Recipes

Cooking with your share

Bringing home that bundle of Certified Organic goodness and serving it to your family can invoke the highest sense that summer has arrived. But, if you are feeling overwhelmed we can help you! Your 1st task is to cut those flowers, put them in a vase and set them in front of you while you tend to the vegetables. We don’t recommend you wash your vegetables until you use them. Often your share will include a little of many things, so bag items you will use together.

For example, if you intend to make a soup, group and bag together the ingredients that will go in the soup. Keep a bag for miscellaneous, this will be handy for last minute additions to any recipe. Save all your cleaned peelings or tops from your vegetables in a separate bag. When the bag is full put it in a soup pot covered with water and simmer for an hour or so, with the lid on. Strain the vegetables off, compost them and now you have a nice broth for anytime you’re making rice or pasta, rather than using plain water. This is from a csa member and her view on cooking with her share:.

I receive a CSA share every week, so I’m often at the mercy of the vegetable gods when it comes to what I’m cooking. I kind of like it that way, because believe it or not, it takes a lot of the thought out of it for me. I stock my pantry with staples, like brown basmati rice, canned tomatoes, and beans, so that when my veggies come in, I can whip up simple, tasty meals without putting a whole lot of planning into it. Having a good-sized spice collection helps too. A few things I try to keep handy at all times are garlic powder, chipotle powder, cajun seasoning, and Italian spice mix. I use them all the time, so I pick them up in large quantities, and re-stock whenever they get low.

Chipotle Sweet Potato and Spinach Tacos

Makes filling, enough for at least eight tacos

Ingredients (for the sweet potatos)

2 tablespoons cooking oil (something that can handle high heat, peanut is a good
one)
1 medium-sized onion, peeled, halved, then cut into very thin slices
1 massive sweet potato (or two normal-sized ones), peeled and diced small
6 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon soy sauce (or Dr. Braggs amazing Amino Acids)
1/2 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 lemon

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet (cast iron if you’ve got it) over medium heat.

2. Add the onions to the hot pan and saute for about five minutes, stirring

occasionally.

3. Add the sweet potatos and saute for another five minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Add the garlic, and saute for another five minutes, stirring occasionally.

5. Add the maple syrup, soy sauce, and chili powders. Stir together.

6. Saute for another five to ten minutes, just until the sweet potatos become soft.

7. Squirt the potatos with lemon, then remove them from the pan.

Ingredients (for the spinach)

2 bunches (or 16 ounces bagged) fresh spinach
a big pinch of salt
1/2 a lemon

A note on prepping the spinach: Spinach can be really dirty and sandy. To remove all of the sand, cut off the stem of the bunch and soak the spinach in a large bowl of water or a clean sink full of water for a good five minutes. Swish the spinach around, then pull it out of the water, and drain it in a colander.

Directions

1. Keep the same pan that you used to cook the sweet potatos hot over mediumheat.

2. Add a handful of spinach and toss it around until it wilts and softens. This should just take a minute or two.

3. Add another handful of spinach, and keep tossing. When that wilts, add another, and another until you’ve added it all.

4. Turn off the heat, then sprinkle the spinach with salt, and squirt with lemon.

Now make tacos! Serve the fixin’s piping hot on flour or corn tortillas with big fat slices of fresh avocado, crumbled or shredded cheese, sour cream, or whatever other goodies your heart desires. Some rice and beans on the side would be nice too.