CSA Kitchen Sink Carrot Ginger Soup

Continuing on the theme of CSA prep and process before going to GA and returning to rotten vegetables in the fridge... Process, prep, and freeze production continues...  Apologies if all these ingredients are random and mainly found in the CSA... But look at your life and look at your choices and invest in farm fresh seasonal goodness.

Ingredients:

Canola oil

2 onions

leek

2 buttercup squash - roasted the day before and cooled

1 bunch purple carrots

3 parsnips

A good 3-4 inch nubbin of ginger

2 boxes of chicken broth

Salt to taste

1/8 C honey

1 cup whole milk

Directions:

Coat bottom of stock pan with canola.

Throw in roughly chopped onion.

As you roughly chop other ingredients add in leek, carrots, parsnip.

Scoop out of skin and add squash flesh to pot.

Add 2 boxes of chicken broth and fresh ginger - peeled and roughly chopped.

Simmer for an hour or until carrots are pierced easily with a fork.

Turn off heat and add milk and honey.  Adjust seasoning.

Using my favorite kitchen toy.  Immersian blend the heck out of the soup.  

Taste, cool, package, and freeze for a rainy day.

Creamed Spinach

...when spinach grows up.

Operation, save the CSA - prep and  freeze - before going home sweet home for Christmas...

With two ginormous bags of CSA spinach in the fridge and the desire to make something that would freeze, I opted for creamed spinach.  A first, but not a last time this will happen.  (And quite a treat to the usual - dash of olive oil to saute spinach)

The CSA: where you learn what happens when baby spinach grows up.

Ingredients: 

2 giant bags of giant leaves of spinach

yummy creamy step.. 

2 T butter

4 giant shallots

3 T flour

1 C whole milk

1/2 C 1% milk

1 brick cream cheese

healthy pour of garlic powder

2 rinds of Parmesan (leftover from a party)

dash of nutmeg - around 1/4 tsp

salt and pepper to taste

Directions: 

Wash the giant sandy CSA spinach picking off stems and tearing into small pieces.

Melt butter.

Saute shallot in butter until translucent.

Add flour stirring frequently until nutty color.

Add milk.

Add cream cheese melting.  Add nutmeg.

Add all the other things and stir until spinach cooks down.

Noms.  I learned tonight that it goes well with quinoa and salmon.

...and we're ready to nom.