Farm Fresh Produce to Your Door

What could be more convenient than farm fresh produce to your door? Because I have such a small garden in my front yard, there is a lag between seasonal harvests. I fill in this gap with a farm box from Farm Fresh to You. I often am inspired by the recipes they include in the box, but because I customized my box for this week, I was able to make a number of dishes from today’s box. I used these items: 3 bunches carrots, 1 bunch Lacinato kale, 1 bag purple fingerling potatoes, 1 lb. King Richard leek, 2 Fuji apples, Red Boston lettuce, 3 Fuyu persimmons, and a pomegranate. The pomegranate, kale and a bunch of carrots went into my green juice. Here’s my juice recipe.

Fresh green vegetable juice from twin gear juicer

One thing led to another. I really didn’t plan to spend the morning in the kitchen. I try to make fresh juice on Friday. I was adding the apples in at the end and the pulp got backed up in the twin gear juicer. (This is the juicer that has never failed me in 12 years.) Without parsley to drag it through, it just sat there. I thought, that would be great in a muffin! So I scooped out nearly a cupful. I happened to have about a cup of oat bran flour in the pantry. I launched into muffins next.

Apple oat bran muffins

This is the recipe I improvised.

Organic Apple Oat Bran Muffins

1 c. apple pulp

2 large eggs

3/4 cup organic coconut palm sugar

1/2 tsp. each  of ground cinnamon, gloves & nutmeg

1 tsp. organic vanilla

1 c. oat organic oat bran flour

1 c. organic spelt flour

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 c. walnut oil

1/4 tsp. Himalayan ground salt

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Hand mix together eggs, oil, vanilla into apple pulp in large mixing bowl.

Stir in spices, sugar, oat bran flour and baking powder.

Add salt and spelt flour.

Spoon into greased muffin pan.

Bake at 375° for 18 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Cool on wire rack.

You could substitute cooked pumpkin or winter squash or banana for the apple pulp. Coconut sugar is one of the lowest glycemic index sugars and you substitute it for cane sugar 1 to 1.

Carrot and Ginger Soup

With the remaining two bunches of carrots I made Carrot and Ginger Soup for the second time with a recipe I found on Organic Gardening. (Click for recipe.) The only substitution I made was sprouted green lentils for the 1/4 c. of rice, as I was out of rice. With a leek and the purple fingerling potatoes I made potato soup with a recipe I’ve used for decades.

Cream of Purple Fingerling Potato & Leek Soup

Cream of Purple Fingerling Potato & Leek Soup

1 large leek, sliced thin

6 medium-size purple fingerling* potatoes

1 c. water

2 tsp. of desired spices*

2-4 c. whole milk

salt & pepper to taste

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Slice the potatoes thinly. Layer the potatoes and leek slices into a 2 quart pot.

Add water. Water should just come up to level of potatoes.

Sprinkle in spices. Cook covered over medium heat for 10 minutes or until soft.

Use immersion blender or transfer to blender or food processor to blend till smooth.

Return to pan and stir in milk to desired consistency.

Heat soup on low till desired temperature for eating.

For extra creaminess, stir in 2 tbl. of cream, season & serve.

*Today I used, in equal portion, nutmeg, cumin seed and Garam Marsala, but you can really use whatever spices you like. You may substitute whatever potatoes you have on hand, but the soup might not be purple! (How many purple foods ARE there?)

Quinoa salad with persimmon

Persimmons and red Boston lettuce were in my box, so I made this salad. The original recipe came from Valentina at Cooking on the Weekends, Meyer Lemon – Black Quinoa Plum and Avocado Salad. I substituted persimmon for plums, red quinoa for black, and pine nuts for the avocado. That’s the great thing about this recipe, which I use a lot, is as long as you have the dressing and quinoa, you can use whatever you have on hand, as long as there is something sweet and juicy!

Jars of Chokecherry and Buffaloberry jelly

This whole cooking morning began because I received in the mail four more jars of homemade jelly from my new garden pal Bob in North Dakota. I was planning to make some biscuits till the muffin idea came to me. The Buffaloberry jelly on a muffin really hit the spot about 9AM! A naturalist, Bob collects wild berries in the woods and makes jelly. His wife Terri made the chokecherry syrup. I’m the lucky recipient, down here in Los Angeles, of homemade wild berry jelly from the North! That’s one of the most rewarding things about gardening ~ and there are so many rewarding aspects to it ~ the community you join and build.

If you cannot grow your own, I heartily recommend finding a CSA (community supported agriculture) in your area. Nothing is more convenient than having a box of fresh, local, organic produce sitting at your door when you get up. But, going to a farmer’s market is also very social and rewarding. Both can inspire even “20-Minute Cooks” like me to the kitchen!

What are you cooking this weekend? Please let me know and thanks so much for reading. If you are on Facebook and Instagram, please Like and Follow Late Bloomer Show. Several of these photos were posted there today. Late Bloomer Show is also on Google+, Pinterest and Twitter. I hope to connect with you on social media soon! – Kaye

Tags: apple oat bran muffins, carrot soup, community, cooking, curbside gardening, do-it-yourself, farming on small scale, gardening, gardening web series, Green vegetable juice, green your world, growing your own vegetables, homemade, jelly, Kaye Kittrell, Kaye Kittrell Late Bloomer, Late Bloomer, organic, Photography, potato soup, potatoes, quinoa, recipes, urban gardening, vegetables

Category: Community, Recipes