Farm Scenes May 15th

 

Beets and Swiss Chard

Anna, from Cypress shared this with us this week...

This season is the first time that my family has ever had beets, so we were a little apprehensive at first. But I used this recipe from Jamie Oliver (via the food network) and we eat them like candy now. This works out perfectly this week since we also have carrots in our shares! Instead of mixing the carrots and beets separately and trying to separate them in the baking dish or use two separate dishes (who needs more dishes to wash?), I just mixed everything together and baked; it came out delicious and caramelized. Here's the link: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/jamie-oliver/roasted-carrots-and-beets-with-the-juiciest-pork-chops-recipe/index.html

I've had a lot of my family rave over how I usually use the swiss chard so I figured I'd share that recipe. I saute the swiss chard with 1 large onion (or 2 of the smaller ones that we've been getting in our shares) and 1 head of garlic until wilted, and then add it to 15 oz of ricotta cheese, 1 cup of mozzarella cheese, 1 cup of peas, and 1 cup of Parmesan cheese in a food processor. Mix it up until finely processed and then spoon into large pasta shells or pipe into manicotti (both prepared according to the directions on the box), cover with marinara, and bake for 35 minutes at 350 F.

However I found another recipe for the swiss chard just in time for mother's day! It's a quiche that I can't wait to try, here's the link: http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/savoury-swiss-chard-tart-recipe/index.html

Hope these help or at least inspire!

Thank you, Anna!!!

Collard Green muffins

AND ALSO FROM MEGAN IN OAK FOREST...

"Closely related to the beet muffins, I made a collard greens cake yesterday. If you google it's a prize-winning recipe from a woman in North Carolina.  It's similar in texture to a carrot cake and one bunch of your collards would be enough for half a recipe. It makes a 3 layer cake but I used a bundt pan and a small loaf pan. 

I'm 38 weeks pregnant and have been using up a lot of things in baked goods. Adding kale to blueberry muffins and trying out a turnip lemon muffin/bread recipe i found but instead using one of the last grapefruits from our backyard trees. Kids gobbled them up!

Looking forward to my first summer membership!"

THANK YOU FOR SHARING, MEGAN!!!

Chocolate Beet Muffins

FROM MANDI, OUR LOCAL CSA MEMBER:

"For those members with a beet aversion- there's nothing a little chocolate won't fix!

Chocolate "Dirt" Muffins

2 1/2 cups beets, pureed

1/2 cup water or reserved beet juice (if you boil instead of roasting)

1 1/2 cups rapadura

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

3/4 cup fair trade cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup fair trade chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat Oven to 350º. Line muffin tins with paper or grease them. In a large bowl, combine beet puree, beet juice or water, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. In a separate bowl combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Add the beet mixture, chocolate chips and nuts to the flour mixture.

The batter will be maroon in color but the cooked product will be dark fudgey brown. Fill muffin tins ¾ full and bake 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Makes two dozen. You may use 2 loaf pans as an alternative and make sweet bread instead of muffins.

-m"

THANK YOU, MANDI!