We have greens!

Today Ben harvested head lettuce, spinach and mixed greens out of the greenhouses.  While it was fun to build the greenhouses, it’s even more fun to grow in them–and eat the delicious food from them.

Store-bought commercial greens are often filled with pesticides and other chemical residues.  And they don’t taste like greens.  In fact, we think they don’t taste like much of anything.  Eating a full plate of our organic salad greens this week amazed us–the flavors are so real, nothing at all like Kroger spinach.

In your boxes this week

cabbage Cabbage is extremely versatile.  They’re a plentiful source of vitamin C.  We recommend quarering it and cooking gentle, uncovered, about 15 minutes.  Then add butter and salt.  Or see the recipe below–one of Ben’s all-time favorites (proving his German heritage).  Cabbage will keep up to four months in the refrigerator.

onions You’ve probably noticed that we mix up the onion sizes–we think it’s handy to have smaller onions around for quick dishes that don’t call for a whole large onion.

baby beets What a treat!  These are a specialty item–simply cut off the tops, rinse and boil them whole.  Add butter and salt.  Best kept in the fridge.

apples red delicious

squash Delicatta: the skinnier ones.  They are a favorite of ours and will surprise you with their sweetness.  Spaghetti: the big one.  Cook like squash (slice in half, bake upside down on a baking dish with 1/2 inch of water), but use like pasta–use tomato sauce, white sauce, or eat as is

spinach Spinach can be cooked, but these are nice tender leaves for fresh eating, too.  Double rinsed, ready to eat.

greens This is a mix of tat soi, mizuna, arugula, and kale.  We have at the “baby” stage while the leave are still tender and packed full of flavor.  These are sometimes called “braising greens” because they can be braised in butter.  We recommend fresh eating, though.  Double rinsed, ready to eat.

baby head lettuce These are fresh from the greenhouse.  One option is to cut leaves and add to the braising greens and spinach for a gourmet salad.  Drizzle with your favorite dressing.

Recipe of the week

Potatoes with Cabbage

1/2 lb ground sauage

1/2 large head cabbabe, chopped

6 medium-sized potatoes

1 t salt

a little red cayenne pepper

In a stockpot, cook meat until browned

Add chopped cabbage and cook 5 minutes.

Then add potatoes cut in 1 inch cubes.

Add salt and pepper and cook 20 minutes longer.

Serves 6.