Christmas Lima Beans with Roasted Spinach, Mushrooms & Shallots

When the weather is cold, I crave deep, rich flavors, but I don’t always want the heartiness that comes with a stew. Recently I combined two of my favorite easy recipes to make one meal and it felt a little like a masterpiece. Christmas Limas (also known as Chestnut Limas or Calico Beans) are the easiest thing ever, and this recipe for Roasted Mushrooms & Spinach is as versatile as it comes. When you put them together, you have flavor meets vitamins meets cozy—it’s a win/win/win. If you have mushroom haters in your house (like I do), just give them the Beans and Spinach over some rice.

Christmas Lima Beans with Roasted Spinach, Mushrooms, & Shallots

Ingredients:

1/2 pound dry Christmas Lima Beans (you can use any lima bean, but the Christmas Limas are extra meaty and delicious)
1 onion, sliced in half
1 carrot (or a handful of frozen carrots)
1 stalk celery (or a handful of frozen celery)
1 bay leaf
swirl of olive oil
salt to taste

10 ounces fresh spinach
12-16 ounces mushrooms (button or cremini work well here), sliced
3-4 shallots, sliced
6 garlic cloves, sliced thin
2 Tbsp olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Rinse dry beans and put in a large soup pot or dutch oven. Put sliced onion, carrot, celery and bay leaf in the pot with your beans and cover it with water. You want about two inches of water above your beans. Swirl a little olive oil over the top.

2. Bring to a rolling boil. Let boil hard [and uncovered] for 5 minutes, turn the stove down, partially cover, and let beans simmer until tender. This will take anywhere from an hour to three, depending on how hot your burner is and how old your beans are.

3. Once your beans are done, you can turn the stove off, put the top on, and let them sit on the stove until you’re ready to eat dinner (or refrigerate for use later in the week).

4. When you’re ready to make the roasted vegetables, preheat the oven to 425°. Toss sliced mushrooms, sliced garlic, sliced shallots with 2 Tbsp olive oil and some salt and pepper and arrange on a rimmed sheet pan in a single layer. Roast 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.

5. Add spinach to sheet pan and toss to mix. Roast for 2-3 minutes, stir, and then roast another 2-3 minutes until fully wilted.

6. If your beans have gotten cold, reheat them, then mix it all together for a taste explosion.

The leftovers make for an amazing omelette the next day, or you can heat it all up together and put a fried egg on top. So many delicious options!

Using Preserves: Veggie Lo Mein with Frozen Snow Peas

It’s probably no secret that we don’t eat out much. With a farm share as big as the one we have, I always feel guilty about going out to eat. There’s too much food hanging about to let it go to waste. And usually, whenever we do go out to eat, we leave feeling like we could have made something better at home. It’s not that I don’t like being served, it’s just that I really love creating beautiful meals—and in order to get beautiful meals from a restaurant, you have to go somewhere really expensive. And I’m cheap when it comes to eating out. We will occasionally go out as a treat, but I’m learning to master some of our favorite takeout meals at home. They always taste better with fresh, local produce anyway.

About once a month I plan Chinese At-Home Takeout Night. I make several of our favorite Chinese Dishes, put them in these cute white bowls I have (they look like this, but I probably got them at Costco), and put it all out on the counter as if we got it from a local takeout joint. I also make a huge mess in the kitchen, but the end result is so delightful and always worth it. One dish that we always make is Veggie Lo Mein. During regular harvest season, it’s easy to make with whatever fresh veggies we have on hand. But, I always love making it in the Winter, because it allows our fresh veggies the chance to shine. I froze several bags of snow peas back in June and they were a delightful addition to Chinese Night this week.

The best part about Veggie Lo Mein is you can serve it as a side with a smorgasbord of other things or you can make it alone and put an egg on top. If you’re looking for an easy weeknight meal, look no further. And yes, you can use other frozen veggies, but you’ll want to adapt the cook time a bit. Peas are the easiest, for sure.

Veggie Lo Mein with Frozen Snow Peas

Adapted from Half Baked Harvest: Garlic Butter Ramen Noodles

As written, serves 4-6 as a side; 2-4 as a meal. Double if you want leftovers for lunch.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
4 blocks of rice ramen noodles (these are my favorite; I get them at Costco)
8-10 ounces frozen snow peas
3 Tbsp Braggs Liquid Aminos
fried or boiled egg and sesame seeds for topping (optional)

Instructions:

1. Heat a large pot of water to boiling.

2. Just before your water comes to a boil, heat a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the butter. Once it’s melted, add the garlic and ginger. Stirring regularly, cook a few minutes until it smells amazing and begins to get a little toasty.

3. Add your snow peas and toss to coat with the butter mixture. Stir 1-2 minutes, or until defrosted. Turn off the heat.

4. Cook rice noodles using package directions. Don’t ignore the step that says use a fork to break apart the noodles. They’ll cook better that way. But beware, the steam is hot, so use the longest fork you can find. When your noodles are done, drain them.

5. If you want eggs on top, now is the time to get them going.

6. Toss your noodles into the saute pan. Turn heat back on and mix well. Cook just long enough to make sure everything is warm.

7. Pour into your serving bowl, sprinkle with sesame seeds, and enjoy your At-Home Takeout.

Photo by Edward Howell on Unsplash.

December

Today, I drove to the farm for the last time in 2021. The stand is still piled high with amazing produce and other goodies; if you haven’t gotten a chance to stop in this month, I highly recommend it. We are particularly excited about Gingersnap Pudding from Echo Farms. December feels like the last bountiful month of the season. As the weather gets colder and snow starts to appear (we hope), it’s only fitting that we start to hunker down and eat the last of our storage crops before turning to the freezer stash.

It’s hard to pick a favorite season on the farm, but the Winter share certainly is charming. It feels like just enough extras to help you be successful in eating out of your freezer most of the month. This month you’ll see a shift from recipes that require a lot of preparation to recipes that you’ve already prepared. With all the hustle and bustle of the holidays, December is a fantastic month to eat the meals you stashed away this summer. Save your meal energy on preparing the holiday treats!

What We Have to Work With

acorn squash, apples, baby greens salad mix, candy cane beets, brussels sprouts, butternut squash, cabbage, garlic, eggnog, onions, parsnips, potatoes, shallots, turnips, watermelon radish, white grapefruit

Helpful Pantry & Dairy Goods

Pasta, dried beans and lentils (we love Rancho Gordo), flour, rice, farro, cheese, tortillas

Meal Ideas for the Month

As far as freezer meals go, I’m loving the Stuffed Eggplant and Vegetable Lasagna I stuck in the freezer with all of our late summer produce. We’re traveling for Christmas, so I’ve already planned to eat out of the freezer when we get back. We’ll have Cabbage Rolls (with rice), Stuffed Peppers, Butternut Gnocchi and Enchiladas (see below).

Let’s talk about Enchiladas. They are my new favorite meal. I can hide anything in enchiladas and my kids will eat it. I often don’t use a recipe, but something like this is a fan favorite around here. You can use winter squash instead of sweet potato, and feel free to throw some greens in the mix too. This is another great vegetarian option, and you can use veggies straight out of your freezer for it too! If you find yourself with leftover rotisserie chicken, consider making these chicken enchiladas. I made a double batch last week and stuck half in the freezer for when we return.

We still have a pretty good stash of potatoes in our storage room, and this Potatoes Anna with baby greens is a favorite way to use them up.

If you have brussels sprouts and don’t know what to do with them, this Brussels Sprouts Pasta Bake (aka Mac & Cheese) is a fantastic way to get your brussels sprouts hating kids to devour every bite.

I am really loving Farro Grain bowls for lunch these days. I use this as inspiration, but instead of summer vegetables, I use roasted veggies (broccoli, brussels sprouts, winter squash, beets, whatever I can find in the fridge) and pickled watermelon radish. Sometimes instead of putting it on a grain bowl, I put it on a bed of greens and have a salad instead.

Two weeks ago I was behind on meal planning and had no idea what to make for dinner. At the last minute, I decided on Omelettes with Roasted Potatoes and Carrots. Everyone picked what went in their omelette - I chose mushrooms, ham, spinach and slow-roasted tomatoes; the kids chose ham and cheese; the hubs went with ham, spinach, and tomatoes. I decided that night that omelettes really should become a regular part of our Winter meal rotation.

And when all else fails, throw all your veggies on a sheet pan and stick it in the oven at 425. No matter what goes on the pan, it always seems to come out delicious. Sometimes we add sausage. Sometimes we just eat a plate full of veggies. There are tons of recipes online, but it’s really very easy. Pull out whatever veggies you need to eat (here it’s parsnips, turnips, winter squash, potatoes, brussels sprouts and cabbage). Chop them up, throw them on a sheet pan, toss with olive oil and salt. Roast until delicious. (One caveat: I throw my potatoes in a pot, cover with water, and put over high heat for 10 minutes. Then I drain and toss them with the other veggies. This helps them get good and crispy.)

Holiday Ideas

Christmas Eve is always Snack Dinner in our house. I’ve also heard it called “A Shepherd’s Meal”. We make a ton of our favorite appetizers mid-afternoon and snack away until time for bed. There are always homemade gingersnaps with a chocolate chip cheeseball, cheese and crackers, raw veggies with ranch dip (the Hidden Valley Kind). This year, I’m excited to add this Spicy Caramel Popcorn to the table.

For happy hour (or New Year’s Eve), this Earl Grey French 75 is AMAZING. I brought an extra large batch to our Book Club holiday party last week and it was gone in no time. This Cinnamon Maple Whiskey Sour is also an excellent holiday cocktail.

Christmas morning calls for something extra special, like Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls or you could make my Grandma’s Swedish Tea ring.

For Christmas Dinner, my sister was gifted a HoneyBaked Ham, so we only have to worry about side dishes. I’m thinking about this Shredded Brussels Sprout Salad— the pomegranate seeds make it such a beautiful addition to any table. I also love this Hasselback Butternut Squash (isn’t it so pretty?) As for fun appetizers, a friend made these Blue Cheese Gougères for us last night and they were incredible with that Earl Grey French 75 I mentioned earlier.

And for dessert, make this Red Wine Chocolate Cake for the adults and a pan of brownies for the kiddos. No one will complain about chocolate.

That’s it for December, folks. I hope you have the Merriest of Christmases, the Happiest of Holidays, and are able to spend some time with the people you love the most. Thanks for going along on this CSA Journey with me in 2021; I look forward to all the delicious food that 2022 has in store!