5 Tips to Feed Your Family From the Farm Share {Roasted Celeriac and Potatoes}

What do I do if my kid/spouse/guinea pig* won't eat _______ [insert name of vegetable]?

I hear from folks who join Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm shares that a prime concern is family members not liking particular vegetables. When we started eating from a farm share my kids were 6 and 8. The older one liked potatoes and occasionally tolerated baby carrots and apple slices [unless he absolutely loved them or abhorred them. It changed. A lot. Since his congenital brain malformation--Chiari, if you're wondering--comes along with a wicked gag reflex, he'd lose the contents of his stomach when forced to 'eat just one bite'. We learned to cut our losses. Probably TMI.] The younger one ate broccoli stems for fun and hadn't met a fruit she didn't like. My spouse? He's spent a year eating in Korea, a year eating in Iraq, and has been eating my cooking for nearly two decades. Awww . . . we've got an anniversary this year . . . but the point is he'll eat anything.

You'll notice only green things are left on his tray. He didn't like green back then.

When we started getting cabbage (a typical early season green) it went smoothly. Sautéed with a little salt and pepper, shown in my Simple Sautéed Chinese Cabbage, it was a hit with my girl and tolerable to my boy. Then the eggplant appeared. How on earth was I going to get that into them? In desperation I roasted everything roastable [is that a word?] from that box (NOT shown below, I wasn't blogging way back in 2006) and made spaghetti sauce. It worked! They ate it!

a typical late summer box

That recipe--the first one I ever posted on the internet [you can see it here at tastykitchen] opened my mind to the possibilities of produce. I could add some sort of pun thinking outside the farm share box, but I won't. In the ensuing years--I've just signed up for our 10th season--I picked up a couple of tips through friends, relatives, and trial and error. No tricks, though--I've always been aboveboard with my family about what we're eating.  They don't even ask if there are beets in the smoothie anymore, they just drink it. 

A few lessons learned (and then a recipe):

Baked Artichoke and Arugula Dip

This recipe combines farm share arugula with artichoke hearts and loads of cheese in a baked vegetable appetizer.

I've been sharing a lot of game day appropriate appetizers lately since it's 'tis the season and all, but I've been feeling a bit . . . well, guilty . . . since I've been using a fair amount of meat in them.  I'm glad to share a meat free [and vegetarian if you select a vegan Worcestershire sauce] hot appetizer to join in the line up. 

This is a tasty way to eat up arugula from the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share, your garden, your folks' community garden plot, or the farmer's market. Usually when we get a big bag of arugula we're also getting a bag of salad mix, a cabbage, bok choy and perhaps another leafy green. I've talked about Greens Paralysis before, and it really comes down to this: if I can use arugula as a recipe component, not as a loose leafy green, I am more likely to use it up. If I wait for the perfect opportunity to add a handful of fresh arugula to a recipe . . . I end up tossing slimy forgotten leaves into the compost bin.

One easy way to get arugula processed into something yummy is Arugula Asiago Pesto (recipe here--scroll down to the bottom). This freezes well and I use it like I use basil pesto (large volume 'empty the garden before frost' recipe here), though not the same as I use Fresh Tomato Pesto (recipe here).

I came up with this appetizer because I had a late season bag of arugula and a desire for a hot appetizer. Using my food processor to combine everything made quick work of the vegetable preparation, and this was a warm and cheesy way to enjoy an early evening adult beverage.

I haven't tried it, but warming this dip in a little slow cooker should work fine, similar to my Slow Cooker Salmon Artichoke Dip. I'm just happy to turn the oven on while there is frost inside my window!

For other recipes using arugula, please see my Arugula Recipes Collection, part of my Visual Recipe Index. For other Awesome Veggie Apps and Snacks, please see my Pinterest board of the same name (linked).

Chicken & Roasted Vegetable Couscous Salad

Sautéed chicken and a blend of roasted sweet potato, broccoli, corn and peppers combined into a main dish salad with couscous.

I thought I'd share a bit about how my cooking style changes once our weekly Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share has ended for the season.

First, I give a big sigh of relief because I know I've made it through another season. I've nurtured my family with food grown by our farmers, our garden, our friends and a rogue compost bin. We have tried new foods with both successes and failures [the failures appear on my FB page, not on the blog].

Second, I'm still doing some vegetable triage. The remaining greens and root veggies in the crisper have priority over the squash and potatoes of the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve (SWSR) in my cold basement. When the fridge is cleared out (celeriac, a red cabbage and kohlrabi are the last holdouts) I'll plan meals based on the items in the SWSR and the freezer.  That's the key--plan meals.

Instead of winging it based on what needs to be used up NOW, I could take stock and thoughtfully plot out meals, thaw meats and vegetables, and work to eat down the supply of food in the house.

As if I will thoughtfully plan anything beyond what's for dinner tonight.

Even if I forget to plan ahead and end up just winging it for dinner, having bags of frozen chopped vegetables sure makes things easier. I can make quick soups using put up stocks and frozen chopped vegetables. The other night my girl wasn't feeling well [she claims she has the plague as she coughs daintily into her hand] and within an hour I had a turkey & wild rice soup, with curry and ginger, ready to eat thanks to my freezer.

This main dish salad works along the same lines. Using prepped and frozen CSA farm share vegetables (broccoli, corn and bell peppers) along with some sweet potatoes from the SWSR and a red onion I fixed us a hearty meal without too much pre-planning. Eating local vegetables while the frozen backyard turns into the muddy back yard--that's a Good Thing. [Three dogs and a muddy back yard? Not so much of a Good Thing.]

With luck, the foods I've canned and frozen will last until next summer, just in time for the CSA season to begin [note to self, mail check out this week to the farm!]. In the meantime I will be shopping for fruits, mushrooms, fresh salad and whatever else looks good or is marked down.
I'll keep blogging, too, sharing seasonal recipes all along the way.