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

This week’s haulage blessed us with kohlrabi, romaine, sugar snap peas (my poor husband isn’t a huge fan, so I felt bad!), cucumber, strawberries, cilantro, bundled herbs and some very sour cherries!

Asian Chicken or Tofu Salad with Peanut Dressing

The size I made of this was for one lunch for my husband (I made my lunch that day with same veggies and dressing, but with tofu, since it was in my fridge and I wanted to use it up). I’ve doubled the recipe below to make 2 servings. If you’re making the tofu version, just leave out the chicken, add in your tofu. Voila.

Leftover grilled chicken, cubed (as much as you like) OR cubed tofu, with water pressed out

1/2 cup whole wheat pasta

2 scallions, sliced on the diagonal

baby carrots, sliced into matchsticks

2 handfuls of sugar snap peas

1/2 cup or more of broccoli, cut into bite sized pieces

red, yellow or green peppers, cut into strips

handful of cilantro, chopped

soy sauce

honey

olive oil

balsamic, rice wine or white vinegar

lime juice

salt and pepper

peanut oil (you can buy this regular or spicy)

In a pot, boil up the pasta. When it’s about a minute from cooking completion, add the broccoli and snap peas to quickly blanch. Drain everything and set aside.

While pasta is boiling, chop up your veggies and place in a bowl.

I make my salad dressing separately, then pour over. This is all eyeballed, really. About 1 tbsp of soy sauce, 1 tbsp of honey, 1-2 of olive oil. Whisk this together and taste. If you need to add pepper or salt, add it now. Then add in juice of about 1/2 a lime and your chopped cilantro. Taste and adjust as needed. Add a little peanut oil. A little goes a long way – it’s pretty strong.

Add warm pasta to veggies in bowl. Pour dressing over.

If you’re making this tofu-style – once water is pressed out, add veggies and tofu, pour dressing over. Nom it up.

Kohlrabi Wraps with Spicy Paprika

I got the idea for these from Mark’s Daily Apple. I had ground beef, said kohlrabi and lettuce that needed to be used up.  My version was tweaked a bit, but I’d say it’s safe to use this recipe for sure!

Thai Cucumber Salad

I had loads of cucumber to use up. And while I’m more than happy to eat salad multiple times a day, I thought I’d make something I haven’t made in a while. I used less sugar than suggested here. But nevertheless, basically used this recipe from Use Real Butter.

Sugar Snap Pea Salad with Maple Syrup

In some attempt to a) make these more appealing to my husband, and b) use up that remaining red grapefruit, I found this through tastespotting.com. I used only almonds (in place of all the nuts in the recipe), as those were all I had on hand. Here you go!

Coconut Curry with Naan

I had a really crappy Monday. Skipped lunch break, left work early to rush down to gym to swim laps…only to get there to find out they’re dumping chemicals in the pool. The 18 year old kid working the desk said I could come back on Tuesday. So I was really looking forward to  making coconut curry. I put everything together through the “adding-the-coconut-milk-stage”, and was surprised to realize I had not a DROP in the house. Really. I quickly swapped out greek yogurt for coconut milk and you know what? I liked it more. Triumphant Monday, afterall.

2 scallions, sliced

red and yellow peppers (I used about 4 mini-peppers)

~10 cherry tomatoes, halved

frozen peas (looked like a 1/2 cup or so)

2 chicken breasts, cubed

6 oz. plain greek yogurt

2 tbsp curry powder

bunch of cilantro

shaved coconut

salt and pepper

Sautee up the veggies in some olive oil. Add the cubed chicken, curry and yogurt. Simmer on the lowest you can stand until nearly done. Add the tomatoes, a good handful of coconut, cilantro, salt, pepper and peas. Top with more coconut if you’d like! I served it with plain naan on the side.

Blue Cheese Turkey Burgers

We got this 10″ Lodge Grill pan and I LOVE IT.  I want to use it all the time. I also want to make turkey burgers every other day. This isn’t really a recipe, but here’s what I did.

very lean ground turkey

1 scallion

1 handful of mushrooms, diced up, very small

blue cheese

worchestershire sauce

A1 sauce

salt, pepper

A package of ground turkey (I have no idea what size, really) makes about 4 burgers for me. Add scallions, mushrooms, blue cheese, a few dashes each of worchestershire and A1. Salt and pepper. Form into rounds, with a little well in the center of each. Place on hot and oiled grill pan, and do not touch until you’re ready to flip! Flip only once, top with a lil extra blue cheese. Happiness.

Guacamole

The cilantro was just DYING. I mean really on it’s last leg. I had an avocado and some lime. Insta-guac.

Bunch of cilantro, chopped

few slices of red onion, minced

1.5 avocados, mashed (I only had 1.5, but use what you like)

1 lime

5 or so grape tomatoes, cut into tiny pieces

salt, pepper

On top of the cilantro add the juice of the lime, salt and pepper. Add the avocado and mash it up. Add onion and tomato and give it another whack or two. Good to go.

Hope you  like it!

Haulage #2 yielded: spinach, radishes, scallions, garlic scapes, sugar snap peas, strawberries, multigrain bread and goat cheese.

I found this to be an easier haul to manage as there was less greens (3 kinds of salad greens was difficult in week 1). The bread and cheese share started up. We didn’t get any herbs on week 2, but I’m pretty sure they’re coming back during week 3. Which reminds me: I need to do something fun with that dill growing so nicely in our kitchen window.

Garlic Scape and Spinach Pesto

Here’s something: I really don’t like garlic. It’s just too MUCH. Seems to overpower other flavors easily, is often overused…I could go on and on. However! There is something really special about garlic scapes. They’re kind of like scallions are to onions – mild and less stinky. Hence my overwhelming preference for both scapes and scallions.

We don’t have a food processor or blender (seriously) but we do have a little immersion blender, and I was happy to give it a go and try and make pesto with it. Went off without a hitch.

3 garlic scapes, cut into 1″ long pieces

~20 basil leaves

1 tbsp pignolia nuts (pine nuts)

2-ish tbsp oil (I used extra virgin olive oil)

1/4 cup percorino romano cheese

1 head spinach

1/2 cup water

salt, pepper, more cheese if needed

Blend scapes, basil, nuts, oil and cheese (in food processor, blender or with immersion blender) until smooth.  In a pot, place the cleaned spinach and water over medium heat, and place the lid on. Cook the spinach until wilted. Add wilted spinach and remaining water and blend again. (Note: I liked adding the cooked spinach because the residual heat seemed to cook the garlic scapes. But I suppose you really don’t have to do that.)  Add salt, pepper and more cheese if you want. I served over whole wheat spaghetti. (Made 2 servings.)

Radish Salad with Tahini Dressing

This was tasty! I am also keenly aware that food in bowls doesn’t photograph really well. This tasted better than it looks – so I hope you try it despite the photo.

~10 radishes, each cut into 4 wedges

1/2 English cucumber, cut in quarters

1/2 avocado, diced

~15 heirloom grape tomatoes, halved

2 tbsp tahini paste

Balsamic vinegar (to taste)

olive oil (to taste)

salt, pepper

Put all the veggies in a bowl. In a small, separate bowl add your tahini paste and whisk in olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar. You might need to adjust to get the consistency you want (more oil or vinegar for thinner dressing, etc). Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour over salad and enjoy. (Made 2 servings with not a drop leftover.)

Sugar Snap Pea Salad

Good gravy, I make a lot of salad. My husband is super sweet about it, too. And healthy! Did I mention how much he runs?

We got a 10″ Lodge Cast Iron Grill Pan. For an apartment-dwelling gal, this cures my need to grill. My favorite thing to make on it is blue cheese turkey burgers. My second favorite thing is any vegetable I can throw on there. Perfect little grill marks are so satifying.

1/2 pound sugar snap peas, trimmed (it’s like 30 or so peapods)

1 zucchini, cut into angled rounds

goat cheese

~10 basil leaves, cut into ribbons

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

sea salt, course ground pepper

Place washed and trimmed snap peas in a bowl. Grill up zucchini, then, when cool enough to touch, cut into strips (about the same length/size as the peas). Add to bowl. Crumble desired amount of goat cheese over. Add basil, salt and pepper. Drizzle over oil and vinegar. The goat cheese will melt on the veggies. (Made 2 servings.)

Strawberry Limeade

My husband is the drink mixologist in our house. He’s in charge of  making tea (hot and iced), espresso, espresso milk (nectar of the gods), sangria, lemonade….

We got home from the beach and he was itching to make lemonade. But oh, the strawberries. And the  limes. That was the ah-ha moment: let’s put them all in. It tastes like a melted popsicle.

Juice of 3 lemons and 2 limes

1 pint strawberries

1 cup sugar

4 cups water

In a pot on the stove, make a simple syrup with 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water. Bring to boil until sugar is dissolved, then let it cool. In a pitcher (if you’re using immersion blender) or in a real blender if you have one, add juice of lemons and limes,  simple syrup and strawberries. Blend until smooth. Add remaining water (or sparkling water) to taste. You might want more or less depending on how thick you like your lemonade. (We garnished with cherries for the pic, but there’s no cherries in here! Haha. I wonder if my husband is up for making cherry lemonade…..??)