Buttermilk Beet Muffins

Hello friends! Here's some culinary inspiration from one of our resident chefs Alma Pietri!

Carrots and zucchinis aren’t the only veggies that are good in cakes and muffins—beets make chocolate cake super moist, add a pretty color to frosting (with no beet flavor), and make a delicious breakfast muffin!  Check out these links that we give two thumbs up:

This beet chocolate cake with beet cream cheese frosting was delicious and you would never know there were any veggies involved! A major beet hater even asked for seconds… http://joythebaker.com/2012/01/chocolate-beet-cake-with-beet-cream-cheese-frosting/

These buttermilk beet muffins retain the bright coloring of beets but if you weren’t told in advance you probably wouldn’t recognize any beet flavor! http://www.jsonline.com/features/food/caution-buttermilk-beet-muffins-may-cause-morning-controversy-1o51m77-148555645.html

note: I was able to easily puree the cooked beets in a high-power blender (like a nutribullet) as well as with an immersion blender but if you don’t have those options I suggest shredding the beet with grater before adding it to a blender to make the process easier

and for those of you who want a healthier option or want to taste the beets as they are, try this beet and orange salad with mustard dressing! http://bakedbree.com/roasted-beet-and-orange-salad

ENJOY THAT PURPLE GOODNESS! And if you have any recipes or pictures of your own to share, please email them to us at vassarcoop@gmail.com or tag us on Instagram @vassarfoodcoop

SPRING CSA SHARES!

Hello co-op members and enthusiasts! We are so excited to introduce our 6-week spring CSA program! We have paired up with a new supplier, who has made a brand-new program for us with lots of new share options. 

We are hoping to reduce waste and meet the needs of a wider audience and their needs, so we will be supplying more "staple" vegetables like onions, potatoes, kale, garlic etc. (no more parsnips and rutabagas!) and we're also offering a meat share- carnivores rejoice!

Order Here

Below are the share options, as well as a comprehensive poster with all the info. We're starting April 1 (ending May 6) and the DEADLINE IS MARCH 30 to sign up. This is a fantastic way to save money on groceries, eat healthily, and support local farmers, so please sign up and feel free to email us with any questions or concerns- we're here to make this as easy as possible for you!

vassarcoop@gmail.com

SHARES:

Vegetable share: $135 for 6 weeks ($22.50 a week). See forwarded email below for an example of one week's share.  From Rogowski Farm.  

Milk Share: $24 for 6 weeks, $12 for every other week; A half gallon a week.

Eggs: $30 for a dozen each week for 6 weeks, $15 for a 1/2 dozen each week; From Madura Farm

Bread: $36 for 12oz of bread every week from Quality Baked Goods

Meat: $60 for 1lb. each week; $30 for 1lb. every other week.Examples: Spare ribs, rib steaks, sausage, bacon, ground beef; Will rotate between these 5.  From Lowland Farms in Warwick.  Grass fed.

Cheese: $36 for Basic Cheese Share (goat cheese!) and $48 for the Cheese Lover's Share (assorted cheeses, all delicious). From Sprout Creek Farm.


Coffee: $10 for a 1/2lb bag (about 30 servings). From the Vassar Haiti Project. 

"This smooth-bodied coffee has a rich chocolate-y aroma unlike any other. It is grown organically, harvested and roasted by hand by the newly-formed Femmes de Chermaitre women's co-operative. The coffee is priced at a fair cost, which goes back to the co-operative and helps support their livelihoods. To find out more about the co-operative and the process, watch their video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGqGZwL1dsw"

ORDER HERE

You can pay in cash, check made out to Vassar Food Co-op.
Email vassarcoop@gmail.com for any questions.  

Thai Butternut Squash Soup

Hi gang, yikes, sorry we've been out of action! This thing called midterms came up out of nowhere. Anyway, currently working on a delicious recipe for Acorn Squash chili. In the meantime, here's a throwback to an old favorite we grabbed from my blog The Almost Italian to give you an idea for your butternut squashes! 

This is a variation on regular butternut squash soup. I add coconut milk, ginger, and sweet chili sauce, making the already rich soup incredibly creamy and a little bit spicy. This is a very healthy recipe, it’s nice chilled with a salad as a summer lunch, or steamy with some chicken and greens for a delicious dinner. It keeps for 1-2 weeks in the fridge, and is one of those microwave exceptions that tastes just as good nuked a week later. Make a big batch (this recipe makes a lot) and keep it in the fridge to for munchie emergencies!

Thai Butternut Squash Soup
adapted from Whole Foods
(serves 6-8)

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsps olive oil
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 medium butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• ½ teaspoon thyme
• 4 cups chicken broth (or boullion and water)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon chopped ginger
• 1 13.5 oz can coconut milk
• Sriracha and chili sauce to taste

Instructions 

1. Heat oil in large soup pot. Add celery, ginger, and onion. Cook until celery has begun to soften and onion is translucent, 3-4 minutes.

2. Stir in butternut squash, thyme, chicken broth, coconut milk, salt, pepper, and chili sauce. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer until squash is fork-tender, about 30 minutes.

3. Use immersion blender or regular blender to puree soup in batches. This is the only tricky part, but it’s not horrible. I just split the soup into two batches and blend. This is the first time you can actually taste the soup, because the squash is now mixed with the other ingredients. If needed, re-season to taste.

 
4. Garnish with red pepper flakes and serve immediately, or store in fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Enjoy! 

Creamy Kale, Collard Greens, and Potato Soup and Spiced Sweet Potato Wedges

Hello all! Happy week two of the farm share! This week's recipe will give you an idea for what to do with your collard greens and onions- also kale if you have some left over from last week. We'll also be using those sweet potatoes for some quick and easy spiced wedges.

Our own additions are celery and potatoes.

Chop up onion and sauté with vegetable or olive oil in a large pot. Allow to cook for about 1 minute

Chop up celery and add it to the onions along with a teaspoon of salt

Remove the stems from the collard greens and the kale, rip up the leaves into smaller pieces. Add both to the onions and celery.

Chop potato into 1/2-inch chunks and add to the veggies along with 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil.

Once it boils, reduce the heat and let simmer for 20 minutes

After 20 minutes the potatoes should be soft enough for a fork to go easily through them. At this point, pour mixture into a blender and blend until smooth.

Serve with a peeled, halved, hard-boiled egg

And optional Sriracha!

WINE BREAK

For the sweet potato wedges, cut a large sweet potato lengthwise into 1/2 inch wedges. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix oregano, cinnamon, red pepper flakes, rosemary, cumin and salt in a small bowl.

Coat wedges in olive oil and then sprinkle spices over them, flipping to cover both sides.

Roast in oven for 20 minutes, then take out and flip each wedge over. Put back in for another 15-20 minutes

Allow to cool a little before serving!

Creamy Kale, Collard Greens, and Potato Soup

Yield: 6 bowls

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons canola/vegetable oil (or olive oil really)
• 1 medium onion
• 3 stalks celery
• 1 teaspoon salt
• kale ( a generous 2 cups chopped)
• collard greens (a generous cups chopped)
• 4 small/2 large potatoes (any type of potato that isn’t a sweet potato will do)
• 4 cups water
• hard-boiled eggs (optional)

Instructions

1. Wash all those veggies!
2. Dice onion and celery
3. Add 2 tablespoons oil to large pot over medium heat; add diced onions and saute for a few minutes.
4. After a few minutes add diced celery and salt and continue to saute for a few more minutes
5. Remove the center stem section from the kale and collard greens and rip both greens into pieces
6. Add kale to the pot, and let saute for a few minutes
7. Cut potatoes in ~½ inch pieces
8. Add potatoes and 4 cups water to the pot and increase heat to bring to a boil.  Once the soup is boiling, reduce the heat and let simmer for 20 minutes
9. After 20 minutes the potatoes should be soft enough for a fork to go through them easily.  If not, continue simmering the soup.  Once the potatoes are soft, remove the soup from the heat.
10. Carefully pour the soup into a blender and blend until creamy

Optional but highly encouraged: peel hard-boiled egg, cut in half, and place in soup to add some protein and cuteness!  

Note: to hard-boil eggs, place eggs in small pot and cover with water.  Bring the water to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer eggs for 8 minutes.  Drain, let cool (placing them in cold water will expedite this), and peel when cool.

Spiced Sweet Potato Wedges

Yield: about 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 large sweet potato, or two medium ones
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Cumin
• Red pepper flakes
• Cinnamon
• Rosemary
• Oregano

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. Cut your sweet potato lengthwise into long wedges, about 1/2 inch thick
3. Coat a baking tray in olive oil, place wedges on the tray and drizzle more oil over wedges to coat
4. Mix your spices together in a small bowl and then sprinkle over wedges, making sure to cover both sides of the wedges
5. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes, then take out and flip all the wedges over before putting them back in for another 15-20 minutes
6. Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving!

Enjoy!!

Vegetable Medley Fritters with Garlic Mint Tzatziki Sauce

Hi all! We are Moorea Hall and Alma Pietri, two members of Slow Food and the Food Co-op who love to cook and make up recipes. We will be posting a weekly recipe here of our own devising to help give you some ideas for using your CSA share!

This week's recipe is Vegetable Medley Fritters with Garlic Mint Tzatziki Sauce. For our vegetables we will be using the parsnips, leeks, zucchinis, and pattypan squash we received in this share. We'll also be throwing some mint into the sauce- but let's all be honest and admit we'll be using most of our mint for mojitos.

Start by washing all your produce- this is the local good stuff, but that means it also has some local dirt on it! Then peel your parsnip, like you would a carrot.

Grate up your parsnip, zucchini, and pattypan squash (those are the cute little yellow ones). You don't need to peel the zucchini or the squash. If you don't have a grater you could try *really* thinly chopping everything but it might not stick together as well. Chop the white part of the leek up to the leaves. The medallions will break apart when you mix everything.

Mix all that good stuff together.

Add three eggs (only two pictured) and 1/2 cup of flour. Also one teaspoon of salt and some black pepper to taste. Mix everything up- you can use your hands!

Heat up a skillet, generously coated in oil. Wait a few minutes for it to get really hot to avoid "first pancake" syndrome. Put some nice fist-sized dollops of your veggie mixture in to fry. It should take under a minute for each side.

Flip those babies over when one side is browned.

Yum. Try not to eat too many while you're cooking- it's tempting! Trust me though, the sauce is worth the wait.

Ok so for my version of Tzatziki sauce, which is a delicious Greek specialty, I just mixed together plain Greek yogurt, minced garlic, mint, lime juice, and chopped cucumber. Easy as that.

Serve hot, topped with cool Tzatziki, and you're in business! The whole process really doesn't take more than 30 mins or so! Yay! Enjoy.

Vegetable Medley Fritters with Garlic Mint Tzatziki Sauce
Yield: 16 fritters

Ingredients:

For fritters

• 1 large parsnip, grated or thinly chopped
• 4 small zucchinis, grated (about 2 cups grated)
• 2 medium pattypan squashes, grated
• 1 large leek, cut into medallions (about 2.5 cups grated)
• 3 medium eggs (we used the ones from our lovely Egg Share!)
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt 
• Black pepper to taste
• Canola/vegetable oil for frying

For Tzatziki

• 1/2 plain Greek yogurt (not vanilla guys, unsweetened plain)
• 4 large slices of cucumber, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 lime, squeezed
• 3-4 mint leaves, finely chopped

Instructions:

1. Wash everything, especially the leek. Peel and grate parsnip. Grate zucchini and squash. Chop leek into thin medallions (that will later break apart). Mix everything together in a large bowl. 

- Tip: don't use the stalk of the leek but you can save this to fry up with eggs or use in a stir-fry. Leeks are in the same family as onions and can be substituted. 

2. Add flour, eggs, salt, and pepper to vegetable mixture. Mix together well (we recommend using your hands). 

3. Generously coat a skillet or pan with canola or vegetable oil, turn stove onto medium heat and allow the pan to heat up a little 

- Tip: they hold together much better if you let the pan get hot before putting them in. Think "first pancake"). 

4. For Tzatziki sauce just mix everything together in a small bowl. 

5. Serve your fritters hot, topped with a healthy dollop of Tzatziki!