mckinley csa weeks 9-12. oops.

Oh hi. I've been busy. :)









I can't remember what I've made with this. Lots of things. The kale is often used in Dal. The corn is often cooked in the oven along with some small potatoes and chicken sausage. Everything else is pretty varied.

Our garden is giving us entirely too many zucchini and cucumbers. Both of which you see we aslo get from our CSA share. The zucchini is used in place of pasta for simple dishes and lasagna, as well as in fajitas and for brownies. Lately I've been juicing cucumbers and drinking the juice as well as making popsicles with it. But the popsicles are tiny. I need more molds to keep up! Our garden has recently started giving us ripe tomatoes. A million, to be exact. I'm borrowing a dehydrator and hoping to do something useful with some tomatoes and zucchini.

Our jungle of a garden:



A giant zucchini:



Olive, quite seriously, enjoying her first corn on the cob:

mckinley CSA week 8

 

This week's share includes carrots, onions, beets, basil, green peppers, sweet corn, eggplant, and cabbage.  I was lucky enough to get more carrots and eggplant, as well as okra, kale, and a bouquet of flowers as extras!

In other vegetable news I finally figured out what the mystery squash growing in our garden is.

Drum roll.....

Peter Pan Pattypan!

And guess what?  It's one of many mystery vegetables growing in our garden from last year's compost.  Including tomatoes, potatoes, onions, and this squash!



 

Also I have to apologize for falling through in the what did I make with last week's share portion of my CSA post.  I was thrown off one week when we had family in town and am now occasionally left with produce from the previous week's share when I write the new post so it just seemed too difficult to continue.

mckinley CSA weeks 6 & 7

Things have been a bit busy lately and I seem to be getting behind in my CSA posts. Not that they're difficult or anything... Silly me.

So here are photos of our shares from last Saturday and the previous Saturday.

mckinley csa week five

This week’s share from McKinley CSA in north Minneapolis, Minnesota includes green beans, zucchini and summer squash, cucumbers, broccoli, swiss chard, carrots, and onions.

Last Saturday I took photos at the Cityview site and created a detailed smart spreadsheet to keep track of the produce being put into each type of share box on the various pick up dates as well as their weights.

mckinley csa week four

This week’s share from McKinley CSA in north Minneapolis, Minnesota includes Mokum carrots, cucumbers, Swiss chard, peapods, French fingerling potatoes, and my choice of two herbs: mint & rosemary.

Last Saturday I took photos at a few of the sites and then did a lot of much needed weeding at the Cityview site.

How did I use last week's share?
Red potatoes joined some farmer's market red potatoes to make a huge batch of baked lemony potatoes.
Beans joined two meals but were cooked the same.. Pretty simply cooked for just a few minutes in a pan with coconut oil and a little pepper and sea salt on top.
Most of the raspberries were eaten by Olive. I bought more at the farmer's market to include in some quinoa muffins.
We enjoyed some lettuce mix today in a quick salad.
I made beet and carrot soup again.
We ate the beet greens this morning for breakfast - I sautéed them in bacon fat after cooking bacon and added some maple syrup, pepper, and sea salt midway through.
The broccoli is still waiting to be used.

mckinley CSA week three

This week’s share from McKinley CSA in north Minneapolis, Minnesota includes broccoli, beans, red potatoes, spring onions, raspberries, basil, lettuce mix, and beets.

How did I use last week's share?

Tonight I made soup with the napa cabbage - it included red potatoes (farmer's market), onion, and garlic (back yard).
I made amazing rhubarb crisp.
I made the same bok choy skillet thing that I made last week but I used a different kind of quinoa this time.
I sautéed the mustard greens with garlic and onions as a side last night.
The snow peas were part of a stir fry.
More napa cabbage found it's way into vegetarian fajitas that were full of all kinds of things like red and green peppers, onions, zucchini, and more!

mckinley CSA week two

This week's share from McKinley CSA in north Minneapolis, Minnesota includes napa cabbage, mustard greens, rhubarb, snow peas, spring onions, as well as more bok choy and salad turnips. Mint was a part of this week's large share but it wasn't in my box - oops!

Also pictured is a bag of very small lettuce mix - I thinned this while working today and was happy to take it home! I really don't like thinning things... it makes me feel... mean. So this way I'll put it to use. :)

Here are photos of the front and back of the t-shirt that I mentioned last week:



Today I worked. I began the day by waking up at 7:30 when Olive woke up. I went into her room to nurse her but I was still really tired. She has a floor bed so I was laying there while she was playing, then coming back to nurse, then playing, etc. I kept almost falling asleep and she could tell - she would come over and lay with me every so often. Eventually we did fall asleep. And I had a dream that I was late to my CSA shift. And then I woke up exactly when I was planning to leave the house. So I quietly left Olive's room, made breakfast, grabbed a few things, and headed out the door and arrived late to my CSA shift. ha.

I started by photographing some volunteers and staff working in a plot down the street from the CSA headquarters. It turns out one of the million houses we looked at before buying this one is directly between that plot and the new CSA building. Also just a few blocks away from two of the main CSA staff. I feel kind of bummed now... that would have been a neat place to live! It was nice to see the house again - I forgot how similar it is to our current house! It sounds like a couple in their mid to late 20s moved in. I saw a couple of cats resting the windows. The paint is peeling.. just like our house. And the new residents planted some flowers.

After photographing for a bit I worked with Jud to clean up some dirt from the sidewalks around the plot and we began transplanting teeny tiny baby lettuce while talking about basically every topic under the sun, including our lovely little daughters.

I'm really happy to have a phone with a camera now so I can more easily share a photo of our produce with you. Last year I attempted to photograph our CSA box each week but with the lens I had on my big camera and having to upload, edit, whatever it... I kind of dropped the ball. My phone makes it SO much easier. :)

How did I use last week's share?

I sautéed the turnips and their greens and ate as a side with baked tilapia.
I made a skillet dinner with the bok choy and mushrooms.
I made stir fry with the pea shoots and more bok choy. I also added sugar snap peas from the farmer's market.
I bought spinach at the farmer's marker and used a lot of the green garlic and garlic scapes to make spinach and garlic soup.
I sautéed the swiss chard and some onions and scrambled some local eggs to pile on top for a nice breakfast yesterday.
We munched on the radishes.
Last night I made a big salad with the lettuce mix for a solo dinner. I topped it with apple, mango, and avocado.
The onions and garlic made it into nearly every meal.

We still have a little lettuce mix and a few mushrooms that I'm using tomorrow night.

mckinley CSA week one

This our second year with a CSA and my second year working with McKinley CSA. We're so lucky to have a CSA do close, located within north Minneapolis - true urban gardening. And we're so luckily that I have had the opportunity to trade work for our share. Last year Olive came along with me while I pales shares. This year Olive is too mobile to help so I have longer weekend shifts when Tyler can be with her. I'll be helping out by photographing events and such, doing data entry, and more. :)

On Saturday we received our first share.



Green garlic & garlic scapes, mushrooms, Swiss chard, pea shoots, salad turnips, radishes, salad mix, bok choy, and fresh onions. Yum!

Oh, and two CSA t-shirts. :)

overnight oats.

I've seen photos of overnight oats on Pinterest a few times. I've also seen photos of overnight chia puddings and things. And I've skimmed those recipes and then without much thought or plan made some the other night after realizing we didn't have much on hand for the following morning's breakfast.

As usual I didn't measure anything. I've done this three times so far and while each one was different each one was super super yummy.

Combine in a sealable bowl or jar:
(all of these measurements are complete guesses, just feel it out as you go as far as the texture you're looking for)

1/2 cup oats
1/3 cup almond milk
1/3 cup heavy cream (I'm eager to use yogurt but I haven't made any recently)
Splash of maple syrup or other sweetener
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1 tablespoon unsweetened dried coconut
Fruit! (the first time I used handed grapes and diced apples, second time sliced grapes and diced peaches, third time diced peaches and apples)

Mix, cover, refrigerate overnight. Then enjoy in the morning!!! :)

gluten and sugar free pumpkin cookies.

I whipped up some "cookies" last night and thought I would share. :)

- half of a can of pumpkin purée
- 2 eggs
- 4 tablespoons almond butter
- 3 tablespoons almond flour
- splash of vanilla
- pinch of cinnamon
- dash of nutmeg
- sprinkle of cloves

Preheat oven to 350
Mix all ingredients until smooth
Plop onto parchment lined baking sheet
Bake for 14 minutes (or so.. Our oven isn't overly accurate)








We enjoyed some last night with whipped coconut, a drizzle of maple syrup, and a sprinkle of shredded coconut on top. :)

stuffed zucchini and riced cauliflower.

I don't usually blog when I cook. I cook something new 4-5 times a week. Blogging all of that would be way too time consuming! But this got a lot of attention, comments, and questions.

Riced cauliflower:

A head of cauliflower processed in a food processor, about the size of rice.

Cook the cauliflower. I put it in a pan and sautéed it in coconut oil and then put it in the oven with the zucchini for five minutes.

You can steam it, sauté it, microwave it.. Whatever.

It's a really great alternative to rice. A much better texture and flavor in my opinion.

Stuffed Zucchini:

3 medium zucchini
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
Small onion, chopped
Thyme
1/2 teaspoon Curry powder
Salt
Pepper
2 Tablespoons sour cream
Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Brown the onion in a pan. Add curry powder and leave on heat for 30 more seconds.
Meanwhile cut the zucchini lengthwise and scoop out the pulp.
Chop the pulp and put it in a bowl.
Add the chopped red pepper, thyme, salt, pepper, sour cream, and the onions when they are done.
Put the prepared zucchini boats into a oiled/buttered baking dish.
Fill the zucchini with the mixture and sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top.
Bake for 20 minutes.

Yum!

grain and sugar free pumpkin pancakes.

We had grain free paleo pancakes for breakfast this morning. I referenced a recipe but switched up a few things and I am really happy with the result. Kind of like having pumpkin pie for breakfast!!

What you'll need:
Two eggs, beaten
1/2 cup of canned or cooked pumpkin
1/2 cup of almond butter
1/2 Tablespoon almond milk
1 teaspoon maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of cloves
Pinch of allspice

Combine all ingredients until smooth





Put about 1/4 cup into a pan with coconut oil or butter and cook a couple of minutes per side. Just wait for the bubbles to stop like "normal" pancakes.





Enjoy! :)

homemade ricotta cheese.

Making ricotta at home is so fast and easy! And less expensive than store bought ricotta as well.

There are many many ways to make ricotta cheese but this is the method that I use and like.

You'll need:
A pot
A strainer
Cheesecloth
2 qts milk
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons vinegar

Combine the milk, cream, and vinegar in the pot and bring to a boil for a few minutes. You'll see the milk curdling as it boils. Let it cool and then strain. Squeeze to get the excess liquid out.

You can strain it warm if you want warm ricotta but it will curdle a bit more as it cools so you'll yield a little more that way.

You can use the leftover whey in baked goods or as a replacement for water in soups.

If the mixture is boiling add a bit more vinegar until you see it curdle.

You can very easily half or double this recipe. As is it yields about three cups of ricotta. But I snack as I strain it do I could be wrong. ;)

Enjoy! It's soooo yummy!





Do you make ricotta? If so, how?

homemade yogurt.

I'm sitting here with a big bowl of homemade yogurt with local raw honey mixed in.. So I thought it would be a good time to type of a post about how I made the yogurt. Especially since I decided to scratch tonight's to do list. Just not feeling like doing laundry and cleaning things.

We recently started getting a lot of milk thanks to WIC. We don't really drink much milk so it's been interesting. We don't have to accept it everything that our monthly checks are for but I would like to try to put it all to good use if I can. I've been making sugar free kheer way too often. Last weekend I gave yogurt a try and I was so impressed at how easy it was and how yummy it is!

I started by googling how to make yogurt. I came up with quite a few different strategies and kept searching until I found one that would work for me, at Kitchen Stewardship. I had to reread the post a few times.. it's really long and wordy.. so I'm reposting everything that I did here for both future reference for myself and for you. :)

What you'll need:
Glass containers with lids
A large pot (that will hold your glass jars)
A dish cloth
Milk (any type you like)
Starter yogurt (2 Tbsp for every 4 cups of milk) (with live active cultures and no extra ingredients)
Thermometer
Spoon
Towels
Timer or clock

I started by sterilize four large glass canning jars along with their lids, a thermometer, and a spoon in a pressure cooker.

After letting them air dry I put the dish cloth in the bottom of the pressure cooker and put the clean jars on top.  I added approximately three cups of milk into each jar (I used a mixture of whole and 2% milk).



I did my best to secure the sterilized thermometer to one of the jars and I filled the pressure cooker with warm water to about the same level as the milk.

I turned the burner to medium, sealed the lid (with the weight off) and waited.  Every 15 minutes or so I peeked in.

Your goal is to heat the milk to 185 degrees.



Once it reaches 185 degrees you have successfully sterilized the milk.  This would be a good time to take your starter yogurt out of the refrigerator so it isn't too chilly when you mix it in.

Put the lids on the jars.

After sterilizing the milk it needs to cool to somewhere between 90-110 degrees for the incubation period.  My thermometer does not go that low so I shot for a bit under the lowest mark of 120.

There are many options available for cooling the milk.  I put the jars in the sink and then added tap water.  Unfortunately this cracked one of the jars which is why the water in the photo below looks cloudy.  Next time I will simply let the jars sit on the counter.  It will be a longer wait but I won't risk cracking a jar.



Make sure you keep the thermometer clean as you move it around during these steps.  Check the temperature of the milk as often as you see fit.

When it reaches the desired temperature (between 90 and 110 degrees) add the starter yogurt.  Since I lost one jar I was down to three (9 cups of milk, so I added about 1.5 Tbsp of yogurt to each jar).  Gently add the yogurt and stir.

Incubate the milk/yogurt mixture between 90 and 120 degrees anywhere from 4-24 hours.

I first put the pressure cooker full of boiling water into the oven on top of a towel. The jars were outside of the canner right next to it, wrapped up in the towels.  Every so often I switched the pressure canner out with a tea pot in order to keep warm water inside.  Keep in mind that every time you open the door or check the temperature you will be losing heat.  This is one of a number of ways to incubate the yogurt.

Unfortunately I realized that I needed the oven to make dinner so I had to make a quick switch, which is generally not preferred.. you should keep the yogurt as still as possible during incubation as the bacteria multiply.



I grabbed our cooler, lined it with a towel, added the tea pot of boiling water, nestled the jars next to the tea pot and covered them with a towel before closing the lid.



I let the yogurt incubate for seven hours.  After seven hours I had three jars of yogurt!



The separation is normal.. just like you would find in most store bought yogurt. Simply mix it together if you like.  Or reserve it for another use.



Place your jars in the freezer for an hour to quickly cool the yogurt and get a sturdier texture.

Overall it was a really simple process.  The incubation period was slightly complicated due to having to move everything. Bad planning on my part.  I hope to not break a jar next time.  Clean up is a breeze, your yogurt is already in the containers that you'll store it in.

The temperature to which you cool the milk and your length of incubation both influence the taste and texture of the yogurt.  Play around with it until you get what you like.  Shorter incubation will be sweeter.  Longer incubation will have less lactose.

Thanks to Kitchen Stewardship for the tutorial.  :)