Collards

What I Made – Week 6

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Let’s start with the most photogenic dish of the week, and also a surprisingly easy one! We used arctic char instead of the bass, and swapped the arugula for regular old lettuce.
This potatoes, fennel, and sausage skillet is an example of how I followed a recipe, but completely changed everything. I didn’t think my skillet was big enough to cook everything together, so I roasted the potatoes in the oven, adding the sliced fennel halfway through. I browned the sausage and onions in the pan, and cooked the onions in the sauce to make the glaze. Then I just topped the potatoes and fennel with the glazed onions and sausage. It was tasty, but heavy for a summer meal.
A pretty straightforward taco salad with last week’s shredded beef. We mixed a tablespoon or two of hot salsa and a tablespoon or so of spice blend into the beef to amp up the taco flavor.
I’ve made this recipe for salmon and napa cabbage many times, but didn’t follow the directions for the fish as closely this time. Do as the recipe says, not as I did if you want delicious crispy skin.
Another meal where I made some changes for the texture. I pan fried the tofu instead of marinating it, then just added oil to the marinade from the recipe to make a dressing. We left off the rice noodles this time, but I also like bean thread noodles on this.
Part salad, part grain bowl, the basic formula for this quinoa base with a lemon scallion vinaigrette and whatever cheese, dried fruit, and nuts you have (or not) is the recipe I always go to when I have a leafy green and no ideas for dinner.
Behold the collard breakfast sandwich! We followed the recipe instructions for the collards but managed to change just about everything else: an English muffin instead of a biscuit, peach bourbon jam instead of the aioli, country ham instead of pancetta, and a fried egg in place of the scrambled. But it tasted very good anyway.
Last but not least, rhubarb! lemon! cheesecake! I like to layer the curd throughout the cheesecake rather than just swirling it on top for maximum combination per bite. It’s also great with gluten free cookies for the crust.
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What I’ve Planned – Week 6

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If you though the basket couldn’t get more green and leafy after last week, you will be amazed at how much we got for Week 6! This may be the time to start stocking the freezer for later months, if it weren’t too hot to turn on the stove most days!

I still need to make plans for the kale, but I’ll either toss it in with the chicken sausage and potatoes or hope it holds up in the crisper until I get a better idea!

What I Made – Week 4

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I finally got around to making these lemon rhubarb scones, baking one batch and freezing the dough from another. (I think they’re plenty sweet enough without the glaze.)
This was going to be a pizza salad but I used goat cheese, craisins and pistachios with olive oil and red wine vinegar instead. Pepperoni still needed up on this plate somehow 🤔
A close up shot of our mushroom and collard lasagna. I doctored the sauce with a little nutmeg and added some red pepper flakes to the greens.
We added chopped hakurei turnips and their greens to this red curry chicken, which also used spinach!
Breadcrumbs on this kale salad may seem unlikely, but they add an addictive savory crunch.
Stir fry is always a go to with bok choy. This one has chicken, red bell pepper, and lots of scallions too.

What I’ve Planned – Week 4

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As if you couldn’t tell from this week’s basket photo, we’re cooking with greens, greens, and more greens! You’ll see a lot of salads, but I’m trying to find other ways to use them, too.

I feel I am in a bok choy rut. I love stir fry, but it feels repetitive even when I mix up the sauce flavors and ingredients. Send your suggestions!!!

What I Made – Week 2

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We started the week with a hearty lamb ragú with green garlic and carrots. Definitely comfort food!
If you already have cooked chicken and frozen collards (or another leafy green), these skillet chicken enchiladas come together in minutes. If you start with raw kale, like I did this week, it’s still a super fast (and very cheesy) weeknight dinner.
These peanut sauce-covered noodles with collard greens are so fast and easy, but they taste almost as good as takeout.
This saag paneer recipe is easily adapted to use whatever greens you have on hand. This week, that mean beet greens, komatsuna, and spinach. We also substitute tofu for the paneer.
We enjoyed the first summer-like weather of the season with an indoor cookout: a cheeseburger and some oven-baked sweet potato fries.
Last but not least, a birthday cake! The yellow cake is filled with rhubarb vanilla jam and covered with rhubarb buttercream (the same jam mixed into buttercream).

What I’ve Planned – Week 2

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Maybe it’s the lack of lettuce in this week’s basket, but my meal list is looking very indulgent.

What I Made – Week 19

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Even though we cooked a lot, there’s not much to show here since many of these recipes were repeats. Here’s some of the new stuff I tried this week.

These skillet chicken enchiladas aren’t new to me, they were a staple of our collard, chard, and kale heavy winter last year, but I just had to make them with our first collards of the season. I add some water to a bowl with washed and roughly torn greens, and then microwave and chop them pretty well to mimic the frozen ingredient the recipe specifies. I usually leave off the cilantro and sour cream, but typically do add an avocado. Unfortunately, it wasn’t ripe in time! 😣

Another recipe that I’ve made fairly often, this arugula salad with quinoa, tuna, cannellini beans, avocado, and feta (not pictured, I had started eating before I remembered!) is a staple “fancy salad” that’s hearty enough to eat as a meal. You can also add fresh or dried fruit, or otherwise customize it any way you’d like.

One of my favorite ways to use butterhead lettuce is as salad cups or wraps. This recipe for turkey larb was really quick and not too spicy, even though I added a whole Thai chili pepper. I didn’t have the lemongrass the recipe called for, but I added a bunch of chopped Thai basil (from my garden!) with the mint, which brightened it up and added some great flavor.

Since zucchini season will never end and our freezer is already well-stocked with zucchini bread, I finally remembered that there ways to pass zucchini off as apples by adding plenty of sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon and nutmeg. Once the zucchini is softened (I did go the stovetop route), this “cobbler” crust comes together quickly. I put Penzeys Pie Spice on the crumble topping instead of plain cinnamon and it was delicious! It’s a perfect recipe for easing yourself into Fall (or if you’re me, dragging yourself kicking and screaming…)