Spaghettie alla Rughetta

Absolutely one of my favorite dishes this year was this simple pasta dish from The Top 100 Pasta Sauces. Simple to prepare, a great texture, and easy to devour as leftovers. Highly recommended.

Spaghettie alla Rughetta

The Top 100 Pasta Sauces

1 lb spaghetti

4 T olive oil

4 cloves garlic

1-2 small jalapeno peppers

4 oz arugula

Cook pasta. While pasta is cooking, heat oil and gently fry chopped garlic and chili pepper. During last 5 minutes of pasta cooking, throw the arugula into the pasta. Drain well and stir in garlic, chili and hot oil. Serve.

Farm box ingredients used: arugula, garlic, jalapenos

Spicy Rice Bake with Black-Eyed Peas, Collard Greens, and Sweet Potato

'Tis the season for casseroles, stews, and root vegetables! Try your hand at this nice combination of winter vegetables. My recommendation to you, though, is to try to eat it up on its first night. It keeps fine, but, it does get a bit gloppy as a leftover.

Spicy Rice Bake with Black-Eyed Peas, Collard Greens, and Sweet Potato

Three Bowls

2 T olive oil

1 onion, diced

1/2 tsp salt

6-8 cloves garlic, minced

1 sweet potato, peeled and diced

6 leaves collard greens, ribs removed, torn until chunks

1 1/2 c brown rice, uncooked

1 c blackeyed peas, cooked or canned

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/4 c tamari

1 T balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 350.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and salt and saute until onion begins to soften, 2 minutes. Add garlic and saute until onion is almost translucent, 3-4 minutes more. Stir in the sweet potato and collard greens and saute until collards are bright green (don't let them turn dark green), 5 minutes.

Place rice and black-eyed peas in a 9x13" casserole dish. Add sweet potato mixture and cayenne and mix well. Pour 6 c boiling water, tamari and balsamic into baking dish and mix carefully. Cover tightly with foil and bake 90 minutes, or until rice and black-eyed peas are tender. Stir gently and serve.

Farm box ingredients used: onion, garlic, sweet potato, collards

Kale Crisps

Kale is delicious! But sometimes, it comes in quicker than you can eat it. I remembered having sampled kale crisps at The Daily Juice several months ago, and I realized that making it couldn't be all that hard. Indeed, it is simple! And, after about 30 minutes of your time (including baking time), you are rewarded with a lovely bunch of crisp, seasoned kale that is a healthy snack. The sad truth is, this was so addictive that I ate the entire bowlful myself (an entire bunch of kale -- enough for probably 4-6 people) in one sitting.

Kale Crisps

1 bunch kale

Olive oil (either drizzled from a bottle, or sprayed in a mister)

Seasoning

Wash the kale and let dry. Remove the leaves from the stalks, and tear into bite-sized pieces. Spread out on an ungreased cookie sheet. Spray with olive oil (not too much -- just a fine misting will do). Sprinkle with seasonings -- I used kosher salt and a specialty seasoned salt that is quite spicy; I might recommend red pepper flakes in its place. I've also since read a great suggestion for replacing the olive oil and substituting with Bragg's liquid aminos.

Bake at 325 for 15 minutes, rotating the pan half-way through. Remove from oven and snack!

Farm box ingredients used: kale

A confession and an update from the author

I feel that I owe all of you an explanation on why I've been so slow in posting recipes lately. I've had an eventful fall, and one of the lesser events (to put things in perspective) is that I was offered a job in Chicago. I've spent the past several weeks madly preparing for this move and getting myself settled in Illinois just in time for winter.

Several things were listed in my "cons" list when considering moving to Chicago. Trust me - at the top of the list were my subscription at Johnson's Backyard Garden, this related blog, and the loss of my own vegetable garden in Austin. I have really been enjoying connecting with other CSA subscribers through the Donut Army blog, and knew I would miss whatever little bit of creativity this outlet was providing for me.

I have struggled with how to handle this blog, since the premise is to list recipes based on items that appear in our CSA boxes. Instead of giving up the blog altogether, I've decided to continue posting recipes. But, for now, to focus on recipes that use in-season items -- that way, I can at least feel somewhat connected to Johnson's Backyard Garden.

I still have my home in Austin. My family is still there (unfortunately, they are not with me up here). And I will be visiting frequently. I am also trying to spread out my CSA box delivery dates to be on weekends when I will be visiting. So occasionally, my posts will sync naturally with what appears on the JBG farmboxes. Until then, I hope the recipes will be of interest and of help to you as you continue your active participation in the Johnson's Backyard Garden CSA program!


And, in case you were curious, the CSA  movement is alive and strong in the midwest! Any membership I choose to maintain is currently on hold, as we are between growing seasons.