I affectionately call Spring “Green Season” at the farm. Early Spring crops are bright green, which is such a welcome color after thedullness that is winter eating. After nearly 5 months of eating out of our freezer and pantry, the green produce of Spring is a beautiful sight.
Our pickup this week looked pretty similar to last week, which I’m pretty excited about because I found a few new recipes I want to try. I also grabbed a few colorful veggies from the farmstand misfit shelf to mix in with all the green. The misfit shelf is my second favorite part of Springdell. Each week Farmer Jamie puts her unloved veggies on sale 2/$1 and I buy anything that I know we will eat. Between my share and the misfit shelf, I can feed my people amazing food for very little cost.
Next week, I’ll share more about the nitty gritty of how I meal plan. Yesterday I spent most of the day making an inventory of our freezers and preserved jarred goods, so this week we’ll use a lot of the treasures I found there as well.
From the Farmstand
Onions, shallots, red peppers, tomatoes, celery, blueberries, cherry tomatoes, lemons, sweet potato, extra bag of lettuce, extra bag of chives, avocado, baguettes, avocado, mushrooms, potatoes
Spring Week Two
1 head lettuce
3 bunches asparagus
1 bag spinach
1 bag fiddleheads
1 bag chives
Recipes to Try
Lettuce
I’ve been loving salads for lunch this week; I pile greens on a plate and top it with whatever I can find in my fridge. Pickled beets (from last summer), boiled eggs, pecans, slow roasted cherry tomatoes (found in my freezer clean-out this week), and croutons (made from garlic bread also found in my freezer) are my favorite toppings right now.
We’re having Port-Glazed Porterhouse Steak Salads for dinner tonight. David has never been a huge salad eater, but if I top it with meat, he thinks it’s amazing. I love this recipe because it also uses asparagus and new potatoes.
These lettuce wraps are so good, and you can use any ground meat, or make them vegetarian by using mushrooms or ultra-firm tofu (just make sure you squeeze out all the water first).
Spring is when we start getting really creative with breakfast ideas. With super fresh produce starting to come in, oatmeal and cereal take a back burner and produce takes center stage. I adore BLTs for breakfast, David loves this Fried Egg Salad.
Asparagus
Asparagus is only around for a few weeks, so when we eat a lot of it when it’s fresh. Two years ago I tried to blanch and freeze asparagus, but I didn’t like the texture when we cooked it from frozen. I do, however, love these Spicy Asparagus Pickles. I pickle a few jars every Spring and am always so glad for them come February.
I can’t wait to eat this Spring Panzanella for lunch this week. I’ll use caramelized shallots instead of leeks, and these flageolet beans instead of canned ones.
This Spring Minestrone Soup with Kale and Pasta is a new recipe for me; I haven’t made it yet, but I love how green it is. The weather will be cooler here on Monday, and this feels like a good way to celebrate Spring even though it may feel cold outside.
Spinach
This Green Pasta recipe is my favorite way to use greens. No matter what kind of greens, once they’ve been transformed into pasta, everyone in my family gets excited about eating greens. It uses an entire package of greens, and it’s become a fall-back meal for us in the Winter. I don’t typically make it with fresh greens, but last week I needed a quick way to use an entire bag of spinach, so I made pasta with it!
My salad-hating husband loves this Wilted Spinach Salad with Bacon Vinaigrette.
Chicken Pot Pie is another meal that can be made with whatever vegetables you find in your fridge or freezer. I don’t have any carrots or parsnips, but I do have potatoes, asparagus, and spinach. With the discovery of cooked chicken and phyllo dough in my freezer, this is a no-brainer.
Chives
I bookmarked this Creamy Chive Pasta recipe last week and was so excited to pickup chives in my box this week. This is a quick meal and is perfect for that night when everyone is out of the house until 6pm.
These Cheddar Chive Biscuits will pair beautifully with the Spring Minestrone Soup I mentioned earlier.
Fiddleheads
I did not have great luck with roasted fiddleheads last week. I think I overcooked them in the blanching step, so they were mushy. David and I decided they taste a little bit like shrimp. This week I’m going to pickle them, because pickling makes everything taste better. I’m going to try this Crunchy Pickled Fiddlehead recipe, because mushy fiddleheads last week really creeped me out.
Farmer Jamie told me to be prepared for a lot of greens next week. Harvest season is off to a slow start because of a cooler than normal spring, but things are really starting to take off. I’m so excited to see what we get. Making beautiful meals out of beautiful food is one of my favorite parts of this time of year!
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