This week’s box included: bell peppers, lettuce, mustard greens, collards, white sweet potatoes, eggplant, 2 lbs of popcorn, butternut squash, apples, spaghetti squash …. and NO CUCUMBERS.
This week’s recipe notes are from Maggie, the host of our pickup location in the Medlock/North Decatur area. Thanks, Maggie!
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Tomorrow we’ll use (some!) of the
Napa cabbage,
radishes, and
sweet peppers for a big salad. We find that even with dressing on, this salad stays pretty crisp and is great for lunches. Anything goes, but we usually add roasted peanuts or almonds, tofu or rice noodles, cilantro, green onions, sesame seeds, chopped oranges, and a dressing similar to the one found
here.
Then, we’ll make one of our favorites,
butternut squash and black bean tacos from
Cookie and Kate. This will meet the demands of my first grader who says we “never get avocados anymore,” and we’ll avoid buying purple cabbage and use leftover
Napa cabbage instead.
You may have sweet potatoes from last week. I’m debating on this one but leaning heavily toward a red curry with
sweet potatoes,
sweet peppers, and chicken (similar to
this one). We always keep coconut milk and curry paste for when we need flavor but want something simple. Other options include a simple
sweet potato and sausage soup, where we’d add some
collards, or stuffed
sweet potatoes with roasted broccoli, roasted chickpeas, and havarti.
That leaves our collards. I’m a recent convert regarding collards. The only way I feel confident is to make our own version of
classic collards. I use our instant pot and throw in water, chicken bouillon, a spoonful of leftover bacon grease, a couple glugs of apple cider vinegar, and pressure cook on high for 17 minutes. We’ll add some cornbread (see my favorite recipe below) and Rancho Gordo beans of some sort.
Gluten Free Skillet Cornbread (from America’s Test Kitchen) — rivals any gluten cornbread for sure!
11 ¼ ounces (2 1/4 cups) cornmeal
1 ½ cups sour cream
½ cup milk
¼ cup vegetable oil
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 Adjust oven racks to lower-middle and middle positions and heat oven to 450 degrees. Place 10-inch cast-iron skillet on middle rack and heat for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, spread cornmeal over rimmed baking sheet and toast in oven on lower-middle rack until fragrant and lightly golden, about 5 minutes.
2 Carefully transfer toasted cornmeal to large bowl and whisk in sour cream and milk; set aside. When skillet is hot, add oil and continue to heat until just smoking, about 5 minutes.
3 Using potholders (skillet handle will be hot), remove skillet from oven, carefully add butter, and gently swirl to incorporate. Pour hot oil-butter mixture into cornmeal mixture and whisk to incorporate. Whisk in sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, followed by eggs.
4 Quickly scrape batter into hot skillet and smooth top. Bake on middle rack until top begins to crack and sides are golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes, rotating skillet halfway through baking. Let bread cool in skillet on wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove bread from pan and let cool on rack for at least 10 minutes before serving.
