Day 22: Christmas Salad

This salad is a beautiful contribution to any holiday table, and took about ten minutes to make.

1/4 pound spinach, cut into strips

1 beet, peeled and chopped 

1 watermelon radish, chopped

1 red radish, chopped

2 green onions, chopped

1/8 cup cilantro, chopped

Boiled eggs, peeled and sliced.

1/3 cup walnuts

3 T sugar

feta cheese or goat cheese, optional

Balsamic vinaigrette 

1. Mix spinach, radishes, green onion, cilantro, and beet together in a large bowl. 

2. Heat a saucepan to medium-high heat. Add sugar and walnuts. Stir continuously until sugar melts and walnuts are covered. Immediately pour onto wax paper to cool.

3. Serve spinach salad topped with walnuts, feta cheese, egg, and vinaigrette.

Day 22: Christmas Salad

CSA Session 6 Week 1

This weeks basket includes Spinach, Mixed Kale, Green Onions and Carrots.

Even though its the start of a new session, we still have the same vegetables and they are still growing good. 

If you want some "less healthy" spinach, you can try this Hot Spinach Dip. It has cheese and garlic so it probably will be good. And if you'd rather have your Spinach in a Salad form, here is 16 different Spinach Salad recipe.

Kale can be great in anything. Like this Quiche. Or one of these 57 different Kale recipes.

Carrots are also good in plenty of things. Like these Parmesan Roasted Carrots. Or one of these 28 different carrot recipes.

I hope you enjoy your vegetables and have a Merry Christmas!

-Maggie

CSA Session 6 Week 1

Day 21: German Sweet Potato Salad

Jay’s last name may be Sleichter, but the German flavors in our meals come from my side. I love sauerkraut, bierocks, and German potato salad. We have more sweet potatoes than regular potatoes, so I sought out a warm German potato salad that used sweet potatoes.

And of course, we used purple sweet potatoes, because... K-State alumni! 

Here’s the link to the recipe.

Day 21: German Sweet Potato Salad

Day 20: Seven Layer Salad

This is my favorite for potlucks! And 12tomato web site is a great one for recipes. So, rather than recreat what is already yummy, here ya go:

Seven Layer Salad

Day 20: Seven Layer Salad

Day 19: leftover salads, new salad dressing

My girls did such a great job making the salad, they made enough for two nights! So, how about just a new homemade salad dressing?

You know those frozen cherry tomatoes I keep mentioning? Well, pull out about 1 1/2 cups of them and make this dressing in about five minutes.

Homemade Tomato Basil Dressing

• 1 1/2 cup frozen cherry tomatoes 1/2 cup olive oil1/3 cup seasoned rice vinegar1/3 cup chopped fresh basil1/2 teaspoon finely chopped garlic1/2 teaspoon salt1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper2 Tablespoons sugar
  1. Place frozen cherry tomatoes and minced garlic in a saucepan on medium-high heat, with lid on. Shake pan gently every 2-3 minutes. 2. Once cherry tomatoes start to pop open, smash them with a potato masher in the pan. 3. Add remaining ingredients. Whisk until blended. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally.4. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. 
  Serve warm on salad immediately, or chill in fridge until ready to use.

Day 19: leftover salads, new salad dressing

Day 18: Buffalo Chicken Salad

You know that great taste combo you get with a hot, spicy chicken wing with a cool ranch dip? This is the salad version.

Our girls put the veggie part together, using two kinds of green lettuce, green onions, purple radish, 2 carrots, red radish, white radish, and a watermelon radish. Add boneless Buffalo wings, cut into pieces. Top with ranch (always homemade Hidden Valley Ranch in our house), and croutons for crunch. 

Day 18: Buffalo Chicken Salad

Day 17: Warm Kale Honey Salad

As promised, here is that warm kale salad I mentioned on Day 16. For this salad, I am using dinosaur kale, because it holds up best to heat, in my opinion. 

I know the recipe calls for 12 cups of kale. But Lordy that’s a lot of kale, even for our Sleichter squad. I use about 6-8 cups of kale in my version. 

Now the bacon? Totally go with the full 12 slices. Because ... more bacon.

Ingredients

• 12 strips Bacon- diced
• 2 large Shallots, peeled, sliced into thin rings, and separated
• 2 tablespoon garlic infused olive oil
• 6-8 Cups Dinosaur Kale, stems removed & chopped
• 1/4 Cup Walnuts
• 1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
• Salt and Pepper, to taste

Honey Dijon Vinaigrette

•  4 tsp Dijon Mustard
• 2 ½ tsp Honey
• 2 TBS White Balsamic Vinegar2 tablespoons brown sugar
• ½ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• ¼ tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
• ½ tsp each: Sea Salt and Cracked Black Pepper, or more to taste

Instructions

• Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the bacon. Cook to desired crispiness and transfer to a paper towel lined plate, reserving 3 tablespoons of the bacon drippings in the pan.  Set the bacon aside.
• Turn heat up to medium high. Add the shallots to the skillet with the bacon drippings. Fry until golden in color, stirring constantly, about 3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel lined plate. Set aside.
• Reduce heat to medium. Add garlic olive oil to skillet. Add the kale to the pan and sauté until kale is warm and deep green in color, about 2-3 minutes. 
• Make the vinaigrette: whisk together all ingredients in a small bowl or place them in a container with a tight fitting lid and shake until well incorporated. Taste and adjust for seasoning.
• Assemble: Transfer the warm kale salad to serving plates or a salad serving bowl. Top with walnuts, bacon, crispy shallots and parmesan cheese. Serve with Honey-Dijon Vinaigrette.

Day 17: Warm Kale Honey Salad

Day 16: Everyday salad... but a salad for every day?

I had every intention of making a specific warm kale salad today, but then I had to go to my normal job, then kid appointment, 4-H, veggie deliveries, feed the fam, and school board meeting. So frozen pizza for supper!

But I want to keep up the streak. So here is an everyday salad from one of my favorite recipe sources, gimme some oven. Really. It’s called everyday salad

Day 16: Everyday salad... but a salad for every day?

Day 15: Olive Garden Copycat

Tonight’s menu was copycat Olive Garden potato gnocchi soup, so it only make sense to copycat their salad, too.

They make it easy to copycat, since we can buy the Olive Garden Italian salad dressing. Mix together Muir and Hornet lettuces, sliced onions, carrot strips, black olives, Parmesan cheese, and of course croutons. (We had eaten all the peperoncinos and I was not driving back to town just for that...but it’s much more authentic that way.) Top with the Italian dressing and enjoy!

Day 15: Olive Garden Copycat

CSA session 5 week 5

 This weeks CSA delivery includes Spinach, Lettuce, Turnips, Carrots and Beets.

With this basket we have decided to Lettuce Turnip the Beets. Since cooking is ALWAYS better with music.

These Beetroot Amaretto Rolls are something that I've wanted to make pretty much since trying them at the national festival of breads last summer. 

I've never had a spinach soup but this Lemony Chicken and Spinach Soup sounds really good. Also you can't go wrong with a good Spinach Artichoke dip.

If you're looking for some ideas with the greens here is where you can find different salads galore to try.

Turnips taste good raw, cooked or in a million other ways to eat them. Here is 7 different ways to eat turnips. (To be honest some of them don't make much sense to me but they're very interesting)

Enjoy!

-Maggie

CSA session 5 week 5

Day 14: Bring on the Berries

Do you get annoyed by those Web sites that make you scroll for pages to get to a recipe? Ya, me too. So, here ya go:

Kale Berry Salad

4 cups dinosaur kale, chopped

1/3 cup blackberries

1/3 cup raspberries

1/4 cup pecans, roasted

4 T feta or goat cheese

1/4 cup olive oil

1/8 cup balsamic vinegar

2 T honey

2 tsp brown mustard

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 tsp salt

Pinch black pepper

1. Mix olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, mustard, garlic, salt, and pepper together in a bowl. Whisk until mixed well.
2. Place washed, chopped kale into a large bowl. Pour dressing over the kale and set aside.
3. Rinse raspberries and blackberries and add to kale.
4. Roast pecans in a skillet on medium-high heat until just starting to brown. Add to kale.
5. Sprinkle feta cheese on top of salad, and serve. 

Day 14: Bring on the Berries

Day 13: Blackened Chicken Salad

 A girls gotta take advantage of warm days in December. So, grilled chicken it is! 

I wanted lots of variety in today's salad, so I picked lettuce from three different spots in our hoop building. 

For some extra crunch, I added some purple kale. Green onions are a must. Then, because this salad has a Mexican taste, I grabbed some fresh cilantro. Carrots were already picked and ready to use, and cherry tomatoes came out of the freezer, roasted for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. But you could use fresh cherry tomatoes, too.

I had to buy the avocado. You can't win them all.

Blackened Chicken Salad

4 chicken breasts

1 tsp paprika

1 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp cumin 

2 T olive oil

1/4 lb assorted lettuce (about 4 cups), washed and chopped

1/2 c cherry tomatoes

2 green onions

4-5 stems cilantro

4 yellow carrots, chopped

2 avocados, chopped

tortilla strips, optional

shredded cheddar cheese, optional (but always at our house)

1. Preheat grill.

2. Mix together in a large bowl the paprika, garlic powder, smoked paprika, cumin, and olive oil.

3. Add the chicken to the spice mixture and cover chicken thoroughly.

4. Place chicken on preheated grill. Grill chicken for 7-9 minutes per side, cooking to an internal temperature of 165 degrees.

5. Meanwhile, combine the lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cilantro, carrots, and avocado. 

6. Remove chicken from grill. Allow to rest 2-3 minutes, then slice into strips. 

7. Serve on top of lettuce, with your favorite salad dressing. (Catalina is my go-to for this salad.) Add tortilla strips and shredded cheese, if so desired.

Day 13: Blackened Chicken Salad

Day 12: Oven Roasted Bok Choy Salad

Do you want to see how we keep growing vegetables in our high tunnels when it's so cold out? Those cute little plants get tucked in every night! More specifically, they get covered with row cover.

Then, when we are ready to pick, or on warm days, we peel back the row cover to these beauties.

Today's salad features bok choy. Most of our new customers say ... bok what? Bok Choy. It's what happens when a green can't decide if it is celery or lettuce or cabbage. Technically, it is a Chinese cabbage. Bok choy is packed with antioxidants and is a great source of Vitamin A and C. Isn't it pretty!

Usually, I'll trim off the leaves and treat them like I do kale, and use the stems like celery. Bok choy is good to eat raw, but my preference is to saute or roast it. And if I'm roasting one veggie, why not roast three?

Hopefully you took our advice last summer and stuck some of those cherry tomatoes in the freezer. Roast those beauties until they pop open. And what's a salad without carrots?! 

Oven Roasted Bok Choy Salad

6 bok choy leaves, rinsed and chopped into 2-inch segments

4 carrots, peeled and diagonal cut in 1-inch pieces

1-2 cup frozen cherry tomatoes

Feta cheese

Balsamic vinaigrette

Olive oil (I used garlic infused)

Salt and Pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400. 

2. Toss bok choy, carrots, and frozen cherry tomatoes in bowl with 2-3 T olive oil.

3. Spread veggies out onto baking sheet. Season veggies with salt and pepper.

4. Roast veggies for 20-25 minutes until fork tender and bok choy leaves just start to blacken.

5. Broil veggies on high for 1-2 minutes to crisp up the bok choy leaves.

6. Remove from oven and serve immediately, topped with feta cheese and balsamic vinaigrette.

Day 12: Oven Roasted Bok Choy Salad

Day 11: Salad is for the birds?

Maggie threw this salad together for us tonight, quite successfully in my opinion!   Since it’s topping looked like bird feed, and included boiled eggs from our own birds, it is now officially called Bird Salad in our household.

She used 1/4 pound fresh picked spinach, and topped with sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, roasted chickpeas, Parmesan cheese, and dried mixed berries. Topped with sliced boiled egg and your favorite dressing. Five minute salad with lots of crunch.

Day 11: Salad is for the birds?

Day 10: Spinach and sweet

Popeye the Sailor Man knew what he was talking about, eating all that spinach. It is good for you, packed with vitamins and minerals.

Source: https://www.herbazest.com/herbs/spinach

But Popeye didn't know the best way to eat spinach. From a can?!?! Blech! Raw spinach has much more flavor and texture than any canned product, and doesn't get all mushy with dressing. 

My favorite spinach salad is very basic. Mix together and serve immediately the following ingredients: 

    1/4 pound of fresh spinach, torn

    1 can of mandarin oranges, drained

    1/4 cup almond slivers, lightly roasted

    Raspberry vinaigrette 

We tried two kinds of raspberry vinaigrette today, both available locally from Ray's. The Fat Free dressing had much more raspberry flavor to it, definitely recommend that one. Yes, for once the healthier option is the yummier option!

Day 10: Spinach and sweet

CSA Session 5 week 4

This weeks basket has Bok Choy, Yellow Carrots, Watermelon Radish, Red Radish, Purple Radish, Garlic and a head of Red Lettuce.

We've been working on a Salad every day for 30 days, so here is a weeks worth of salads.

Italian Salad

Carrot Salad

"Pink Goo" Salad

Fajita Salad

Cranberry Kale Salad

You Eat With Your Eyes Salad

Chef Salad

Rollups (Saladish)

These Salads are all a good way to use your greens and try something new. My favorite was the You Eat With Your Eyes Salad, but the Rollups were pretty good too and they technically are salad (since it has the greens)

Enjoy!

Maggie

Mama Linda adds: this basket is great for stir fry, too. In stir fry recipes, I’ll use the stem of the bok choy like celery, chopped and sautéed. Then, slice up the leaves and add them the last 2-3 minutes of cooking. 

But don’t take my word for it. This one has a nice orange sauce with it. Or, if the warm weather inspires you to fire up your grill, here

is another recipe featuring bok choy and radishes. In the mood for soup? This one looks delicious — I’ll let you know, because it’s definitely on our menu for this week.

CSA Session 5 week 4

Day 9: Chickpeas

Jay’s turn to cook tonight, and he chose a warm salad. More specially, it is warm Swiss chard and chickpea salad. This was warm in temperature and in spice, and is based on this Web site. 

Jay added bacon to our version of it, because as much as we like veggies, we do love bacon! He used our rainbow chard, which not only provides the green, but the stems add the bright red pieces. 

Day 9: Chickpeas

Day 8: Italian salad

It’s Friday night at the end of a big week. So, we needed a lazy salad. We also had pasta and breadsticks, so.. Italian salad it is.

This one had green lettuce, green onions, shredded carrots, pepperoni, slivers of mozerella cheese, and croutons. Add Olive Garden Italian dressing, olives, and pepperocinos for an Olive Garden level salad.

Quick. Tasty. Lazy... I mean, simple..

Day 8: Italian salad

Day 6: Carrot Salad

I'm going back to the potluck tradition for today's entry: carrot raisin salad. 

There are nearly as many versions of this recipe as there are rows of carrots at our farm. Unless I'm baking, I never follow a recipe exact. Tonight's salad as a combination of this recipe and this recipe. 

Funny thing, though. Even if you’ve been married to the same guy for 21 years and counting, you can learn something new. Like Jay doesn’t like raisins but does like cranberries. Hence another adaptation.

My version for five of us looked like this:

3 orange carrots, peeled and shredded

3 purple carrots, peeled and shredded

3 yellow carrots, peeled and... you guessed it ... shredded

3/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup mayonaisse

2 T sugar

2 T milk

1/4 cup sour cream

Blend together in a bowl the mayo, sugar, milk, and sour cream. Add a little lemon if you want some more tang. Stir in the cranberries and carrots, until the dressing is evenly dispersed. Chill until ready to serve. 

It added some nice color to our tumeric-rosemary rice, oven roasted radishes, and pan fried duck.

Day 6: Carrot Salad

Day 7: Pink Goo Salad

We eat weird things around here. I get it. And we rarely know the name of what we are eating. Like yesterday, when I roasted this veggie, not knowing if it was a type of radish or turnip or parsnip or what.

It was a daikon radish. And in my defense, a new variety. But I digress.

When you eat weird nameless things, you start naming dishes weird names. Like the Pink Goo Salad featured today.

Secret time, I don’t like raw radishes. At least not when they are spicy. But this recipe with its raw radishes was delicious to me. And Jay. And the kids.  So the pink goo salad is here to stay. 

If you’d like to make your own pink goo salad, the actual recipe is, well, we can't find it. But I can tell you how Jay made it.

In the salad pictured above, Jay used purple meat daikon, Red King daikon, white daikon, Watermelon radishes and carrots. Peel and shred all of those into a bowl. Add in a cup of Craisins (or raisins, whatever is your preference). Mix together a cup of mayo, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 2-4 tablespoons honey (or half that amount of sugar), and 3 tablespoons lemon juice. Stir dressing into slaw and refrigerate a bit before eating.

Now you too can enjoy your pink goo.

Day 7: Pink Goo Salad

Day 5: Fajita Salad

After Jay and our high schoolers were out picking carrots after school, it was just too cold for a basic salad tonight. And so, we made up this gem: beef fajita salad.

We started out with an assortment of lettuce. I am a bit spoiled, so I walked out to hoop B and picked three kinds of lettuce: Miur, Cherokee, and hornet. Don’t let me fool you; I don’t know which is which, and I had to ask Jay. I just say “I want some of the light green, some of that darker green, and some dark purple lettuce.”

Then I negotiated with my helpers, and they picked me a rainbow of carrots, a fresh green onion, and a yellow onion.

And because I’m really spoiled, I walked to the basement and got a package of beef fajita meat from last year’s 4-H steer.  I sautéed the beef with the chopped onion, and added a little Italian dressing and lime juice. 

I’m a big believer that every dish needs a contrast of tastes (sweet and salty) and textures. So, I tossed these tortilla strips together, but added about a teaspoon of cumin and half teaspoon of paprika in the oil before tossing with the tortillas and baking.

I chopped all the veggies and tossed together without a care. 

Then, it was time to build. Lettuce and veggies, fajita beef and onions, cheddar cheese, Catalina dressing, and tortilla strips. 

YUM.

Day 5: Fajita Salad