Check out what arrived in the final delivery of pre-season.
Komatsuna greens
These greens were really wet, so I spread them on the table to dry before stuffing them back in their bag and into the crisper.
We ate these for Wednesday supper sautéed with raisins and walnuts. The stems were in good enough shape to reserve for stir-fries. That’s okay, I’ve got plenty of stuff in the freezer to get through.
Hydroponics
I want to find out more about hydroponics. It sure does produce some pretty lettuce and salad greens through the winter. But water and sun alone can’t grow plants, so what goes in the water? I imagine the sustainability of hydroponics varies widely depending on the sources of nitrogen and minerals used.
In the meantime, check out the beautiful baby arugula and romaine.
I’ve defrosted some goat cheese, and I hope to make a yummy goat cheese, walnut, arugula salad soon. Maybe with strawberries, too.
Who am I kidding? The strawberries won’t last that long. I washed, chopped, and froze them Wednesday.
I think they’re half gone already. Frozen strawberries make the best treats!
Apples are good treats, too, and I’m happy to have this bunch.
(But frozen strawberries are better.)
Brassicas!
cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli
I didn’t like Brussels sprouts before eating local ones. I chop them in half and sauté them in butter and add a little vinegar at the end. They’re pretty much little cabbages, so that’s how you cook them.
Eggs and bacon!
It’s bacon! I love bacon, and I recently read in Cooking Light about baking bacon instead of frying it. You need a wire rack and an oven pan for the grease to drip into. You put the bacon on the rack and the rack and the pan in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes or so. The heat is even so you don’t have to flip it. Can’t wait to try! When I do, I’ll reserve the drippings and maybe cook the Brussels sprouts in those.
More treats!
granola, bread, Ezekiel bread, coffee, and pecans
On a recent jaunt through my freezer, I unearthed some frozen egg whites and put a couple in the fridge to defrost for candied pecans with this half-pound bag. That seems like a reasonable amount of candied pecans; usually I make big batches and have the hardest time not eating vast quantities. Candied pecans are up there with caramel corn and Thin Mints in terms of things I can’t stop eating.
The recipe is easy. Whip up an egg white or two with a tablespoon of water and some vanilla added for fun. Toss the pecans in the egg white mixture and then roll in a mix of sugar and cinnamon with just a little salt. Bake them in a 250 degree oven for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Yumminess!
thoughtful consumption 
You got strawberries again!! I think somebody is snitching them out of my box, LOL.
I agree about the brussel sprouts. We had ours last night – steamed and served with butter and salt and pepper! Yum!
Did you select something in your membership about only wanting items from local producers?
FF also gets regional stuff, and these strawberries are Floridian. My guess is they truck a bunch up here for Whole Foods and the like, and FF scores some, too.
I’m ambivalent about local vs. regional. I like the romance of being local, but I don’t know if I’m able to turn down strawberries. Or shrimp, for that matter.
Here’s hoping local strawberries are available soon!
My husband & I joined too late for the pre-season boxes, but the above pile of greens is pretty much what was in the first box of the regular season for us.
What did you end up with with? No strawberries, darn it.
Dinner was the brussel sprouts, braised & tossed with a mixture of bacon-sauteed shallots, red wine vinegar, and a dab of butter. Definitely a do-again.
The broccoli is lovely; it’ll likely get used in a beef-and-broc stir-fry since husband does not like broc except incidental to stuff like that.
Love the flavor packed in those little apples! Whenever I can make it over to their store front I’ve been coming home with a couple of pounds of those little chunks of joy.
A friend gave me a recipe for baked kale chips, I’ll try those later this week. “Like potato chips without the calories” is how she put it.
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with for your box 🙂
Hi, Sharon! Love the Brussels sprouts recipe. Bacon, shallots, and red wine vinegar – yum!
I’ve never been able to make kale crisps work, so I’m eager to hear about yours. Let us know how it goes!