearly any type of leafy cooking green, from spicy mustards to mellow chard. Also, some recipes that call for mustard greens can be substituted for this stir fry mix, such as: Indian Saag or Curried Mustard Greens with Kidney Beans.

CHOICES (Basic shares can choose 3, Premium Shares can choose 6):

Salad mix (ChoiceItem):  Store in plastic bag, in refrigerator.

Green Beans (Choice item): store in plastic bag in refrigerator. Basic cooking instructions: trim the stem end off and leave beans whole or snap into shorter pieces. Heat a pot of salted water to boiling, add beans, and boil 2 to 4 minutes, until almost tender- crisp. Drain beans very well (if you will be finishing the beans later, cool the bean beans to prevent further cooking, beans can also be frozen at this point). Heat butter and olive oil in a skillet (about 1 T each, can be increased or decreased to taste) over medium heat, add beans and salt and pepper to taste, and stir until tender, toward the end of cooking add 1 or 2 cloves garlic (chopped) if desired. Additions: crumbled bacon, toasted slivered almonds, stirred into the beans after cooking. Also, these Roasted Green Beans are great.

Winter Squash, Acorn or Spaghetti Squash (Choice Item):  Store at cool room temperature. Recipe ideas for Acorn Squash:  Stuffed Acorn Squash (with lots of pictures and variations)Acorn squash with Chile-lime Vinaigrette, Roasted Acorn Squash slices and Roast Acorn Squash and Gorgonzola Pizza. Recipe ideas for spaghetti squash: step-by- step instructions with photos: How to cook Spaghetti Squash,  Spaghetti Squash with Parmesan Cheese, Moroccan-spiced Spaghetti Squash.

Summer squash, patty pan, yellow squash and zucchini (Choice Item, 3 squash or a box will count as one item): store in plastic bag in refrigerator. Yellow squash nearly interchangeable with zucchini and is great raw or sautéed, grilled, or baked into zucchini bread (my kids favorite way to eat zucchini!). Raw zucchini/ squash makes a fresh, flavorful salad as in this: Summer Squash Salad with Lemon Citronette. Zucchini (sliced and broiled or pan fried) can take the place of pasta in lasagna. If you want more ideas, you can try Baked Zucchini FriesSquash baked eggs or Zucchini Fritters  or Chocolate Zucchini Bread or these main dishes Baked Penne with Roasted Vegetables (this is a great recipe to use a lot of vegetables, including zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, peppers, onions and garlic),  Cheesy Zucchini Casserole (which we make with shredded sharp cheddar, instead of Velvetta). Here’s a couple other zucchini recipes, recommended by CSA members: Curried Zucchini Soup, Zucchini TotsSauteed Zucchini with Cherry Tomatoes (don’t overcook the zucchini!), and Zucchini Chocolate Rum Cake. To preserve: Zucchini or Yellow squash can be shredded and frozen to use in Zucchini bread recipes.

Eggplant (Choice Item):Store in plastic bag in the refrigerator, but use quickly, because eggplant doesn’t store well. Eggplant can be sauteed, grilled or roasted.  Some wonderful eggplant recipes (that don’t require salting and draining the eggplant) are No-Fuss Eggplant Parmesan, Eggplant Parmesan Melts and Smitten Kitchen’s Eggplant Bruschetta (which has a Mediterranean style topping).Here’s a page with detailed instructions about eggplant preparation and recipes: Fine Cooking: How to cook Eggplant. It is great combined with zucchini and tomatoes (such as in Ratatouille). For eggplant recipes from Italy to China, check out these: Global Eggplant Recipes. Moussaka is a greek dish with eggplant. Here is a relatively simple recipe for Moussaka recommended by a CSA member (and also tried and deliciously approved by the Redfearn family). Some chefs suggest salting and draining the prepared (sliced, cubed, etc) eggplant for at least 20-30 minutes before cooking (this takes away any bitterness and also, helps the eggplant to absorb less oil during cooking), but I have gotten away from it the past year.

Green Onions (Choice Item): Store in plastic bag in the refrigerator. Use in lots of Chinese/ other asian recipes (General Tso’s chicken and Korean beef are two Redfearn favorites) chicken salad, egg salad, salad dressing to name a few.

Baby Bok Choy (Choice Item): Store in plastic bag in the refrigerator. Here is a basic bok choy recipe with great instructions: Stir-fried Bok Choy . Cooked (leftover) Bok Choy can be added to fried rice. Bok Choy can also be cooked and used inside egg rolls (I just followed the instructions on the back of the package of egg roll wrappers). Bok Choy can also be grilled, as in this Grilled Baby Bok Choy with Miso butter! Bok choy can be sliced and added to soups during the last few minutes of cooking.If you would rather eat bok choy raw; it can be chopped and dressed with an asian- style dressing: Bok Choy Salad

Cucumbers (Choice item): store in plastic bag in refrigerator (our cucumbers are not waxed, so will lose moisture and become rubbery if not wrapped). Recipe Ideas: Cucumber infused Water, Smoothies with Cucumbers, Cucumber Salads: Creamy Cucumber Salad with Greek Yogurt and DillCucumber Salad with Garlic and Ginger and even Stir-fried Cucumbers! Pair with tomatoes in an Israeli Salad, Cucumber, Tomato, and Avocado Salad, Greek Salad and Panzanella Salad. Cucumbers are the base for the Mediterranean sauce, Tzatziki. Cold Cucumber Soup is also a refreshing way to use cucumbers.

Spicy peppers (Choice item): Jalapeno or Anaheim peppers. Store in plastic bag, in refrigerator. Ideas: Chop and add to salsa, or our new favorite is this Jalapeno Popper Dip. If you want to try water-bath canning, try this Jalapeno Jelly (I’ve used a combination of peppers). Anaheim and poblano peppers can be stuffed, as in these Chicken and Cheese Stuffed Anaheim Peppers, or Black beans and Cheese stuffed Poblano Peppers, or Rice and Beef stuffed Peppers and used as a stuffing in Jalapeno Popper Chicken. Peppers can be frozen; slice or dice and then place in freezer bags, can be used in fajitas, or anywhere you would use cooked peppers (after thawing the peppers are soft).

Garlic (Choice Item):Store in a cool, dry, well ventilated area; in a bowl/ basket on your counter should be fine.

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