Hello everyone! Week 2 of Farm Share is upon us with lots and lots of sunny skies. I find myself watching the forecast, hoping to see some serious rain! Most of our crops are on drop line irrigation but others like asparagus depend on the occasional rain! Thankfully they have nice deep root systems and are able to keep producing even in this dry, dry spring. I had some help in the asparagus field today! Some little helpers. Nothing makes me happier then when my little people decide they want to hang around and farm with me. Trust me, they are not willing helpers from dawn until dusk, but they have their moments that make me right proud, and this was one of them. Harvesting asparagus is both difficult and easy. Difficult because the most irritating bugs o the farm seem to all hang out there and you are constantly bending over to cut a new spear while moving up and down the many rows, and easy because the knife slices through the tender stalks with ease, and I always love the view from the top of the hill.
This week the cucumbers that survived those wicked May frosts are now like cute little pickles that will be ready in a few days. I was wise enough to let them grow nice and big (but not too big) and borrow from our Ontario organic greenhouse producers. We also purchased Ontario organic vine tomatoes this week while we wait for more vegetable options to become available.
The big surprise this week was the lettuce…I was checking them out just to see if I could cut out the doubles (when 2 seeds grow together) so the other lettuce plant in the pair could grow, and lo and behold we managed to harvest some proper lettuce heads for you! Lettuce is my fallback friend, ready in a moment when I’m exhausted and just need to make sure my kids are eating something decent! I made a salad with green leaf lettuce, raw spinach and sliced strawberries and topped it with a homemade dressing made of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper, and real maple syrup from Pefferlaw Creek farms. It was so simple but delicious!
In your Shares this Week:
Simply 6
- bunched asparagus
- bunched radish
- 1/3lb spinach
- head of romaine lettuce
- approx. 1lb vine tomatoes (Ontario organic)
- English cucumber (Ontario organic)
Half
- bunched asparagus
- bunched radish
- 1/3lb spinach
- head of romaine lettuce
- approx. 1lb vine tomatoes (Ontario organic)
- English cucumber (Ontario organic)
- 1lb baby bokchoy
- 1 bunch leeks
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 1lb bunch rhubarb
Whole
- bunched asparagus
- bunched radish
- 1/3lb spinach
- head of romaine lettuce
- approx. 1lb vine tomatoes (Ontario organic)
- English cucumber (Ontario organic)
- 1lb baby bokchoy
- 1 bunch leeks
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 1lb bunch rhubarb
- 2nd bunch asparagus
- 2nd bag spinach
- 1 bunch mint
- 1 bunch turnip greens
- 1 head Chinese cabbage
Fruit
- 1 honeydew melon (Mexico organic)
- 6 granny smith apples (US organic)
- 6 nectarines (US organic)
- 1lb strawberries or 1/2 pint raspberries (US organic)
- 2.5lbs bananas (Ecuador organic)
Recipes
Chicken Salad wraps with Chinese Cabbage crunch and radish flowers
I was gifted a can of flaked chicken, not something I often reach for, but it had me reminiscing of Sunday meals out at a diner in town that is long gone. Wish I could remember the name (in the Testa building). They used to have such lovely chicken salad. Chicken salad totally needs a crunch, but celery is so way out of season right now. I had just taken home a beautiful Chinese cabbage and thought, hey, that is crunchy too! So, I drained my can of chicken, chopped up 2 leaves of Chinese cabbage finely, added some garlic chives and mayonnaise, along with salt and pepper, and filled a sundried tomato wrap with it. So yummy! On the side, I decided to get all fancy and make a pretty radish flower with a blackberry centre. It definitely felt special but took all of 5 minutes to put together 🙂
Asparagus and Chicken Sheet Pan Dinner
The ultimate solution on a lazy Sunday when you still want home cooked goodness, but without spending forever in the kitchen or doing a pile of dishes.
Ingredients:
- 1 bunch asparagus, ends lightly trimmed with a knife (I just make a cut to freshen up the very end and if the knife doesn’t go through cleanly I cut a little higher up until it does)
- 1lb chicken, cut into a few even pieces and seasoned to taste or smothered in your favourite sauce. I just sprinkled it with salt, pepper, paprika, garlic and onion powder.
- Potatoes and/or sweet potatoes, sliced thickly
- a few tbsp. of live oil
Directions
Preheat oven to 400F. Arrange chicken on one side of the pan and potato slices on the other. Sprinkle olive oil on top and toss the chicken and potatoesin the olive oil, keeping them on separate sides of the pan. Cook for 25 mins uncovered on the middle oven rack. Remove from oven and add asparagus to middle of pan, adding more olive oil to toss asparagus in. Lightly salt and put back in the over to bake 10-15 mins more until chicken is cooked and both potatoes and asparagus are tender. Voila! Super simple 🙂
Rhubarb Cake
Jannette (My mother in law and hard working farm lady/Oma) normally makes this each year for the open house. It’s so amazing and moist! Rhubarb definitely makes a fine cake! Check out the recipe she uses here. Not much into baking? Rhubarb is delicious simply stewed with water and sugar and enjoyed with yogurt or ice cream and makes a find crisp with or without berries.
Tangy Cucumber and Avocado Salad with Cilantro
Wondering what to do with your cilantro bunch? Cilantro is a staple in Mexican, Indian and Thai cuisines. So think fresh salads and salsas like this recipe or make fresh tomato salsa. Make your tacos or pad thai really shine with the addition of fresh cilantro! Too much all at once? You can always freeze the leaves in olive oil in ice cube trays for later use.
Spinach Lasagna
Basically the only lasagna if you ask me! A little more effort but the kids eat lots of spinach with zero complaints. ‘Nuff said 😉 Get the recipe here.