What’s in your box for week 7

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.

 

 

 

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