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!

Melon & Mint Salad and Bittersweet Goodbyes

Sometimes procrastination really pays off, because I waited until late this week to finally cut into the cantaloupe we got in the last share of the Early Spring Crop Share (which speaking of, are you registered for Spring yet, because if not, you should be!  Register online, as the Spring round kicks off on 5/9!), and oh holy night it was perfectly sweet and juicy.  Possibly one of the best cantaloupes I've never had and it's not even the peak of melon season yet!

Some friends were making shrimp kabobs at their place, so I contributed Quinoa Tabbouleh and then used up the rest of the mint to throw together this lovely Melon & Mint Salad.  While it was crazy juicy, I wanted some sort of added dressing that wasn't loaded with sugar, so I just whisked up 1 tsp each of local honey and lemon juice, and added some extra juice from the melon and ta-da, a perfectly fresh and fragrant melon salad.  Which good thing I added the mint since I also made garlic sauce, and we were all fire breathing dragons by the end of the meal!  So as we head into summer, make this your go to fruit salad base or any melon.  Mmm, mint and watermelon might actually get me over my watermelon phobia!

And now for the bittersweet part of this post's title...this is my last, official post at the helm of Nalls' Kitchen.  I'm still sticking in as a Crop Share member and I'll definitely still send the Nalls team guest posts when I come up with a winner, winner veggie dinner, but after today I'll be turning the reigns back over to Valerie and the rest of the Nalls Produce team.  I would have loved to continue this indefinitely, but any of you who've followed since my departure from Nalls, back into my family's business, know that the posts have been getting fewer and not coming as prompt as they once did.  That's not fair to you all or to the team at Nalls.  So gear up for a new round of Crop Share and a new voice here in Nalls Kitchen!

Now onto the food!

Melon & Mint Salad

Ingredients:

1 cantaloupe, skin removed, seeded and cubed (save any juice to use in dressing)

2 Tbsp mint, chopped

1 tsp local honey

1 tsp lemon juice

Toss cantaloupe and mint together in a large bowl.  Whisk honey and lemon juice, and any reserve juice from the cantaloupe in a separate bowl, then pour over fruit and toss to fully coat.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes up to 1 hour to allow flavors to set up.

Alright folks, that's all she cooked!

Keep it fresh in your kitchens, and if you must "selfie" do it the foodie way and shove ignorant bits of delicious food into your mouth.  Because, it makes it classy.

Kale-ly Yours,

~Tara~

Pearly Sunny Smoothie

Have you missed my smoothie kick that I was on early in the year?  I didn't fall off the wagon due to eating a bunch of donuts for breakfast, nope...I broke my blender.  One of the pitfalls of being short and having high cabinets is that I drop stuff, A LOT.  Shouldn't I just put my blender that can easily separate into all of it's pieces if it's not level into a bottom cabinet?  No, because that would make sense.  Putting it on a high shelf in my laundry room was clearly the best option.  And when one smoothie mongering morning I went to take it down, the top wobbled off and some how I managed to drop the whole blessed assembly.  Now it won't even make a buzzing sound, I cracked the container, and some how managed to bend the entire rotary unit.  *sigh*  Sadly, it took me entirely too long to figure out that I can make smoothies about just as easy in my food processor.  I say about since it doesn't have as much liquid capacity, but apparently my counter tops are willing to hold a bevy of it when it spills out behind my back.

So this morning I finally used up the Bartlett pears from a few weeks back, and put the navel oranges to good use  in my morning version of an Orange Julius.  Those things were my jam as a kid since the entire food court of my local mall consisted of Orange Julius and the Pretzel Hut.  No soft pretzels in my kitchen this morning, but this smoothie definitely checked the box for delicious and healthy!

Pearly Sunny Smoothie

Ingredients:
3 pears, cored and cubed
3 navel oranges, juiced
1 cup almond milk (or milk of your choice, I use Almond Breeze)
1 Tbsp local honey
8 ice cubes

Blend up your pears and orange juice until smooth, then add in your milk, honey and ice and blend until no ice chunks remain.

Yields two full pints/32 ounces.

Sesame Vegetable Noodle Bowls

Despite my recent plague, I still took myself to the grocery store and for reasons I'm still not quite clear on, I apparently developed an all-Asian menu for dinners this week.  Hey, I can't eat most of it out at restaurants (curse you gluten-hating immune system!), so why not make it at home.  Lots of naps and pitiful coughs apparently lead to good things in the kitchen, because these noodle bowls I made last night may be one of my most favorite concoctions as of late.  Loaded with good green veggies, it's like ramen but healthy and it leaves you feeling somehow full yet light.  I used rice noodles, but you could easily use udon or any other of your favorite Asian-style noodles.  This would also be fantastic with shrimp, chicken or tofu, if you're looking to add an extra hit of protein.  Or throw all of it together into a pot with 2 cups of vegetable or chicken stock and 2 cups of water, and have yourself a noodly soup of goodness.

Sesame Vegetable Noodle Bowls

Ingredients:
1 package rice noodles, soaked in hot water until soft
1 tsp chili oil
1 leek, quartered lengthwise and sliced
4 oz Shitake mushrooms (or any mushrooms of your choice), sliced
1/2 bundle of kale, leaves removed from stem and rough chopped
1 cup cabbage, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and grated thin
2 green onions, greens chopped
1 Tbsp soy sauce (I use Kikkoman's wheat/gluten free version)
2 Tbsp sesame seeds

For sauce:
2 Tbsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
2 Tbsp lime juice
4 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp Sriracha
1 knob ginger, peeled and grated

Prepare sauce first by whisking all ingredients together and set aside, and soak rice noodles in hot water or put in on the stove over medium heat (not enough to boil) until noodles are just soft.

In a large skillet, heat chili oil over high heat.  Add sliced leeks and cook for about 2 minutes.  Then add mushrooms and cook until they begin to brown.  Toss in kale, cabbage and carrot and cook for about 1-2 more minutes or until kale is wilted.  Add in green onions and soy sauce, and cook for an additional minute.  Remove from heat and toss with sesame seeds.

Drain noodles and toss with veggies in skillet.  Pour over sauce and toss until fully combined.  Serve each portion with additional Sriracha and sesame seeds, if desired...and in this house, we do desire!

Wine Country Salad

There's really nothing more satisfying -- for me, at least -- than waking up early on a crisp, sunny morning, throwing open the windows, and ensconcing myself in my kitchen.  In those moments, it's just me and my ingredients, and it's downright zen-like.

This morning, I've been prepping my half of a picnic, as I'm meeting one of my dearest friends to do what we do best...drink wine.  She lives in Loudoun Co., so she is my resident expert on Northern Virginia wineries, but today we're going to venture to a winery neither of us has been to.  I hear it is also a horse farm, so if you hear the news tonight and there's a breaking story about a woman stealing a horse and riding off with a bottle of wine yelling, "A PONYYYYY!!!!!", yep, that'll be me.  My friend is bringing an array of charcuterie and cheeses, so I felt it was my duty to bring the produce.  I picked up some amazing strawberries while I was in getting my Crop Share yesterday, and when I saw the romaine I knew what else needed to happen...BIG...SALAD.  I only used a part of the bundle of romaine because I want to save the rest for lettuce wraps, but with the honeyed almonds, dried cherries, the peppery arugula, and the earthy splendor of the black truffle salt, I wanted to pull a lot of my favorite wine notes and put them all in one salad.

It looks like a gorgeous day, so whatever you do today, enjoy the outdoors and whip up something bright and fresh with this weeks Crop Share (someone, for my lack-of-grill-sake, please fire up a grill to sear slices of eggplant and then top them with roasted red peppers, goat cheese, and a splash of olive oil & balsamic vinegar)!

Wine Country Salad

Ingredients:
7 Romaine leaves, chopped
1 lg bag arugula (70 oz)
8 oz dried cherries
1 cup sliced almonds
2 Tbsp local honey
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup white wine vinegar (Nalls carry Virginia Vinegar Works' Chardonnay White Wine Vinegar)
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1/8 tsp black truffle salt (I get mine at Spice & Tea Exchange in Old Town, or just use Kosher salt)
1/4 cup shaved Parmesan

In a skillet, toss almonds in honey and brown over medium heat.  As the honey heats up it will melt down to allow you to mix it up a bit better.  And stir fairly regularly to prevent any of the almonds from burning.  Once they're golden brown, remove from heat and set aside to cool.  They will cool into almond candies, so just break them apart as you're adding them to the salad.  Allow to cool completely to prevent wilting your greens.

In a large bowl, toss together greens and cherries.  Add in cooled honey almonds, and set aside while you make the dressing.

Whisk together oil, vinegar and mustard until you have a smooth emulsion with no visible streaks of oil left.  Stir in black truffle salt and taste to see if you need to adjust any flavors.  Pour as much or as little of the dressing over top as you desire and toss to fully coat.  Or drizzle some on individual portions when you're ready to eat.  Sprinkle in shaved Parmesan and give it one final toss.  Serve immediately if tossed in dressing, otherwise you can allow it to chill in the fridge until you're ready to serve.

Pear & Spring Onion Salad with a Tarragon Dijon Vinaigrette

Despite yesterday's weather, I'm convincing myself that Spring must really be here because SPRING ONIONS have arrived!  It's almost as awesome as the springtime arrival of asparagus.  Almost.  If this is your first encounter and you've been eyeing those giant sprouty things suspiciously, fear not because you are in for an awesome treat.  It's like a two for one deal with spring onions, because you get the green part which are somewhere between a chive and a leek, and then the bulb which is like, well, an onion.  But a delicate and sweet one.  Plus, the ones in this week's Crop Share are Vidalia spring onions, so that means even more sweetness.  I know for sure I'll be using two of the bundle to make my favourite Chicken In A Spring Onion Cream Sauce (is amazing over meaty fish like salmon or swordfish too!), but I made myself reserve one of the bundle to experiment with.  On Saturday we got a call that afternoon from some friends to come over for dinner, and since you should never show up to a dinner party empty handed, I decided to whip up a salad from among the Crop Share ingredients I just brought home.  And thus the following yummy and crisp salad was born!  So if you're sheepish about the spring onions, let this salad be your gateway drug into spring onion mania!

Pear & Spring Onion Salad with a Tarragon Dijon Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sliced almonds, unsalted
1 Tbsp local honey
1 head leaf lettuce, chopped
1 Vidalia spring onion, ends trimmed and diced (both green and white parts)
2 pears, cored & thinly sliced
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup white wine vinegar (I used some of the delicious Chardonnay White Wine Vinegar from Virginia Vinegar Works that's available at Nalls)
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1/8 tsp Kosher salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp dried tarragon

In a skillet over medium heat, toss almond slivers with honey to evenly coat and toast almonds until golden brown.  You'll want to keep a close watch and stir fairly often to prevent any almonds from burning.  Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, toss together lettuce, diced spring onion, pear slices and cooled, honey almonds (you'll likely have to break them apart as when they cool they turn into almond candy).

Then in a medium sized bowl, briskly whisk together oil, vinegar and dijon until you have a smooth, creamy dressing.  Add in salt, pepper and tarragon and whisk to fully incorporate.  Pour as much or as little of the dressing over the salad as desired, toss to coat and serve.

Makes a wonderful side salad with dinner, or add in some grilled chicken, shrimp or salmon to turn this into a complete meal.

I Dip, You Dip, We Dip: Ricotta, Gorgonzola & Honey Apple Dip

Oh I'm on fire with the corny blog titles tonight!  Watch out now!

A few years ago, my childhood bestie and Barefoot Contessa fangirl, Miss Katie Jane (no Jane is not her middle or even last name, but for some reason my family always called her that) had a pre-Christmas cookie exchange/lots of wine & appetizers night.  I remember this night for two very distinct reasons.  1.)  It was the night that the Mister presented me with my wedding ring (we'd been engaged for over a month, because I'm the kind of gal who could care less about diamond and rings until they arrive and I'm all oooooo it's shiny!), and 2.) RICOTTA...GORGONZOLA...HONEY...DIP.  The night you get your wedding ring is a pretty big honkin' deal, so you know that dip had to be gooooood.  And the way Katie served it and I continue to serve it, is always with slices of crisp apples.  Because then you feel all healthy when you're eating an entire bowl of fancy cheese

So since we're getting more glorious apples this week in the Crop Share, what better way to enjoy them then dipped in some delicious dip.  Plus, honey is a major player in this dip, so snag some local honey while you're in to pick up your Crop Share, and get a jump on fighting seasonal allergies!  I also tend to think this dip would be really good slathered on burgers, so if you're breaking out your grill this weekend (I've given up looking at the forecast, is it going to snow, rain, be summer, or locusts?) then have some dip with some apples, slather some on a burger with the green leaf lettuce as a garnish.  Basically, I've now made you all crave juicy hamburgers, haven't I?  Ooo, even some lamb burgers with super thin slices of apple and this dip slathered on.  Okay, okay, I'm stopping!

Ricotta, Gorgonzola & Honey Apple Dip

Ingredients:

1 15 oz carton of part-skim ricotta

6 oz Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled

1/4 tsp dried thyme (use 1/2 tsp if using fresh)

1/8 tsp dried rosemary (use 1/4 tsp if using fresh)

1 heaping Tbsp local honey

2-3 apples, sliced

Lemon juice

In a medium sized bowl, using a hand mixer, whip up the ricotta until nice and smooth.  About 2-3 minutes.  Then fold in gorgonzola, herbs and honey, mixing until fully blended.  Transfer to a smaller bowl for serving, cover and let chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour, up to a full 24 hours.

Slice apples shortly before you're ready to serve.  Toss apple slices in some lemon juice to help prevent browning, and serve with the dip.

Ginger Beef with Green Beans & Mushrooms

Last Friday I whipped up the Szechuan Noodles with Cabbage & Broccoli and you know if you've made it before, it makes a TON of sauce, so you always have about a l/2 pint of it in reserve to use for another dish.  I'd always thought it would make an amazing beef marinade, so I gave it a whirl!  Knowing we were getting green beans in the Crop Share, I couldn't resist grabbing a pint of mushrooms, to turn this into a spicy and fragrant version of some homemade Chinese take-away.  So if you're looking at this week's green beans and all you can think of is green bean casserole, then plan to give your favorite Chinese restaurant the night off and whip up your own take-away at home!

Ginger Beef with Green Beans & Mushrooms

 


1.5 lbs thin sliced beef (I used eye of round)
Half of the Szechuan Noodles sauce (see recipe here)
2" knob of ginger, minced
1 pint mushrooms, washed and sliced
1 lb green beans (about half the bag from the Crop Share), rinsed and ends snapped
1 Tbsp chili oil
Noodles or rice for serving, we used rice noodles for gluten-free


In a large bowl, toss the beef, sauce and minced ginger to fully coat the beef.  Cover and place in fridge to chill and marinate for at least 1 hour.

Once beef has marinated, remove from fridge and allow to come up to room temp while you prep your mushrooms and green beans.

In a large skillet or wok, heat chili oil over high heat.  Once oil is hot, toss in mushrooms and green beans (taking care to watch our for oil splatters) and cook for about 1-2 minutes, continually stirring or tossing with tongs to prevent burning.  Then add in your beef and all of the sauce and ginger,  and cook until you can no longer see pink on the beef and meat is just slightly browned.  It's best to use tongs to help stir and toss at this point.  Remove immediately from heat and serve with rice or noodles.  We stirred our rice noodles into the skillet and allowed to sit for a few minutes to allow the sauce to flavor the noodles.

Shredded Brussels Sprouts & Kale Salad with a Lemony Dijon Vinaigrette

I've been eyeing this Shredded Kale & Brussels Sprout Salad with Lemon Dressing recipe from Just A Taste for awhile now.  But every time we get Brussels sprouts in the Crop Share, I'm completely incapable of not roasting them or turning them into this Brussels Sprouts & Mushrooms in a Dijon Cream Sauce dish.  However, this week I vowed to finally make my own version of Just A Taste's salad, and I knew if I was going to get the Mister behind a giant bowl of green for dinner, I was going to have to put some meat in there somewhere, especially since there would also be no carb coming along with it either.  So while the original is completely vegetarian, I tossed in one shredded chicken breast from yet another rotisserie chicken I'm slowly dismembering as the week goes on.  I also didn't go based on her measurements, I just went based on quantities in our shares, so I doubled the dressing recipe as the original measurements were looking pretty slim for the amount of roughage I had going on.  She also had Parmesan or Pecorino cheese in her's, but we didn't miss it and with the almonds you already get that nutty flavor and by adding Kosher salt to the dressing, that checks the salty component box.  So feel free to add cheese if you'd like, just maybe back down on the amount of salt in the dressing or omit it all together.

Not going to lie, this is one of those annoyingly prep intensive dishes, so if you're looking for a quick weeknight dinner salad, this might not be a good option as thinly slicing your way through all that green becomes soul killing unless you've got some good tunes blaring in your kitchen.  However, thanks to this recipe, you will gain two, count them two, gold stars on your culinary skills charts:  Chiffonade & Emulsion.  Yep, we're getting fancy in Nalls' Kitchen tonight!

Shredded Brussels Sprouts & Kale Salad with a Lemony Dijon Vinaigrette

For salad:

1 quart Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed & shredded
1 bundle Kale, removed from stalk & shredded
1/2 cup sliced, unsalted almonds, toasted
1 chicken breast, cooked & shredded (I dismembered a rotisserie chicken)


For dressing:

1 large shallot, minced
4 Tbsp Dijon mustard
4 tsp local honey
2 lemons, zest & juice
1/4 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 cup olive oil


In a medium-sized skillet, toast almond slices over medium high heat.  No need to add any oil as the natural oils in the almonds will be enough.  Stir fairy continuously to prevent burning.  Once almond are golden brown, remove from heat and set aside.

To shred Brussels sprouts, trim ends, and remove outer few leaves.  Then halve sprouts and thinly slice each half.  For kale, remove from the stalk and roll leaves into bundles and prepare to chiffonade.  Say what?  Yes, get ready to perfect your fancy knife skills -- and no you don't have to be totally accurate with these, you just want to have thin slices of kale for the salad.  Have no idea what I'm on about, then learn how to get  your chiffonade on in this helpful video...

Now toss together your kale, Brussels sprouts, toasted almond and shredded chicken together in a large bowl.   I weeded out any bits of the core of the sprouts  that still remained as chunks.

Grab a medium sized bowel and whip up the dressing.  Combine all ingredients through the salt and lightly whisk to fully combine.  Then slowly pour in olive oil while you whisk vigorously because you're doing another fancy thing, you're making an...emulsion!  Ooo la la!  First you chiffonade then you, well, emulse?  Emulsionize?  No, I've got it, you emulsionate!  Once all your oil is incorporated you should have a dressing that looks very much like a big bowl of whisked egg yolks.  Pour as much or as little over the salad and toss to coat.

Let sit for about 5 minutes to allow flavors to meld and serve.

Vietnamese Beef Salad

There were just a few carrots in the Crop Share this week, and by a few I mean a ton.  And while I thought about a carrot soup, it was too cold and snowy yesterday after all of the beautiful Spring weather, so I had to just delude myself a little longer and make something bright and fresh that made me think of the warmer temps to come.  If you'll remember, a few weeks back when we got cabbage I did my own Vietnamese twist on TaKorean "takos".  So last night I just left out the arepas all together, tweaked a few of the ingredients, and made up some delicious Vietnamese Beef Salads.  If you're looking to make a dent in your carrot supply and ignore the continued snow, these salads are where it's at!

Vietnamese Beef Salad

For the pickled slaw:

1 cup water

½ cup apple cider vinegar

½ cup sugar

½ cabbage, cored & thin sliced

1 cup cilantro, minced

4 carrots, peeled and shredded

For the spicy garlic beef: 

1/2 cup soy sauce (I use Kikkoman's gluten-free soy sauce)

2 Tbsp Sriracha (use only 1 Tbsp for a lower heat version)

3 Tbsp local honey

1 Tbsp garlic, minced

1.5 lbs thin sliced ribeye (if you really want the perfect cut for this or for making bulgogi hit up a local H Mart, it's worth the extra trip -- alas, I did not have the time to make the extra trip)

2 Tbsp sesame oil

1" knob of ginger, minced

Make your slaw a day in advance if possible, if not, just allow yourself at least an hour for the flavors to meld and begin to pickle the veggies.  In a small saucepan, heat the water, vinegar and sugar until the sugar is fully dissolved.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Prep your cabbage, cilantro and carrots and then toss into a bowl.  Pour the liquid over and toss to fully combine.  Cover bowl and place in fridge for at least 1 hour up to 24 hrs (the longer it sits the better).

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together your soy sauce, Sriracha, honey and garlic, till fully combined.  Then add in your sliced ribeye and toss to coat.  Cover and place in fridge to marinate for at least 1 hour.

In a large skillet, heat your sesame oil over high heat, but take care to not allow it to burn.  Once you start to see little bubbles in the oil, toss in your minced ginger and cook for no longer than 1 minute.  Pour in your beef, marinade and all, and toss with tongs to cook.  Cook beef on high heat until you can no longer see pink on the meat, and no longer otherwise you're going to have chewy bits of beef.  Remove cooked beef from skillet and set aside on a plate.   Continue to simmer down remaining marinade in the skillet until it's turned into a thicker, sticky sauce.  Remove from heat and add beef and any drippings back to pan, tossing to fully coat the beef.

To assemble, place a mound of the slaw on each plate and top with some beef.  Drizzle any of the pan sauce over top if you'd like and serve.  You can also cook up a cup of rice if you feel like you need a starch with this too.

These Are A Few of My Favorite Things

Wait till you see the amount of potatoes you're getting in the Crop Share this week!  Squee!  Can you tell I'm Irish by descent?  So, after you're done whipping up this Leek & Potato Soup, you're still going to have potatoes left over!  While I suggest using up some in this Potato Salad with Cucumber, Rocket Greens & Smoked Salmon (this is not your Grandma's potato salad, no mayo in sight, it is an actual salad), I've also got another "fishy" recipe below that is one of my all-time favorite preparations for salmon.  The potatoes become this wonderful crispy base, and then you'll be able to throw on some of the tangelos or any leftover citrus from last week, and snag a Meyer lemon or two while you're in the store.  Then, as I mentioned in the "spoiler" e-mail earlier today, hands down one of my favorite salads of all time is this Herbed Shrimp & White Bean salad I'll link to below.  When you see how beefy the green leaf lettuce is this week, you'll have to work to use that up too, and this entree salad will be just the ticket.  We got in fresh cherry tomatoes today, so you'll be able to snag a pint of them along with some local honey to help round out the salad ingredients.

So without further ado, I give you two of my favorite recipes that are sure to help you use up this week's bounty (titles are hyper-linked to original recipes)...

Salmon & Potato Casserole With a Citrus Herb Vinaigrette via Country Living

Herbed Shrimp & White Bean Salad via Cooking Light

Go Green Smoothie

If it's green and in liquid form, I want to drink it.  Go figure.  Doesn't matter that it looks like gnarly baby food, I want to consume it all.  One big problem with most commercially available smoothies though...they put wheat grass in them.  And for me and my gluten-hating system, that's a big no-no.  So if I want a green smoothie, I've got to make it myself.  Who wants grass in their smoothie anyway?!  Leave that for the cows!  So when I saw the massive bundles of spinach this week, I knew exactly what needed to happen first thing Saturday morning.  GREEN SMOOTHIE TIME!  Woot!  Trust me, even with 2-3 cups of spinach you cannot detect the spinach flavor.  I even forced a mason jar full of green goodness on the Mister.  He looked at me suspiciously, gave it a swig and declared it was delicious.  He then proceeded to drink two mason jars full and asked if there was more.  So if you're on a post-holiday smoothie kick, this is the perfect drink to give your body a jolt of wonderfulness and get fueled up for the day ahead.  I still have more spinach left even after this recipe and throwing two handfuls into some Homemade Take-Away Beef with Broccoli, so look for yet another green smoothie recipe to follow in the days to come.

Go Green Smoothie

Ingredients:
16 ice cubes, divided
1 pint strawberries, tops trimmed and quartered
1 1/2 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk (I use Almond Breeze, you can use any milk of your choice, but the almond milk gives you a nice added protein boost)
2 Bartlett pears, cored and cubed
Juice of 1 navel orange
1 tsp local honey (you can also use agave or maple syrup)
2-3 cups spinach, well rinsed and stems trimmed

Into your blender, add 8 of the ice cubes, the strawberries and almond milk.  Blend on high until ice is fully crushed and strawberries are blended.  Add in pears, navel orange juice and honey, and blend those down as well.  Next add your spinach, and you'll likely have to blend these down in batches to make sure you have enough room in the blender.  Blend until completely smooth.  You'll likely have some noticeable green bits no matter how long you try to blend it, and that's okay, you won't be able to taste them.  Then add in your remaining 8 ice cubes and blend until ice is fully crushed.

Serve immediately.  Made 4 mason jars full.

Gettin' Sauced: Homemade Cran-Applesauce

After last week's medley of fantastic baking apples, and with the hoard that was growing in my fruit bowl, I knew another batch of homemade applesauce was needed, stat!  In the last Crop Share spoiler e-mail I mentioned I was drooling over the idea of a cranberry applesauce, and tonight I finally had the chance to bring that drool-worthy dream to life.  And oh honey is it goooooooooood!  Next time I may opt to add a generous splash of vanilla, just because, but it doesn't even need it.  Cran-Applesauce, you are perfect...just the way you are.

Homemade Cran-Applesauce

Ingredients:

8-9 apples, peeled, cored and cubed (assorted varieties work best, I had 5 Pink Lady and 4 Rome apples -- which I just learned, originated in my home state of Ohio...O-H-)
1 heaping cup of fresh cranberries
1/2 to 3/4 cup water (mine was more on the 3/4 side as I knew the Rome's weren't going to be overly juicy)
1/4 cup local honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a Dutch oven add in cubed apples, cranberries, water, and honey.  Give it a few stirs to evenly coat everything and then cover the pot and place it into the oven at 350 for about an hour.  You'll want to check it a few times and stir it just to make sure the apples and cranberries on the bottom aren't scorching.

After an hour has passed, give it a check and if they're looking nice and saucy, remove from oven and give it a good whisk just to break up some of the larger chunks and make sure that all of the cranberries have burst.  Taste and adjust with additional honey if you need it (mine was the perfect combo of sweet and tart with no addition needed).

Serve warm or allow to cool before placing in an air tight jar for use over the next few days.  My batch made a whole quart plus about 3/4 of a pint.

Feelin' Apple-Saucy!

So if you're like me, you just now polished off the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers.  And now I feel like all I should exist on is lettuce, air and water.  That container of chocolate frosting probably didn't help matters, but hey, it's also my birthday week (in fact, it's my birthday today, the big 3-2!) so it was necessary.  So with the double dip of fruit in this week's share, I think it calls for some sort of homemade applesauce.  We have a great base recipe for Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce that is sweetened with only the natural sweetness of the apples and 1/4 cup of local honey.  No other added sugar and the only other ingredients are water and cinnamon.  Four ingredient magic!  So I'm thinking of doing a little saucy experimentation and using the mixture of baking apples this week for some blended flavor applesauce.  We're also getting tangelos, so maybe I'll throw in some nutmeg, ground clove and some tangelo peel and the juice of 1 (I'll reduce the amount of honey to probably an 1/8 cup) to make a Citrus Spiced Applesauce.  But I keep eyeing the cranberries in the store, so I'm also thinking of tossing a handful to maybe a 1/2 cup of cranberries into the mix, holding the cinnamon and making a Cran-Applesauce!  So many possibilities!

Who's up for the challenge of concocting a fun applesauce blend?  If you come up with your own based off of our original recipe, e-mail your recipe our way to cropshare@nallsproduce.com and we'll feature it here!

Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce

Thanksgiving Favorites: Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce

Thanksgiving In Nalls’ Kitchen!

7310 Beulah Street, Franconia, VA 22315

(703) 971-4068 ~ info@nallsproduce.com

Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce

Ingredients:

8 apples, peeled, cored and cubed (using a mixture of different apples gives great results)
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup local honey
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a Dutch oven add in cubed apples, water, honey and cinnamon.  Give it a few stirs to evenly coat everything and then cover the pot and place it into the oven at 350 for about an hour.  You'll want to check it a few times and stir it just to make sure the apples on the bottom aren't scorching.

After an hour has passed, checked the apples and if they're looking nice and saucy, remove from oven and give it a good whisk just to break up some of the larger chunks and make sure that the honey and cinnamon are well blended throughout.  Taste and adjust with additional honey or cinnamon if you need it (mine was perfectly sweet with no addition needed).

Serve warm or allow to cool before placing in an air tight jar for use over the next few days.  My batch made a whole quart plus about a half-cup extra.

Citrus & Pomegranate Salad

We just got some gorgeous looking pomegranates in this week, so as I was musing over that citrus salad from the Crop Share Spoiler, I thought no, pumpkin no, this need to be a Citrus & Pomegranate Salad.  I'm sure you've seen the pom-everything drinks in stores and heard all about the amazing benefits of pomegranate, but frankly I just think it's gorgeous.  They're like little jewels on your plate.  So snag a pomegranate when you're in this weekend, and really make this fruit salad pop!  And for a great tutorial on how to cut and remove the seeds from this tricky little bugger, check out this great and adorable tutorial.

Citrus & Pomegranate Salad

Ingredients:
2 oranges, peeled, pith removed and segmented
4 tangerines, peeled, pith removed and segmented
(still have grapefruit from last week, throw segments from one of those too!)
Seed of 1 pomegranate (click here to see two easy methods for removing the seeds)
2 tsp fresh mint, rough chopped
2-3 Tbsp local honey
Splash or two of vanilla extract









Arrange citrus on a serving plate and sprinkle with the pomegranate seeds and chopped mint.

In a bowl, whisk together honey and vanilla.  If the dressing seems to thick, cut it with a bit of water.  Then dipping a spoon into the dressing, drizzle it evenly over the entire salad.

For a warm citrus salad, arrange everything on an oven-safe platter and broil on high for a minute or two.

Asian Salmon Bowls with Spinach

Oh salmon, how I love thee!  Especially when it comes with a sticky sweet glaze.  These salmon bowls are one of our favorite go-to weeknight meals, so we will hoard salmon when it's on deal.  Everything in this dish is in perfect balance, and all the healthy fats from the salmon and iron in the spinach gives it all an extra boost of awesome.  And for you beer lovers, this may be a fish dish, but it is fantastic with a nice dark beer (gluten-free foodies, e-mail me at tara@nallsproduce.com for my GF beer recommendation list, or just to generally weep and whine that Guinness can never grace our lips again).  I've talked a lot about booze this week, haven't I?  I swear, I'm really not a lush!  Despite my Irishness, I've become such a lightweight to the point I'm a one and one drink girl.  Ask the Mister, it's not a pretty sight after 2 drinks.  Somewhere my ancestors are rolling over in their graves.

Asian Salmon Bowls

Ingredients:

1 cup jasmine rice
2 tsp unsalted butter (or Earth Balance margarine for dairy-free)
1 clove garlic, diced
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
3 Tbsp pure maple syrup or local honey
3 Tbsp fresh lime juice
3 Tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce (I use Kikkoman's wheat-free soy)
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp water
4 salmon fillets (4 oz each), skin removed
1 tsp olive oil
1 bundle spinach (say no more to gritty spinach with our handy spinach washing tips)
2 tsp sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Prepare rice according to package directions (1 cup uncooked to get 2 cups cooked).

In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium high heat.  Add in garlic and red pepper flakes and saute for about 1 minute, taking care not to burn the garlic.  Add in maple syrup or honey, lime juice, and soy sauce. Cook until mixture is syrupy and bubbly, about 3 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and water, and then stir that into the sweet and spicy glaze.  Cook for an additional minute to allow sauce to thicken.

Place salmon fillets on a foil or parchment lined baking sheet.  Brush each fillet with 1-2 tsp of the glaze, and roast for 12 minutes at 400.

While salmon is roasting, in a skillet, heat your oil over medium high heat.  Add in spinach and saute until wilted.  Toss in a teaspoon of the glaze and a dash of sesame seeds.  Remove from heat.

Divide rice among 4 bowls (or 2 for serving and package up the rest for tomorrow's lunches), then evenly top with the spinach, and add 1 filet of salmon to each serving.  Drizzle with remaining sauce and sprinkle sesame seeds over top.

Cropshare Member Guestpost: Louise B's Squash-Cauliflower Soup

I ate cauliflower, but it was delicious because it wasn’t cauliflower

So, I’m taking a crack at this – once upon a time in a land far, far away (Richmond) my husband (CRB) and I had a blog of places we went to eat there were amazing, but that stopped when we moved to Herndon exactly four years ago (now we’re in Alexandria) and our lives haven’t been right-side-up since!  But, through four years of insanity, we have maintained one thing – our undeniable adulation for eating delicious things. My boss loves to say, “I eat to live, but you clearly live to eat.” And that we do!

So when I joined the crop share I was excited, but I was dismayed to find out that cauliflower was in our first crate. I looked at CRB and said “Really? I think I made a mistake.” He laughed and told me it would be fine. Then he went to play with the dog (our 1-year old Yorkie, Pickles), so I figured I had to make a plan for this cruciferous crime against yum. We’ve been experimenting (gently, because I have nut allergies) with paleo-type meals, and I found this recipe below, which hides the fact that cauliflower is even there. It masks it and uses it as a thickener, which I must say, is what it’s AMAZING for! My husband did nearly remove one of his digits chopping the squash (while I languished in bed until about 11 am on a Saturday…aaah, the joys of marrying an early bird), so I recommend checking out Tara’s blog on dissecting the butternut squash to remove the “honey, do you think this is bad enough for a doctor or can we just staple it back together?” discussion from your life. And no, I’m not kidding about the staple comment. He’s done that. Sigh.

Louise B's Squash-Cauliflower Soup

1 head of cauliflower, roughly chopped

1 butternut squash, cubed

2 acorn squashes, cubed

1 sweet onion, chopped

1 apple, cored and chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

½ can coconut milk

2 cups chicken broth (or veggie broth)

2 tablespoons curry powder

1 tablespoon raw honey

1-2 teaspoons salt

⅛ teaspoon cinnamon

dash of black pepper

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

Place all ingredients into a slow-cooker and roast on low for at least 8 hours (we did it for 24 because we kept forgetting to eat it. Or maybe I kept forgetting to remind him to eat it…maybe). Stir every so often to rotate the ingredients. When done, use an immersion blender or food processor to puree everything. Enjoy!

This had me looking at him saying “did we forget to put cauliflower in here? I don’t taste sadness, I taste only happiness!” He rolled his eyes and batted our pup from his lap saying “NO Pickles, this is daddy’s dinner!” So even the dog liked it…still not sure if that’s a compliment, given that he eats leaves and pine needles when we’re not looking. But the hubs loves it, and has loved having it as a leftover in his lunch, so that was good enough for me! I hope you’ll try this and find it to be delicious too.

Adventures in Cauliflower, Part 2: Pumpkin Chicken Curry over Cauliflower Coconut Sticky "Rice"

Well, it was with much, MUCH, trepidation that I attempted another cauliflower recipe.  I waited over a week to recover from the last experience, and finally got up the courage to give it another go.  Plus, not being able to sleep does lend itself to the kind of randomness needed to tackle this project.  Thankfully, 1 AM is also a great time to make curry (any time is great for curry, but I have a soft spot in my heart for late night pub curry that may or may not have followed inordinate amounts of drink)!  And thanks to new Crop Share member Louise for answering my call for cauliflower recipes and sending me a recipe for Pumpkin Cashew Coconut Curry over Coconut Rice from PaleOMG.  It should be noted that Louise is also not a big fan of cauliflower, so again I say, where are all these cauliflower lovers and their incredible recipes?  Hmmmm???!!
 
The great thing about the recipe is that it was automatically gluten, dairy & egg free, so no needing to substitute there for our household.  But the cashews had to go, especially since I was the one who discovered the Mister's cashew allergy when I tried to kill him with a cookie one night.  He married me any way.  So what better thing to substitute in to a pumpkin curry than pumpkin seeds!  Thus without further ado, here is my twist on PaleOMG's recipe, and then scroll to the bottom to see if I'm finally sold on the vegetable of doom.

Pumpkin Chicken Curry over Cauliflower Coconut Sticky "Rice"

Ingredients:

For the curry:
1 Tbsp coconut oil
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red onion, diced
1 1/3 cups reduced fat coconut milk
1 cup pumpkin puree (make your own!)
5 Tbsp curry powder
2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup roasted pumpkin seeds
salt & pepper to taste (the seeds I had were already salted, so I didn't add any additional salt)

For the "rice":
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1 head of cauliflower, rough chopped
pinch salt
2/3 cup reduced fat coconut milk
1/2 cup unsweetened, finely shredded coconut
2 tsp local honey

In a skillet, heat 1 Tbsp coconut oil over medium high heat. Once oil is melted, add in cubes of chicken and garlic.  Once the chicken is white on all sides, add in onion and saute until chicken begins to brown.

Deglaze pan with coconut milk and then stir in pumpkin, mixing well to break up any clumps.  Stir in spices and pumpkin seeds, taste to determine if salt & pepper is needed.  Pull from heat and set pan aside.

Meanwhile, in a food processor or blender (if using a blender, you'll have to do this in stages) "rice" up the cauliflower until all the chunks are gone.

Heat remaining Tbsp coconut oil in a saucepan over medium high heat.  Add in riced cauliflower and  pinch of salt, stir and cover to allow cauliflower to steam for about 3 minutes.  Then add in milk, coconut and honey, stirring to fully incorporate.  Reduce heat, replace lid and simmer for about 8 minutes, or until milk is absorbed, taking care to stir a few times to make sure it's not burning on the bottom.

Serve cauliflower rice topped with the pumpkin curry.



Soooooooo, what did I think?  Did this finally sell me on cauliflower or do I possibly hate it even more than I did before. Let's just say after one bite, this was me...

Now this is the story all about how my life got flipped turned upside down.  And I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there.  I'll tell you how I feel in love with cauliflower!

That's right, it's official, it's almost 2 AM and I'm eating a dish with cauliflower all up in it and I LOVE it.  Now, this doesn't mean I'll start eating heads of cauliflower with wild abandon.  But it does mean that if I rice the heck out of it, coconut it up and add honey, then I can turn it into something that doesn't trip the "eww, ick, urgh, cauliflower, I'm dying, ahhhhh!" trigger.  So for those of you like me who've yet to find a preparation that doesn't make your skin crawl, then my friends, THIS is the recipe for you.

Healthy Pumpkin Pie Smoothies

So on Saturday morning we're partnering with Kingstowne Pilates to offer Pumpkins & Pilates (alas, the even is already sold out).  There will be pilates, and there will be pumpkins, and the two may even combine.  And there will also be Healthy Pumpkin Pie Smoothies to replenish everyone when the class is over.  Now that is where I come in, because heaven knows the only thing I will have to do with the pilates portion is emitting un-ladylike amounts of sweat and losing the will to live after about 15 minutes.  Okay, let's be honest with ourselves...after about 5 minutes.  So when Pat Backe, the pilates master, and I were musing about how to incorporate pumpkins into this event, I said I could make some sort of healthy pumpkin smoothie.  The operative word was could.  Did I actually have a go-to recipe?  No.  Had I made a pumpkin pie smoothie before?  No.  Did I wait till almost the last minute to test out some recipes?  YES!  Thankfully, after a few key tweaks to the recipe I tried last night, tonight's re-do was a resounding success and I'm highly considering drinking the whole blender full myself and getting pumpkin wasted.

Now the great timing with this is that, SURPRISE...we're all getting pie pumpkins in the Crop Share tomorrow!  HUZZAH!  So you can either decorate with it for awhile, or tell Libby's to take a vacation and make your own pumpkin puree.  The Pioneer Woman has a wonderful and easy recipe for how to make your own pumpkin puree from pie pumpkins.  Plus, she gives tips for freezing so if you don't need to use all the puree now, you can hang onto it and start building your supply for all your Thanksgiving baking.

So won't you just impress the pants off your friends and family when you roll out these Healthy Pumpkin Pie Smoothies and you've made them with your OWN pumpkin puree!  Plus the local honey will give you a much needed allergy fighting boost if you're currently miserable.  And between the amount of anti-oxidants in the pumpkin and the wonderful number of vital nutrients and minerals in the black strap molasses, this smoothie is essentially a superfood in a glass!  Drink up!

Healthy Pumpkin Pie Smoothies

Ingredients:

1 cup pumpkin puree (put that Pie Pumpkin to good use and make your own puree!)
2 cups almond milk (I used unsweetened, vanilla Almond Breeze)
1 Tbsp raw, local honey
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp black strap molasses
1 banana, frozen and sliced  (peeling and slicing the banana first, before freezing, is helpful)
4 ice cubes

Easiest directions ever...put all items into blender.  Push "blend".  Watch blender blend.  Pour into a glass...or directly into your mouth.  Yes, you are drinking pumpkin pie.  Mmm, pie.

Makes about 4, 8 oz servings.  Basically, one liquid pie.  Again I say...mmm, pie.