​by Amanda Anderson

​​Here are a few of my pointers on how to make your herb arrangements last:

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​Martha Stewart has been praising herb bouquets for years, and I find that they make great displays for dinner parties and day to day beautification. Also, if mine are displayed attractively on the kitchen counter, I’m more apt to use them here and there as opposed to when I throw them in a bag in the corner of the fridge.
No need to limit yourselves to herbs, either; I find some of the lettuce and swiss chard from the CSA so beautiful that I can’t help but mixing them with flowers and herbs for summertime arrangements, too!

By Laura Dobbins and Anna Curran

​​Wow—look at these amazing vegetables and fruits! This is a six-foot table, and a full share with a fruit share fills it up. 
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​We are getting the hang of how to fully use all these veggies and herbs. I mostly ate salads with radishes and beans every day as a start to get at the mountain. But here are some of the recipes we enjoyed as well. 

​This one is pretty basic, but it was a twist on the old standby of kale sautéed in olive oil with garlic. Try it—it’ll give new life to your kale regime! 

​RADISHES!
Anna runs the business CookbookCreate, which allows you to create your own cookbooks. She adapted the recipe below because of all the radishes we are getting—and it is delicious! Plus a great way to use the greens. 

​Directions
1.
Soak the mung beans overnight. This releases excess ogliosacharides and makes the beans even easier to digest. Mung beans are known for being one of the 3 easiest beans to digest. So we’re off to great start already.
2.
After soaking, strain the beans of excess liquid and rinse until the water runs clear.
3.
Put the soaked beans in beans in a medium covered pot with the turmeric and bay leaf and 1 1/2 cups of water. The beans will need to cook for 20-30 minutes on medium heat. Keep the pot covered so there is enough water for the beans to absorb. The beans are done when they reach their desired consistency. They should no longer be tough to chew, but should be so cooked that the become mushy.
4.
While the beans are cooking, wash the radish leaves thoroughly. Then finely chop the washed leaves and set aside. Finely chop onions, the green chillies and quarter the tomatoes.
5.
When the beans are almost done and need only 5-10 more minutes to cook, you can start a second pan where you’ll cook the veggies.
6.
In a large saute pan (square sided pan) melt the butter over medium heat. Add mustard seeds cook stirring gently. When the mustard seeds crackle, add cumin seeds. When cumin seeds start to pop and slightly change color, add in the chopped onions, grated ginger, and chillies. Saute untill onions turn light brown in color. Then add in the tomatoes and cook until all ingredients in the pan are the same temperature 1-2 minutes. Add the chopped radish leaves and salt. Cover with a lid and cook on medium low flame for 2 minutes until the radish leave wilt.
7.
When the beans are done, remove the bay leaf from the cooked beans and mash slightly. Add the cooked beans along with 1/2 cup water to the saute pan with the vegetable and spice mixture.
8.
Cook on a medium low flame for 4-5 minute or until the gravy reaches desired consistency. Remove from heat. Serve in a bowl, and enjoy this hearty, healthy soup. It makes for great office lunches and freezes well.

[From Laura] I don’t much care for cabbage of any sort, but this was a way to make it healthy and tasty. I fed my coworkers too! Plus the leftover freezes well so you have chicken soup for when you feel under the weather. 

​This is great on pasta—you can make pesto out of any green you like the taste of, really—arugula, garlic scapes, I’m thinking about that sage, though that might e a little too strong… Anyway, I will be paring this with pasta and maybe some beans and corn… We’ll see.  It’s great plain too—perfect for picnics and summer concerts.  I ended up making three tubs of it and froze it all. It’s easy to pull out when you need it. 

By Amanda Anderson

​​We settled on Breville’s Juice Fountain Compact, picking it right off the shelf at the Union Square Best Buy for just $99. We couldn’t be happier. We juice 1-2 times a week, which we’ve already increased since starting the CSA pickups. This morning, I made a delicious kale, cantaloupe, celery, carrot juice that would have easily set me back at least $15 (for 2) at B&H. Tallying up two large juices twice a week for five months, this little machine has saved us roughly $750! In other words, it has paid for itself 7.5 times already!

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​​If you’re on the fence about home juicing, let me tell you a little bit more about why we like this little machine:

​It really juices things The leftover pulp is dry and easy to dump into a compost bin. We tried recycling a bit and adding it to our dog’s food, but he wasn’t too keen on it. Another friend makes crackers out of hers - we are waiting for a cool day to try this recipe. The one thing that is a challenge, as is for every centrifugal juicer, is processing greens. We found that the juice is richer when we sandwich the greens inside a handful of other hard fruits or vegetables like celery or carrots.