Technicolor Cropshare

Photo via Simply Recipes

Beets and carrots, carrots and beets!  Yahoo!  Many, such as Dr. Sanjay Gupta on CNN, say that you should eat five different colors every day to make sure you get a broad array of vitamins in your diet.  This week's box sure helps with that approach: orange carrots, purple beets, blue blueberries, red strawberries, green chard and cabbage... There you go!

Let's see how we can mix and match colors.

Photo via Healthy Happy Life

• If you're looking for a straight-up color explosion, try this side dish, which uses almost everything in the box.  If you like pickled veggies (oh, me me me!), then this mix is a great one to try.
• Beets and carrots make a great basis for a salad, or use the chard and/or cabbage for this salad.
• If you like the Moroccan spice palate, then try this sauté for the chard and beet leaves.  This salad uses grated carrots and beets, and is delicious!
• Last year we had a discussion on cole slaw, and my favorite pickled cole slaw is quite colorful.  So is this one with beets.
• Don't forget dessert!

Photo via Epicurious

Winter Jewels

Photo via Perpetual Feast

This week's box is a classic mixture of winter root vegetables.  I'd love to give you some elegant suggestions you can use to show off your cooking techniques, but unfortunately this week doesn't lend itself to fancy-fancy.  This week is about home and hearth, comfort food.  From a cooking perspective, I think of a plate of root vegetables like this not as a dish to make better, but to avoid messing up.   The ingredients are going to work so well together, Mother Nature was our chef this week.

How does one "avoid messing up?"  Simple.  Peel it, cut into bite sized pieces, and toss with olive oil.  Generous salt and pepper and in the oven.  Around 350˚ for half an hour or so, put it on a plate.  Ta-da.  The "big secret" is to chop up all of the vegetables into equal size pieces as best you can.  They all have that hard texture, and they're all going to cook at pretty much the same rate.  By using equal pieces, they all cook in the same amount of time.

Photo via Food & Wine

Yes, there are some avenues for creativity.

• After you roast them, toss with some finely chopped herbs, like parsley.  A little thyme can work too.  Keep it simple.
• Glaze sparingly with something sweet, like honey or maple syrup.  Prepared this way, my 5-year-old thinks they're dessert.
• Toss with a little vinaigrette.  Again, use sparingly.  While that link only uses parsnips, any of these vegetables can substitute for each other.
• Roast them with an apple or some other winter fruit (cranberries, for example).

I guess the arrival of winter isn't all bad!

Purpleness!

Photo via Wikipedia

There were beets in the box this week.  Quite a few, actually.  Awesome!

Beets are really good for you.  They're a great source of folate and manganese.  In spite of their nutritional value, they taste really good too.

But there were an astonishing number of beets in my box.  Scratching my head on what to do with it, I noticed that my son had just emptied a couple of pint jars of our fruit butter.  So I decided to make pickled beets.

Pickled beets when I was growing up were, well, boring.  Yeah, they turned things purple, but it didn't really taste like much.  Fortunately, experimenting with my canning recipes, I found out that pickled beets can be very not boring.  A couple of added favors and... wow, what a difference.

First, the boring version.  Boil the beets for around 20 minutes, until they're a little tender but still have snap.  Once they cool enough to handle, rub with a paper towel to take off the skin.  (I wear latex gloves so as to minimize staining my fingers.  It's also a very good idea to do this over the sink and not over your beautiful walnut cutting board.  Just sayin'.)

Photo via Taste of Home

Cut the beets into either disks or bite-sized chunks, and fill your sterilized jars.  Cover with a simple brine (equal parts cider vinegar and water, with about a tablespoon of pickling salt per pint of liquid). The beets should be completely covered under the liquid, and you should leave about 1/4" head space in the jar.  Process in a water bath for 25 minutes.

But, here's the kicker.  Add some additional flavoring to your brine.  Here are some combinations that I've had success with:

• Pickling spice
• Cinnamon, clove and allspice
• Honey and star anise (Here's the thing.  For some dumb reason, I bought a huge bag of star anise from Penzey's.  Why?  No clue.  But I've been experimenting putting it in everything just to not waste it.  Found some winners, like this one, and some not-so-winners.  P.S. Want some anise?  Happy to give you some...!)
• Mustard seed, a bit of red pepper flakes, and sliced onions
• Cumin and curry powder
• Keep it simple with just a bit of sugar

If you've got a favorite recipe for pickled beets, or a favorite way to use them, please feel free to comment!

Beets! Pass the honey.

Photo via nutribulletblog.com

Plums... now beets.  I think the powers that be had something about making this week's basket all purple.  But, in addition, it's all sweet, too.  In millennia past, beets were used as a sugar source.  Yes, they are naturally quite sweet.  Just remember, they're also naturally quite purple, too.  In millennia past, and even to today, beet juice has been used to make dyes.  So when you cook with beets, wear a shirt you really don't care about.

It's the sugar in the beets that we're going to focus on for now, though.  Beets were used historically as a sweetener, and so was honey.  I love combining beets and honey to make a savory-sweet side dish that's almost dessert!

Photo via Seed to Saucepan

Beets are typically too firm to eat raw.  They can be boiled, roasted or steamed to prepare them to eat.   In doing so, let the skin be your guide.  Wash them very thoroughly and trim off stems and roots.  Whatever route you use to heat them, when they're soft enough to eat the skin will slide off very easily.  And plan ahead, as they take some time to cook.  Halving or quartering the bigger ones does speed the process.  As for the honey, the simplest thing to do is once the beets are soft enough, slice them into 1/4" disks, sprinkle lightly with salt, and toss them in some honey.  Balsamic makes a fantastic glaze, too.  And if you reduce that balsamic a bit first... wow.  Just wow.

Photo via mccormick.com

This recipe is an excellent illustration, and a big favorite in my family.  While parsnips are a little hard to come by this time of year, I have substituted turnips in the spring and the recipe still works very well.  Most any root vegetables will work in that recipe, actually.  Here is a great recipe to use as a starting point for sweetening with balsamic.  Don't forget, brown sugar is a great sweetener too, as in this one.  Note that it also includes lemon, and the acid does help temper the sweetness.  (Weren't the balsamic glazed ones good?  You see what I mean.)

Have a great sugar rush!

The Battle of the Leafy Greens

The Battle of Leafy Greens

Spring and fall crop share boxes are a steady stream of leafy green stuff.  It comes in a variety of sizes, and often times with yummy things attached to the bottom of it.  Beets, for example.  Or the kohlrabi you made a couple of days ago.  This week, we saw Swiss or rainbow chard in our boxes.  Lettuce is another staple seen often this time of year.  Southern traditional cooking has myriad tasty ways to prepare leafy green stuff.  Many involve bacon, which in my book isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  Okay, having it every day, or even alternating days between bacon and salt pork, probably isn’t what the local cardiologist wants to hear about. But geez, bacon makes lots of things tasty.

My wife is vegetable-phobic.  Don’t get me wrong, she loves broccoli.  Adores it.  Pretty much anything other than broccoli, however, I’d need a pile driver to get down her throat.  (Alright, alright, since she’s probably reading this, I’ll be nice from here on out.  Or do my best to anyway.)  She’ll enjoy a salad with most types of lettuce, and eat her broccoli, but anything else I have to get really creative to get her to eat it.  When I first started getting a crop share, one of the first boxes had beets, greens attached, and collards.  I started simple, and there on the table they sat.  Determined, I would make greens she’d eat.  Grrrr…  So I put on my war paint and my toque.

Yes, I actually have a toque.  My godson gave it to me for Christmas one year.  No, I don’t ever wear it.  Ever.  But the white jacket is awesome and since I’m messy, it covers more than an apron.

I dug around looking for dishes using greens and having strong flavors.  Is there anything out there that uses half the spice drawer?  I stumbled across this.  I loved it.  My wife?  Not so much.  She has an aversion to anything with a strong vinegary taste.  So I dissected the recipe a bit.

It involves wilting the greens (chard, beet, almost anything will work), using a particular spice palette, and finishing with a dressing.  In the case of the above recipe, the spices are North African in origin:  cumin, paprika, harissa.  Let’s see how we can modify that.  She likes Greek cuisine.  A Greek palette would have some combination of oregano and dill, garlic, and lemon juice.  Modifying our basic recipe, a dash of dried oregano and dill, a little garlic sautéed in the oil before wilting the greens (briefly, garlic cooks quickly and remember light brown = good, black = bad).  Sprinkle some cardamom in too, and maybe nutmeg.  We’ll skip the hot sauce.  For the dressing, a Greek dish would commonly use lemon juice.  Sprinkle a touch of crumbled feta cheese on top and…

Holy cow, she ate it!

And that was fun!  Sprinkling something extra on top can definitely kick it up a notch.  The feta would give a wonderfully salty flavor to greens.  If you like the North African spices, try some raisins and toasted pine nuts.  (That’s essentially this recipe, which she also ate.)

Hmm… shall we try another?  Something a little farther afield?  French, perhaps?  Awesome!  First off, what are the three main secrets to French cooking?  Butter, butter, and… butter.  Seriously.  Instead of olive oil, we’ll wilt the greens in a bit of butter.  Herbs de Provençe usually contains marjoram, oregano, thyme, and rosemary.  We’ll use that.  Season with salt and pepper too.  Instead of strong white vinegar, try a bit of Balsamic.  Very nice!

What I’m trying to condense here is several years of my life spent screwing things up in the kitchen, and countless hours reading cookbooks of all sorts.  This is the approach I use to “branch out” recipes.  First, figure out what palette the seasonings come from.  Switch to a different palette, and use the same techniques in the recipe.  Give this a try with any recipe you’ve prepared often enough to be very familiar.  Pick a different region’s flavors, and you’ve just invented something new and fresh.  Trust me, there will be plenty of, “Uh, yeah, that particular combination doesn’t work and let’s not do that again.”  By and large, experience will be your teacher but only if you give her a chance.

If you modify one of your recipes, post a link to the original in the comments and tell me what you changed.  I can’t wait to see how creative you can be.  Happy cooking!

Laying Down Some Rad...ish Beets!

This week we're hitting you with beets and radishes.  Okay, we're not literally going to hit you with them, but for those of you who are cringing over either or both of these veggies, you may be feeling like this is a human rights violation.  Thankfully, they are much more versatile than things that get sliced and placed on a sad, side salad.

So here are two sweet treat takes on radishes and beets, one a healthy and detoxifying smoothie, and the other...cupcakes, awesome Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  Because everything is better with cream cheese frosting.  And the cupcakes are vegan, so really they're practically a health food.

Rawkin Radish Smoothie via Young and Raw

Natural Red Velvet Cupcakes Made With Beets via Je Suis Alimentageuse

Juice It Up!

So this Monday I had the pleasure of partnering with Pat Backe of Senior Fall Prevention and Kingstowne Pilates to host a Juicing With Greens workshop at the Kingstowne Center for Active Adults.  It was a fantastic class with lots of hilarity (a juiced apple spurting across the room) and extreme randomness (ginger root pilfering), but the juices that Pat whipped up for all of us were fantastic.  So since much of the ingredients focused on seasonal items that we're all getting right now, I thought I'd share the two recipes from Monday with you.  If you don't have a juicer, you can still use a blender to make these items, though I'd recommend peeling the items first, and just know that they won't be as smooth and pulp free as if you were using a juicer.  But no matter what equipment you have, just be sure to wash all of your fruits and vegetables well beforehand.

ABC (Apple-Beet-Carrot) Juice

Serves 1

Ingredients:
1 apple (we used Suncrisp)
2 beets
3 large carrots
1" knob of ginger, peeled
Handful of kale, spinach or even toss in the beet greens

Kale-Aid Juice

Serves 1-2

Ingredients:
5 large kale leaves
1-2 cucumbers
1 lemon, peeled
1 apple (we used Suncrisp)
1" knob of ginger, peeled (for more kick add 2 or 3 pieces of ginger)
1-2 large celery ribs

For both recipes, wash your ingredients well, then cup them up as needed to fit through the chute of your juicer or to make blending easier.  Juice the ingredients in the order they're listed and serve immediately with or without ice.

Just Beet It! Baked Beet Chips

You know I can't help with the puns, so let me get them all out of my system now:  We've got the beet!  All we are saying, is give beets a chance!  Just beet it!  Lettuce, turnip the beet!  Go Navy, beet Army!  Okay, whew, I promise I'm done.

But since we've given you a great veggie dip recipe for the radishes this week, we might as well give you a healthy recipe for something to scoop up all that yummy radish dip with.  So when Crop Share hands you beets, you make beet chips!  These make a delicious and healthy alternative to potato chips, which means you can feel good about eating the entire bowl of radish dip you make.

So click the link below to enjoy this oldie but a goodie from our Nalls' Kitchen archives...

Baked Beet Chips

Chocolate & Balsamic Roasted Beets

This week, let's turn up the beet!  I know many of us are still very skeptical when it comes to eating and preparing beets, especially when our only encounter with them has been when they're laying on our side salad.  But as a reformed beet loather, I can safely say you really should give beets a chance...especially when they come with...wait for it...CHOCOLATE!  Everything is better with chocolate, no? 

So enjoy this fun twist on a roasted vegetable side dish from Jerry James Stone over at Cooking Stoned.  There's even a hysterical instructional video to go along with it, and you should watch it so we can all fall in love with Jerry and want him to come cook dinner for all of us.  Just please, don't actually die after eating these beets, we would miss you too much!

View the recipe here: Chocolate & Balsamic Roasted Beets

Quick-Roasted Winter Vegetables

You all know by now that the best way to cook up root vegetables is to roast them, why not do them all together in a beautiful mix? This will make a great side dish for the family or arrange them by color at your winter gathering.They keep really well, so you can store them in the fridge to snack on later. 

Ingredients:
1 lb. beets (about 3 medium), ends trimmed, sliced thinly (use a mandolin if you have one)
1 lb. carrots (about 5 large), peeeled, ends trimmed, sliced on a sharp diagonal 3/16-inch thick
1 lb. red onions (about 3 small), peeled, ends trimmed, sliced 1/4 to 3/8-inch thick
1 lb. parsnips (about 4 large), ends trimmed, peeled, sliced on a sharp diagonal 3/16-inch thick
1 lb. red potatoes (3 to 4 small), scrubbed, sliced 3/16-inch thick
1-1/2 lb. sweet potatoes (2 medium), scrubbed, sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 lb. turnips (about 3 small), scrubbed, ends trimmed, sliced 1/8- to 3/16-inch thick
1 lb. acorn squash, ends trimmed, cut horizontally into 1/2-inch rings (trim away seeds by running a paring knife around the inside of the rings)

For the seasoning:
2 Tbs. vegetable or olive oil
1/2 tsp. kosher salt; more to taste
1 Tbs. fresh thyme, oregano, or sage (roughly chopped) or rosemary (finely chopped) 

To view the rest of this recipe, please visit: http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/quick-roasted-winter-vegetables.aspx?nterms=52350,53158,53160,53174

Guest Post From Crop Share Member Tara Johnston

It needs to be said…I despise beets. If I see one of those funny red-purplish slices laying on my salad, I will quarantine off that entire section, as it will have infected all the surrounding salad bits with its beetyness. Trust me, I’ve tried beets a number of ways, and each and every time I still think, “Well, if I licked the corner of a musty basement floor, that’s about what it would taste like.” So when I saw not one, but two, TWO, beets peering out of my crop share box, my heart sunk, right down to that musty basement floor of taste. However, I’d recently seen good ol’ Martha Stewart had a recipe for baked beet chips, and while I don’t really trust Martha or beets as far as I can throw them (I throw worse than a girl), I thought, “Why not, if they’re terrible, I’ll feed them to the squirrels.”
Thirty minutes later, I’m standing over the stove eating these beet chips right off the baking sheet. These weren’t beets, they were yummy purple chips, and I was eating them all! So for you fellow beet haters out there, all I am saying is, give beets a chance.

Baked Beet Chips

Ingredients:
2 medium beets
1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil (I used coconut oil)
Kosher salt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, with your racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Peel your beets and slice about 1/16” thick with a mandolin slicer (or if you’re like me and have a mandolin, but despise cleaning the thing, you can thinly slice by hand). Toss beets in oil and coat evenly, sprinkle with a dash of Kosher salt.

Evenly space the beet slices onto a rimmed baking sheet, making sure not to overlap. Bake on bottom rack until edges of beets begin to dry out, approximately 20 minutes. Then transfer to top rack to finish for about 10-20 minutes more, depending on thickness. Remove beet chips and transfer to a wire rack to cool. They will continue to crisp up as they cool off.

(Adapted from Martha Stewart: http://www.marthastewart.com/312807/beet-chips?center=136761&gallery=136112&slide=149057)