It's CSA Time!!!

Can you believe the Harmony Valley Farm CSA season has already been underway long enough to be on Box #3? This City Girl can't! Life is crazy around here these days so I haven't had much time for posting. Suffice it to say using up the box has been MUCH easier than last year now that I have some experience under my belt!

So here's a quick summary of my faves so far this year:

• Frittata - you can use up just about anything in these and they are such a breeze to make! Best of all? The 5 year old even likes 'em! I started out with a Harmony Valley Farm recipe for Nettle Frittata (Yes, nettles! And they were GOOD!) and have expanded my horizons from there. Seriously, almost anything goes good in a Frittata - I have tried seasoned ground chicken sausage, potatoes, greens, and even sauteed radishes! And of course throw in some onions and garlicky stuff to your liking.
  
• Sunchoke Dip - By far one of my fave standby's from last year! Tastes like hummus, and oh so good with some sliced radish chips. This coming from a gal who swore she didn't like radishes, nuh-uh, never, no-how, no-way! Mmmmm.... radish chips indeed....so great for dipping!
  
• Kale Pie - Though it calls for kale, I made this to use up my Yukina Savoy. And boy was it delish! A little bland for my taste at first, but top with some spreadable cheese and you're good to go! I think next time I'll actually make it as a savory breakfast dish for the week. Wait, next time? What am I talking about? We just got more Yukina Savoy in our box this week! I think I know what I'm doing with it already...!
  
• Minty Pea-Vine Pops - Even though someone accused me of trying to be the mom who "hides" vegetables in food to get her kids to eat them, I still love these things. I made them last year, and just had to do it again when we got such a nice large bunch of pea vines again this year. Instead of using peas like the recipe calls for, I steamed the pea vines until tender, then pureed with the cream cheese. And hey, I'm not hiding them! I was perfectly clear when I told my son there were pea vines in there! And he still loves 'em! As did the rest of us!
  
• Ryan's Anything Green Curry - Shared by a fellow Harmony Valley Farm CSA-er this recipe rocks my world! It's going to be one of my tried & true standby's this season, I can tell already! We used up some spinach and other greens this way and once again it was one of those dishes the WHOLE family loved. Can't beat that!

Enjoy!

Hon Tsai Tai, Sunchokes and Veggie Storage Tips

Okay, so my Chinese friend was interested in helping me a little more with my hon tsai tai. He suggested another way to prepare it using bacon. His advice was to chop bacon into small pieces and cook bacon with a little bit of stir fry oil. Then, remove the bacon, and cook chopped hon tsai tai in the remaining oil. Add back the bacon and mix it all up, and voila! One more way to serve this beautiful veggie! He said in China they have a kind of smoked meat that we don't have here, and that bacon is probably our closest equivalent.

I tried his advice, along with some Sunchoke and Potato American Fries. I could kinda feel my arteries clogging as I ate all that bacon (maybe I'd use less next time?), but it was pretty good for a once-in-a-while kinda meal. I should also say that I did add a handful of spinach and some of my leftover green garlic puree to the stir fry too.

A coupla tips for the sunchokes - boil a few along with some potatoes ahead of time, then keep 'em in the fridge. It seems you can add sunchokes almost anywhere you'd use a potato. I've been adding a bit of my chopped pre-cooked sunchokes and potatoes to some eggs in the morning for breakfast. Yum! Another great use for sunchokes is this A-M-A-Z-I-N-G sunchoke dip. It's something akin to hummus and you can use up the whole batch of sunchokes in one batch if you want. I made mine without the chiles since I wanted it to be friendly for my four-year-old.

And lastly, one thing this city girl struggles with when I get a new box of veggies is how to best store 'em. Occasionally our Harmony Valley Farm newsletter will have some advice such as 'wrap in a damp paper towel and store in the crisper'...but not always. So imagine my delight when I stumbled upon a site with great info on how to store nearly any veggie. And of course I'm gonna share it with you! Enjoy!

Vegetable Storage Guidelines (courtesy of Angelic Organics)