CSA Session 5 week 2: Thanksgiving!

 

In this week's CSA baskets we have Lettuce, Carrots, Purple Sweet Potatoes, Orange Sweet Potatoes, watermelon radish, purple daikon radishes, and a bunch of red radishes.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner. This Thursday, if we want to be exact. This week's basket is full of vegetables to make your Thanksgiving great! The sweet potatoes can be made into a delicious sweet potato pie. Like most recipes for sweet potato pie, this one calls for the orange sweet potato,  However, you could also use the purple ones and have a pie with a pop of color on your table of Thanksgiving goodies. 

Pie isn't the only use for sweet potatoes you can make Sweet Potato Casserole, or make some Baked Sweet Potato Fries, or make a Sweet Potato Carrot Bake, which all of us loved.

Of course, there's more than just sweet potatoes this week. The lettuce, carrots, and radishes would make for a delicious salad for Thanksgiving. With how beautiful these heads are, I'd hate to not use them. If salads aren't really your thing, you could eat them plain in a veggie tray!

 The vegetables are so colorful that you just have to try one (or maybe all) of them. My favorite is the watermelon radishes and purple carrots. The flavors of the two are just absolutely delicious. If we didn't have to sell them, I'd probably be eating the purple carrots all year long. The watermelon radishes are full of color and flavor- it brings a delicious punch in such a pretty package. It's one that you wouldn't expect at first, but once you try it you can't get enough.

For our family's Thanksgiving, we're always the ones in charge of bringing the vegetables. We normally would bring a salad or two, a veggie tray, and some pie. By the end of the night, the veggie tray would be gone, the salad pretty much gone and there would still be plenty of pie left for tomorrow! Of course, this year since we're staying at home, its going to be a little different- but we're still going to have our sweet potato pies.

I hope that you and your family have a great Thanksgiving!

By Maggie

CSA Session 5 week 2: Thanksgiving!

Roasting Veggies

This spring weather in Kansas has been hormonal, at best. It spiked to the high 90s for a few days, then dropped to the mid-30s, confusing both the cool and warm weather crops. On the bright side, this cool snap has made it more reasonable to fire up the oven. Thus, oven-roasted veggies.

We don't sell asparagus but I do have my little patch of 9 plants that provides just enough for our family. My new favorite way to prepare the asparagus is so, so simple.

1. Preheat the oven to 415 degrees Fahrenheit. 
2. Wash the asparagus, and cut off any woody ends. 
3. Place the asparagus whole into a 13x9 casserole dish or a baking sheet. 
4. Drizzle olive oil lightly over the asparagus.
5. Bake for 8 minutes. Flip the asparagus (so bottom side is on top).
6. Bake another 7 to 10 minutes, until asparagus is crisp-tender.

Last weekend, I started experimenting with carrots, since our carrot crop this year is just coming on. Since I was already baking some asparagus, I made up this recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 415 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Wash carrots and cut off the stems and the end of the root.
3. Cut wide carrots length-wise, so the carrots are all of equal thickness.
4. Add 4-5 tablespoons butter into a 13x9 casserole dish, and preheat in the oven until butter is melted. 
5. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon ground ginger over butter. 
6. Add carrots to casserole dish, turning to coat.
7. Bake for 8 minutes. Flip the carrots.
8. Bake another 7-10 minutes, until carrots are crisp tender and starting to carmelize.

I bet I could do the same with all these radishes, but without the ginger. Any suggestions on what could spice up the roasted radishes?

Roasting Veggies

We have been busy!

I finally have some time to take a few pictures, We are really planting like crazy. It is time to move the movable buildings this weekend too!

Lettuce


Mid February planted carrots


Outside Carrots (just coming up)


Radish, Haikuri Turnips, Beets, Onions


Onions in Movable building




Broccoli and Cauliflower in movable building




Outside location, to be moved to this weekend


New plot, 16 by 160


New plot 12 by 100


Peppers will fill this building the first of the week



Late planted Leeks in new movable spot


Potatoes


Potatoes


Leeks and Potatoes


Onions


Onions, Cherry Tomatoes, Carrots



Potted tumbling toms, Romaine lettuce, Tomatoes


March 20th planted tomatoes, Bell peppers to be transplanted next week, radishes


More TOmatoes, onions, head lettuce


Cabbage on the outside, haikuri turnips, tomatoes, Napa Cabbage


I think that is about it! We still have 4 more spots to till and plant. Green beans, cucumber, zucchini, sweet potatoes and more.

We have been busy!

Friday's Featured Food: R is for Radishes

Radishes are the featured food for this Friday, even though it's not radish season right now.

We are between the early spring harvest and late fall crop. Radishes like the cool weather and tend to get a woody texture and an off taste as the temp heats up. But, radishes are a favorite for me, if for no other reason than because they are one of the first harvests in the spring. They give that taste of freshness, of warmer days ahead, and they give hard core gardeners an excuse to get in the dirt when there is still snow on the ground. The short days of maturity -- about a month from planting to harvest -- add to their popularity.

We grow five kinds of radishes: cherry belle, pink beauty, white ping pong, and French breakfast.

Nutritionally, radishes contribute mostly Vitamin C (15 percent, to be exact.) They also provide iron, fiber, and and a touch of calcium. (Who knew? Calcium in radishes!)

I doubt people eat radishes for the nutritional value. Most like them for their crunchy texture or snappy taste. Radishes provide a bite to salads, with their zing and their hardness. The amount of spice or heat is dependent on the variety and when you pick them.

I personally am not a huge fan of radishes. I probably shouldn't post it, but a girl can't like ALL vegetables and this is the one I don't care for -- until this year. I discovered that cooked or grilled radishes are great! I didn't like the burn of the radish, preferring a turnip instead, but by cooking them, I get the taste without the heat. True radish lovers probably think I'm disgracing the vegetable by saying that; sorry!

How to cook them? As I said, our new favorite is grilling them. Simply slice the radishes, put them in a foil packet with a few ice cubes, seal the foil packet, and grill for 10-15 minutes until fork tender. I add a bit of butter, because everything is better with butter in my world.

Another recipe I found but haven't tried calls for shredding a Daikon radish and frying in garlic oil with a touch of salt, almost like a hash brown.

And for those die-hard radish lovers who believe they should stay fresh, try a Spicy Radish Salad. Mix together 2 cups shredded Daikon radish, 1/4 cup rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons soy sauce and  1 tablespoon orange juice. Let the flavors marinate a bit before serving.

Friday's Featured Food: R is for Radishes

Oh, hail.

We live in Kansas and it's spring. It's not a matter of if it will hail; it's a matter of how big and for how long. For last week's storm, the answer is pea-to-marble sized for about 5 minutes.

First, the good news. Here's the damage to the buildings:

Yep, that's it. There are just a handful of little pings on the north sides of the buildings.

Now, the bad-but-could-be-worse news:

The radishes took a beating, and the broccoli didn't come through unscathed.

  Here are before and after pics:

Before is above, after is below... in case you can't tell.

So, it just has little holes in the leaves and some "branches" broken off. It could be worse! But everything else looks just fine and dandy, and the broccoli will be just fine. Here's hoping our good weather luck continues.

Oh, hail.