Category Archives: Farm Box

Summer Squash, Goat Cheese & Arugula Salad

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Enjoy this simple main course salad inspired by my farm box!IMG_4137

Ingredients:

  • Summer squash, sliced in large chunks
  • Spring onion, sliced thinly
  • Arugula
  • Goat cheese
  • Dill
  • Coconut & Olive Oil

Steps:

  • Combine squash, onions, dill and oils in pan. Bake in preheated oven @ 350 for about 25 minutes (don’t overcook-they are better firm)
  • Pour over arugula
  • Top with goat cheese
  • Stir together–the oils and cheese will add flavor to the arugula

Happy Spring!

Sweet Potato Ginger Carrot Stew

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This healthy stew is full of flavor and very filling. I made it thinking of a hot breakfast but it would be great for any meal. The humble star of this stew is the highly medicinal burdock root. IMG_4069It is very mild in flavor and full of medicinal benefits.

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/2 cups water
  • 3 tablespoons corn meal
  • Sweet potato, peeled and cubed
  • 2 carrots peeled and diced
  • Burdock root, thinly sliced
  • Ginger, crushed through garlic press
  • Slice of lemon
  • Salt
  • Shredded cabbage

Combine all ingredients except cabbage and simmer over low heat for 30-45 minutes, until veggies are cooked and stew is desired thickness. Remove lemon slice. Top with shredded cabbage and serve.

Chicken Soup

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Ideally, making chicken soup is a leisurely affair involving a bath and/or a nap. You could make it in a couple of hours–but I like to make a day out of it.IMG_3406

All you really need to make it is a big pot, a chicken, water, onion and salt. I make it differently each time depending on what I have on hand. It is a great way to cook all those extra farm box veggies and I sometimes freeze the parts I don’t use (kale ribs etc.) for this purpose. A typical recipe combination I use is listed below.

You will have many meals from this one dish: chicken dinners, sandwiches, and plenty of broth to freeze.

Ingredients:

  • One whole organic, free-range chicken (I like Mary’s Chicken)
  • Celery greens (adds a lot of flavor)
  • Onion, cut in half
  • Whole garlic, cut in half
  • Carrots
  • Burdock root (medicinal)
  • Fresh Dill and Thyme (put in spice bag or wrap in cheesecloth)
  • Greens
  • Salt

Steps:

  • Put all ingredients in stock pot, cover in water and add salt. Bring to a boil.
  • Once it reaches a boil, add more salt. You may also skim the fat off at this time.

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  • Simmer uncovered for 40 minutes.
  • Turn off heat and cover.
  • Take a nap and/or bath.
  • Allow chicken to continue to cook with heat off for 1-2 hours.
  • Remove chicken and allow to cool.
  • Scoop out vegetables with a mesh strainer and discard. Rinse out the spice bag for reuse.
  • Once cool remove from bones and shred. You can freeze the carcass for another use.

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  • Remove broth–I like to use a glass measuring cup for easy pouring.

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  • Store in glass and plastic containers for the refrigerator and freezer.

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Kale Chips: Not Meh

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The highlight of my Sunday morning is reading the “Meh List” in the New York Times magazine.  The meh list is a weekly compilation of things, people and places that are neither here nor there–just so so. I have been trying to come up with an item I can submit and on my list of possibilities was kale chips. Well I recently made them and and as it turns out not only are they not “meh” they have some sort of mystical quality. They were so good that I barely remember eating them!

Ingredients:

  • One bunch kale leaves, chopped
  • Juice of one lemon
  • Olive oil
  • Red Pepper
  • Salt

Steps:

  • Preheat oven to 300
  • The best way to get crisp kale chips is to make sure they are completely dry. After I ran the kale pieces through a salad spinner I laid them out on a kitchen towel and rolled them up.

  • Combine all ingredients, except salt, in a plastic bag and shake.
  • Lay across a baking sheet lined with parchment paper in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt.

  • Bake until crisp @ 20-25 minutes.

Kale “croutons” in sweet potato soup

Stuffed Acorn Squash

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I had so much fun making this recipe. I picked the apple from our tree, the nuts came from the local farmer’s market and the squash from our weekly farm box. After I devoured it I threw the shell in the compost pile in our backyard. 

I’m sure it was extra yummy due to the freshness, but this is also a tasty, healthy “pantry recipe”. You can easily keep these ingredients on hand to throw together at the last minute. Squash lasts for months on the counter and I suggest keeping nuts in the freezer. Dried fruit may also be used.

Ingredients:

Our Apple Tree

  • Acorn Squash, cut in half and seeds removed
  • Nuts, chopped  (I used a mixture of pistachios, walnuts and chestnuts)
  • Apple, peeled and chopped
  • Cinnamon
  • Coconut oil
  • Salt, to taste

Steps:

 

  • Preheat oven to 350
  • Mix nuts, apple, and cinnamon
  • Divide mixture and place in cavities of squash halves
  • Top with dabs of coconut oil and shake of salt
  • Cover and bake @ 40 minutes or until cooked through

Back to Mother Earth!

 

Farmer’s Market Breakfast

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I had a great trip to the farmer’s market yesterday with my daughter (she was in it for the sorbet). I got a squash I have never seen before and didn’t write down the name (pictured below). If you know what it is, please let me know! It tastes like a cross between a sweet potato and a pumpkin. I also got a wonderful fruit and nut mix. The best part was the dried fruit had no additives, sulfates or sugar.

Breakfast can be a challenge on a restricted diet and I was looking for a different way to incorporate vegetables in the morning. I came up with this recipe and was very pleased with the results. You can substitute with any squash you have: acorn, butternut or pumpkin. A sweet potato would work nicely as well.

Unidentified Squash.

Ingredients:

  • Bright orange squash
  • Almond milk
  • Nuts and dried fruit
  • Cinnamon

Steps:

  1. Cut squash in quarters and bake uncovered in pan with a bit of water until you can slide a fork in (I did 450 for 30 minutes)
  2. Scrape out insides and refrigerate if not eating right away
  3. Place about a cup of squash in a bowl and microwave for 1-2 minutes (if cold)
  4. Add almond milk, stir, and heat another minute
  5. Top with nuts, fruit and cinnamon

This recipe can also be done on a stove.  Enjoy!-Julie

Oooh La La White Bean Salad

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I spent many years scribbling down recipes and filling many journals. It is so wonderful for me to be able to write my new recipes in a blog: to share them with others and for my personal records.

This recipe idea came from my friend Carol who taught me how to cook beans and made it seem so practical and easy. This is a recipe I threw together for dinner at the pool as it is light, filling and the longer it sits the better.

Oooh La La White Bean Salad

Steps:

  1. Rinse and soak dry white beans overnight
  2. Cover in new water –a few inches above beans
  3. Add garlic, salt, and chopped onion
  4. Boil until beans are soft–adding water if necessary
  5. When beans are cooked and most water is absorbed–combine with olive oil, chopped tomato, more salt and fresh basil

Enjoy! 

Vegetables Can Make a Hearty Meal

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Perhaps I should mind my own business: but I would love to see more people eating vegetables for a main course. Everyone knows it is important to eat a lot of vegetables–the issue is learning how to prepare them in a way that feels satisfying. I made this for dinner tonight and it was very tasty–I’m still stuffed!

Hearty Vegetables Over Green Beans

Ingredients:

  • Green and yellow summer squash, thickly sliced
  • Green beans
  • Crushed garlic
  • Fresh basil
  • Olive oil
  • Salt
  • Lasagna Sauce (recipe below)

Steps:

  1. Saute green beans in olive oil, salt and a little water for a few minutes–set aside
  2. Saute rest of ingredients-leave some basil aside
  3. Cook over low heat until squash is fork tender
  4. Serve over green beans with fresh cut basil on top

Lasagna Sauce

 Layer tomato sauce, slices of summer squash, pesto, goat cheese, basil and sliced tomato. Top with olive oil and a dash of salt. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

I hope this recipe inspires your wild and crazy vegetable adventures!-Julie