Tag Archives: locavore

Wilted Mustard Greens

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If you want to get some concentrated nutrition really quickly – and inexpensively – wilted greens are just a fantastic solution. I’ve thrown together wilted spinach many times as a quick and easy green side for dinner parties, and you can’t beat the nice pop of color on your plate. Even better, it’s stupid-easy to make; there’s really nothing to it.

This recipe was made with the red mustard greens we got from our first CSA box from our local farm, and it can easily be scaled up to meet the needs of a larger crowd.

Follow along with me, if you will…

Wilted Mustard Greens

Nutritious and tasty – such a great combination!

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: 5 minutes

Serves: 2 (small side portions)

Ingredients

1 bunch mustard greens (approx 10oz weight, including stems)

1 small shallot

1 Tb olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

Sliced or slivered almonds (optional)

Make it Happen

1. Peel and slice the shallot; set aside.

2. Cut or chop the stems from the bunch (easiest to do while it’s still held together by a rubber band), then wash the leaves and let them sit in a colander to dry somewhat.

3. Add the olive oil to a large non-stick skillet and heat over medium heat.

4. Add the shallots to the skillet and toss to coat with the olive oil. Heat the shallots in the pan for approximately 2 minutes, until the aroma of the shallots really starts to come out.

5. Add the mustard greens to the pan and, using tongs, combine them well with the oil and the shallots.

6. Use the tongs to continue this combination for approximately 2-3 minutes, until the greens have wilted a good amount and their volume is greatly diminished (what once filled a pan is now easily compressed down to less than half of the pan).

7. Remove from heat and serve immediately. Apply balsamic vinegar lightly over top of the greens and (if desired) top with almonds.

Adventures in CSA (Year 2 Week 1): No surprises

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Color me completely unsurprised that this box wasn’t up to the price that I paid for it. Thinking back on last year’s CSA through work, the veggie box program that seemed destined to build my upper arm strength as I faithfully carried the boxes from my office building allllll the way to my car (not parked next-door), I remember those boxes being filled FULL of stuff. So, when I got this week’s box and it wasn’t nearly as heavy as I expected, and there seemed to be more air than I anticipated, I knew that something was up. In fact, I was fairly certain that I wouldn’t be earning back my $22 investment this week.

I was right.

Here’s how it came out:

Year 2 – Summer Week 1
Weight
(lb)		 Grocery Store Unit Price
(per lb)		 Grocery Store Total Item Cost
Strawberries (pint) 1.00 $3.50 $3.50
Sugar Snap Peas 1.00 $4.99 $4.99
Snow Peas 1.00 $4.99 $4.99
Zucchini 1.25 $1.99 $2.49
Spring Onions 0.31 $0.99 $0.31
Red Russian Kale 0.31 $1.29 $0.40
Red Mustard Greens 0.63 $1.29 $0.81
Carrots 0.50 $0.99 $0.50
Grocery Store Total Cost $17.98
Year 2 Summer Week 1 Savings (Deficit) ($4.02)

Now, it’s not like I’m anywhere near ready to throw in the towel. First off, I have until July 2nd to make a move on whether or not I want to get in on a full season at work’s program for the summer (I can just go month-by-month, otherwise, with no financial penalty). Second, it’s not like there’s a quality issue. This stuff is good, tasty produce. Third, my grocery store isn’t even great about stocking all of these things all the time. In fact, the mustard greens gave me a run for my money, since they didn’t even have them in store this week and I had to look at their price for their “To Go” program (similar to a Peapod-type service) to find out what they usually charge. Plus, my grocery store doesn’t carry Red Russian Kale. They carry (regular green) Kale. Period. That’s not a knock on them; it’s just a statement of fact. Lastly, I understand that the farm has to make money. Really, none of these programs survive if they give away more food than they can afford, offering boxes that routinely are worth more than they produce. I get the concept of profit margin, really I do.

What’s funny is how fast we’ve already gone through a few items. The mustard greens were cooked a day after we got the box (tasty, simple recipe to follow), and the strawberries are greatly depleted. This farm is our regular source for strawberries when they’re in season, and we’ve been going through about 1/2 dry gallon of strawberries every week for the last two weeks. DH had to act fast and stock up, since dd finally caught up to ds on falling in love with the tasty red berry.

So, we’ll see how week 2 goes. I’ve already threatened to use up the snow peas, carrots and kale on a stir-fry, so the week 1 box will disappear RAPIDLY. If week 2 goes similarly, my decision-making process on which box program to use (irrespective of the financial value) may be really tough.

Adventures in CSA, year 2: this has all happened before and it will happen again

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After my angst over potentially switching from the program offered through work to the week-by-week CSA offered by my local farm, we’re now officially beginning week 1 of my 2012 Adventures in CSA. This particular box came from our local farm, at a cost of $22; purchasing in advance for the entire season gets the per-box cost down to $20. The suggests that someone out there thought that around $20/box is a good price that people will consider reasonable for a week’s worth of vegetables. Of course, your mileage may vary on the number of people to be fed by a box; both programs advertise the box as being enough vegetables for 1-2 adults for a week. Hmm. I’d tend to think that 2 adults could whip through those veggies in far less than a week. What primarily holds us back is that the kids won’t eat everything out of the box.

Ah, but this is neither here nor there. Let me start out by presenting you with the contents of the box:

  • Strawberries
  • Sugar snap peas
  • Snow peas
  • Zucchini
  • Spring onions
  • Red russian kale
  • Red mustard greens
  • Carrots

 

2012 Week 1 CSA

Our first veggie box from the farm in town

 

The first thing I noticed about this box when the cashier handed it over was that it was startlingly light. I’m used to the later summer and fall boxes, which are weighed down with apples and potatoes. As I told dh when I met him at home with the box: “There’s NO WAY this box will come out to $22 in value.” We will have to see. The quantities are also a bit odd; we got only 1/2lb of carrots (just about three small carrots) and light bunches of other things. I’ll post about the value of this box after I have all of the prices together, probably tomorrow.

One important distinction between the two box programs is that the one from our local farm is 90% fulfilled by produce from that very same farm, whereas the other box program (the one through work) is fulfilled by somewhere between 10-20 farms that are all within an extremely close radius of each other. The latter is bound to have more variety than what you’d be able to get from a single farm…but that shouldn’t (and likely won’t) be a deterrent to getting that particular program.

I consider us extremely lucky to live in an area where we can get into not one but TWO different CSAs within our town. It’s extremely unlikely I’d ever do the other CSA in town; that one requires that you help plant and harvest, and I’m willing to bake into the cost of the CSA my never having to pick strawberries ever ever EVER again. (Ow – my back.) So, if you have access toany CSA, it may not be the utopian CSA, but if it has fresh fruit and/or veg and it’s local, then you’re already doing something really wonderful for a local farm and your local economy.

Fear not; I haven’t turned into a complete loca-bore. I like to eat oranges all year round, and since I don’t live in Florida or California, you better believe those suckers are shipped in from out of the region. Still, there’s something really wonderful about telling your kids that you have a veggie box in the car and then hearing them explode with joy, clapping and cheering. That’s pretty priceless, to me.