Here Comes Week 2

Once again I picked up for two family's this week. One share of produce this week:

 Add the second family's in and I have quite a lot of work cut out for me:

So the take, Napa cabbage, zucchini, radishes, beets, onions, "zephir" yellow squash, head lettuce. I knew I was going to be doing a lot of washing, chopping, blanching and freezing so a pot of water went on to boil, sheet pans lined with kitchen towels and I got down to work.

I started my prep by removing the greens from the radishes (save for stock or add to compost) and beets. The radishes got covered in water and placed in the fridge for eating. My friend's share may find a quick pickle treatment for storage.

Beet greens get blanched and frozen just like the kale and chard. They are very good I hear prepared like mustard and collard greens. I tend to give them to my friends as my family won't eat them. The beets themselves are going to get roasted today. I've never had them before and this sounded simplest for prep and serving. And it appears you need to thoroughly cook beets before freezing.

As for the summer squash (both zucchini and the zephir), my friends share got diced, blanched and frozen. I have never blanched squash before freezing but according to The National Center for Home Food Preservation it's a must. Since I was blanching so many other things it wasn't a big deal to add to the rotation.






I shredded both heads of cabbage blanched and froze those as well. All and all it was about an hours worth of work, but totally worth it to have all those veggies prepped and ready.

Favorite thing to do with frozen diced squash? Veg. Enchiladas!

Black Bean and Squash Enchiladas: 

Ingredients:

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 tbsp. oil

1 onion, minced

1 bell pepper, any color

1 zucchini (about 8 oz.), diced

2 cloves of garlic, crushed or finely minced

2 1/2 cups of your favorite enchilada sauce

2 cups of your favorite cheese, divided and shredded or crumbled (cheddar, colby jack, feta, queso fresco all work well)

1/2 c. fresh cilantro, chopped (parsley or spinach can be subsituted)

1 small can of chopped green chilis

12 6-inch corn tortillas

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a 12 inch skillet set to med. high, heat 1 tbsp. oil and saute the onion pepper and zucchini. Once everything is soft and lightly browned remove from heat and add the garlic to the pan.
3. In a large bowl lightly mash the black beans, some should remain hole. Add 1/2 c. of the enchilada sauce, 1 c. cheese (a melting cheese is preferred here), the cilantro, chilis and the contents of the skillet. Gently fold together. Taste for salt and pepper.
4. Warm the tortillas in a microwave (about 1 - 2 min. on high works for me) then assemble the enchiladas. Place 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce in a 9x13" pan. Take a warm tortilla, place about 1/3 c. of the filling in the center and roll up. Place seem side down in the pan. Continue rolling and placing the tortillas until the pan is tightly packed. Cover the enchiladas with the remaining sauce and cheese and bake in the over for 45 mins. to 1 hour. Serve hot.