Finally - The first drop off! Now what the hey do I do with turnips?

In January, Frank and I were looking to start our family and we wanted to start it right.  Our friends are all about eating "clean."  Some of it's due to allergies, some due to getting rid of processed foods.

And while I'm not going crazy about getting rid of boxed mixes, the idea appeals to me.  Why?  Probably because I almost always forget that those boxed mixes are in the cabinet.  Like the Rice-A-Roni.  I think that may be from before the move to my condo . . . in 2010.  I should trash that. We both, however, love fresh veggies and should I get pregnant, decided that would be a fabulous start for our little one.

A few of our friends joined the CSA last year and raved about how great it was.  Frank and I love to cook and to experiment so it seemed like a no-brainer.  We printed off the agreement and sent in our money and started waiting.

And waiting.  And waiting.  But, our delayed first drop off finally came last week.  We were so excited.

Our take home goodies: Radishes, Onions, Swiss Chard, Kale, Butterhead Lettuce and Turnips

Frank and I headed down to get our share and were pretty excited.  I was even still excited to get home and start prepping our food for the fridge.  So excited I popped a radish in my mouth.  A whole one.

Let me just say I won't be doing that again any time soon.  I didn't know radishes could be so spicy!  And there was a little worry about this whole CSA business.

Then I cut off a (little) bit of turnip.  Just as spicy.  We went through trying everything, a little at a time.  It wasn't till we got to the Kale that I thought, "Ok, I can do this!"

Thus began our first exciting meal from our CSA!

Can you guess?

We made salad.  Beautiful, colorful, super easy and non-scary salad. (picture beautiful salad here as I did not take a picture).

I kinda felt like a coward - this beautiful produce and I didn't know what to do.  But I cooked up some chicken in honey mustard in the crock pot and it turned into a pretty yummy salad!!

Enter Monday and a fresh start.  Tonight we are trying Caramelized Turnips from All Recipes ( my favorite place to find new favorite recipes).

When we went through the share last week, I cut off all the greens and washed the produce before refrigerating it.  Today, I started with the prep.

1) Peel and dice turnips (the recipe called for 3 cups.  We only had about 1 cup (4 turnips).  I also chopped up a little onion to throw in.

2) Add to skillet with a chicken bouillon cube and water, saute over medium heat until the water has evaporated and turnips are tender (about 15 minutes)
- I mashed up the bouillon cube with our brand new mortar and pestal and only used about half of it.
- I started with 1/4 cup of water and then added the same amount again because the turnips didn't look tender (but what do I know about tender turnips?)

I tasted them at this point - no more super spicy turnips!!

3) Stir in and melt butter.  Sprinkle in sugar.  Caramelize into a brown, sticky coating (about 10 minutes).  Serve hot.

 And they're carmelized!!

 

I took a beautiful picture of Frank's plate combined with steak and the rest of our salad from the other day.  My phone ate it . . . urgh!!!

Verdict?  Turnips are YUMMY! I'm hoping we get some more this week!

Carmelized Turnip Recipe  (from All Recipes.com) and Lynn Pennec

3 cups diced, peeled turnips
1/4 C water (I used 1/2 C)
1 cube chicken bouillon (used 1/2 cube)
1 tablespoon of butter
2 tablespoons white sugar (I used 1 and would try 1/2 TBS next time)

- Place turnips into a skillet with the water and bouillon cube over medium heat.
-Simmer until the water has evaporated and turnips are tender, about 15 minutes.
-Stir in butter, let melt, sprinkle on the sugar.
- Gently cook and stir the turnips until the butter and sugar cook into a brown, sticky coating on the turnips, about 10 minutes.