2024 Spring | Week 2
Déjà Vu All Over Again
Our Second Harvest
Last week, we took a week off to let the carrot and beet crops grow. We hoped to have some of our latest crops like kale, scallions, bok choy, spinach, and romaine. But, it has been cool and rainy most of the week. We’ve had almost 2” of rain on the garden. Both the beets and carrots are being grown in the tunnel as they over-wintered there. If we get a little sunshine we should have most of what’s shown below next week. Get ready for Stir Fry!
Also, Charlotte made some carrot treats to celebrate International Carrot Day last week. Yum.
Baby spinach should be ready next week
and Napa cabbage
And scallions and romaine
And bok choy too
1808 Store
Part of learning how to eat healthy food is to have the ingredients and tools to prepare it. It's amazing how a quality olive oil or vinaigrette can bring out the flavor of lettuce or cabbage. A proper garlic press and pepper grinder are essential to preparing great meals. We've assembled some of these items in our 1808 Store (the name derives from the date on an old granary located on our property)
Make sure to check out some of the items. You can order online, and we'll have them in your basket the following week.
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What’s in Your Crate this Week?
Click the plus sign next to each item for tips, tricks, and recipes!
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BEETS 101—Beets are healthy, versatile, taste amazing, and look beautiful. One of the best things about them is that they keep well before and after cooking, and every part is edible and delicious. Beets can be broiled, steamed, grilled, or roasted, our favorite. (We like cut beets roasted in olive oil and salt and pepper the best!)
EAT NOW—Roots: Just before cooking, scrub the beets well and remove any scraggly leaves and rootlets. If your recipe calls for raw beets, peel them with a knife or a veggie peeler, then grate or cut them according to the recipe. To remove the skins, roast them in foil or boil them, and the peels will slip right off.
Beet greens: Wash the leaves in a basin of lukewarm water to remove grit. Remove the thicker stems. Depending on use, cut the greens into appropriately sized pieces.
OR LATER - To Freeze: Beet Roots: Boil or bake beets until done. Cool them in ice water or let them come to room temperature. Remove peels. Trim the beets into 1/4-inch slices or keep them whole (if they are small). Place in a freezer bag and remove as much air as possible. Seal and freeze. Beet greens: Blanch wash beet greens for 2-3 minutes in hot boiling water. Immediately dunk in ice water to stop the cooking process. Then drain and pack into airtight containers. Freeze them in “balls” on a cookie sheet, then pop them into a freezer bag for the perfect portion.
DON’T TOSS THOSE BEET GREENS! - Beet greens are delicious! Here are some simple ways to use them: Use them for making vegetable stock, toss them into a salad — especially the smaller leaves, braised with a bit of olive oil, garlic, and pepper flakes, toss in a smoothie, add them to an omelet, frittata, or quiche, stir them into a pasta sauce in the final stages, add to a soup, like you would kale or spinach, turn them into a pesto
RECIPES
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CARROTS 101 - Crunchy, tasty, and highly nutritious, carrots are one of our favorite root vegetables. Carrots are a great source of beta carotene, fiber, vitamin K1, potassium, and antioxidants! We’re used to seeing orange carrots, but did you know carrots come in a variety of colors like yellow, white, red, and even purple? Both the root and the greens are edible - the leaves make for a great garnish or addition to pesto. The greens have a slightly bitter taste that compliments the sweetness of the root.
EAT NOW - Because we don’t use pesticides, our carrots don’t need to be peeled. Simply rinse and scrub any dirt before use. Eaten raw, carrots are great whole, julienned, speared, or chopped. Carrots can be boiled, sautéd, stir fried, or even air fried! Fresh carrot tops can be chopped into a green salad or stir-fry too! The greens can also be dried and used as an herb like parsley.
OR LATER - To avoid “floppy carrots,” remove the green tops as soon as you can, leaving about an inch of stems. Save the greens separately. Then, place root in a bag in the fridge or in a bin of water (like celery) to keep them crisp, changing out the water every few days. Uncut carrots will last in the fridge for up to 4 weeks. They can also be chopped, then blanched and placed in an airtight container in the freezer to keep longer. Store the tops in a separate bag in the fridge. Or put them in a plastic Ziplock in your freezer and use them to make DIY vegetable or chicken stock.
To blanch, bring a pot of lightly salted water to a rolling boil. While you wait for boil, prepare an ice bath. Once boiling, drop veggies into water - water should return to boil within a minute otherwise you have too much veg for the water. Once boil has returned, cook for 1-5 min until veg has a vibrant color. Immediately put into ice bath to stop cooking.
RECIPIES
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KALE 101 - Wash leaves in lukewarm water. If your greens have thick stems, remove them by folding each leaf in half and slicing out the stem. Then, stack the leaves up and slice diagonally into 1” wide strips.
EAT NOW - Wrap unwashed chard or kale in a sealed plastic bag in the crisper drawer of the fridge. Best used very fresh, but may last for a week. To freeze, blanch washed greens, rinse in cold ice water, drain, and pack into airtight containers.
OR LATER - Swiss chard or kale can both be eaten raw or cooked. A longer cooking time is best as it brings out the sweetness in the greens. Extremely high in vitamin K and vitamin A, these nutrient-dense greens can help combat cancer and reduce blood pressure! Chard and kale can be used interchangeably with: collards, turnip greens, beet greens, broccoli raab, mustard greens, dandelion, and spinach.