You get bags full of greens, a huge bunch of radishes, spring onions, carrots (whew I know what to do with carrots!)....a kholrabi (what do I do with this thing?!)
So you decided to try joining a CSA huh? It sounds simple and amazing....fresh, local, pesticide free, deliveries each week. And it is AMAZING. But you can also end up with a lot of ingredients you're not used to having around and feel like you don't know what you are doing. My advice to that....keep it simple. Here are two SIMPLE "recipes" to use up all of those nourishing ingredients this summer.
Recipe 1 - A CHOPPED salad:
And when I say chopped, I mean chopped. Chop the crap out of those veggies, throw it in a bowl, grill some fresh organic chicken, boil some of those farm fresh eggs, add a simple homemade dressing (recipe below), and done. For mine this week I added...
Mixed Greens
Kale
Radish
Kholrabi
Carrots
Spring Onions
Boiled Eggs (Also from my CSA)
Cherry Tomatoes
Cucumber
Grilled Organic Chicken Breast
(The last 3 ingredients were not from my CSA this week but I had them in my fridge so I added them as well)
Sometimes I also add some seeds, nuts, or a goat or sheeps milk feta for an extra flare.
For the Dressing:
Olive oil
Half a lemon
Salt
Pepper
THATS IT!!!
*NOTE - If you made a huge bowl of salad and you want to keep it for a few days, don't dress the entire salad. It will get soggy much faster if you dress the entire salad and try to keep it. Just dress what you will eat today and keep the rest in a tupperware in the fridge. The beauty of this...you can't go wrong!!
Recipe 2 - Add GREENS anywhere you can. (I know its not a recipe, but I'll show you what I do)
Breakfast:
A farm fresh egg (for this I sautéed mine in a little olive oil over medium heat. I prefer my eggs over-medium)
A piece of Ezekiel sprouted grain bread with grass-fed organic butter
Greens (lightly sautéed in the same pan and oil that I cooked the egg)
*Again the greens (Spinach in this case) and the egg were from my CSA. The toast was from the organic freezer section in the grocery store.
Leafy Greens are the food most missing in modern diets. Learning to cook and eat greens is essential to creating health. When you nourish yourself with greens, you will naturally crowd out the foods that make you sick. Greens help build your internal rainforest and strengthen the blood and respiratory system. They are especially good for city people who rarely see fields of green in open countryside. Green is associated with spring, the time of renewal, refreshment and vital energy. In Asian medicine, green is related to the liver, emotional stability and creativity.
Nutritionally, greens are very high in calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, phosphorous, zinc and vitamins A, C, E and K. They are crammed with fiber, folic acid, chlorophyll and many other micronutrients and phytochemicals. Whenever possible, choose organic. But eating non-organic greens is much better than not eating any greens at all!
Some of the benefits of eating dark leafy greens are:
-Blood purification
-Cancer prevention
-Improved circulation
-Strengthened immune system
-Promotion of healthy intestinal flora
-Promotion of subtle, light and flexible energy
-Lifted spirit and elimination of depression
-Improved liver, gall bladder and kidney function
-Cleared congestion, especially in lungs by reducing mucus