Cold and Creamy Pea, Avocado, and Mint Buttermilk Soup

A tangy refreshing chilled soup of garden fresh peas, avocado, and mint in a buttermilk base

"This is my mom.  She has worms."

My daughter's scintillating introduction to her charges didn't dissuade me from my purpose--to share my worm bin with the young gardeners at our local historical society.  Some kids think it's cool, some kids think it's gross, but all kids learn a little bit about worm composting. The more folks--young and old--who are exposed to the myriad of ways we can decrease the amount of waste we create, the better.
I think early exposure to a variety of ideas and foods is important and can result in permanent behavior changes. After I shared my worms with the young gardeners I helped them in their plot. It reminded me of when my teens were in elementary school and I'd volunteer during class time, helping kids to plant, weed, and harvest vegetables.  Now, my daughter was in charge of the pea harvest--showing the kids how to snap off the peas without pulling up the whole vine. She also encouraged her charges to sample the harvest.

When I harvest in my own garden I just eat peas straight off the vine. They need no accompaniment, to me, which is why I haven't shared a pea recipe before. Usually I start snacking on peas while driving home from picking up our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share box, and I'll nibble a few here and there until they are all gone.

However, I screwed up with the peas in the farm share recently which is why I created this soup. After nibbling on a bunch, I set the pint on the shelf in the fridge and the peas froze. Oops.  Not one to waste perfectly edible food that is the result of our farmers' hard work, I searched for a soup recipe combining what I had on hand (peas, mint, buttermilk) with what sounded good (avocado).

If you don't like the taste of buttermilk [because your mom raised you to eat what was put in front of you and your friend's mom offered you a tall glass of buttermilk which you choked down--only to be given a second glass since you appeared to like it so much--my spouse's experience with buttermilk, not mine] I recommend trying this pea soup recipe.  Or this one.

Beef and Broccoli Pizza (Pizza Night!)

Roast beef and roasted broccoli seasoned with layers of Asian flavors. You don't miss the cheese

OMG there's no cheese on this pizza, will they revoke my home-pizza-maker card? Will someone come and steal my blackened and broken, pizza stone?

I've got greens on my mind, so it makes sense to share a pizza with a green topping today. Want to know how many types of edible greens we got in the farm share this week? The photo is on my FB page, but I'll just tell ya--seven.  Seven types of greens.  Plus all the other delicious Spring vegetables.  Whoa. I've got my vegetable triage work cut out for me.

I did make a few command decisions right off the bat. While I know that radish greens are edible, the spiky edges put me off and the composting pig won't touch them--so into the compost bin they go. Ditto the turnip greens. My spouse commented "that's a handsome turnip" when he saw the giant beauty, and while I do like slow cooked turnip greens and cornbread in the Fall, I'd rather use my freezer space to put up berries right now. Into the compost bin with the turnip greens.
That leaves us [pun unintended] with lettuce, kale, kohlrabi greens, a big bag of cooking greens, and my beloved beet greens.

I don't usually pair greens with cheese--unless it's cheese in a salad--so I'm glad to share a pizza without cheese.  My first pizza without cheese, as a matter of fact.  But not the last--the kids snapped this one up quickly, and that's high praise for me to make further variations on this theme.

Heirloom Tomato and Garlic Scape Pesto Tart {Get to Know a Farmer}

Heirloom tomatoes and marinated mozzarella balls snuggled under a blanket of garlic scape pesto and more mozzarella make a rich savory tart--or delightful breakfast.

If you read one of those 13 Farmers Market Secrets Savvy Shoppers Share type articles, one of the tips is invariably "get to know a farmer".  Joining a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share is a terrific way to get to know a farmer.  For the duration of the growing season you'll have the opportunity to visit with the folks who grow your food.  This "get to know a farmer" stuff can pay off deliciously [and for me the payoff is usually locally grown tomatoes].

There is nothing better than a locally grown tomato.

Tomatoes have seasons.  Some get off to a quick start like cherry tomatoes and early varieties. Some take their sweet time growing and setting out fruit, to the point that you think they'll never amount to anything, but once they get going they're unstoppable 'til frost.* Some suffer setbacks early on--like nibbling from varmints--yet recover to become a big bushy productive plant.  They are a lot like kids, now that I think on it.

I'm talking about tomatoes, and getting to know your farmers, today for the simple reason that this recipe happened, last November, because I got to know our farmers. See, my spouse spent last tomato season in Afghanistan. He missed out on eating fresh tomatoes and our daily lives [not in that order]. Sure, they fed him from May to November. But he always returns from deployments super skinny so I'm always frantically cleaning planning menus with all his favorite foods when I know he's heading home.

It was with this mindset that I asked our farmers in early November if they had a spare tomato. I'd canned all the ones from my garden, and we'd had oh, easily 12+ weeks of various ripe tomato varieties in the farm share. I'm sure most folks were more enthused about the prospect of a sweet potato. But I wanted to make my spouse a tomato sandwich, so I emailed our farmers with the request.  You may, if you love local tomatoes, understand the sheer delight when my newly-returned spouse and I went to pick up our farm share and Farmer Josh disappeared for a moment then returned with not one but 4 gorgeous heirloom tomatoes.  Swoon! In addition to that sandwich I had enough for this tart--double points for a rich tart that's one of my spouse's favorite tomato dishes.

Get to know a farmer.  It's so worth it.