Farm Direct Coop Recipesor. . . what you can do with your share!

Our CSA share is getting fruit-heavy, and we love it! Rainbow chard, zucchini, carrots, more yellow tomatoes (yay), apples, peaches, plums, green pepper, grape tomatoes, whole wheat bread and magical herb salt. It’s absolutely fantastic.

Lentils, Chard and One Fabulous Poached Egg

I don’t even know where to start with this. It was so GOOD. I ate every last bit. I loved it, told Anne about it. She made it pronto, and it got rave reviews from her husband, too.

Hands down, amazing. I like my poached eggs pretty cooked, but I know the pic would look pretty with the yolk running down. Suffice as to say, it didn’t happen with mine. I also wished I managed to get this on the table before the sunset. It would be much prettier in natural light. Oh well – excuses to make it soon! I am not a big meal-repeater usually (exceptions for pizza), but I want to make this weekly.

I found the recipe on Dishing Up Delights‘ blog and copied it, word for word.

Roasted Beet and Blue Cheese Salad

1 bunch of beets, trimmed and sliced into half rounds

1/2 bag of baby spinach

1 ear of corn, kernels cut

blue cheese

salt, pepper, olive oil, balsamic

Preheat oven to 350. Put beets in roasting pan. Add a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast about 45 minutes, or until done. In a bowl add spinach, corn (I don’t cook it, and use it right off the cob. Very fresh.), and blue cheese. Add cooked beets to the salad. It’ll melt the blue cheese a little. Add balsamic, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.

Picnic Lunch

I love monograms. If I could monogram our cat, I would do that. Poor Baby Bean. I’m not sure her opinions on monogramming though. This LL Bean bag is our beach and picnic tote. And it has my married initials on it. AND it’s green. I love it.

It was a Friday and shockingly, we both had the day off. We were Vermont bound the next morning (and for the subsequent weekend). Now, generally on a day off, I’ll do this: workout like a lunatic (whoo hoo, extra workout time!), clean the whole house top to bottom, do all the laundry, cook, bake and then collapse. On this day off – I said screw that! We’re going on a picnic. MUCH BETTER use of time.

I made a Panzanella Salad for Michael (see week 10, same recipe), and a cottage cheese salad for me. Cottage cheese salad is my go-to lunch choice. I eat it All. The. Time. And here is a rough idea of what I do:

1/2 cup cottage cheese

1/2 cup chickpeas (I use all kinds of beans)

yellow tomato

red tomato

avocado

cucumber

dill

salt, pepper

I have about 25 variations on this (I make one with black beans, cilantro and scallions, which I had for lunch on Monday). Mix it all together and nom it up. I use the 2% or 4% cottage cheese. It’s a nice protein hit. I use beans as a carb source and not a protein source, so I don’t feel like I’m missing carbs with this. (Plus, carbs from the vegetables.)

Peach Cobbler

Peaches make me think of my sweet, southern belle of a girlfriend, Zara. She’s off in Mexico with her new husband, and I miss her dearly. She’s from Georgia, and I thought of her when I made this.

4 tbsp butter, melted

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1/2 cup milk

4 peaches, sliced

flour to coat

zest and juice of 1/2 lemon

Preheat oven to 350. In a mixing bowl, cream sugar and butter. Add dry ingredients to combine. Add milk and blend until it’s not lumpy.

Cut peaches and toss with lemon juice, zest and a palmful of flour (just to coat).

Put peaches in a greased pan, and top with batter. Bake about 20 minutes or until done. I went a little under with mine, because it looked like it was bubbling and fully cooked.

Top with ice cream or whipped cream, if you desire!

Chickpeas and Swiss Chard: Dinner for One

Alone on a Friday night, I made something that I used to make when I was a single gal in my bachelorette pad. Quick and dirty, and oh so tasty. Recipe is approximate.

5-6 swiss chard leaves, cut into ribbons

1 scallion, diced

bunch of grape tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup chickpeas

few diced pieces of mozzarella

magical herb salt from farm share

Sautee the swiss chard and scallions until the greens are very tender. Add the tomatoes and chickpeas. Sprinkle with salt. Add cheese when you remove from heat. It will melt on contact. I had it with some of that lovely bread.

Brown Butter Green Beans

Not gourmet and by no means complicated, this is just plain old good food. My husband is a huge fan of green beans. I try.

1 tbsp butter

large bunch green beans, trimmed

salt, pepper

Brown the butter in a pan, and let the pan get very hot. Add the green beans and sautee quickly. You want them to stay green and crisp and too overly cooked. Remove from heat, sprinkle on salt and pepper. There ya go.

Week 10 – wow! I’m sure you can see, but I feel compelled to spell out what we got: corn, cantaloupe, yellow tomatoes, beets, blackberries, tomatillos, apples, new potatoes, green beans and french bread.

Melon and Mint Salad

I’ll open by saying something about my Mom: she has always said cantaloupe is really good for your skin. If you want to glow, have some melon. In addition to making your skin glow, I added some avocado, which is a good source of fat, and also good for your hair. Consider this beauty food. You’re welcome!

1 small cantaloupe, cubed

1/2 English cucmber, diced

1 avocado, cubed

good handful of mint leaves, chopped

ricotta cheese (I dropped small spoonfuls onto the salad and mixed. It blended right in. Note: you need just a small amount.)

Salt, pepper, touch of olive oil

Add all vegetables to a bowl. Plunk the mint on top, as well as the ricotta, salt and pepper. Toss. Drizzle with olive oil. You can serve as is, or over greens. (I saved some for lunch the next day, and ate mine over baby spinach, with a hard boiled egg on the side for protein.)

Cornbread Scones

I adapted these from The Milkman’s Wife‘s recipe. I really love her blog, so send her some love! I took a few liberties, and being without apricots, I did not make the glaze. Instead, I used honey. Turned out to be a win!

2 cups flour

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons butter, cold and cut in 1/4 inch slices

1 tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary

3/4 cup fresh corn kernels (cut from about two ears)

1 egg

3/4 cups milk (I used 1%)

Egg wash

Preheat oven to 400. In a mixing bowl, combine your dry ingredients. Add butter pieces, and using a pastry blender (or potato masher, haha) mix until butter is about pea sized and dispersed throughout flour. Add a beaten egg, milk, rosemary and corn. Mix to combine. Roll out onto floured surface, and cut into triangles. Arrange on baking sheet, and brush surface with egg wash. Bake 15-20 minutes. Drizzle with honey.

Swiss Chard Wedding Soup

Using Italian Wedding soup as a jumping point, I decided to make a healthier version. There is nothing quite like the escarole and mini-meatball soup, but I wanted turkey meatballs, swiss chard and kidney beans instead. So, maybe it’s not quite the same thing.

1/2 onion, thinly sliced

2 celery stalks, chopped evenly

3/4 cup cooked red kidney beans (if using canned, rinse well before adding)

1/2 head of chard, sliced into ribbons

1/2 pound ground turkey breast

1 egg

1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

salt, pepper, dash of garlic powder

parmesan cheese

3-4 cups chicken stock (I like low sodium)

1 bunch parsley, chopped

In a little olive oil, sautee onion and celery. When softened (5 mins) add the chard. You might need to cook this down in batches. Add broth, salt, pepper and bring to a simmer.

In another bowl, mix the turkey with egg, panko, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Shape into small meatballs and add to simmering soup. Partially cover and cook throughout. This takes about 15 minutes.

Add cooked beans to warm through, and parsley. Top with parmesan cheese.

Panzanella Salad (aka My Lunch)

We had this beautiful smoked mozzarella from CSA and I couldn’t bear to let it sit in the fridge even a moment more. And that french bread? And those tomatoes. One answer: panzanella. It means bread salad. I highly recommend it. It was a heavy running morning, and on those days, I don’t mind a little white carbs at lunch.

No real measurements for this, but this is pretty close. I ate this with 2 hard boiled eggs - my go to staple for protein. Also – this wins big comfort points with me, too. I think it’s the smell of basil.

French bread, cut into even pieces

2 yellow tomatoes, chopped

bit of smoked mozzarella, chopped

fistful of basil, sliced

pepper, salt, balsamic vinegar, olive oil

Once you’ve assembled your salad, top with pepper, salt and drizzle that really spendy balsamic and olive oil over it. I promise it’s amazing.

Roasted Potatoes with Dill

Another comfort dish. I always feel like roasted potatoes taste so truly decadent. And dill and I…we have a thing. I love it in everything. Even salad.

Potatoes

salt

pepper

olive oil

dill

Preheat oven to 375. I prefer the skins on roasted potatoes, but take them off if you dislike. Slice potatoes and drizzle (I say drizzle a lot, but I don’t know what else to call it) with olive oil, salt, pepper, and dill. Toss to coat. Cook about 45 minutes or until fork tender.

Ricotta cheesecake with Blackberry Compote

What’s more comforting that cheesecake? It’s got really good mouth feel. It can be eaten with a spoon. I think we went over my love of spoons before. It’s my preferred utensil. I adapted this recipe from Technicolor Kitchen. Additionally, the blackberries? So bitter. Anne (we have much love for her) suggested a compote, as sugar or honey would help. I went with honey and coconut, and as usual, good call.

I used these 2 sweet dishes to make 2 giant servings. Giant to me. Michael will argue it was definitely not “wife-sized”.

3/4 cup Annie’s Bunny Grahams

1/3 cup coconut

2 tbsp melted butter

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1/2 cup cream cheese

1/2 cup sugar

juice and zest of a lemon

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 pint blackberries

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp coconut

Preheat oven to 300. You’ll need a food processor for this. To make the crust, combine first 3 ingredients and press into dishes. If you’re using muffin tins instead, press into those.

Combine all remaining ingredients in food processor. Pour over crust. Bake for 20-25 minutes, depending on size. Mine took longer due to the larger dish.

In a pot, combine blackberries, honey and coconut. Simmer until the blackberries break up. Top the cheesecakes with compote, and a little sprinkle of coconut, if desired.

Ooooh what a fun haul! We were super excited to see tomatoes! Really, there isn’t too much better than warm summer tomatoes. Except when you add a little salt. So. GOOD.

The goodies:

Week #5 was chockful of: black raspberries, blueberries, zucchini, summer squash, tomatoes, beets, carrots, walnut sourdough, basil vinegar and arugula.

I love the photos my husband takes!

It seemed to be a little cooler this week (or perhaps I have acclimated finally?) so I did more than just salad assembling. What did I do with this lovely haulage? Check it out.

Black Raspberry Bread with Whipped Creme

I was imagining a spongey, lemony, fluffy goodness of a bread. My husband pretty much wants everything with whipped cream (I am incredibly grateful for my KitchenAid stand mixer!) and I wanted something light and refreshing to accompany it.

I adapted it from this Lemon Blueberry Bread recipe over at All Recipes, which is a handy site (espescially if you’re wondering what to do with an ingredient you’ve got on hand. You can simply enter random ingredients into their search feature. It gives me lots of ideas when I get stuck.)

1/2 cup melted butter

1 cup sugar

juice and zest of 1 lemon

 2 eggs

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk

1 pint black raspberries

Combine dry ingredients and set aside. Cream together eggs and butter for three minutes. Add milk, lemon juice and zest. Add dry ingredients. After washing black raspberries, toss in flour before adding to cake batter. This assures they won’t sink to the bottom of the bread. Which makes for prettier pictures.

Bake at 350 until it’s done. My oven took about 25 minutes.

For the whipped cream, I used about a cup of heavy cream (I prefer this to whipping cream as I feel it’s got too many unnatural ingredients and I don’t want monoglycerides in my food) and 2 tablespoons of organic powdered sugar. You can use a hand or stand mixer, or, if you’re looking to work your upper body, whisk it by hand! I topped the whipped cream with mint, because mint makes things look fancy. 

Caprese Salad

 I know, right? You can totally taste it. These tomatoes were HANDS DOWN pretty amazing. I wanted to really taste the tomatoes and make them the feature of the dish. I paired with slices of mozzarella, and farm share basil (from the potted herbs in week #1). I arranged in a circle, topped with extra virgin olive oil, cracked pepper and coarse salt. Suffice as to say, there was nothing remaining in short time. We loved it!

Roasted Zucchini and Summer Squash with Lemon Ricotta

Blogging pics of (mainly) everything I cook has opened my eyes a lot. I tend to make a lot of salad! I was trying NOT to do that this week. I decided to roast these up instead.

1 zucchini, diced into even pieces

1 summer squash, diced into even pieces

drizzle of olive oil

pinch of fennel seeds

pinch of cumin seeds

juice of 1/2 a lemon

Salt, pepper

ricotta

Preheat oven to 400. Add veggies and oil to a pan and roast for about 18 minutes. Remove from oven, add spices, toss, and return to oven for five minutes.

In a bowl, add a few spoonfuls of ricotta, and juice of the lemon half. Mix up, and plate next to the zucchini and squash. Add a wee bit more olive oil to the ricotta. They’re really good when you eat them together!

Roasted Beets with Rosemary

My girlfriend Anne and I could talk about food and recipes for days on end – and we sometimes do! So when she sent me a link for a recipe for roasted beets, I jumped right on it. We made the same thing for dinner that night. And when your dear friend is all the way in Kentucky, it’s a nice little feeling.

You can check it out right here: Roasted Beet Wedges

Moroccan Tagine

This is 1) a favorite in our house and 2) a total joke in some ways. I have “threatened” to make this on many a hot night, only to scrap it at the last minute. Hey, I always have the best of intentions. And while I can do lots of things, I can’t control the weather. So now “moroccan” is synonymous with “we’re-totally-getting-takeout-instead”.

I came across this recipe this past winter, and ohhhhh, I have been in love with it since. I used the farm share carrots for this little gem.

Moroccan Tagine from Bon Appetit is a great recipe. I make it exactly as it reads here. I think you could substitute ground chicken, turkey or ground meatless, for the vegetarians. It’s really REALLY good. I hope you make it and LOVE IT!