Week 15 Newsletter

Week #15 March 23, 2011


   As you can see from the little sidebar section, the Open Farm Day was great fun. We had a good turnout of members and non-members alike. Some of the non-members had just heard about the tour and that it was open to the public, so out to the farm they came. We got to meet some of you in person, which is always a treat! One member from Bexley took lots of pictures so we hope to share them with everyone once we get copies.
   The lumber for the equipment shed was delivered on Monday, and today the job of installing the upright posts has begun. Judging from the length of the posts, this step could take days. The rest of the lumber will be delivered on Thursday morning. A little break in the rain would be nice. As we drive out to the main road, we can see the coltsfoot blooming on the north side, and this makes us smile. Little bulbs planted decades ago by another hand continue to bloom unexpectedly in different parts of the yard. The tulip foliage is up, and most of the daffodils have begun to wave their heads in the breeze.
   Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week, we are being visited and helped by a class from Wright State University. Each day, we get a new group of 6-8 students with one professor. In this ‘service-learning’ part of their course, the groups help a different organization each day. They have helped us, the Chesterhill Produce Auction (Amish farmers in the area), and Monday Creek Restoration (stream clean-up from coal mines), and several others. They helped us grub out that Bur Oak tree we were trying to give away (alas, it’s dead at the side of the field – heart-breaking since we planted it); clean-up the interns cooking and eating area; and they helped us pick and pack your shares today! Thanks to all!
  Reservations and payments for the Summer 2011 season continue to come in every day. Please let us know your intentions if you have not already done so. Spaces are filling faster than in the past seasons. Just send an email so you aren’t left out. Have a great week!
From all of us at Green Edge,
Becky (Kip, Dan, John, Maria, Rob, Cale, Penny, Guinevere and Morgan)

THIS WEEK’S VEGGIES

Salad Mix – In the mix this week are 7 varieties of lettuce. This mix is best stored in an air-tight con-tainer with some paper towel or cloth to absorb any extra drops of water that can form.
Mushrooms - Shiitake. It’s a good thing they’re so good. If you can’t use them all in one week, they should store fine in their pa-per bag to be combined for a really big mushroom extravaganza next week!
Swiss Chard- We are glad to have this favorite back this week. The mild flavor of chard makes it the all around choice for most customers. It’s the only green that grows well in winter and summer.
Spinach - Another week of spi-nach and our blood is happy for it! We hope you are not too bored with it already.
MicroMix Microgreens - We are so pleased to once again bring you a generous portion of the oth-er microgreens that we grow. Unlike the sunflower ones, these are more delicate, don’t store as well, and have the tangy flavor of cabbage and radish. We hope you enjoy them.
Kale - One of our all-time favo-rites. We love it raw, massaged, steamed, in soup, etc., etc. Ac-cording to nutritiondata.com, the complete amino acid score of this food is 92 – that’s with 100 being a complete protein!
Rutabaga/Turnips - This year’s crop of rutabagas was very sparse. (Your share may also include tur-nips this week instead.) Treat these special veggies as you would turnips. They are somewhat creamier than turnips when cooked, and some claim the flavor is less strong, but you can make your own descriptions. This veggie is a cross between cabbage and turnips. The name comes from ‘rotabagge’ meaning “round root.” It is Swedish in origin.

The Combo Corner


The apple selections from Cherry Orchard are Fuji and Gold Rush. Attention fruit shareholders, only one more week and the fruit shares end. The last day of apple delivery is March 30th.

This week’s bread from The Village Bakery and Café is Bo’s Brown Bread made from 100% whole grain: 50/50 white and sprouted wheat with some Snowville milk yogurt (made at the bakery).
 
Recipes
Bitter Lemon, Honey and Sweet Simmered Greens
from Barb Gertz on food.com


INGREDIENTS:
1 ½ - 2 lbs Swiss Chard or other greens
1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon cumin seed
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 slices lemons, 1/8” thick, with seeds removed
¼ cup reduced-sodium chicken broth, vegetable broth, or water
1 tablespoon honey
¼ teaspoon salt (to taste) fresh ground pepper

DIRECTIONS:
Separate chard leaves from stems and ribs; wash leaves thoroughly, roughly chop; if using stems, rinse, and finely chop.
Heat oil in a deep sauté pan or Dutch oven over medium heat; add cumin seeds and cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Add garlic and chard stems; cook stirring often, for 3 minutes more; stir in lemon slic-es.
Add the leaves in 2 batches, allowing them to wilt before adding more; add broth (or water), honey, salt and pepper. Cover and cook until greens are tender, 1 to 2 minutes more. Serve hot or warm.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese with Kale and Great Northern Beans
from food.com makes 6 servings

INGREDIENTS:
salt 2 ½ cups milk (low-fat is fine)
2 Bay leaves
1 bunch kale (chard will work)
1 lb pasta, elbow, shell, ziti
1 (15 ounce) can of northern white beans, drained
4 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups sharp white cheddar cheese, grated
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese freshly
ground black pepper
½ cup fresh whole wheat bread crumbs

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it.
Cook the milk with the bay leaves in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. When small bubbles appear along the sides, about 5 min-utes lat-er, turn off the heat and let stand.
In the salted water, cook the pasta al dente. Drain it, rinse it quickly to stop the cooking, and put it in a large bowl.
Trim the stems from the kale. Bring a large pot of water to boil and add kale. Boil kale for one minute, remove, and set aside to cool. Squeeze excess water from kale and chop into edible pieces.
In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter; when it is foamy, add the flour and cook, stirring, until the mixture browns, about 5 minutes. Remove the bay leaves from the milk and add about ¼ cup of the milk to the hot flour mixture, stirring with a wire whisk all the while. As soon as the mixture becomes smooth, add a little more milk and continue to do so until all the milk is used up and the mixture is thick and smooth. Add the cheddar and stir.
Pour the sauce over the noodles, toss in the Parmesan and kale, mix in the white beans, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Use the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter to grease a 9 x 13-inch or similar size baking pan and turn the pasta mixture into it. Top liberally with bread crumbs and bake until bubbling and the crumbs turn brown, and 15 minutes. Serve piping hot.

MEXICAN LASAGNA adapted by Becky from Daisy Cooks

When I make this dish for the Open Farm Day, I’m planning on about 50 servings, so I’m going to list the ingredients, but not the amounts. This is a simple dish and easy to assemble. This year for the sauce, I was able to use mostly home-canned heirloom tomatoes from last summer’s harvest.
Ingredients you will need include tomatoes (canned or sauce), onions, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, cilantro, canola (or other) oil, fresh corn tortillas, cooked black beans, cooked rice, grated cheese, herbs for sauce, and ground meat (if you like).
Start with chopped onion and garlic. We always use lots of garlic. Sauté these until translucent, and add tomatoes. I can the tomatoes peeled and whole, but any chopped or crushed ones will work. When this is hot, I start the sauce. Remember this is a Mexican tomato sauce, not Italian, so we use lots of cumin and cilantro. Salt, pepper, a little sugar, some red wine. Feel free to taste and add as your taste buds tell you. This sauce can simmer for hours or days as you wish.
If using canned beans, sauté some onion and add beans to it with some cumin and salt. If cooking beans, add raw, chopped onion and cumin to the cooking water.
If adding meat, fry with garlic and cumin.
Cook rice according to directions.
Grate cheese (lots of cheese)
Heat some (about 1/2 cup) canola or other kind of oil in a shallow frying pan. Cut tortillas into at least two pieces and fry in oil on both sides. Remove when crisp and drain on paper towel. Fry all that you will need. (For a pan 9 x 13, you will need about 36 6” tortillas).
Assemble the layers: Cover the bottom of the pan with sauce, then lay the tortillas over the entire bottom. Press to crack and flatten the ‘chips’. Layer beans, rice, meat, cheese, sauce. Place another layer of tortillas and flatten. Repeat bean, rice, meat, cheese, sauce. Add another tortilla layer, sauce and cheese.
Bake this at 350 degrees for about 1 ½ hours covered and 15 minutes uncovered.