11/5 box

Sweet potatoes are returning this week. With fall in full swing, now's the perfect time to try your hand at sweet potato pie. For the creamiest pies, try baking the sweet potatoes instead of boiling them before pie-making. That way, there's less moisture and more concentrated sweet potato-ness in your filling (this is assuming you have the self-control to not to simply eat these sweet potatoes with a pat of butter after baking them).

For more ideas, click here for a list of forty sweet potato recipes, or check out our previous blurbs from 10/14 and 10/22.

This is our fifth week with hakurei turnips. First cultivated in Japan to combat famine during WWII, these turnips have been grown widely since then for their delicate flavor. These versatile turnips are good roasted, eaten raw, sautéed, even mashed.

To incorporate more of this week's ingredients, here's a simple salad recipe that also uses goat cheese and salad greens (it's arugula in the recipe, but can be replaced with any number of leafy green vegetables).

Check out our past blurbs from 10/29, 10/22, 10/14, and 10/8 for more recipes and ideas.

This is our fourth week of collards. Why so many collards? Unlike cabbages, lettuce, and other crops that are harvested as a head, collard is harvested by trimming fully-grown leaves off the main stem. As a result, the collard continues to grow and can be re-harvested. If anything, these leaves even become tastier as the weeks go on, because when the weather gets cold enough, the collards will become sweeter as the carbohydrates in their leaves are turned into sugar.

If you're tired of the traditional collard greens, try some of these international recipes for collards that range from West African "creamed" collards, to grilled collards, to Brazilian feijoada and sopa de fuba, to collard slaw. Collards can even be eaten raw in salads, though they should be massaged first to soften them.

Check out our past blurbs from 10/14, 10/22, and 10/29 for more recipes.

A staple of Asian grocery stores, napa cabbage has a slightly more delicate flavor than your usual cabbage, making it perfect both for eating raw, as well as cooking. It can be eaten in salad, stir-fried, stuffed to make cabbage rolls, or even made into a quick kimchi. Want something effortless? Simply throw a few handfuls into any soup you’re making for a bigger serving of vegetables. If you're feeling ambitious, try making dumplings or spring rolls with shredded cabbage in the filling.

Click here for more ideas on using your Napa cabbage, and here for more ideas as well as tips for storage.

Kale - Pi Farm

We're having kale for the third week in a row. Like collards, kale is harvested as individual leaves and can be re-harvested as the plant continues to grow. It also becomes sweeter if the weather gets cold enough.

Here's a website with plenty of kale preparation tips and ideas, including a recipe for kale pesto and garlic-braised greens. Or look at this list of 45 different kale recipes, from pizza, to salad, to soup.

Check out our past blurbs from 10/8, 10/22, and 10/29 for more recipes.

Watermelon Radish - THES Farm and Pi Farm

Don't be fooled by their deceptively dull, green exteriors: these radishes are a brilliant pink on the inside. Originating in China, these radishes are called xinlimei luobo in Mandarin, which literally translates to "beautiful heart radishes". They are related to daikon and have a similar bite to the taste. Eat these raw in colorful salads (here's a salad that uses goat cheese as well), pickle them, or roast them simply with a bit of oil and salt. Or, combine methods and use pickled watermelon radishes in a salad, like this recipe for kale and watermelon radish salad does.

Bok Choy - Community Herd

Another staple of Asian cuisine, bok choy is delicious when stir-fried simply, but can also be used in soups (boil until soft (approx. 10 min), longer if you don't want any crunch to it), or added to noodles for some additional vegetable content.

When preparing, it's important to wash carefully at the base; often, a lot of dirt gets caught in between the leaves there. Unless you have a particular reason for halving them (ie. presentation, or roasting them in the oven), it's usually easiest to peel the leaves apart when washing, and then chop the stems into chunks.

Chèvre Cheese - Decimal Place Farm

We have fresh chèvre goat cheese from Decimal Place Farm again this week! This creamy cheese is perfect as a spread on crackers or bread, but can be used on everything from pizza, to salad, to sandwiches, to quesadillas, to stuffed and baked dishes, to savory breakfast items.

For recipes that incorporate other box items, try a hearty goat cheese-stuffed chicken, or modify this kale, goat cheese, and radish-containing salad.

Here's a list of even more recipe ideas.

Click here for an article about their cheesemaking process and here for more information about the farm.

Whole Chicken - Grateful Pastures

We're having our first of two organic, pasture-raised whole chickens from Grateful Pastures this week! Unlike most store-bought chickens, including those labelled as "free-ranged" (they have to have outdoor time, but that can range from living outdoors to having a few minutes of the coop door being open each day), these pastured chickens actually spend their lives outside in movable tents that are relocated daily to give them fresh pecking grounds (Click here for a picture). They weigh a little over 3 lbs each, which is on the small side; we're expecting the chickens at the end of November to be slightly bigger. Even so, these whole chickens are packed with flavor and can either be roasted whole, or cut into component pieces before cooking. And after the meat is mostly picked off, you can always use the leftover bones to make chicken broth. (See below for recipes).

For more information on Grateful Pastures and their commitment to sustainability and humane animal husbandry, click here.

Peanut Butter - Georgia Grinders

The upside of small chickens is that we can afford a few more fun extras this week, including this locally-produced peanut butter from Georgia Grinders, a local nut butter company committed to making small-batch, simple nut butters without unnecessary ingredients. And though we have no intention of staking a position in the perennial crunchy vs. creamy debate, this week’s butter will, in fact, be creamy.

If you're feeling adventurous, try using it with our other spreadables, like chutney and goat cheese on this week's Honey Oat loaves. Or try this list of recipes incorporating peanut butter from Georgia Grinders' website. Of course, straight out of the jar or on a piece of toast is always a classic.

Read more about Georgia Grinders here.