Enjoy and love your vegetables! We’re told to eat our vegetables, all the time. We tell our children to eat their vegetables. But I think we sometimes forget the sheer pleasure and goodness of in-season vegetables, year-round. And yes, good health, is a big bonus!
It has been a tough winter for bugs of all sorts. Most everyone I know has battled several rounds of colds, flus, and other unpleasantries. Our little family of three has been practically unscathed. It has also been a big winter for vegetables. I’ve had the pleasure (and responsibility:) of two, full Winter CSA Shares (I’m guessing that’s 20lbs/week). I don’t have any proof that it’s all the black Spanish radishes, daikon, celeriac, leeks, turnips, kale, collards, purple sprouting broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, winter squashes of all shapes and sizes, and loads of onions, carrots and garlic, but I’d put money on my remarkable health and vitality these days having something to do with this pleasure and plethora of vegetables.
I’m just over a year out from a double mastectomy and six months of chemotherapy that laid waste to my immune system. However, when these gorgeous, nutrient dense, vegetables show up every week and the sheer volume allows you to eat as many vegetables as you possibly can, my immune system seemed to rebuild with gusto. I know I am very fortunate to have access to this bounty and everyone should be so lucky!
Most of us will hopefully not experience a health crisis of these proportions but we are all susceptible to stress and illness at every turn and what we choose and have access to eat, will make an impact. CSAs are one way of insuring a regular supply of truly seasonal produce. There’s something about this regularity that slowly builds habits that sustain and nourish not only our bodies but a better understanding of our communities, our soil, the people who cultivate it and share the fruits of their labor with us. I have never been more in love with the CSA model and more convinced that it is an antidote to so much of what ails us.
There’s still plenty of time to subscribe to a CSA and you’ll get access to all the recipes I’ve developed cooking my way through CSA shares for more than a decade in the form of the Seasonal Recipe Collection if you subscribe to one of these farms! But no matter what farm, just give it a shot, especially if you don’t travel much. Being home to enjoy all the bounty is one of the keys to CSA success.
Happy spring!
47th Ave Farm — Minto Island Growers — Love Farm Organics — Full Cellar Farm — Mud Creek Farm — Laughing Crow Organics — Hill Family Farm — Farmer Joe’s Gardens — Olsen Communities CSA — Cully Neighborhood Farm — Full Plate Farm — Coyote Family Farm — Abundant Field Farm — Sweetland Farm — Backyard Gardens — Legacy Acres Farm — Tanager Farm — In Good Heart Farm — Sweet Digz Farm — Lewis Educational Agricultural Center (L.E.A.F)
Radish & Carrot Slaw w/ Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
This is gorgeous, bright, tart and crunchy from the seeds. It’s delicious as a salad as well as on toast with hummus or avocado or cheese or egg, in some form. It will enliven most anything, really.
Serves 4
2 medium carrots, grated on large holes of a box grater
1 1/2 – 2 cups grated radish, of most any kind: Watermelon, Black Spanish, Ostergruss or common little red ones
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro or parsley or a combination
2 scallions, thinly sliced, white and green parts
1/2 serrano chile (optional), minced or a few pinches red pepper flakes
1/2 cup toasted pumpkin seeds (toast in a 350 degree oven for 8-12 minutes until turning golden and a bit puffed or in a dry skillet over medium-low heat)
1 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
Toss all ingredients in a bowl. Taste and adjust seasoning with more vinegar, salt, pepper to suit your taste. Enjoy fairly soon if you want to enjoy the full crunch!
Candace Ford says:
So glad to hear (as a compatriot in that process – now almost 18 years for me) that your recovery has been good. I love my vegetables, many grown by myself or neighbors, and am looking fwd to the peaches and prunes and apples and cherries also grown on our place out here in the boondocks. Both the recovery and remission and availability of real food provided by the land in our care give pause for thanks.
cookwithwhatyouhave says:
Thank you Candace and congratulations to you on your continued good health. We are so fortunate and it’s such fun to enjoy what we and our fabulous farmers grow.
Mary Lane says:
It is so FABULOUS to be reminded of your good health. Hallelujah, Katherine. Keep eating your vegetables.
cookwithwhatyouhave says:
Thanks Mary Lane! And I certainly will:)!
Louise Adams says:
So glad to hear you are feeling well and empowered by all the delicious vegetables. I often refer to your subscription and blog when preparing a monthly memory cafe luncheon. Thank you so much for your knowledge and inspiration!
cookwithwhatyouhave says:
Thanks Louise! So glad it’s useful.
Paloma Griffin Hebert says:
Hi there, I am so happy and inspired reading about your health and recovery, and the Recovery Slaw looks delicious! Can’t wait to try it 💜
cookwithwhatyouhave says:
Thank you Paloma!