June 24th Market & CSA Pick-up #6

I am late getting this blog out because we celebrated Father’s Day by giving Matt a much deserved day off! He usually works 7 days a week from dawn to dusk so I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to sneak out to the bay and enjoy some beach time with him even if it was just for a day!

I would like to introduce you to our new market helper Katie! She is a busy mom who prides herself in healthy eating. She brings me a lot of great ideas and awesome recipes. I love listening to her tell me how she is cooking our food! She gets a farm share from us each week.

I love the magic of summer and watching crops come in to season! I am very excited to see our tomatoes finally coming in! We don’t have many, but we are sure to give our CSA members the very first tomatoes!

Our CSA members will also find Tokyo Bekana in their bags. This is a big lime green leafy Asian green that tastes like a romaine lettuce and the stems taste like a bok choy! They can be chopped up to make salads, they can be sauteed in stir fries, or they can be used as lettuce wraps, my personal favorite! CSA members will also receive chadori beets, they are red and white striped on the inside. We grow these for many of our local chefs. They prefer them because they don’t bleed as much as the traditional purple ones. Chefs love to have a pretty plate!

One of our CSA members bought some beets from us last week and made this beautiful dish above. It is salt roasted beet carpaccio with goat cheese and chive oil garnished with our field green leaves. It is beautiful!

Our CSA members are also receiving kale, tomatoes, field greens, potatoes squash and turnips! It will be a great week for our CSA members and market visitors.

Each week, I put together a menu to help our CSA members and our customers eat what is in their bag or on our stand. I find out that so many folks appreciate this, so I am so happy to share what we are eating at the farm with you.

Monday: Spicy Shrimp Avocado Wraps with Shredded Turnips
I love a great wrap! I am taking my own liberties to adapt this recipe to what is in your bag. First of all, I am using the Tokyo Bekana leaves for the wrap and rather than using cabbage, I am shredding a raw turnip! This can be made in under 30 minutes and is so healthy!

Picture from the Food Blog Site The Garlic Diaries

Tuesday: Grilled Chicken and Roasted Beet and Kale Salad with Maple Candied Walnuts

Roasted-Beet-and-Kale-Salad-with-Maple-Candied-Walnuts-600

Picture from the Food Blog Site The Endless Meal

In the summer time, I love a great salad! I also love the loft that our curly kale has! It is so easy to whip this salad together! First prepare your beets and roast them. While they are roasting, put your chicken out on your grill. While all of that is cooking, you will whip together the kale salad and the the dressing. I have to say, I never ever buy dressing any more! It is so much easier, and cheaper to make it. It also tastes so much better! This recipe has my favorite dressing!

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
½ teaspoon dijon mustard
minced garlic clove
salt and pepper

It is so good! The recipe calls for goat cheese. If you come to market, be sure to stop by Goats R Us to get the fresh goat cheese. Just like with your vegetables, fresh cheese is always so good! You will use this same dressing on Thursday!

Wednesday: Roasted Squash and Potatoes with Bread ed Pork Chops
I just love breaded pork chops! You can never go wrong with them served beside melt in your mouth squash and roasted potatoes! While everything is roasting, I cook the chops and dinner is done in 30 minutes. We get our pork products from Black Boar Farm at market. I can’t tell you how awesome fresh meat tastes and knowing where your food comes from and how the animals are kept is so important.

Thursday: Field Green Salad, Raw Shaved Turnips served with Grilled Chicken.
This is an easy salad to make! If I have any leftover goat cheese or nuts, I use it. I also use the same dressing I made for the kale salad. When I make this salad, I look in the fridge for any other leftover and throw them in raw. Fennel is one of my favorites to put in this salad.

Friday: Burgers on the Grill with French Fries and Grilled Squash
This is another easy meal. I made this meal last week. The secret to a crisp french fry is to soak them in water for 30 mintues. While they are soaking, put your burgers together and preheat the oven to 425.

Here is the recipe for the burgers: In a big bowl, I drop in about 3 pounds of hamburger meat (I make extras for leftovers the next night). I take two pieces of sandwich bread and remove the crust and cut it in to 1/4 inch pieces and toss it in the bowl along with a splash of low fat milk, salt and pepper to taste, minced garlic, 1 1/2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce, 2 tablespoons of ketchup, and I chop up one of the onions in your bag and add it. I form them in to patties. Put them on the grill while the fries are cooking.

After 30 minutes, take the fries out of the water and dry them off. Toss them on a bowl of olive oil, salt, pepper, chili powder, garlic to taste. Place them on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil and cooking spray. Cook for 30 minutes and start the cheese burgers.

The last 15 minutes, cut your squash long ways and brush them with olive oil, and sprinkle salt and pepper on them and grill them along side the burgers, Put cheese on the burger and serve with a tokyo bekana leaf and a tomato. Yummm!

So what is coming to market? We look forward to seeing you at the South of the James Farmer’s Market from 8-12 this Saturday!