Week 5 Community-Shared Agriculture (CSA) Box (plus how to freeze green onions & fall in love with chickpea flour)

Does it make me a bad holistic nutritionist that I actually let out a little groan when I saw that bok choy was once again on the menu for pick-up at the farm this week? That’s 5 weeks of bok choy, friends!

I’m pretty creative but even I’m not sure whether I’m innovative enough to use up/hide that much of this cruciferous, sulfur-rich veggie. To avoid making any rash decisions now, I washed and chopped (and buried) this week’s boy choy bounty far back in the deep freeze.

The hope is that I will be so desperate for organic vegetables come January 2016 that I will be all over that bok choy! But I’ll be honest, that also might not happen until April 2016.

This week’s haul includes…

1 broccoli crown

2 large kohlrabi

1 bunch of green onions

2 zucchini

2 or 3 bok choy (a bit younger/more tender than the mature ones we’ve been getting)

Huge bag of spinach

Huge bag of perpetual spinach

1 bunch of red radishes

1 bag of shelling peas  

After running around half the day on Friday, I prepped and/or froze everything I didn’t think I would use fast enough. I also roasted two pans full of veggies: zucchini, kohlrabi, green pepper (from the extras box), broccoli, and radishes to use in various meals throughout the week. A little red palm oil (which I prefer over coconut oil for high-heat cooking), salt and pepper. A million and one uses for quick and easy lunches and dinners. V

Visit this recent post for more tips on roasting your CSA or farmer’s market vegetables. For lunch today during the very special Culinary Nutrition Conference, I whipped up this little beauty.

It’s socca (essentially an Italian chickpea pancake) with warm roasted veggies, ripe avocado, lots of fresh cilantro, basil and microgreens. A few drizzles of raw coconut vinegar (similar to soy sauce but a healthier option).

Even though I have bookmarked dozens of recipes for socca, this was my first try making it. I used equal parts of chickpea flour plus water (1/2 cup for the dish above) and then seasoned with sea salt, black pepper, and a bit too much chile pepper! I believe it’s traditionally made with a cast-iron pan but I no longer have one, so just a well-greased saucepan heated at medium-high heat. I think it turned out: the edges were wonderfully crispy and the insides were tender. I use chickpea flour, which just consists of finely ground chickpeas, often. From what I understand it’s pretty ubiquitous in Indian cooking and you can find it at the store under many names: garbanzo flour, besan flour, gram flour, etc.

One of my favourite ways to use this gluten-free, grain-free, higher protein flour is this (in my opinion) life-changing Genius Chickpea Tofu from my New Roots. It’s also known as Burmese tofu, which is very different from the soy-based tofu in grocery stores that most of us are familiar with. It has so many uses, like this chickpea tofu with sautéed mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, fresh ginger, red onion, salt, pepper and lots of fresh thyme!

Or this chickpea tofu pizza with roasted tomatoes, fresh thyme, red pepper and caramellized onions. The texture reminds me so much of polenta. It’s endlessly versatile!

I can’t get enough. My meal plan is pretty simple this week, so here are a few more ideas for your veggies:

• Tangy 10-Minute Bok Choy Garden Salad (I can’t believe I haven’t shared this yet with all of my moaning and groaning about bok choy!)
• 6 Ways to Get Your Husband to Eat More Fruits and Veggies
• Extra veggies can always be made into a healthy juice! See How to Make Juice Without a Juicer for juicing tips and health benefits.

Based on this week’s bounty, here are a few tips and tricks for your kitchen (and CSA) toolbox:

During every week of the CSA series thus far, you may have gleaned that I often find it hard to use up everything in my box (it’s intended for 3-4 people and it’s just me most of the time). This is why I love freezing; you can essentially extend the harvest of your organic veggies to a time when you might not have easy access to them locally.

• How to freeze green onions: Did you know that you can freeze green onions? Like chives, you can just chop and freeze. Sit them out at room temperature for a few minutes if using raw or add to cooked dishes toward the end of cooking and the residual heat will finish the job! Use within a few weeks of freezing to ensure maximum flavour in your meals.

Want more kitchen and cooking tips like this? Check out my free e-zine and get a free copy of my “10+ Breakfasts in 10 Minutes or Less” e-cookbook.  

Did you sign up for a CSA share this season?

What’s in your local basket?

Life is a plate… Eat up!

     

P.S. Did you miss the earlier editions of my CSA series?

Check out Week 1 Community-Supported Agriculture Box

Check out Week 2 Community-Supported Agriculture Box

Check out Week 3 Community-Supported Agriculture Box

Check out Week 4 Community-Supported Agriculture Box