3 Great Ways to Use Winter Squash

Along with healthy greens, the other thing I'm always getting in my CSA basket is winter squash. Here are a few good ways to use it:

1) Stuff it. All that yummy stuff in the middle and you'll scarcely notice the healthy vegetable around the edge.

2) Bake with it. For butternut squash: puree it and use it in place of canned pumpkin. Roasting squash is as easy as halving it, scooping out the seeds, placing it upside down on a greased baking sheet, and roasting it at about 400 degrees for about 40 minutes (give or take, depending on the size of the squash). Once it's roasted, you can puree it, and then you've basically got yourself a homemade can of Libby's packed pumpkin. You can use the butternut puree as a replacement in pumpkin pie, pumpkin bars, or pumpkin cookies.

3) Use it as a base for soup. Again, you can use it in place of canned pumpkin. My favorite squash soup involves beans, lime, coconut milk, and sage.



And that is the sum total of my creativity. What do you do with your winter squashes?

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

6 Great Ways to Use All those Healthy Greens

I never get a CSA basket but it's full of greens. Kale, chard, spinach, arugula, bok choy, tat soi . . . so many greens.

It's taken a while to learn what to do with them, but I now have a few go-to recipes. Here they are:

1) Quiche. This is almost always my first choice. It's easy, and I almost always have the ingredients I need - it's pretty much eggs+milk+cheese, and then throw in any extras you want - including cooked greens. Here's a basic recipe for crustless quiche.  And you can always throw in some cooked sausage, bacon, or ham.  Serve that up with some rolls, and you've got dinner.

2) Scrambled eggs & greens. If you're not even up for assembling a quiche, scrambled eggs with greens is even simpler. Chop and sautee whatever greens you happen to have, and then pour eggs over it and scramble that baby. Add some seasonings - I like adding soy sauce, garlic-chile sauce, sesame oil, and a hint of sugar. (Sugar cuts the bitterness of the greens.) YUM.

3) Soup.  Take egg drop soup, and add in some finely chopped greens. Or your go for your basic beans-and-greens soup. Either will serve you up a bowl of health with a bit of savor and spice.

4) Toasted. This is especially good with kale. I won't lie - it's not quite a bag of potato chips - but there is a satisfying salty crunch.

5) Curries. Your basic curry has a strong enough flavor that it can handle just about any vegetable you want to throw in. Extra tip: throw your greens into the rice or pasta you'll be serving under the curry, instead of into the curry itself. Then the veggies can just cook along with the starch. Super-easy.

6) Chopped salads. Lots of young greens (think baby spinach, arugula) can be easily incorporated into green salads. But even the hearty greens (think kale) can be made into salads if you treat them right. Cut them into bite-sized or smaller pieces, and massage them with oil, vinegar, and salt. This breaks them down a bit and they're super-yummy, especially if you add some extras, like tahini or dried cranberries or walnuts.


What's your favorite ways to use up all those healthy greens?
Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Chard! Chard and oranges!

I know I'm lucky to live in California, where we have fresh produce even through the winter months. So I'm not complaining. Our CSA baskets are still bountiful and overflowing. My fridge right now is stuffed with fruits and veggies that were grown within a couple hundred miles of where we live. It's great.

It is also overwhelmingly greens and citrus. Chard, kale, tatsoi, and chard. Oranges, satsumas, grapefruits and, yup, more oranges.

We have vitamin C coming out of our ears.

Anyway, in honor of my green and orange winter, I offer a recipe for my current favorite lunch:

A California Winter Stir-fry:
-4 cups (or so) chopped chard
-1 tsp. sesame oil
-2 or 3 Tbs. soy sauce
-1 tsp. chili-garlic sauce
-1 tsp. sugar
-3 egg whites
-1 egg

1) Toss the chard with sesame oil in a big pan, and start cooking the chard on high heat.
2) Add soy sauce, chili-garlic sauce, and sugar. Toss to coat the chard and make sure it's all well-mixed, or you'll get a bite of chili-garlic sauce that'll make your nose run.
3) When the chard is almost as cooked as you like it (I like it still just the tiniest bit crisp), add the egg whites and egg. Cook till the egg is done, continuing to stir.

You'll end up with a sort of sauce in the bottom of the pan - all the juices from the chard and some of the sauce-makings. I pour this on top of the chard when I scoop the mess into my bowl, just to flavor it a bit more. But most of this watery sauce will still end up in the bottom of the bowl when you're done. I just toss it at the end, content that I'm not getting quite all the salt from the soy sauce, and that has to be healthy, right?

And there you have it! Spicy, salty, sweet CSA goodness. Mmmm.


And if you finish all that and you're still hungry? My advice is to have an orange.

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell