Easy Add-Ins

One of the easiest ways to use up extra produce is to add it to other dishes to give them some extra flavor. This post is a similar to this one, in that these are just some simple ways to make your meals a little more exciting!

Here's some soup to which I added leftover kale. The soup is from a dry mix, and even though it doesn't look so appetizing, it is actually really good! A mix of beans, lentils, and alphabet pasta reconstituted with veggie broth. The soup has to simmer for close to an hour before it is ready to eat, so I just added the kale in at the beginning. I didn't notice much of a change in flavor, but it gave the soup more texture, which is always a good thing with soup.

And here's some boxed mac n' cheese with some added broccoli that had been blanched. Blanching vegetables is a quick alternative to steaming vegetables, but you end up with a similar end result of soft, less bitter vegetables. While the pot of water is coming to a boil, wash and chop the vegetable into bite-sized pieces (or however big or small you'd like), and then add to the water once it boils. Let it cook for 5 minutes - for broccoli, you can tell it's done when it turns bright green. You can just eat it like this...or add it to other dishes!

These are also some go-to single lady meals. I made both of these on nights when it was just me and Winnie because the husband was working late! It's hard to cook intricate meals when you are just cooking for one!

Roasted Broccoli

Another simple recipe - roasted broccoli! In my mind, broccoli is not a vegetable that is typically roasted. It's steamed, placed on a baked potato, and topped with melty cheese. Or it's steamed and then topped with butter and some salt and pepper. However, roasted broccoli is delicious and so so easy to make!

As with all roasted vegetables - preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat broccoli with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic. Roast for 20-30 minutes until the broccoli begins to brown. That's it! A quick, easy, and delicious way to eat your veggies :)

Week #2 Recap

Week #2 of the CSA allowed us to make mostly familiar dishes. Lettuce, broccoli, and strawberries are all pretty much staples (even though we hardly ever buy fresh broccoli!) so it was not too difficult to come up with meals with those items.

Strawberries

Churn, baby, churn!

Three words: strawberry. ice. cream. Nothing says summer like homemade ice cream made from fresh strawberries. If anyone would like to argue this, I urge you to take a spoonful from our freezer. Hurry up, though, because this frozen bite of heaven won't be around for ever. There's nothing wrong with eating ice cream for breakfast, right? It counts as a serving of fruit...maybe? The recipe for this came from The Joy of Cooking, 8th Edition. This cookbook never fails to provide delicious meals. Go out and grab a copy!

Broccoli

Speaking of The Joy of Cooking, the next recipe we made with our CSA produce was Cream of Broccoli soup, served alongside unremarkable beer bread (I'm blaming the bland taste on beer that was 6 months old). The soup was amazing and very easy to make - celery, onions, broccoli, vegetable broth, a little bit of flour, and some whole milk. This recipe requires a blender or food processor - I prefer mine a little chunky, so we did not fully blend the soup. The beer bread tasted great with the soup, but it was not very flavorful. The Cream of Broccoli soup is definitely a keeper...there were no leftovers from this meal! Beer bread deserves a second chance, but next time I'll use a more recently bottled beer.

Radishes

Spring Radishes Braised with Shallots and Vinegar - served with baked chicken

Radishes...what to say about the radishes? The radish leaf pesto (see previous post) was really good - there were no leftovers from that meal, either! It was easy to make and tasted great. After scouring the Internet for a cooked radish recipe, we found this one: Spring Radishes Braised with Shallots and Vinegar. The next day, we made braised radishes with shallots and balsamic vinegar. Braising is a cooking technique where the main ingredient is first seared, then liquid is added to the pan along with a cover, and the ingredient finishes cooking in the liquid. Usually this is done with meat. The braised radishes were alright- the balsamic reduction was very tasty, but anything topped with this sauce would be delicious.

Final thoughts on radishes: probably would never go out of my way to buy them, but now we have some radish recipes if we are ever gifted a bunch. I'll probably stick to eating radishes raw in salads.

Lettuce

So much for being adventurous with lettuce! As always, this just got used up in salads and on sandwiches. One day, lettuce will be made into something more daring!