Eating with Tender Heart Farms Fall 2015

This is a kind of post that is near to my heart and part of the bigger picture I am trying to push at the farm. I want to show that eating your way through a box can be easy, fun, tasty, and done in three meals (with leftovers for lunch the next day if you're two people like our household). I have meant to do this more often, but it's a lot of work- keeping track of what I am eating and remembering to take pictures and write down recipes. I have done one of these posts before: Eating with Tender Heart Farms Fall 2014 almost exactly a year ago. The box looks pretty similar! What is fun to notice is this time I made completely different things.

I'll walk you through what was in the box, what I made, and share recipes and strategies for how to manage a whole box for two people each week. My goal is to make a box only into three meals so you're only in the kitchen a few days a week making a big meal. That leaves four other nights for eating out, grilled cheese, or whatever your fall back "I'm too tired and hangry to cook" food of choice is.

In that week's box: Beets, Eggplant, Bell Peppers, Pomegranate, Persimmon, Garlic, Onions, Chinese Luobo Radish, Choi, and Lettuce.

This is a pretty typical box. One to three servings of 7-10 types of veggies and fruit. It's the best of what is growing in our gardens and what we're able to trade with other farms. I realize this is not how you may shop. This is likely super weird for people. The amounts, kinds, and variety of things are something totally new to tackle. My best advice is meal planning. Unless you're a maverick in the kitchen and cooking veggie based meals comes second nature, you're going to need a good game plan. Search for recipes, write them down,  make a list and shop for success! 

Meal 1

The first meal I planned was cheesy toast with braised greens and lentil hummus. It was ok, but could have been made amazing with a garlic aoili spread on the toast. Also, if you aren't doing low carbs like me (revisit this blog to see why) go with tortilla chips or pita chips with the hummus. 

First super secret I'm going to share is browned or caramelized onions. This easy step will launch your food to a new level. Go it slow and low with a bit of oil, salt, and sliced onions in a good, heavy pan. If they're burning, turn it down. This will take about 15-30 minutes, but it's mostly unsupervised. Just let them do their thing browning slowly, developing this amazing caramel sweet onion flavor, and give them a stir every 5 or so minutes. If you're impatient go ahead and fry them, but these guys are worth the wait and will make the bitter in your green far more palatable.

Once they're good and carameled, crank up the heat and add garlic for a minute or so. Chop up that choi (or whatever green) and toss it in until it turns a darker green and begins to wilt. Kill the heat and BAM! Delicious. Go ahead and add a bit of vinegar, lemon, liquid smoke, red pepper flake, or whatever you like to enhance their healthy goodness.

I toasted some whole grain bread, topped it with mozzarella and broiled it to melt the cheese then topped it with cheese. You could also do a grilled cheese situation like this. Like I said before, an awesome aoili will send this over the moon!

We tried out lentil hummus. It was pretty good. I mean, a nice change up from garbanzo, but...probably not again. I'm more into lentil sprouts for my fiber, protein, and folic acid thanks. 

Since we're limiting carbs, we went with carrots cut at an angle for dipping. It was fun actually. Great crunch and the sweet of the carrot complimented the savory of the hummus. I mean, not as good as chips, but not bad either. 

Tarra approved. 

Meal 2

The next meal started again with braised greens. We tackled more garlic, onions, bell pepper,  beet tops and the other choi in making an Italian staple: beans and pasta.

Garlic going to town in some butter.

BAM! greens down getting dark and wilty. Bell Peppers next. Then, we doused this in lemon juice

Then in went cooked white beans and shell pasta and a healthy drizzle of olive oil and salt. 

We had a mad sushi craving that night, but compromised with a meal we had planned plus some sashimi. 

Meal 3

The last meal took out the rest of the box: lettuce, persimmons, pomegranate, bell peppers, radish, and the beets. It was a night for BIG SALAD.

Lentil sprouts, beans and hard boiled egg make this salad a meal.

I have heard many people lament that they just can't do salads. Me too friends, me too. the worst thing is a giant pile of lettuce with some flimsy vinaigrette. It's the worst. So here are my tips for salad success (for the lettuce hater):

-Toppings: think 5:1 of toppings to lettuce. More crunch, cheesy chunks, sweet fruits, and texture help distract from a bitter green. 

Here is a great recipe from Alice Hart's Vegetarian Book for a "savory granola" that replaces croutons with healthy seeds:

Tahini Seeds:

Spread 11/4 cups of mixed seeds (sunflower, chia, buckwheat, hemp, flax, etc) on a baking tray and roast a 350* for five minutes. Mix 2 tbs each tahini and honey with a crushed garlic clove and 1 tbs sesame oil in a bowl. Dump seeds in and mix to coat. Spread them back out and back in the oven for 5 more minutes. Let dry and crumble over salads for a savory crunch! 

Her book does an amazing job running you through how to make veggie based meals taste excellent. I can't recommend it enough! It's easy to use as well as being beautiful! She also runs you through how to make sprouts at home. Before you start grab some cheese cloth or for a reusable option get yourself some of these for Christmas! Here is an abbreviated version: 

Sprouts:

Fill a tall jar with an inch or two of either store bought sprout seeds, raw sunflower seeds, or dry beans (lentils, garbanzo, mung, etc) and fill it up to the top with water. Let soak for about 8 hours. Rinse (with sprout lid on!) drain, and tip upside down to finish draining. Rinse twice a day until they're sprouted to your taste! (Some people like beans to barely sprout, but I like when they have little leaves. I also like to leave them in the window for the last day to really green them up)

These two recipes should get you on your way to a more flavorful, textured salad that will help you forgive lettuce for it's bitterness, while still eating it for it's nutritional virtue! I also want to share my recipe for homemade ranch that is almost guilt free it's so healthy and makes salad actually enjoyable!

Ranch:

1 small sweet onion of any color

3 green onions or a bunch of fresh chives

1/2 bunch parsley

handful of fresh dill

Several cloves garlic

Salt to taste

3 cups yogurt or soy yogurt

Milk or soy milk

Toss that mess in a blender and enjoy! You can sub buttermilk, mayo, switch the herbs around, add lemon juice or hot sauce, bacon...whatever. It's way better than anything you're going to buy in the store!

I shared the recipes above, step by step for the other two, but I'll write them in a normal recipe format for easier searching next time.

Braised Greens Grilled Cheese with garlic aioli:

Bunch o greens
garlic
onion
oil
melty cheese
bread
moar garlic
lemon
mayo (or vegan mayo)
olive oil

Start with aioli. Lob a big ol spoon of mayo, several galic cloves, juice of a lemon in a blender. Turn on and drizzle oil until a meduim thick (just before it's runny but less thick than mayo) sauce forms. Set aside and enjoy on EVERYTHING. Get to browning onions (caramelizing is best) turn up heat add garlic and greens and cook until they darken and wilt. Set aside. Wipe out and reheat pan. Lob butter or oil down and layer bread, cheese, greens, cheese, aioli, and bread. Make a grilled cheese. Bam, healthy delicious.

Butterbeans and Greens Pasta:

Cooked pasta
Cooked butter or other white bean
Braised greens with garlic, onion and bell pepper
olive oil
lemon juice
parmesan or crumbly cheese like ricotta salata if desired

After you finish braising the greens, add cooked pasta and beans. Splash in about a cup of pasta water to get a sauce going. Add lemon juice and olive oil as well and stir with heat on until heated through and combined. Finish with cheesy goodness or nutritional yeast.

I hope that this is inspiring and empowering. Please let me know what you think. I would love to know how you all make it through your boxes!

Hello, I'm Still Here For You

Hello. I see it's been since May that we've spoken. You might notice a trend of summer sweeping me away. Usually I can grin and bear it, sneak back in and say hello, drop some veggie knowledge, and keep my chin up. This summer was different.

For one, Tarra and I are officially partnering with Pacific Star Gardens. This has brought a whole new level of responsibility and added layers to that knot in my gut that there is too much to do and not enough time. We're grateful to have this opportunity, please don't misunderstand. I have 20+ years of experience to draw upon, 40 acres of organic land, tons of infrastructure and equipment.... but partnership can be like marriage and comes with challenges. We're still figuring things out, and I am so happy to have that wonderful, difficult chance to do so.

For two, Tarra and I are preparing to try to get pregnant come January. As a same sex couple, this adds complexity to that decision. There are laws and lawyers that will make your head spin and your wallet ache, sperm banks and sperm donors that could cost a mint or sue for custody if they change their mind, OBGYN's and midwives that don't agree when and how you should be poked, prodded, penetrated, or the like. It's just not how I imagined I would bring a child into this world.

The last straw for me mentally and emotionally came when we did our due diligence and had me checked out at the doctor to be sure I was ready to start trying come next year. I was diagnosed with Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). This is a disorder of your hormones. For some it displays as cysts on your ovaries or other reproductive organs (thus the name) that can grow and mostly be benign or become cancerous. It can also show up as hormones way out of whack. Your menstrual cycle might have it's own time, sometimes going missing for months or years, or you might not ovulate, or you can grow a righteous beard as a lady. It can affect your thyroid, alter your moods and send you into depressive spirals. It can also appear as insulin insensitivity making type 2 diabetes easier to develop and weight near impossible to lose.

I have since leaned that like miscarriages, infertility is a taboo subject. So I am calling Bullshit to this social norm and we're going to talk about it. But Ashley, this is a farm blog, why are you sharing? I've asserted this before, and still stand by it: as a small farm, your participation is an intimate relationship. We're closely linked: my life, my farm, my produce to your family. I spend my life feeding you. Your food has a story, my story- so I am going to keep sharing.
So lets talk about it. Infertility is the cause of enormous fucking stress.

"Current research has shown that the stress levels of women with infertility are equivalent to women with cancer, AIDS or heart disease, so there is no question about infertility resulting in enormous stress."

But, fun fact, stress also exacerbates infertility. Awesome. Don't stress about all this stress, it'll make things worse!

So we've been reading, talking with our midwife, sought council, and informing ourselves best we can. What we've come up with is no easy answer. Mainly, I have to lose some weight. It will improve fertility, lower my blood sugar, reduce risk of miscarriage or still birth, and increase the likelihood of a healthy pregnancy all around. Like I said earlier, that's nearly impossible. My thyroid and insulin insensitivity make that really, really difficult. I'm also not trying to restrict calories so my body doesn't avoid pregnancy thinking there aren't enough resources to support it. So, my calorie burning goal is 3-4,000 a day while I am trying to take in 2,000 minus any refined carbs and even reduced whole grains. Basically I am a meat and veggie monster.

OMG, how do you burn that many calories? We're training for a half marathon basically. It'll be fun, it's the Beat the Blerch Run. But, it takes a lot of time and energy and I am trying to squeeze that in with farming. Not surprisingly I am doing a shoddy job on both fronts. This blog was the first casualty.

We're in the process now of identifying sperm donors, which is a weird thing. You usually find someone you love and agree to their babies regardless of their genes. With a same sex relationship, we get to pick. It's a bizarre thing, like sperm hunting. Going to dinner parties, events and stalking men, then measuring them against our list of wants from a biological donor. Then we have to have "THE TALK" with the potential donor. Ask about their sexual lives, family history... Super weird. Again, not how I imagined having kids, but this is where we are.

I'll do my best to keep you all updated. I'll do my best to keep you abreast of things at the farm. I make no promises but my best.

A small trip to renew our spirits. 

At the farm, our eggplants and bell peppers are hanging on. You might be sick of them and need help rekindling your romance. Here are a couple recipes I hope help:

Hummus with Harissa
Bell Peppers play a huge roll in my house. We use them constantly. Not green ones, because ew. But the colored ones sing to my heart. If this is not you, I think you might like this. Roasting them helps bring out their sweet side and the spices will turn them into a magic paste that your hummus craves.Harissa is a North African chili paste that you can find in cans usually at a store specializing in Middle Eastern Food. It's basically roasted chili paste with garlic coriander and cumin with a little lemon. It's simple to make, and you'll feel fancy! It was a big hit at my friend's wedding in Colorado.

• Colored Bells
• Garlic
• Lemon Juice
• Coriander
• Cumin
• Optional: Roasting hot peppers

Take what you have in bells (I suggest at least four or five to make it worth your while) and toss them on a cookie sheet with a head of garlic, drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt to roast. Blast them with 450* of oven magic until they're blistered and black. Take them out and put them in a bowl with a towel covering them. Let them steam themselves for 10 or so minutes. Uncover and peel the skins off. Totes not necessary, but strips of pepper skin can ruin a mouthful of dip- make your own call. 

Pop the garlic out of it's skins. It should be soft and paste-like if it's done roasting, if not, pop it back in the oven. Remove the stems of the peppers and toss it into a food processor or blender with the garlic, juice of a lemon, and a sprinkling of ground seasonings. Blend slightly, add salt to taste and just enough oil to make a silky paste. Taste and adjust seasoning. BAM! Harissa! You Fancy!

(Make your own hummus, seriously. Soak beans overnight, boil for awhile after you get home from work until tender, drain and toss with a couple scoops (tablespoon or two) of tahini, a few cloves of garlic, juice of a lemon and blend, adding oil to get a good paste. It's world's tastier than anything you can buy and sooo much cheaper. Be your own hero, make it homemade!)

*If you're going to roast hot peppers, do it well ventilated and pull them out before they blacken!!!! You will basically pepper spray your household if you don't do this! Also, if blending them, do not look into the blender, you will pepper spray yourself. You've been warned. Don't be afraid though, hot harissa is where it's at, just be smart!

Baba Ghanoush
Baba Ghanoush has as many iterations as it does spellings. I deferred to Wikipedia for this spelling. I have also read that in India, a Baba Ghanoush is a slang term for an attractive man. So, enjoy my recipe for eggplant hottie!

• Eggplant
• Onions
• Garlic
• Tahini
• Lemons

Take what you've got of eggplant (A few pounds to make your time worth it) and cut big bulb ones in half to quarters or long Asian types just in half. Quarter onions and remove skins. Toss all that nonsense on a cookie sheet with a head of garlic, drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt and roast it at 450* until it gets nice and dark brown. Don't burn it like the peppers, your mouth will be sad if you do. Scoop the eggplant, sans calyx (hard leafy top), and onions into blender or food processor, squeeze roasted garlic in there too (make sure it's soft again, if not, pop it back in the oven until it is!). Add a few scoops of tahini (tablespoon or two) juice of a lemon and blend! Drizzle oil until a smooth paste forms. Enjoy this fine interpretation of eggplant hottie dip!



*This would also love to snuggle up to some harissa! Smear this on sammies, pita, veggies or eat with a spoon!