Potato Soup

Too much month at the end of the money? LOTS of potatoes and turnips lying around from a CSA box or your garden? Or simply lingering because they last so long, you can afford to save them for the end of the grocery week?

I used up lots of my Colvin CSA potatoes and turnips in this simple, delicious soup. It's a basic potato soup that is kid-friendly, makes a lot, and is fairly inexpensive. There is time spent on the front end peeling and chopping and braising, but after that, it's fairly straightforward. It reheats fine, too.

Potato Soup
~based on techniques from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, Simply in Season, and Joy of Cooking

• 2 pounds potatoes
• 1-1 1/4 pounds young white turnips
• 2 cups chopped onion
• 1 quart chicken stock
• 6 T. butter
• 3 bay leaves
• salt and pepper
• 2 cups milk
• garnishes: bacon bits, chopped fresh parsley, shredded cheese

1. Start onions slow cooking over medium heat in 2-3 tablespoons butter.
2. Peel and roughly chop potatoes and turnips. Blanch turnips in boiling water for 6 minutes. Drain.
3. Add chopped potatoes and bay leaves to cooking onions and stir/cook for about 10 minutes, until potatoes are starting to brown and soften slightly.
4. Meanwhile, melt remaining butter in large skillet. Add turnips and 1 cup chicken stock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer (covered) until turnips are tender, 10-12 minutes. Note: entire turnips recipe can be made ahead of time and just added in when the puree step comes.
5. When potatoes have browned slightly, add 1 cup chicken stock to the pot and deglaze, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom. Cook and stir for a few minutes. Add remaining 2 cups chicken stock plus enough water to cover potatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, covered, until potatoes are tender.
6. Combine turnips (and juice) with 1/2-2/3 of the potatoes (and some juice) in a food processor. Pulse until mostly pureed but still slightly chunky. Add back to pot with remaining potatoes and stir in milk. Reheat and season to taste with salt and pepper.

~Serves 8

Easy Tomatillo-Chipotle Salsa

A quick search online shows many "roasted tomatillo" salsa recipes, and, frankly, they all look too labor intensive for this busy momma. Roasting as the first step is an automatic turn-off right now. I just don't have the time. One of the reasons I enjoyed the chili we made last week using our tomatillos is that it was a simple matter of roughly chopping said tomatillos and dumping them in the pot. But I do love me some salsa verde, and tomatillos are a key ingredient.

Thankfully, the latest cookbook I've received to review is a book full of Tex Mex recipes, and it has a tomatillo salsa recipe perfect for my crazy lifestyle--and the perfect recipe to multiply and freeze! (You could probably can it, too, but I don't know how to tell you to do that as far as timing/processing might work.) I've adapted it to work with the amount of tomatillos I get in my CSA box from the Colvins. I also used Colvin onions and garlic! Seriously, folks, this is an easy peasy recipe. It's also not terribly spicy, despite the chipotles in it.

Easy Tomatillo-Chipotle Salsa
~slightly adapted from The Homesick Texan's Family Table

• 1 1/2 pounds fresh tomatillos
• 2 small onions
• 6 cloves garlic
• 3 cups water
• 2 chipotle chilies in adobo sauce
• salt to taste

1. Remove husks from tomatillos and rinse the sticky residue off. Remove the small core and slice the fruits in half.
2. Peel onions and garlic cloves.
3. Dump tomatillos, onions, and garlic into a medium-sized pot along with the water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for about 10 minutes.
4. Let cool enough to puree.
5. Using a slotted spoon, put cooked tomatillos, onions, and garlic into a food processor or blender. Puree along with the chipotle chilies, adding some of the cooking water if needed to get the consistency you want.
6. Salt to taste (salt definitely helps, so don't be too shy with it).
7. Use right away, keep in the fridge for about a week, or freeze.

~Makes 4-5 cups.

Butternut Squash Soup with Roasted Apple

We are partial to our favorite Butternut Squash Soup, but since I was able to get regional apples and fresh local apple cider in addition to more butternut squash from the Colvins, I figured I try this new recipe. It's a sweeter soup than our favorite and not as substantial (no dairy or anything to offer some staying power). It freezes fine, too.

Butternut Squash Soup with Roasted Apple
~from The B. T. C. Old-Fashioned Grocery Cookbook

• 2 pounds mixed apples, peeled, halved, and cored*
• 2 T. olive oil, plus more for the apples
• salt
• 1/4 t. pepper, plus more for the apples
• 1/2 c. butter
• 6 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and chopped
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 8 cups chicken or vegetable stock (or part stock/part water)
• 2 c. fresh apple cider
• 2 T. apple cider vinegar
• 2 T. apple butter
• 1 cinnamon stick or ~ 1/4 t. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 t. allspice
• 1/8 t. ground fennel
• 1/8 t. nutmeg
• dash cloves
• sprigs fresh thyme

*cookbook specified granny smith, but I used a mixture of local apples

1. Toss apples in enough oil to coat, season with salt and pepper, and roast at 425 degrees (cut-side down) for 30 to 45 minutes, until caramelized. 
2. Heat butter and oil in a stockpot over medium heat. Add squash and onion and cook, stirring, until squash is soft, about 15 minutes. Add garlic and cook another 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients (except thyme). Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for about an hour.
3. Remove pot from heat, remove cinnamon stick if using, and puree. 
4. Sprinkle individual servings with thyme, if using.

~Serves 6-9

Braised Lentils with Roasted Butternut Squash

True story: for the first time in 4 years, I forgot to pick up my CSA veggies. Well, I remembered, but by then, I couldn't make it work. I guess Labor Day threw off my mental "what day is it today" track. The Colvins are very forgiving types, thank goodness. I think we're going to be able to work it out for me to get a box this weekend. So, I don't know if you will be getting butternut squash this weekend or not, but if you're like me, you may still have one or two lying around. I usually eat up the more perishable stuff first. Good thing because last night, I could still whip up a meal with CSA veggies!

This recipe is simple, but takes a bit of time to cook. It's delicious, too, despite the unassuming ingredient list. I'm not a huge fan of chunks of butternut squash; generally, I prefer the pureed recipes like our favorite Butternut Squash Soup. But the combination in this recipe works beautifully. I didn't think to take a picture of all the Colvin veggies that went into this recipe, but I used onions and garlic from them in addition to the squash! This works as a good side dish for sausage (smoked, flavored chicken, etc.) as well as a vegan/vegetarian main dish.

Braised Lentils with Roasted Butternut Squash
~adapted slightly from How to Cook Everything, 10th ann. edition

• 1 cup lentils, brown or green
• 1 small onion or 1/2 of a large one
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 c. peeled, cubed butternut squash (1/2-inch to 1-inch cubes) from a medium squash
• 2 T. olive oil plus extra
• 2 c. chicken or vegetable stock
• 1/2 c. red wine (can use white for a more subtle taste)
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Toss squash cubes with enough oil to coat and roast at 375 degrees until tender and caramelized (about 20 minutes or so). (I sprinkled some salt and pepper over the cubes as well.)
2. Meanwhile, in a medium pot, sauté onion over medium high heat until translucent. Add garlic and stir for a minute or so until garlic is fragrant. 
3. Add lentils, stock, wine, and bay leaf to pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, partially cover, and simmer for about 25 minutes.
4. Taste, adjust seasonings, and simmer until lentils are done to your liking. Removing the lid will help some of the excess liquid cook off (which I like). When lentils are just about done, gently stir in squash pieces to reheat.

~Serves 4-6

Acorn Squash with Brown Sugar

A couple of weeks ago, we brought home a lovely little acorn squash in our box from the Colvins. I let it sit contentedly in its happy place on the counter for about 2 weeks before I remembered it in the chaos of starting up school. I don't have any pictures of the final dish because we scarfed that bad boy down in all its buttery, sugary goodness. One acorn squash made enough for my family to eat at one meal with zero leftovers. Petite portions, too. The recipe below is for 2 squash, but, obviously, you could halve it.

Acorn Squash with Brown Sugar
~Cook's Illustrated Cookbook

• 2 acorn squash (1 1/2 pounds each), halved pole to pole and seeded
• salt*
• 3 T. butter*
• 3 T. brown sugar

*if using salted butter, go easy on the salt; if using unsalted butter, salt away!

1. Sprinkle squash halves with salt and place, cut sides down, in a pan big enough to hold them (13x9-inch pan, large bowl, etc.). Pour 1/4 cup water in bottom and cover with plastic wrap. Microwave for about 15 to 25 minutes, or until squash is tender and pierces easily with a knife (or fork). Remove pan from microwave and place on hot pad on counter (if your counter is too cold, this could be dangerous without a hot pad--the pan/bowl will be HOT).
2. Preheat broiler. Melt butter and brown sugar together (add 1/8 t. salt if using unsalted butter).
3. Transfer squash to rimmed, broiler safe baking sheet (tongs work well). Place them cut-sides up and brush with butter/sugar mixture. Broil until brown and caramelized, 5 to 8 minutes. You may need to remove some portions before others if they brown faster. Serve immediately.

~Serves 4-6

Kale and Sweet Potato Saute

YUM. YUM. YUM.

This is amazing topped with a fried egg and eaten for breakfast. It reheats great. The sweetness of the potatoes contrasts perfectly with the taste of kale--and the Southwestern spices complement the whole mess beautifully. We get kale regularly from the Colvins, and, while I always enjoy it, this week I was desperately hoping they'd come through for me because I wanted to make this again! (And, thankfully, they did.) The author of this recipe notes that the mixture is also good topping a tostada (add queso fresco, cilantro, avocado cubes, etc.).

Kale and Sweet Potato Saute
~Brassicas

• 2 T. olive oil, divided
• 1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes (2 medium), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 3/4 t. kosher salt, divided
• 1 T. chili powder, divided
• 1 1/2 t. ground cumin, divided
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium bunch kale (about 10-ounces), center ribs and thick stems removed, leaves chopped and shredded
• 1 T. water--or more

1. Combine: 1/2 t. salt, 2 t. chili powder, and 1 t. cumin in a small bowl. Combine 1/4 t. salt, 1 t. chili powder, and 1/2 t. cumin in another small bowl.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet. If using a stainless steel skillet, you will need more oil. Add potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. When the potatoes have started to soften, stir in the first spice mixture (and more oil if the pan is too dry). Continue cooking and stirring until potatoes are golden brown and cooked through. This will take anywhere from 8-10 minutes if your potato chunks are pretty small to quite a bit longer if you just roughly chopped them like I did.... When cooked, transfer to a bowl.
3. Heat remaining oil and the garlic in the same skillet. When garlic sizzles, add kale a handful at a time (turning it over with tongs) until it all fits in the skillet. Stir in second spice mixture and water and cook for 5 minutes, until kale is wilted and tender. Add potatoes back to the pan and heat through.
4. Serve as is, or top with fried eggs for breakfast, or on top of tostadas for a light dinner.

~Serves 4

Kitchen Sink Recipes

Every chef needs a few "back pocket" recipes he or she can whip out and produce at the last minute. The ones you keep pantry supplies on hand for or the recipes you could make in your sleep (even if it's just boxed noodles and jarred pasta sauce.)

The CSA shareholder and the gardener need "Kitchen Sink" Recipes, too: recipes where you can put everything in but the kitchen sink, vegetable-wise. Val Colvin, the Farmer's Wife, gave a nod to my pizza-making in this vein, and I thought I'd share some of my favorite Kitchen Sink Recipes here. This is my go to list of meal ideas for my CSA basket. While I post one-two recipes each week that are a little "fancier" or more exotic as ideas for folks to use when contemplating their weekly harvest/haul, the ones below are far more regular features for us:

Stir-Fry: always an option with rice or noodles, with or without meat. Basic preparation tips: chop/slice veggies in similar sizes for even cooking. Start longer cooking veggies first (onions, cabbage, broccoli, roots in general (carrots, kohlrabi, etc)). Then do medium cooking veggies (peppers, beans, etc.). End with shortest cooking times (summer squash, peas, etc.). I usually use my Basic Stir Fry as a base and just change up sauces as I feel like it (BiBimBap is a nice variation, and Trader Joe's makes a great Teriyaki sauce--Soyaki--for when I'm in a hurry)

Pizza: YES! We put anything and everything on a pizza crust, with or without tomato sauce. Longer cooking veggies benefit from blanching first (potatoes, etc.) unless they're sliced VERY thin. Super short-cooking veggies benefit from pre-baking the crust slightly (i.e. lettuces). Check out the pizza category in the side bar for some possibilities.

Roasted Veggies: I eat these for any meal of the day. Yum yum yum. As with stir-fries, make sure everything is cut in similar sized pieces. Toss with olive oil and salt and pepper.  Roast for 15-30 minutes or until veggies are done to your liking. Stir every 5-10. If you have a mixture of short and long cooking times, just start the longer ones first and add in the shorter ones halfway through. We roast at 400-425 degrees usually, but it's very flexible--if I have something else in the oven, I'll adjust the temperature accordingly. Favorites for this: potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, kohlrabi, onions, peppers, broccoli florets (add in halfway through), carrots, tomatoes (keep separate if you don't want their juice over everything else), summer squash, green beans, …. Leftovers can be topped with a fried egg for breakfast, folded into a wrap or used in a salad for lunch, or simply reheated and enjoyed anytime of the day. Grilled veggies are a similar option.

Wraps/Quesadillas: Saute some sliced bell peppers, onions, summer squash and throw 'em in your next tortilla. Use leftover roasted veggies, cooked greens, you name it--it can all go in a wrap or quesadilla or burrito.

Veggie Sandwiches: Anything that can be eaten raw goes into these. Sliced or shredded: carrots, bell peppers, kohlrabi, radishes, lettuces, greens, tomatoes, broccoli, summer squash, onions, ….

Salad: (duh) There's more than meets the eye here. Of course, we think of lettuce salads topped with the usual suspects: tomatoes and cucumbers. But don't forget that the Mediterranean, for instance, often eats a salad of tomatoes, bell peppers and cucumbers sans lettuce. And slaw is just cabbage salad. Other root veggies (kohlrabi and turnips, for example) can be shredded and used for slaw just like cabbage. Kale is delicious in a salad. In the Mediterranean, cooked greens are eaten cold with a drizzle of oil and vinegar as a salad. I often just eat a tomato or cucumber sliced with salt and pepper.

Quiche: We've camouflaged put lots of things in a cheesy, custardy egg base…. summer squash, greens, and nearly anything else (we've not tried root vegetables this way).

Ethnic: If you're trying to disguise the taste/texture of a vegetable you're learning to like, strong ethnic flavors can go a long way. We're curry fans, and curry dishes have helped us learn to like mustard greens, cauliflower, and turnips in particular. Salsa camouflages the blander tastes of summer squash, milder cooked greens, and the like--you can sneak them into burritos and enchiladas easily. Lasagna or manicotti is a good vehicle for cooked veggies, too. And, of course, stir fries full of familiar veggies can help hide one or two surprises.

Breakfast Burritos with Greens

Mmm… I can hear you now: nothin' better than taking a cheesy, meaty breakfast treat and adding greens to it (and taking out the meat!). But even the kids scarfed these down. If you're a gardener, regular farmer's market shopper, or CSA shareholder, you're likely to have greens lying about. I'm at the point where we need to eat vegetables at every meal just to use some of our produce up. These burritos are a nice way to chip away at the pile o' greens; they also are a good way to use up some leftover cooked greens as long as they were cooked simply without some sort of sauce.

Breakfast Burritos with Kale

• scrambled eggs with cheese* (about 1 egg/person)
• cooked kale--about 1 leaf/greens-eater's burrito; 1/3-1/2 leaf for non-greens-eaters' burritos
• cooked black beans (drained and rinsed if canned); about 1/4 cup per person)
• whole wheat tortillas
• salsa of choice

*if you make plain scrambled eggs, then sprinkle cheese on the top of the burrito fillings; if there's a lot of cheese in the eggs, you won't need extra on top.

1. If kale is not already cooked, strip leaves from stems and chop. Cook in a small bit of water for a few minutes until cooked. Drain well.
2. Warm tortillas in a microwave. Layer eggs, beans, and kale. Top with salsa. Mmmm

On a side note, if anyone tries to make these and freeze them, let me know. I'm thinking that might work, but don't have time to mass produce them right now.

Turnip-Potato Mash

Boy is this delicious!! Turnips are lower in calories and carbs than potatoes, but when they are braised and then mashed with cooked potatoes, you can't tell. The result is a lighter version of mashed potatoes that is eagerly requested by our children whenever we get turnips in our basket from the Colvins. The Colvins had potatoes at their booth today, too, so you can get both from them! (I should note that I was most definitely not a turnip fan before I started getting them in my CSA baskets; this is one of the many vegetables we've learned to like!)

Turnip-Potato Mash
~based on Joy of Cooking, 1997 edition

• 1 recipe braised turnips (about 1 1/2 turnips, tops off, plus chicken stock and butter)
• 2-3 cups mashed potatoes*

*For mashed potatoes, I just bake a couple of extra potatoes a day or so ahead of time if we're having them for a different meal. If you're not having potatoes earlier in the week, just boil a few potatoes, peel them, and mash for this recipe. No need to have "mashed potatoes" all doctored up. On the other hand, if you happen to have actual leftover mashed potatoes with all their fixin's, I'm sure they'd taste great, too. This is very flexible.

Simply mash the braised turnips and add in the mashed potatoes. That's it! Braising the turnips takes a wee bit of time, but no more than making mashed potatoes from scratch. 

~Serves 6

Everyday Kale

Back in the day, when I was a kale rookie, I doctored it up in various recipes, meticulously cut the stems off, cut the leaves in neat strips, and measured precisely.

Now that I'm a kale junkie (thanks for getting me to this point, Colvins!), my approach is much more casual:
I rip the leaves off the stems,

pile them on a cutting board,

and just slice/chop. It ain't pretty, but it's quick and effective for a weeknight meal. The process is the same whether I'm cooking it or making up a wilted salad. I don't even have a picture of the final cooked product since I do this quickly and serve it up when I'm not thinking "blog recipe." Here's my weeknight cooking method….

Everyday Kale

• kale (remember, greens cook down significantly!! Don't be afraid of a large amount)
• salt and pepper (or, better yet, Paula Deen's House Seasoning)
• lemon
• splash olive oil

1. Prep the kale: wash it, rip stems off, roughly chop.
2. Heat a skillet, drizzle oil in if it's not nonstick, and dump in kale. Stir once or twice, pour in some water (not a lot--just enough to keep it from burning), cover skillet, and cook. I think this is roughly medium heat….
3. When kale is done to your liking, season it with salt and pepper and a squirt of lemon juice. Do not squirt lemon juice over it until you're ready to serve it; it can discolor the kale slightly. Kale is pretty sturdy and can sit a bit off heat until the rest of your dinner is ready.

Kohlrabi Greens with Garlic

Kohlrabi is a funky-looking vegetable that is surprisingly delicious. I forgot to take a picture of the whole bulb with greens before jumping into this recipe--you can see the bulb part (also edible) in my picture of my CSA haul from the Colvins this week. The greens are very similar to collard greens, so the cooking process is similar (actually, you can use them virtually interchangeably). If you don't have enough greens from the "tops" in your CSA box, you can always do a pot of braised mixed greens. [This is also a nice recipe if you need a vegetarian version of collard greens…but who leaves out bacon if they have it on hand?!]

Kohlrabi Greens with Garlic
~from World Vegetarian

• 1 pound kohlrabi greens (weighed after all coarse stems have been cut off; my 3 kohlrabi gave me about 1/2 a pound, so I halved the recipe)
• 1 T. olive oil
• 1 dried hot chile*
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 t. salt

*if you don't have one or want to add heat at the table, you can sub in dried red chile flakes to taste

1. Wash leaves well and slice into thin strips.
   
2. Heat oil in large pot over medium-high heat. When hot, put in dried chile, if using. Stir once. Add garlic and stir once or twice--don't let it burn! Add leaves, salt, and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil. Cover, turn down heat to low, and simmer until leaves are tender. This will take 3/4-1 1/2 hours, depending on size and age of leaves. Just let it do its thing while you decide what else to make for dinner. Like collards, these won't get meltingly soft until they've cooked a LONG time; it's okay if they still have some texture.
3. Stir occasionally, and when leaves are done to your liking, serve them up hot!
4. Serving suggestion: you can use the pot liquor leftover to serve over rice, dip cornbread into, or eat with beans. Or just serve the cooked greens as a side dish.

~Serves 4-6

Pumpkin Oatmeal with Streusel Topping

This time of year, we love us some hot porridge-y goodness in the morning. And if there are pumpkin-y fall flavors in that porridge...even better. I used almond milk in this version, but I'm sure you could use regular milk. Just watch it closely in the microwave to make sure it doesn't boil over. If you get the topping ready the night before, this comes together fairly quickly in the morning. Let it bake while you get ready for the day.

**updated to add more notes--this is not like "normal" baked oatmeal. It should be the consistency of regular stovetop oatmeal, not the drier "baked oatmeal" texture. Essentially, it's regular oatmeal with a nice streusel topping. If you follow the directions below, and your oat mixture is still very milky after the microwave cooking time, you may want to cook it a bit longer in the microwave. Otherwise, the oven baking time may need to be longer. My microwave is pretty powerful....yours may need extra time. Think of this like pumpkin oatmeal custard :-).

Pumpkin Oatmeal with Streusel Topping

• 2 c. oats
• 3 c. almond milk
• 1 can pumpkin
• 3 t. cinnamon
• 1 t. ginger
• 1/4 t. cloves
• 1/4 t. allspice
• 1/2 c. dark brown sugar

1. Combine oats and almond milk in a microwave safe container with lid, and let sit in fridge overnight.
2. In the morning, microwave the oat/milk mixture on high for about 3 minutes. Stir, the microwave for about 3 more minutes, or until done.
3. Stir in remaining ingredients and spread in an oven-safe dish (I used a pottery dish, but an Pyrex 8x8-inch glass pan would work).
4. Top with topping (see below) and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until topping looks done.

 ~Makes 4 generous servings

Topping:
3/4 c. chopped pecans (or so)
2 T. butter (or so)
3 T. brown sugar (or so)

Simple Braised Mustard Greens

Even our kids enjoy mustard greens--probably the only "greens" we can all agree on. And this is one of the simplest greens recipes I make. It's enjoyed enough to be requested for birthday dinners! This past week, we got a nice bunch in our share from the Colvins, and tonight we had them as part of my daughter's birthday dinner. I figured it was time I put this recipe here on full tummies.

A few words about mustard greens (and any greens, really). First, start with good greens. Seems obvious, doesn't it. Those big packages of "pre-washed/pre-chopped" greens often yield mostly stems. It's better to buy them loose, even though it's more work (or get them from a local farmer like we do!). And I gotta tell you: the greens we get from the Colvins are gorgeous with all this purple and green. They turn just plain green when cooked, though.

Second, make sure you wash them thoroughly--several changes of water, if necessary.

Third, weigh your bunch. This is helpful if you're not very familiar with greens and their amounts. What I have pictured above is about 12 ounces! That's all--and it's overflowing my 12 cup bowl before it's chopped. Remember, greens cook down considerably. You'll want about 4 ounces, raw, per serving. The above picture is what all those greens cooked down to!

Fourth, remove those larger stems and then chop the greens. I just fold a leaf in half like this.

Then I just slice off the stems--I don't worry if it's not perfect. If your stems aren't big, you may not need to do this at all.

Simple Braised Mustard Greens
(note the ratio, here; you can adjust this recipe up or down quite easily)

• 1 pound washed greens, chopped
• 4 c. water
• 2 t. Paula Deen's house seasoning

1. Chop stems off and chop greens if you haven't.
2. Bring water to a boil in a large pot.
3. Add seasoning and greens, stirring until all greens have wilted (this will just take a minute or so).
4. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes. Baby greens will take less time. You want greens to be tender but not mushy. 
   
   
5. Drain and serve!

 ~serves 4

Braised Chard with Olive Oil and Rice

A few weeks ago, my friend Suzanne commented that she thinks chard is beautiful, but she doesn't like it. I've been in that camp until this summer. Now, I'd say that I'm "learning" to like it...in small doses. And this recipe below is one of the recipes we've made a couple of times. Cooked chard tastes like strong cooked spinach--a little grassy--so it goes well with things that would go well with spinach. So, when we got chard (and white carrots!) from the Colvins this past week, we made this recipe again!

Braised Chard with Olive Oil and Rice
~adapted from How to Cook Everything, 10th ann. edition

• 1/2 pound chard, washed and trimmed*
• 1/3 c. olive oil
• 2 small carrots, roughly chopped
• salt and pepper
• 1/3 c. white rice
• juice of 1/2 a lemon

*original recipe calls for 1 pound; we get about 1/2 pound at a time in our share, and that is PLENTY for me in this recipe. In addition, I upped the rice from 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup. 

1. Wash chard again (one washing isn't usually sufficient for leafy greens!). Slice ends off stem--any frayed or "old" looking ends. Separate leaves from stems. Slice stems (like you would celery) and cut leaves into wide ribbons. Keep separate.
2. Put all but a tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When hot, add chard stems and carrots, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. 
3. When chard is tender, add chard leaves, more salt and pepper, the rice, and 1 3/4 cups water. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until water is absorbed (you may have to lower the heat). You're looking for a moist mixture, not a soupy one. 
4. Can be served hot or at room temperature. Before serving drizzle with remaining olive oil and lemon juice.

~serves 4-6

Farmer's Market Chicken Vegetable Soup

This is a perfect recipe for this time of year! I had nearly everything for this recipe from my last 2 weeks' baskets from the Colvins; in years' past, I would have had everything (but the weather kept those potatoes and tomatoes on the scanty side this year). No matter--those were easy enough to pick up elsewhere. The wine and fresh basil are optional, but they really are good in this. My roommate and I used to make this years ago before we each got married and before our budgets allowed either wine or fresh basil--and it was delicious even with substitutions.

Preparation Note: You can make this soup in about 45 minutes if you're strategic. Cut the vegetables up in order listed; you should be able to start cooking the potato pieces while you're working on the butternut squash, and so forth.

Farmer's Market Chicken Vegetable Soup
(titled in cookbook: "Chicken and Potato Soup with Fall Vegetables")
~Dairy Hollow House Soup and Bread Cookbook

• 2 1/2 quarts chicken stock**
• 3 c. dry white wine
• 1 T. tomato paste, optional (but adds good "oomph")
• 2 t. dried basil, or 1 c. lightly packed fresh basil leaves
• 3 medium potatoes, peeled, and cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 1 to 2 cups peeled, seeded, and diced butternut squash (1 small to medium butternut)
• 1 T. butter
• 1 T. vegetable oil
• 2 large onions, diced
• 1 large red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and diced
• 1 fresh tomato, roughly chopped (scrape out the seeds)
• 1/2 pound fresh green beans, stems trimmed, and sliced into very thin 1/4-inch slices
• salt and pepper
• 1 1/4 to 2 c. diced cooked chicken**

**I only use 4 cups stock, and, if I don't have cooked chicken on hand, will cook a chicken breast in the stock with the potatoes and the squash (it's easy to pull the whole piece of chicken out as long as you do it before you add too many of the rest of the vegetables!).

1. Bring wine and stock to a boil in a big soup pot. Turn heat down to medium-low and let simmer. Whisk in tomato paste, if using. Add dried basil, if using. Add potatoes to simmering stock, cover, and let cook 10 minutes. Add butternut squash and recover.
2. Meanwhile, heat butter and oil together in a skillet over medium heat. Saute onion for about 3 to 4 minutes, until translucent. Add pepper and cook for about a minute. Add tomato and continue cooking for another 3 to 4 minutes. Add these vegetables to the stock mixture (deglaze skillet with some hot stock). Simmer the soup for another 5 minutes, covered.
3. Add green beans to simmering coup and recover. 
4. If using fresh basil, slice into thin ribbons. Add basil ribbons to soup along with salt and pepper to taste. Add chicken pieces. Cook until squash and green beans are tender (about 5 more minutes). 

 ~Serves 5 to 6 amply

Italian Veggie Bake

This is delicious and can be made ahead! The vegetables listed below are the original list--sort of like a ratatouille--but we don't like eggplant or mushrooms, so I sometimes leave those out and just add extra squash and/or peppers. We got a great looking assortment of squash and peppers from the Colvins this week, so that's primarily what I used.

Italian Veggie Bake
~Out Here cookbook

• 1/3 c. Italian dressing (any kind: homemade, storebought, light, etc.)*
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 small unpeeled eggplant, cubed
• 1 medium zucchini, cubed
• 1 large red pepper, cubed
• 1 fresh package (6 oz.) sliced mushrooms
• 1 can (14.5 oz) Italian-style stewed tomatoes, drained and diced (or 2 c. fresh, diced tomatoes)*
• 1/3 c. shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 T. chopped parsley, optional

 *"Light" Italian dressing is often sweeter as are stewed tomatoes. These make the dish a bit sweeter--which many folks (especially children) enjoy.

1. Heat salad dressing in a large skillet over medium heat. 
2. Add onion and cook 5 minutes or until tender.
3. Add eggplant and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally (if not using eggplant, just cook the onion for the additional 5 minutes before moving on).
4. Add remaining vegetables except tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Add tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to love, cover, and simmer 15 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally.
6. Pour mixture into a casserole dish (I use a 13x9-inch dish). Sprinkle with cheese.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until heated through. You can also refrigerate at this point and bake tomorrow!
8. Sprinkle with parsley just before serving.

 ~Makes 14 1/2-cup servings

Easy Roasted Veggies

I don't know what it is about roasting, but vegetables come out of that oven a totally different breed than by any other cooking method. We've yet to find a vegetable (save, perhaps, for lettuce and spinach and the like) that can't be roasted successfully. Mixtures are nice, but so are single vegetable dishes. A couple of weeks ago, we had a lovely assortment of veggies from the Colvins that practically begged to be roasted: fennel, summer squash, tomatoes bell peppers (see the picture below)--I tossed the whole mixture with a balsamic vinaigrette that had fresh basil (also from the Colvins) in it, but the simple method listed below works a base no matter what else you plan to do with them. This week, we got more summer squash and some bell peppers in our CSA box, and I added a carrot, sweet potato, and a couple of white potatoes into the mix. Mmmmm

What can you do with roasted vegetables, besides use them as a side dish? Top a pre-baked pizza crust with them, add a little cheese, and pop back in the oven briefly. Toss them, cold, with some greens and salad dressings. Add them to a wrap. Mix them with some rice and add some extra seasoning/salsa/salad dressing. You get the picture. Possibilities are nearly endless.


Easy Roasted Veggies--basic method

Assortment of prepared vegetables*
Olive oil
salt and pepper or other seasoning blend (we've used Herbes de Provence, Cajun seasoning, Adobo/Fajita seasoning, Paula Deen's House Seasoning, ....)

Alternately, you can just use a vinaigrette--homemade or storebought--instead of the oil and seasonings.

Toss prepared vegetables with oil and seasonings. Spread out on a jelly roll pan; you may need two pans if you roast a lot of vegetables at once. They don't need to be in a single layer, but you also don't want them piled too high. If you're roasting tomatoes, keep them separate from the big mixture and roast them at the end of the pan in their own area. They will release lots of juice--which is delicious--but you might not want the whole mixture to taste like tomatoes.

Roast at 400-450 degrees until tender. Vague, huh? That's because the temperature and time are both flexible (do you want them done sooner? use a higher temperature and chop them smaller. Have a roast in the oven at 400 degrees? Use that temperature and go with it.). Roasted vegetables don't have to be piping hot to be enjoyed. As long as the harder vegetables (potatoes, carrots) are in small bite-size chunks, you're looking at about 20-30 minutes. Stir every 5-10 minutes, depending on oven temperature and size of vegetable chunks.

*Vegetable Preparation:

Peel vegetables like sweet potatoes, winter squash, and any other vegetable you might normally peel before eating (except for garlic). Cut all veggies into appropriate sized pieces, remembering that vegetables like summer squash and tomatoes will cook faster than vegetables like sweet potatoes. If you're roasting a mixture, cut up harder vegetables into smaller pieces (you'll notice that my sweet potatoes in the picture above are cut fairly thin). For vegetables like green beans, you may want to blanch them first.

Baked Acorn Squash with Apple-Pear Stuffing

Acorn squash can sometimes be bland, and its texture is not as creamy as butternut. But it makes a terrific vehicle for this apple-pear stuffing and is perfect for fall. We got some acorn squash this week from the Colvins, and this is what we did with it. If you just want to bake or roast a winter squash, follow the same procedure minus the stuffing directions (you can also raise the temperature and bake it for less time; winter squash are very forgiving). We found that this reheated well, too--the flavors were even better on day two!

Baked Acorn Squash with Apple-Pear Stuffing
~Joy of Cooking, 1997 edition

• 2 medium acorn squash, halved and seeded
  
• 2 large apples, peeled, cored, and diced
• 1 ripe pear, peeled, cored, and diced
• 1/4 c. raisins
• 2 T. brown sugar
• grated zest of 1 small orange
• 1/4 t. cinnamon
• 1/8 t. nutmeg
• 2 T. butter
• 1/4 c. apple cider or orange juice (use the juice from the orange you zested)

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place squash, cut-sides down, in a baking dish and fill the bottom with 1/4-1/2 inch of water. Bake squash for 45 minutes.
2. Mix apples, pear, raisins, brown sugar, zest, and spices in a medium bowl.
3. Heat butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the fruit mixture and cook until the fruit browns slightly--about 5 minutes. Stir in juice and cook for another 8-10 minutes, or until fruit is tender (but not falling apart). 
4. When squash have baked for about 45 minutes, remove from oven and pour off water from pan. Place squash cut-side up and fill cavities with fruit mixture, mounding it up a little if necessary. Bake for another 15-20 minutes or until squash is tender.

 ~4-6 servings, depending on how big your squashes are

Pumpkin Waffles (Dairy- and Egg- Free/Vegan)

First of all, whether or not you have any dietary restrictions or preferences that keep you from eating eggs and/or dairy, these are DELICIOUS and very nourishing. And they're good at room temperature. And they freeze just fine. And, should you, um, spread Nutella on top (which would bump them from vegan-status), before topping them with bananas, well, you will suddenly eat them for any meal of the day.

Virtues aside, my children each have friends and classmates with various allergies. Dairy and egg allergies can be hard to work around, especially if you're hosting a sleepover. But these waffles will please all the kiddos at the table and will work for dairy- and egg-free/vegan folks.

Pumpkin Waffles (Dairy- and Egg-Free/Vegan)
~from Simple Vegan! Delicious Meat-free, Dairy-Free Recipes Every Family Will Love

• 1/3 c. oats (quick-cooking or regular)
• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 1 c. whole-wheat flour
• 1/4 c. packed brown sugar
• 1 T. baking powder
• 1 t. pumpkin pie spice (or sub 1/2 t. cinnamon, 1/4 t. cloves, 1/4 t. ginger, 1/4 t. nutmeg or similar)
• 3/4 t. baking soda
• 1/2 t. salt
• 2 c. plain, unsweetened non-dairy milk (soy, almond)
• 1 can (15-oz) solid pack pumpkin (NOT pumpkin-pie mix/filling)
• 1/4 c. canola oil
• 1 t. vanilla

1. Blend oats in food processor or blender until finely ground. 
2. Mix dry ingredients (including oats) in a large bowl.
3. Whisk together wet ingredients, including pumpkin, in a smaller bowl.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, stirring just until blended.
5. Preheat waffle iron; spray if necessary. Pour or spoon batter onto waffle iron; my waffle iron (4-5 inch squares) took a scant 1/4 cup per waffle.
6. Cook until crisp and browned--mine took a bit longer than usual for the waffles to cook all the way.
7. You can keep these warm in a 200 degree oven or serve right away!

Makes about 18-20 (4-inch) waffles

Spinach, Arugula, and Carrot Saute with Fresh Herbs

All three of my kids ate this and proclaimed it good! I didn't give them much more than a couple of bites, but it was the first thing they ate (and they liked the rest of our dinner just fine, so it wasn't a case of avoiding a lesser-liked item). The cookbook this comes from is one I would never have thought of checking out from the library a few years ago, but I've since learned that vegan cookbooks can be great sources of good vegetable dishes (go figure). The cookbook author describes this as a "fresh-tasting saute that's ready in minutes." That's exactly what it is. And, it's a great introduction to cooked greens because it doesn't have that earthy, pungent "cooked greens" flavor you get with longer cooked greens like mustards or collards. We got some nice arugula from the Colvins two weeks in a row, so I decided to try it in something other than a salad. A great discovery!

Spinach, Arugula, and Carrot Saute with Fresh Herbs
~from Wild About Greens, titled in there "Spring Greens Saute with Carrots, Mint, and Chives"

• 2 T. olive oil (can use canola)
• 2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 12 or so baby carrots or 3-4 regular carrots; baby carrots quartered lengthwise (or into 8ths depending on width) and regular carrots cut into thick matchsticks
• 6 to 8 oz. baby spinach, thick stems removed*
• 2 to 4 oz. baby arugula, thick stems removed*
• 1 T. lemon juice, or to taste (I used half a lemon's worth)
• 8 to 12 fresh mint leaves, slivered
• minced fresh chives to taste (~1 tablespoon)
• salt and pepper to taste

*remember that greens always look like too much before they're cooked because they cook down so much. I used the full amount of arugula (and it wasn't "baby") and the 6 ounces of spinach.

1. Heat oil in big cast iron skillet, regular skillet, or large pot (you'll need good-sized sides, so factor that in).
2. Saute carrots and garlic for a minute or two over low-medium heat.
3. Toss in greens, a handful or two at a time, and stir around until slightly wilted before adding next handfuls. Tongs work well for this. Stir-fry for about 3 minutes or until just barely cooked and still bright green.
4. Stir in seasonings and serve!

 ~Serves 4