Standard

Leeks   2
Broccoli   3 lb
Collards   1 bu
Apples   2 lb
Triticale Berries   1 pt
Potatoes   2 lb
Red Cabbage   1 hd
Heirloom Tomatoes   .5 lb
Slicer Tomatoes   1 lb

Small

Leeks   2
Broccoli   3 lb
Collards   1 bu
Cherry Tomatoes   .5 pt
Triticale Berries   1 pt
Zucchini   1
Cucumber   1

Easy Summer Grain Salad—Using lots of the veggies in your box!

All ingredients are optional, and quantities are suggestions, not rules. Feel free to add other ingredients, like cauliflower or spinach. For even more flavor, add herbs like parsley, basil or dill. The quantities can easily be increased for summertime parties.

Veggies
1/2 pound triticale berries or other wheat berries
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes or regular-sized heirloom tomatoes, chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
1/2 bunch of your favorite kale, coarsely chopped
1 head broccoli, chopped
1/2 Walla Walla sweet onion (or sweet red onion)
2 carrots, shredded
1 beet (any variety), shredded

Dressing
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon
2 clovers garlic, chopped

Soak the triticale berries overnight. The next day, drain the triticale berries, then add enough fresh water to cover them with about 1″ of water. Boil about 1 hour until berries are plump and chewy. Drain and cool.

In the meantime, chop your veggies. Once the triticale berries cool, mix the dressing ingredients together and pour over the berries, then add your veggies and mix everything together. Let the flavors mingle for a few hours in the fridge before serving.

We thank our packing shed manager, Rachel Covault, for this great recipe idea.

Tomatoes

200 years ago, tomatoes were thought to be poisonous in the United States. This may be because tomatoes are part of the night shade family, some of which are truly poisonous. But a diet that includes this tasty fruit gives you benefits like lowering the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

Tomatoes, with their rich red/purple color, like the beautiful Indigo Cherry Drops that Sidney is showing us in the photo below, are rich in lycopene, a phytochemical that plays a role in preventing chronic diseases. They are also rich sources of vitamin C and other antioxidants that help combat free radicals know to cause cancer, especially prostate, lung and stomach cancers.

Tomatoes are also high in fiber, potassium, and choline, for heart health. An increase in potassium intake along with a decrease in sodium intake can be one of the most important dietary changes that the average person can make to reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease.

Tomatoes are also delicious, especially if they are vine-ripened. We are so accustomed to having tomatoes whenever we want them, but that sweet, tangy, juicy bomb of flavor can only happen when tomatoes are eaten in season, not shipped green from Latin America or China in the winter, and chemically forced to change color to red. Those are some kind of pathetic cardboard imitation. Real vine-ripened tomatoes are worth waiting for, and heirlooms, the wild children of the tomato world, come in fantastic shapes and colors that have a true tomato flavor that rivals any hybrid.

How to use your tomatoes

• Put in a salad
• Put on a pizza
• Cut in half down the equator, top with seasoned breadcrumbs, then broil
• Add to soups and stews
• Braise or sauté with fish or chicken, Italian seasoning, olives and capers
• Slice thick and slow roast (225°F for 2 hours)
• Use cherry tomatoes for kebabs
• Stuff tomatoes with ground beef or pork, bacon, rice, spinach, or cracked wheat
• Combine fresh tomato puree, mint, sugar, champagne and fresh lemon juice for a refreshing sorbet
• Add zip to tuna salad by adding tomatoes, green onions and a touch of chopped fresh basil
• Green and yellow tomatoes make great toppers for eggs and enchiladas.

From Bounty from the Box, the CSA Farm Cookbook by Mi Ae Lipe.

Standard

Celery   1 hd
Walla Walla-variety Onions   2 lb
Lacinato Kale   1 bu
Broccoli   2.5 lb
Romaine Lettuce   1 hd
Garlic   2 bulbs
Green Beans   1 lb
Cilantro   1 bu
Curly Parsley   1 bu

Small

Celery   1 hd
Walla Walla-variety Onions   2 lb
Broccoli   2 lb
Red Butter Lettuce   1 hd
Golden Beets   2 lb
Cherry Tomatoes   .5 pt
Cilantro   1 bu

Golden Beets

Golden beets are a good place to start for beet skeptics, as they are sweeter with a less earthy flavor than red beets. They have one of the highest sugar contents of all vegetables, but are fairly low in calories, at 74 per cup. They are extremely high in folate and manganese and are a decent source of dietary fiber, vitamin C, calcium, and potassium.

Golden beets will not stain your hands. You can steam, boil, roast or sauté them, or grate raw on a salad.

Golden Beet Borscht

½ Tbsp. vegetable or olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 to 5 cloves garlic, minced or
pressed
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 or 2 carrots, sliced
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
6 cups water or vegetable stock
½ Tbsp. fresh dill or ½ tsp. dried dill
4 cups sliced beets
Salt and freshly-ground black pepper
1 baked potato, skinned
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
1 to 2 Tbsp. granulated sweetener

Heat a large, heavy-bottomed soup pot over medium heat. Add the oil and onion. Stir, decrease the heat, cover, and “sweat” the onions until they are translucent. Add the garlic, celery, and carrots. Stir and cook for about 5 more minutes. Stir in the tomato paste. Mix well and continue to cook for another minute or two. Add the water, dill, and beets. Bring to a boil. Decrease the heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for 15 minutes or until the beets are tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.

In a medium bowl, use a hand blender or electric blender to puree the potato, lemon juice, zest, granulated sweetener, and approximately ½ cup of the soup liquid until it turns smooth and creamy.

Stir potato mixture into the rest of the soup and adjust the salt and pepper seasoning. Serve topped with a dollop of plain yogurt or sour cream.

Cilantro

Cilantro, or coriander, is one of humanity’s earliest spices. The plant likely originated in North Africa or the Middle East, but it also grows wild in Mediterranean Europe. Coriander seeds have been found in Bronze Age ruins and Egyptian tombs, are mentioned in the Bible, and were brought to northern Europe by the Romans. Spanish conquistadors introduced it to Latin America, where, paired with chilies and tomatoes, it became a staple. Cilantro is the Spanish name, and it refers to the fresh leaves.

Cilantro is a good source of vitamins A and K, as well as dietary fiber, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and trace amounts of B vitamins. Coriander and cilantro have both been used as an aphrodisiac, diuretic, and appetite stimulant, and cilantro leaves actually contain an antibacterial agent in their essential oils.

Serving Suggestions

• Use cilantro generously in fresh salsa, pico de gallo, and chutneys.
• Add several tablespoons of chopped fresh cilantro to green salads.
• Try tossing it into your potato salad or adding it to soups for a fresh zing.
• Use cilantro instead of basil to make pesto.
• Cilantro and fresh lime juice are nonnegotiable ingredients in guacamole.
• Use cilantro like dill—in dips, hummus, and butters.
• Mix cilantro with lime juice, honey, and shredded cabbage to make an unusual coleslaw.
• Cilantro makes an interesting addition to stir-fries. Toss in fresh leaves at the very end of cooking to preserve its distinctive flavor and oils.
• Add a handful to a smoothie or when making juice blends. Especially good in tomato juice!
• Curries and cilantro harmonize together better than most siblings. Coconut and cilantro are also an especially wonderful combination.

Standard

Carrots  2 lb
Green Beans  .75 lb
Red Onion  1
Spinach  1 bu
Red Chard  1 bu
Golden Beets  2 lb
Basil  .25 lb
Celery  1 hd
Lemon Cucumber  1
Baby Red Russian Kale  1 bu

Small

Carrots  2 lb
Red Onion  1
Garlic  2 bulbs
Red Chard  1 bu
Celery  1 hd
Lemon Cucumber  1
Baby Red Russian Kale  1 bu

Lemon Cucumber

The lemon cucumber is believed to have been introduced to the United States in the early 1900s. However, there are texts that support the idea that it originated in the Middle East as early as the 16th century. It retains a strong modern market presence in India where it is added to soup, daal, and chutney.

Use this delightful individual-sized cucumber in fresh green salads, or juice into cocktails, agua frescas and smoothies. Pair with tomatoes, summer squash, carrots, other cucumber varieties, fresh herbs and cheeses, citrus, olives, vinegar.

The great thing about lemon cukes is that you don’t have to peel them! The skin is very soft and fully edible. Rub with a dry kitchen towel to remove the tiny bristles. You get an nice cucumber flavor and snap, but the texture is a bit silkier and juicier than the familiar English variety.

Cucumbers with Sesame

Take a few tablespoons of sesame seeds and toast them in a pan until light golden brown, scented and slightly darker. Take care not to overdo them.

After the sesame seeds have cooled to room temperature, mix in a bit of salt and blend thoroughly. Next, slice your cucumber and simply press both sides into the sesame seeds. It’s a fabulous appetizer and super easy.

Or mix the following together. You’ll need more cucumbers than is in your box, but it works well with either type of cucumber or a mix of the two.

One cup sour cream
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. garlic
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. dill
Half a medium red onion, sliced
2 medium cucumbers, sliced, or 4 lemon cucumbers, sliced

Ways to use your celery

• Combine celery and green olives for a refreshing, unusual salad.
• A traditional Italian dish is braised celery with tomato sauce—a surprisingly good combination.
• Celery, along with carrots and onion, forms mirepoix, the basis of many stocks, broths, soups, and stews.
• Use the celery leaves, finely chopped, as a flavoring agent in salads and cooked dishes.
• There’s the time-honored kids’ classic of celery stalks heaped with peanut butter. Consider also soft cheeses,
  Boursin dip, flavored mayonnaise, sour cream, yogurt, hummus, even Nutella.
• Chopped celery is a great way to add crunch to pasta, tuna, stir-fries and egg salads.
• Celery makes a great pickle!

Green Beans

Green beans are a vegetable that even a lot of picky kids like, maybe because they are fun to play with. But don’t discount them because of that—studies have shown that they contain impressive amounts of carotenoids, important antioxidants usually associated with carrots and tomatoes. We don’t see these carotenoids because of the beans’ concentrated chlorophyll content. Green beans also provide the mineral silicon, very important for bone health and for healthy formation of connective tissue.

Fresh Green Bean Sauté

1 lb. green beans, rinsed, ends snapped off
1 cup chopped red onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped organic red bell pepper
2 Tbsp. bacon grease (or 1 Tbsp. each butter and olive oil)
1 cup chicken or veggie broth
1/2 tsp. salt
Ground black pepper

Melt bacon grease/butter-oil in a skillet over medium low heat. Add garlic and onions and cook for a minute. Then add green beans and cook for a minute until beans turn bright green. Add the broth, chopped red pepper, salt, and black pepper. Turn heat to low and cover with a lid, leaving lid cracked to allow steam to escape.

Cook for 20 to 30 minutes or until liquid evaporates and beans are fairly soft, yet still a bit crisp. You can add more broth during the cooking process, but don’t be afraid to let it all cook away so the onions and peppers can caramelize.

We thank thepioneerwoman.com/ for this recipe.