Once or twice a month, Delisa and Janae from CNFC head over to Hooker Oak Elementary to talk to different classes about good food and to teach kids how to make healthy snacks!  This last trip, we made Yogurt Honey Health Muffins.  They were a hit with the kids and the adults!  Below you'll find some photos along with the recipe.

 

Yogurt Honey Health Muffins

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
8 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup honey
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 cup nonfat yogurt
2 tablespoons rolled oats 1 tablespoon toasted bran
1 tablespoon diced dried cranberries
1 tablespoon diced dried apricots
1 tablespoon unsalted sunflower seeds
1 teaspoon grated orange zest

 

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a mini muffin pan.
 
In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Add the oats, cranberries, apricots, sunflower seeds, orange zest and bran and mix to combine.
 
In another bowl combine the yogurt, honey, vanilla, butter and eggs and stir until the ingredients are well blended. Pour the yogurt mixture into the dry ingredients and stir to mix, just until all ingredients are incorporated. Take care not to overmix.
 

Fill muffin cups two-thirds of the way with batter. Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until golden and cooked through.

To be honest, I'm not 100% sure what kind of squash I used for this soup, as it came to me from my mother's garden.  However, I'm fairly certain it's aUchiki Kuri, which is a type of Japanese Hubbard.  Any hard winter squash should work just fine with this recipe though.

1 med-large winter squash(roughly 5lbs)

2 Tb fresh minced ginger

1 jalapeno, minced or diced (take the seeds out for a more mild spice)

1 Tb minced garlic

2 Tb butter

1 Tb olive oil

1 can of coconut milk

2-3 cups of broth (I used vegetable broth, but no-chicken, or real chicken would work great as well)

salt and pepper to taste  

 

Preparation

-Start by roasting your squash.  Cut it in half, scoop out the seeds, and place 1 tb of butter in each side.  Roast in the oven at 400 until tender (about 1 hour and 20 min).  When it's cooled you can scoop out the flesh from the skin.

-In a soup pot, heat oil and sautee garlic, ginger, and jalapeno until lightly browned. 

-Add to the pot the cooked squash and soup broth.  Simmer over moderately low-med heat for 15-20min.

-Add in coconut milk and simmer until thoroughly hot. -Remove from the heat and, working in batches, puree the soup in a blender until smooth. 

-Ladle the soup in to bowls and, if you like, garnish with feta.  You can either add salt and pepper to individual bowls or mix it in right before blending.

This soup is super excellent as leftovers.  The flavors really expand when the soup has had a chance to sit.  Enjoy!

Photo: Leigh Beisch; Styling: Dan Becker

Ingredients

* 1 spaghetti squash (about 3 lbs.)
* 2 cups milk
* 2 to 3 jalapeños, stemmed, seeded, and chopped
* 2 tablespoons butter, plus more for pans
* 3 tablespoons flour
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup shredded jack cheese

Preparation

* 1. Preheat oven to 375°. Cut squash in half lengthwise and use a spoon or melon baller to remove seeds and surrounding fiber. Put squash, cut side down, on a lightly buttered baking sheet and bake until tender when flesh is pierced with a fork, 30 to 40 minutes. Or poke several holes in skin of squash with a fork and microwave it on high 10 minutes. Squash should be tender when pierced with a fork; if it isn't, microwave on high in 1-minute intervals until tender. Let sit until cool.
* 2. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan over medium heat, warm milk and jalapeños until bubbles form along the edge of the pan. Remove mixture from heat and let sit 15 minutes. Strain and discard jalapeños.
* 3. When squash is cool enough to handle, use a large spoon to scrape the strands out of the skin and into a large bowl.
* 4. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, melt 2 tbsp. butter. Whisk in flour and salt and cook, whisking, until flour smells cooked (like piecrust), about 3 minutes. Slowly pour in jalapeño-infused milk while whisking. Reduce heat to medium and continue whisking until mixture thickens slightly, about 3 minutes. Pour mixture over squash and stir to combine. Transfer mixture to a buttered 2-qt. baking dish. Sprinkle with jack cheese and bake until bubbling and brown on top, about 30 minutes.

Some days in the produce department, the veggies talk more than usual.  A usual day is pretty quiet, they are patient, they doze, somewhat indifferent.  Maybe you will buy them and allow them to feed you, maybe you would rather have an Annie’s pizza from the freezer, they don’t mind either way.

But there are other days, especially in the summer heat, when the frenetic veggies will not be silent.  My own plans matter not, after 8 hours in their midst, I end up surrendering to their every last whimsical demand.  Last week, this rowdy bunch all asked to be taken home together (in order from pushiest to most humble):

Poblano Peppers

Summer Squash

Sungold Cherry Tomatoes

Garlic

Red Onion

Dino Kale

One Beet

Avocado (waiting for me at home)

                Once we got back to the pad, I put a handful of sunflower seeds in some water to soak.  I chopped the squash, garlic, onion, and dino kale very small, and grated a beet into a bowl with them.  In a little bit of coconut oil, they were very briefly sautéed (about two minutes).  Hot and delighted, they went back in the bowl and asked for some goat cheese.  I mixed and mashed them together with about a half cup of Sierra Nevada chevre.  I sawed the tops off of the poblano peppers, who had been hollering from the counter this whole time, and in accordance with their earlier demands, stuffed each one with the mix of veggies and cheese.  In a medium saucepan, I heated up some bacon fat and coconut oil about ¼ inch deep and laid the stuffed peppers in to fry.  I turned them every five minutes until all three sides were evenly cooked.

                You’d think they’d be satiated.  You’d think, on a 90 degree night, with chili oil burning my fingers, they’d recognize that there are limits in this world.  But no, they wanted to be drained and covered, and while they relaxed, I put the soaked sunflower seeds in a blender with a whole basket of the cherry tomatoes, some nutritional yeast and braggs aminos.  I blended until super smooth, adding a handful of kernels from a drying corn ear in my garden to thicken it up.

                The precocious poblanos then asked to be stripped!  Carefully I peeled away each of their skins, and noticed I was getting into the swing of things myself.  With glee, I slathered on some of the sunflower tomato sauce, called my avocado friends to let them know what a great time it was, and sprinkled sunflower and pumpkin seeds like confetti on top.    Wow.  Woah.  Yes.

                Have a listen on your next trip to the produce aisle and see if something calls to you.  It can feel over the top at first, I know.  They’re pushy, they’re numerous, they’re esoteric and discriminating, but let me tell you, they’re right every time.

-Lauren Kennedy, Sustainability Coordinator & Produce Stocker

This recipe is easy and wonderful for this time of year because it utilizes some ingredients that are currently bountiful!

 

Ingredients

3 Tbs Sierra Nevada Cheese Co. butter

4 cups chopped summer squash (any assortment you like; zuchini, crooked neck, sunburst, etc...)  I got a variety from GRUB.

3 cloves of garlic, minced from Farmer's Market

1-2 seeded and chopped jalapenos from my garden

12 large eggs from Chris' Egg Farm

1 tsp salt unfortunately not local

2 medium size tomates, sliced from my garden

1/3 cup chopped basil from my garden

3-4oz Sierra Nevada Cheese Co. Chevre

 

Preparation

-Melt 3 Tbsp. butter in a 10-inch ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat; add summer squash, garlic, and jalapenos.  Sauté 12 to 14 minutes or until veggies are tender. Remove skillet from heat.

 -Whisk together eggs and salt until well blended.   The more you whisk the fluffier your frittata!  Pour over vegetable mixture in skillet. 

-Cook over low heat until the bottom half has set.  Then sprinkle on chevre, basil, and tomatoes

-Bake at 350°  or broil at 500° until edges are lightly browned and center is set.

-Run a spatula around the inside rim to loosen the frittata from the skillet. 

-Enjoy!

 

Currently in the Co-op we have some BEAUTIFUL tomatillos from Comanche Creek Farms.  A couple days ago I decided to utilize a recipe from a blog post I did last year on salsa verde.  Then I needed something to do with the salsa.  That need led to this recipe.  The masa cakes turned out a bit like sopes or papusas (both things I love).  Topped with some fresh, summer tomatoes and salsa verde, this dish was quick, easy, and delicious!

Ingredients

2 eggs (i used st. john)

2 tbs butter

1 1/2 cup coconut milk (I know it's a little strange but it's the milk I had and I think it actually added a really, really nice flavor.  However, you could use any milk of your choosing)

1 1/2 cup masa harina

1 cup flour (You can replace with any gluten-free baking mix)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 ear of corn (we've got it fresh right now!)

6oz goat cheese (I used Sierra Nevada Creamery's Traditional Bella Capra, but this can be replaced with any cheese.  Soft is probably better.)

Olive oil for the skillet

Preparation

I started by mixing all my dry ingredients in one bowl and wet in another.  Cut off the kernels from your ear of corn and add them to the wet.  Mix the two bowls together.

Take a handful of the mixture and press it with your fingers to create a bowl shape.  Stuff the bowl with cheese and close the lip of the dough bowl over.  Press the ball into an oval shape.  The dough is going to want to stick to your hands so periodically dust your hands with masa flour to keep this from happening.

Heat roughly 1 tbs of olive oil on medium heat in a skillet.  When the oil is ready place your masa patties into the skillet.  When browned, flip to the other side.

I topped my masa cakes with salsa verde, heirloom tomato, and a little bit of the leftover goat cheese crumbles. 

Sage is famous for both its culinary and medicinal uses. It's been effective as a anti-sweating agent, antibiotic, antifungal, astringent, antispasmodic, estrogenic, hypoglycemic, and tonic. In a double blind, randomized and placebo-controlled trial, sage was found to be effective in the management of mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. On top of all that, sage is delicious and wonderfully aromatic.  Here's a great recipe featuring Sage.  Find it fresh and local (from GRUB) in our Produce Dept.!

SWEET POTATOES WITH KALE, CARAMELIZED RED ONIONS AND SAGE:
Makes 3-4 servings as a main dish or 5-6 as a side dish

1 Tablespoon olive oil
4 cups sweet potatoes cut in 1/2 inch cubes
1 cup kale, washed and torn in bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup water
2 Tablespoons butter
1 small red onion, about 1/2 cup sliced
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh sage leaves
Course salt and pepper

Heat oil in a deep skillet or other pan with a lid. Saute the cubes of sweet potato in the hot oil for about 3 minutes. Add water and cover. Cook about 10 minutes or until potatoes are getting soft but not mushy. Add a few spoons of water as needed to keep the pan moist. Add the kale, cover and continue cooking about 2-4 more minutes. Kale should be slightly wilted and potatoes soft when pierced with a fork.

Meanwhile, heat 1 Tablespoon butter in a pan. Add onion and cook on low-medium heat until caramelized, about 10 minutes. Add the second tablespoon of butter to the onion pan and once melted, add fresh sage. Let cook 2 minutes while stirring until sage is fragrant. Add the onion and sage to the potato and kale mixture and gently toss to mix together. Season with salt and pepper as needed. Serve with crunchy baguette toast on the side.

Another recipe utlizing our super fresh, local herbs from GRUB Farm!

HERB-CRUSTED GOAT CHEESE:
Serves 4-6 as an appetizer

Ingredients
1 tablespoon finely chopped thyme
1 tablespoon finely chopped marjoram
1 tablespoon dried grated lemon peel
2 sage leaves, finely chopped
2 basil leaves, finely chopped
1 (4- to 6-ounce) log, crotin, or pyramid fresh goat cheese (I recommend North Valley Farms! Local and completely amazing!)
Crostini or crackers

Method
Combine thyme, marjoram, lemon peel, sage and basil on a large plate. Roll goat cheese in mixed herbs until completely coated.

Transfer to a serving plate with crackers or crostini.

Another recipe utilizing our wonderful local herbs from GRUB!

ROSEMARY LEMONADE:
makes 6 cups

5 c water
1 c sugar
1 c fresh rosemary leaves
1/2 c fresh lemon juice

Mix sugar and two cups of water in a saucepan and boil gently for five minutes. Add the rosemary, remove the mixture from the heat, and let cool.
Strain the liquid into a pitcher and add three cups of water and the fresh lemon juice. Stir well and serve over ice with a sprig of fresh rosemary.