Heads Up! CSA and JUICE FEAST for 12/11

Just a reminder our juice feast is below 🙂

For a limited time we are offering gift certificates in any amount from 2-12 week time periods. Your gift will include a plantable card from Green Field paper company and a $5 gift certificate to our CSA store. There is no better present than the gift of veggies and health.

We will be closing for the week of Christmas (12/25). It just so happens Christmas lands on Wednesday this year so we will be taking that time to spend with our families and plan for the upcoming year. We are really excited to be on the verge of offering eggs in the CSA. In the new year we plan on partnering up with a brand new mom and pop bakery called Deux offering some of the most spectacular bread I’ve ever seen. Hopefully with eggs, bread and cheese we can keep a lot of our dollars spent locally in the community while nourishing our families.

It’s been below freezing here on the farm and we are definitely feeling as winter as Santa Barbara gets – about 29 degrees. Here’s some frozen dandelion greens this morning: No more zucchini and I am betting that tomatoes are going to be hard to find in the next few months, so let’s especially enjoy them this week. I am looking forward to a few new winter crops trickling in!

CSA for December 11th
CARROTS
ROMAINE LETTUCE
YELLOW or RED BELL PEPPERS
CELERY
RED TOMATOES
BABY SPINACH
CILANTRO
LEEKS
BUTTERNUT SQUASH
COLLARD GREENS
BASIL
BIG BOX ADD: SALAD MIX, CARROTS, FENNEL, RED BEETS, BOK CHOI

*Best way to store cilantro – throw it in a jar with a little water in the bottom, put it in the fridge and put a plastic bag over the top. Or you can purchase an herb savor if you are a gadget kind of person. We aren’t promoting any which one, but this is an example of one.

It’s COLD out so we thought a little soup might warm you and your kitchen up. Check out what Dani Rhoades, our local nutritionist, has to say about making the most of your soup:

Soup really is a wonderful way to warm the body during this cold season and keep our immune systems strong. Like anything it’s all about what goes in that soup! Using a home-made, long simmered bone broth as the base of your soup is the best choice for fighting colds, flus and viruses. Sauté immune boosting vegetables like leeks, onions and garlic in healthy fats like ghee or grass-fed butter. Use your butternut squash or other winter vegetables and add your hearty proteins! Broth can also be consumed like a warm cup of tea in a mug with celtic sea salt to support the body during this season. Learn more about boosting immunity on my website below!

By Dani Rhoades, NC, www.wholesomepractices.com

Collard Green & Black-Eyed Pea Soup

(Antioxidant-rich collard greens and fiber-packed black-eyed peas have a starring role in this nutritious soup. There’s no need for loads of ham or salt pork—just a small amount of bacon gives it a wonderful smoky flavor. You can skip the bacon and substitute vegetable broth for chicken broth for a great vegetarian dish.)
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, diced (sub 1 leek here, white part only)
1 large carrot, sliced
1 stalk celery, sliced
5 cloves garlic, (4 sliced and 1 whole), divided
1 sprig fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper, or to taste
4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes (sub 2 fresh tomatoes)
5 cups chopped collard greens, or kale leaves (about 1 bunch), tough stems removed
1 15-ounce can black-eyed peas, rinsed
6 1/2-inch-thick slices baguette, preferably whole-grain, cut on the diagonal
6 tablespoons shredded Gruyère or Swiss cheese
2 slices cooked bacon, finely chopped
Directions:
1.Heat oil in a large pan oven over medium heat. Add onion, carrot and celery and cook, stirring, until just tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Add sliced garlic, thyme and crushed red pepper and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Increase heat to high and add broth, tomatoes and their juice. Bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits. Stir in collard greens, reduce heat to maintain a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the greens are tender, 5 to 10 minutes. Discard the thyme sprig. Stir in black-eyed peas; remove from the heat and cover.
2.Position rack in upper third of oven; preheat broiler.
3.Place baguette slices on a baking sheet and broil until lightly toasted, 2 to 4 minutes. Rub each bread slice with the remaining garlic clove. (Discard garlic.) Turn the slices over and top with cheese. Broil until the cheese is melted, 1 to 3 minutes. Serve the soup topped with the cheese toasts and bacon.
(Recipe from Eating Well)

Cilantro, Celery, and Almond Salad

(This Middle Eastern-inspired salad is beautifully fragrant, thanks to fresh cilantro. Toasted almonds add crunch. Cilantro is a phenomenal herb that is packed with vitamins A, K, & C, minerals such as iron, calcium, and magnesium, and has more antioxidants than most fruits or vegetables.)
Ingredients:
6 small celery stalks, thinly sliced on the bias
2 cups cilantro leaves
2/3 cup golden raisins (I used regular because I’m not a fan of golden)
1/4 cup almonds, toasted and very coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Coarse salt
Directions:
Combine celery, cilantro, raisins, and almonds in a bowl. Drizzle with oil and lemon juice, and season with salt. Toss to coat.

Baja Butternut Squash Soup

(This silky-smooth butternut soup gets a hit of spice from chipotle, cloves and cumin.)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds (1 small to medium) butternut or other winter squash
1 teaspoon canola oil
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 small onion, diced (sub a leek in here)
1 carrot, chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4-1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle chile, (see Note)
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
6 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt
2 tablespoons snipped fresh chives, cilantro or chopped parsley
Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 350°F.
2.Cut squash in half and seed. Place the halves on a baking sheet, cut-side down. Bake until tender when pierced with a knife, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Scoop out flesh when cool enough to handle.
3.Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add celery, onion and carrot and stir to coat. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring frequently, until soft, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in the squash flesh, cumin, chipotle to taste and cloves. Add broth and simmer, covered, until the vegetables are very tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
4.Puree the soup with an immersion blender or a regular blender (in batches) until smooth. (Use caution when pureeing hot liquids.) Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with a drizzle of yogurt and sprinkle of chives (or parsley).
(Recipe from Eating Well)

JUICE FEAST for December 11th
BAGGED CARROTS
ROMAINE LETTUCE
CELERY
BABY SPINACH
CILANTRO
GREEN KALE
FENNEL
DANDELION
GRANNY SMITH APPLES from FAIRHILL FARMS**
RED BEETS
GARLIC

**Unfortunately Fairhill Farms has recently and voluntarily given up their Organic Certification. We are going to be looking and using other local, organic resources. We may not always be able to provide them in them in the feast, but we will always have sweet, juicy carrots.

We all need a little immunity boost in our lives and juicing is one of the best, quickest and most powerful ways to do it. If you have a masticating juicer it’s the best kind to extract powerful nutrients from leafy vegetables, roots and things like garlic.

Juicing can be used to boost your immunity because of all the nutrients it provides. Depending on what’s in your juice it can be even more therapeutic for your immune system. Garlic being the best addition to boost immunity in your juice! Garlic provides anti-biotic properties with it’s strong immunity and fights off bad bugs. It stimulates the release of healthy white blood cells to defend your body. It’s active constituent allicin helps protect any of your cells from damage. While it might not taste the best, it certainly is the best for your immune system! Give it a try!

By Dani Rhoads, NC, www.wholesomepractices.com
Sources: Bauman College texts

Red Detox Supreme
(The sweetness of the beets, carrot and apple tame the bitterness of the dandelion greens so use a little extra than you might think you can take!)
Ingredients:
1 Beet and greens
8-10 Carrots
1 Cucumber and/or head of Romaine Lettuce
1 whole Lemon
1 Granny Smith apple
1/4-1/2 bu. dandelion greens
handful of spinach
huge piece of fresh turmeric root
Makes 2 x 16 oz jars. Perfect for after a workout!
*by Carolyn Givens

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