Mountain Bounty Farm

Have you signed up for Mountain Bounty’s Summer Season yet? We’re celebrating 15 years of yummy produce – greens, tomatoes, herbs, carrots, zucchini, melons, peaches, and MORE!
Get your share and sign up today!

YEAH! Winter may be (luckily) hanging on – but spring is here this week with the arrival of asparagus! Go crazy with it. I added its own page of recipes, here.

And BTW – I made that Orangesicle Ice Cream with the Roasted Bananas and Rum Caramel Sauce last weekend – what a treat!

What is in that Box?

1 Cabbage
2 lbs Murcott Tangerines
1 bu Carrots
.75 lb bunch of Asparagus
1.5 lbs Leeks
1 bu Spring Onions
1-2 hds Cauliflower
1 bu Cilantro

And that Bag?

Blood Oranges
Grapefruit
Kiwi

And for Some Recipes …

Yes – one bunch of asparagus and so many asparagus recipes ….. go here for inspiration.

Chicken (or tofu) in Green Chile, Mint & Cilantro Sauce with Sweet Potatoes and Cauliflower - a bit of Indian flavor!

Potato Frittata (use your carrots, cilantro, + spring onions) I recommend not including the cherry tomatoes since they aren’t in season and adding roasted red peppers.

 Fast Fish Tacos – add that cilantro!

YUM! You all probably have a million ideas for cooking with it. Of corse our family favorite way is tossing the asparagus with some good EVOO + salt + pepper and grilling for a few minutes. Even my 5 year old will eat multiple spears like they are candy.

But here are a bunch of yummy recipes from Better Homes & Garden, March 2012:

Asparagus Fritter Sticks

Garlicky Asparagus Flatbread

Roasted Asparagus-Orange Salad

And from Gojee.com:

Creamy Goat Cheese Pasta with Grilled Asparagus

Asparagus Frittata with Cilantro Chile Sauce

 Polenta with Asparagus, Prosciutto and Green Onions

Asparagus Linguine with Mint Pesto (the asparagus IS the pasta!)

Have you signed up for Mountain Bounty’s Summer Season yet? We’re celebrating 15 years of yummy produce – greens, tomatoes, herbs, carrots, zucchini, melons, peaches, and MORE!
Get your share and sign up today!

I’m super excited to see the arugula this week – the start of spring greens is here! As one of my favorite foods, it gets its own blog page on the recipe section – a whole bunch of new recipes for your arugula. I also just discovered a great recipe website, www.gojee.com - beautiful photos and witty writing. And the recipes are new and fun. With all my oranges, this weekend I plan to make Orangesicle Ice Cream & Roast Bananas with Rum Caramel Sauce.

What’s in the Veg Box?
2 lbs oranges
1 lb tangerines
0.5 lbs baby arugula
0.5 lbs spinach
1.5 lbs leeks
1.5 lbs potatoes
1 lb cauliflower
1 bu carrots

What’s in the Fruit Bag?

Navel oranges
Grapefruit
Kiwis

Recipes

Corned Beef & Cabbage – if you want to go totally Irish for St Patty’s Day this weekend, try this traditional meal.

Pasties – this recipe is one from my mom – she basically created this recipe on her own after growing up in the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan and eating them there. And as you may know, pasties come from Cornwall, England, and were also a favorite of the miners here in Nevada County and in the UP. They were an easy lunch for the miners, as they tasted good cold!

Arugula Fun – I can eat arugula all year long for my salads – the nutty flavor is great with a good balsamic vinaigrette, goat cheese, chopped apples, walnuts. But check out other ways to use that arugula on our recipe page.

Yum! Arugula is a yummy, nutty green packed with Vitamin A & C – and has hardly any calories!

Click here for 9 different recipes for arugula.

Grilled Fontina, Mushroom, and Arugula Sandwiches

Pasta with Arugula & White Beans

Potato Gratin with Arugula & Bacon

Ricotta & Spinach (& Arugula) Gnocchi

It also makes a great pesto instead of basil:

1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
2 – 3 medium potatoes, diced (adjust # if potatoes are smaller)
4 carrots, diced
small rutabaga, diced
*optional – 3/4 lb. lean ground meat or 1/2 lb sirloin steak (diced)
1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp basil
season with salt & pepper
pre made pie crust
butter for dabbing pastry

* if you want to make it totally veggie, add other root veggies – maybe sweet potatoes, parsnips, leeks, or ?

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

1 – Divide crust into 8 sections and roll into rounds.

2 – Mix the rest of the ingredients together (except butter) in a large bowl – the mixture is placed uncooked into the pastry.

3 – Put a couple of tablespoons of veggie/meat mixture into middle of pastry rounds. Put a dab of butter on top of the filling.

4 – Seal each pastry by bringing the sides up to meet and crimp the edges.

5 – Bake for about 45 minutes or until golden brown.

6 – Serve with ketchup if desired. Also great the next day – cold!

Have you become a Summer Season member yet? Don’t forget to get signed up early to make sure you get the site you want. Sign up today!

And please pass the word that we are still doing signups for the remainder of the winter season. Really, the latter half of the winter season is the best – think spring greens, asparagus, and more! Folks can give me a call to signup – (530)292-3776.

Sometimes I think if I have one more thing to do in a day, I might explode … besides being mom to Roxy Blue (5) and Scarlet Jack (14 months), and wife to Brett (who travels a big chunk of the month for work), I work for Mountain Bounty as the CSA manager (as you know) + I am a graphic designer and illustrator. Every hour during my week is full, but yet somehow I am keeping cooking fresh CSA meals as a priority – in fact, I have really come to enjoy using all these veggies we wouldn’t have normally eaten, hunting for and testing out recipes, and sharing with you what I have found to be super tasty.

Thanks for all the great feedback and the new recipes you send my way – keep them coming! Check out the latest find of recipes below.

What’s in That Box

2 lbs oranges
1 lb tangerines
1 bu spinach
1.25 lb cauliflower medley (white and purple)
1 bu carrots
1 bu dandelion (chicory leaves)
1 bu spring onions
3 hds baby romaine
1 bu collards

What’s in that Fruit Bag?

kiwis
grapefruit
navel oranges

Roasted Chicken with Root Veggies – I made this last night – super good. Your traditional roasted chicken, but it was so tasty with the veggies – I used potatoes, carrots, and turnips (so glad I found something to use all those turnips in!)

Sausage, Kale & Cauliflower Potpie – this one is in the latest Real Simple magazine. On deck for Thursday nite.

Fresh Chicory Leaves Salad – a great one to go with the potpie!

Pasta with Greens & Tomato Sauce –  need a new way to use those collards? My family loves them just sauteed with EVOO and garlic – but this is a simple and really good recipe, too.

And for those tangerines? Thanks Martha – Salmon with Tangerine Lemon Hollandaise

2012 Summer Signups Start this Thursday, March 1. You’ll want to signup early for our summer veggie, fruit, and flower shares to ensure your site of choice.

Yeah for snow! I was starting to feel really guilty for still eating all those hearty winter meals – now I feel a bit better … eat on!

On Sunday night, my husband and I made a killer dinner  - and I just had to share it with you. It started with a NY Steak – cooked perfectly with a onion, roasted garlic and shittake mushroom topper. For the sides I made Root Veggie Fries with rutabaga, sweet potato, carrots, and parsnips (YUM!) and Leeks au Gratin (SUPER YUM!) + a nice bottle of red + raspberry sorbet for dessert = a lovely winter meal. My 5 year-old finished every bite!

What’s in that Box?

2 lbs oranges
1 lb tangerines
1 bu spring onions
1.5 lbs leeks
1 lb purple top turnips & rutabaga
1.5 lbs yellow potatoes
1 bu spinach
1 bu carrots
1 cabbage

What’s in that Bag?

blood oranges
grapefruit
kiwi

Recipes

My favorite Chicken Potpie recipe – use those carrots, onions – and try with potato, turnips & rutabaga! My husband likes to smoke a chicken for this recipe – but for easiness, use a rotisserie chicken, and be sure to have extra chicken stock to cook with.

I have to say I’m not a huge cabbage fan, but I saw this on on Paula Deen’s show today & it looked delicious – Cabbage Soup 

And this one will be perfect later this week – Roasted Potatoes & Turnips

Spinach & Tangerine Salad

Tangerine Ice – great to accompany winter meals

Burnt Orange Bread Pudding (also on Paula Deen – Note: my husband is a Southern man.)

The veggie box was scrumptous last week (yeah for all those greens!), although we’re still working on everything in it since we went up to Tahoe for the holiday weekend. We always stay in Incline and have found THE  place to eat – Jack Rabbit Moon. It is the kind of wonderful cooking I can only dream of doing! Their appetizers are always so good, wine list excellent, and their pasta dishes are infused like I would love to make mine. We also ate at Bite - a local favorite – and another wonderful place with great food and a cool hip vibe.

Enjoy  this week’s finds …. lots of recipes below!

Veggie Box Contents
2 lbs oranges
1 lb parsnips
0.5 lbs spinach
1 bu carrots
1 cabbage
1 bu collards
0.5 lb baby romaine
1 lb leeks
0.75 lb beets
1 lb golden turnips

Fruit Bag Contents
Kiwis
Blood Oranges
Grapefruit

Recipes

Upside Down Caramelized Root Veggie Tart – a great way to use beets + turnips + carrots. I recommend making it simple with a premade crust!

Lentil Stew with Winter Veggies – hoping this hearty winter meal brings on a winter storm

Roasted Beets & Parsnips 

Root Veggie Gratin – you can add potato to this, too

Root Vegetable Soup with Meatballs – this one is simple but elegant!

Blood Orange Martini – I don’t know about you guys, but I have been craving a summertime cocktail.

Mixed Baby Beet Salad with Blood Oranges, Shaved Fennel, and Chevrot Cheese

Thanks to MBF member Mayumi Elegado (the magic behind Truckee & Tahoe’s Moonshine Ink)

http://stitchandboots.wordpress.com/2010/01/24/turmeric-roasted-rutabagas/

I don’t know about you, but I can’t get enough of these beautiful carrots. When you taste one, you don’t want to go back to store-bought and bagged! Be sure to check out my (and members) recipes below. Last weekend I made my family the Root Veggie Lasagna …. being a lover of Italian food (red sauces) I was a bit hesitant in trying one of my favorite dishes so differently. But this was delicious. You don’t really need very much cheese either – although I did add some ricotta to make it a little more traditional.

Veggie Box Contents
2 hds Batavian Lettuce
1 lb Rutabaga
1 bu Carrots
1 lb Broccoli
0.75 lb Romanesco
2 hds Radicchio di Treviso
1 bu Spinach
1 bu white spring onions
1 buttercup squash
1 bu cilantro

Fruit Bag
Navel oranges
Kiwis

Recipes

Roasted Balsamic Radicchio

Root Veggie Lasagna – I made it this past weekend and we had leftovers last night – super yum. I used parsnips, carrots, sweet potatoes, shrooms, onion and butternut squash – but you could use the rutabagas, onion and the buttercup squash in this week’s box! You could try some regular potato, too. I also added some ricotta with chopped green garlic in the layers – really good.

Cilantro Chicken – yeah! It is so exciting to see cilantro. Im trying this one this week.

And for those of you who missed my favorite way to do the rutabagas …….click here.

And here are some yummy sounding ones from MBF members (try using the buttercup squash in these, too):

Butternut Squash Soup

Potato Soup

Butternut Squash Salad

Warm Spinach Salad with Fried Egg & Potatoes

Tumeric Roasted Rutabagas