What Does CSA Day Mean?

It means getting a half bushel of the freshest greens I've ever tasted.

It means finding new greens and wondering what to do with them.  What am I going to do with Italian Dandelion Greens?

It means we're having salad for dinner.  It will be better than any restaurant salad, not because of the distracting toppings, but because of the goodness and richness of each tender leaf.

It means finding a new way to enjoy the last turnips of this season.  Pureed Turnip and Potato Soup tasted of home.

It means strawberries for dessert.  Not strawberry pie, not strawberry shortcake, and not strawberries dipped in chocolate either.  Just strawberries that taste like sunshine and the sweetness of life.

It means using my senses.   Feeling the tender leaves.  Hearing the crunch of stalks as I chop.  Smelling the richness of God's creation.  Marveling at the array of color that comes from the ground.  And tasting, tasting, tasting.

Pureed Turnip and Potato Soup

5 medium turnips
1 cup turnip greens sliced into strips
1 large potato
2 T unsalted butter
1 medium onion chopped
1 bunch of green onions sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of dry white wine
1 qt of vegetable stock
sea salt and white pepper to season

1.  Chop turnips into 1 inch pieces.  Peel potato and chop into 1 inch pieces.
2.  Heat butter on medium-low in a soup pan and add minced garlic, chopped onion, and turnips.  Cook, stirring continuously until onions are tender.
3.  Add white wine, and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the liquid is reduced by half.  Smell that!
4.  Pour the vegetable stock in the soup pot and add potatoes.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are soft enough to pierce.
5.  Remove soup from the stove and ladle into a blender or Vita-Mix.  Puree in small batches and return puree to the soup pot.
6.  Saute turnip greens and green onions for 2 minutes.  Then add them to the soup.
7.  Season with sea salt and white pepper.

Taste.  Savor.  Enjoy.

Strawberries Day 2: Shortcake

I accomplished my goal.  We didn't lose a single precious strawberry.  I did end up freezing one of the six pints from our CSA, but I know we'll enjoy those in a few weeks blended in smoothies.

After looking through various gluten-free recipes for strawberry pies, crepes, cobblers, and cakes, I decided that I had to go with the traditional strawberry shortcake for dessert tonight.

Recipes for gluten-free shortcakes were not hard to find, but Elana Amsterdam's almond flour Classic Drop Biscuit recipe looked so simple.  And simplicity is important after a long day.  Plus, every recipe I've tried from her cookbook has been a hit.  Oh, and I do still have about 18 pounds of almond flour in my refrigerator.  So this was an easy decision.

Strawberry Shortcake

Classic Drop Biscuits
(from The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook)

2 1/2 c blanched almond flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 c grapeseed oil
1/4 c agave nectar
1 large eggs
1 tsp lemon juice

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Whisk together the wet ingredients and then stir them into the almond flour mixture until thoroughly combined.  Drop the batter in scant 1/4 cups 2 inches apart onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

I sliced three pints of strawberries, lightly dusted them with sugar, and then I actually made my own whipped cream.  Yes, Cool Whip Girl has grown up.  The Kitchen Aid worked extremely hard whipping the heavy cream.  All I had to do was add a dash of vanilla and a few teaspoons of powdered sugar.

The biscuits were gorgeous.

I split the them in half, and after suffering from shock that the two pieces didn't crumble to bits, as many other gluten-free baked goods do, I layered the shortcake, strawberries, and whipped cream until my creation was almost too gorgeous to eat.

Almost.

The Husband and the Housemate decided that they would split this serving.  But I had a sneaking suspicion that they would eventually decide to split a second one.

I was right.

I'm glad that I have plenty of ideas for our next delivery of strawberries from our CSA as we'll get six more pints in May!

Strawberries Day 1: The Challenge

I picked up my half share of CSA strawberries yesterday.  After excitedly bouncing up and down in the parking lot, marveling at their natural beauty, romanticizing about my farmers from Bountiful Blessings who lovingly picked six pints of berries just for me, I came back to reality.  What was I going to do with all of these strawberries?

So I went to the deep pool of wisdom.  Facebook.

Now, the Husband is very anti-Facebook, but he's a purest.  He thinks it's ridiculous that I have 160 "friends".  If I considered the true definition of "friend" he'd be right.  I would definitely have a much shorter list, but the concept of "friendship" on Facebook is more loosely defined.  I've enjoyed reconnecting with friends from the past, going a little deeper with people that I see for snippets of time throughout my week, and chatting weekly with people that I'd rarely get to communicate with otherwise.

Yes, so to my Facebook Friends I went with my deep question.

What are your favorite things to do with strawberries?

AnnMarie:  "If they are as good as you are making them sound, EAT THEM just by themselves. Put your feet up and savor!!!"

Did you notice that there are only five pints in the picture above?  I'm surprised that they made it home.

Becky:  "I like them in plain yogurt or on top of cereal!"

Breakfast this morning was gluten-free Corn Chex with strawberries and milk.  It was a sweet taste of the summer to come before running out the door to teach.

Courtney:  "Cut them up on a spinach salad with cucumbers (if I'm feeling healthy), dip them in chocolate if I'm not."

Spinach salad.  Of course!  Why didn't I think of that?  We had Strawberry Spinach Salad for dinner tonight.
Spinach, strawberries, red onion, avocado, feta cheese, pine nuts, and Briannas Blush Wine Vinaigrette.  Recipe?  Layer it and make it pretty.

And if I'd had any chocolate, a decadent dessert would have followed.





Karen:  "Freezer jam. Put them on dutch babies. Eat them hand over fist."

I'm going to have to do a little research on this.  The jam part, that is.  I'm pretty proficient at the hand over fist method.

Brittney:  "Collin make a mean strawberry crepe drizzled with chocolate as well as a YUMMY shortcake. You'd have to figure out a way to make them gluten free, but I know that is part of the fun for you! Oh, and what about margaritas? Duh!"

Oh my, two absolutely amazing options.  There has to be a way to make gluten-free crepes.  And I don't think I could make strawberry margaritas without sharing them with Britney and Collin!  Oh, wait, maybe I could try.

Sue:  "Shortcake.  My mom's favorite."

Shortcake is one of my mom's favorites too!  But my mom made strawberry shortcake with real whipped cream.  I'm talking about the whipped cream that comes from a tub, not a carton.  Cool Whip.  I was quite disappointed the first time I had what others called "real whipped cream" to find out that it was flavorless whipped up milk.  Ick.  When the the first ingredients in Cool Whip are water, corn syrup, and HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, and not a single mention of dairy, I'd definitely turn my nose up at it today.  But who knew better in the 70's?

Gail gave me one of my favorite responses.  "A farmer's truck full of manure broke down in front of a mental institution.
Resident shouts through the fence, "What ya gonna do with that stuff anyway?"
Farmer: "Spread it on my strawberries."
Resident: "I know we're crazy here, but we put whipped cream on our strawberries." -Jan Karon, "Light From Heaven" [Mitford series]

So, my Facebook Friends came through for me.  I've received some great suggestions, and I have a few ideas of my own.  But now it's a race against the clock.  How many strawberry treats can I make before the strawberries go bad?

I'll have to let you know.