Clockwise from top left:
- strawberry and almond milk smoothies
- our daughter supervising the monday CSA Pickup
- Dal and bhaji
- In production (yellow lentils, garlic and spinach with white onion)
- peas and carrots, frozen and ready for some homemade baby food
- roasted beets in situ
- beet greens sauteeing with garlic
- barley, beets, beet green salad
- carrots (the better to see you with!)
With a new member of our family (above, supervising), two busy jobs, and a LOT of adjusting in the last year, we’ve struggled with eating well and sustainably. We were excited when one of our neighbors told us about the Southside CSA…
Here’s what we’ve learned from our first months of a CSA (and some of the recipes we’ve tried)
- We try to process the food immediately, no later than EOD tuesday. This means we break it down, freeze, etc. when we haven’t followed this rule, we don’t get the food at it’s peak. freezing (strawberries, carrots, peas, spinach) helps.
- Somehow seeing the effort that goes into growing and transporting this food makes us less likely to let things go to waste; We make sure we eat and use everything.
- We’ve noticed that our food bills (restaurants, ordering in, fresh direct) have all gone down since we started (as have our waistlines)
- Jason was once a sous chef and cooked omelettes as a line cook. These are among the best eggs he’s ever used. Suggestion: Soft scramble (turn the heat WAY down) with caramelized white onion or scallions and spinach. Salt and pepper as you cook down the veggies. Heaven.
- Trust us, split the garlic, add some red pepper flakes & olive oil, and roast for 45-55 minutes at 400 degrees. you can use on everything/anything.
Some recipes we’ve made:
- Kohlrabi & Apple salad: Julienne the kohlrabi & a fuji apple, add lime juice and a pinch of cayenne.
- Strawberry & almond milk smoothies – add & blend. banana optional but really thickens it up.
- Spinach sautee – cook down the white inions (sliced thinly) in equal parts olive oil and butter at very low tempurature until the onions caramelize. add the spinach and cover until it wilts. Crank the heat up a little and add some red pepper and salt. Cook until just cooked through.
- Barley & Beet salad – prep the barley in boiling water (2 cups water per cup barley, rinse them first!) while you break down the beets. Cut and roast the bulbs at 400 for around half an hour. Wash the greens and sautee. Cool everything, then combine with the barley, parmesan (or other cheese to your taste) and a touch of olive oil.
- Baby food: freeze, steam and blend. It almost doesn’t matter what veggie you use 🙂
we are wishing you all luck and the best! if you want to trade recipes (or have suggestions) we would love to hear from you.
Cheers,
RJ, Amee, Jason
recipes (.a.t.) madho dot net
Southside CSA 