CSA Newsletter Week of July 13th
Hello Everyone,
We are getting closer to our tomato harvest - you should see the first tomatoes around the beginning of August in your boxes and you can expect an abundant variety of tomatoes through the end of the season. We come on later with our tomatoes but we last longer than most tomato farms too!
Green beans coming soon too - if not next week the week after.
In your box this week: Orange carrots, green romaine, gold chard, Italian Parsley, gold beets, green kale, Swiss chard, red oak lettuce, lolla rosa baby head lettuce, green zucchini, yellow scallopini summer squash and 8 ball green zucchini.
I have heard from some folks that they “just can’t use” the kale in the boxes. I think the only reason for that is they have not had kale prepared in a way they like. Kale is sooo good for you and can also be ultra-delicious with minimal preparation. We experimented with kale chips using our dehydrator. (You can also use a regular oven and bake the kale if you don’t have a dehydrator).By keeping the temperature under 12o degrees the nutrients in the kale aren’t lost. Basically you can use any combination of tahini, curry sauce, miso, for a thick paste to ‘massage’ into the de-ribbed raw kale. After the kale has a coating of something delciously sticky you can sprinkle with grated asiago or parmesean cheese. Or instead roll the kale in ground up seeds like sunflower or cashews. Our favorite combination was tahini and asiago cheese with a little chili flakes. You will be amazed what you can do with kale. We tried both the dino kale and green kale and liked them both equally.The kale chips are a helathy replacement for potato chips and are much more flavorful and bursting with amazing nutrients!
Raw kale salads are also wonderful. Honey mustard dressing with added apple cider vinegar will soften the de-ribbed kale and you can add in dried or fresh fruit and sliced almonds or nuts of your choice.
The beautiful little squashes in your box this week are wonderful stuffed or sliced and sauteed or roasted. The yellow scallop tastes buttery without adding anything! We roasted whole with a certified organic, pasture raised chicken from a new farm in Prunedale. They are selling fresh chickens at the Pacific Grove farmers market on Monday evenings. I can’t remember the name of the farm right now, but I will find out this evening. They would be a great new farm to support if you are looking for humanely raised, certified organic birds. Try to support these guys as they are new and just forging out on their own. The meat of the chicken had excellent flavor, was more chewy than other chicken I have had but this is because of the birds are allowed to run around free and exercise.
See you at the Farmers Market today!
Have a beautiful week.
Jamie