Harvest Kitchen (home cooking for the single girl)

Cooking for one can be challenging. Farm shares are a great way to save money while eating healthy, local, and in season, but are usually made to feed a family of 4. Can a farm share work for a family of 1? Follow me as I take on the challenge.

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Week 2: the loot 1 bunch radishes I bunch arugula 1 bunch kohlrabi 1 lb carrots 1 lb potatoes 1 delicate squash 4 apples Baguette 4 lb pastured chicken Mixed herbs: thyme, sage, rosemary

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Week 1: leftover squash pumpkin bread I got real tired of eating roasted kabocha squash so I took it and mashed it and made it into the purée I used in this pumpkin bread. It was egg free. I used a chia egg instead. It came out rather dense but the flavor was ok. I brought it over to my neighbors and they ate it right up so it must have been ok at least.

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Week 1: Roasted Kabocha Seeds

So when I cut up my kabocha I saved out the seeds and decided to roast them like pumpkin seeds.  

I found this recipe on pinterest http://harvestkitchen.tumblr.com/post/151863954204/week-1-kale-kabocha-quinoa-stew  and basically followed it except I cooked them at 250F and I used maple syrup rather than erthyritol because I don’t believe in fake sugar in any form.  (I don’t even use stevia... sugar alcohols make me sick and I can always taste the difference. I don’t care if it came from a plant... it’s still highly processed and I don’t want it).  Anyhow.... These came out just sort of alright.  I had a very hard time getting the squash goo off the seeds and getting them dried.  I dried them overnight before roasting but they were still a bit soggy.  They never got to a crunchy state maybe because of the maple syrup.  They were find for the first day, but I left them out on the counter overnight and they got quite soggy and eventually I just chucked them.  Waste not want not.. but not in this case.

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Week 1: kale/squash salad

I used some of the roasted squash and more of my kale to make this amazing fall salad.

Raw kale can be hard on the stomach and sort of just not that awesome.  So I mixed it with lemon juice and little sea salt until it was partially wilted.  MUCH more palatable.  Even dare I say delicious.  The rest of the salad was dried cranberries, goat cheese, roasted kabocha and roasted kabocha seeds.  I ate this salad about 2 times over 3 days before the roasted squash started getting a consistency I didn’t much like. 

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Cooking from week 1.  Kale quinoa and squash stew.  

http://harvestkitchen.tumblr.com/post/151863954204/week-1-kale-kabocha-quinoa-stew

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Butternut Squash, Kale & Quinoa Stew Recipe

Soup season continues! This has hearty butternut squash, quinoa & kale in a tomato broth. I also used cumin, coriander & smoked paprika

I used this recipe as my base.  I modified by using kabocha rather than butternut, chicken stock rather than vegetable, leek rather than onion, fresh tomatoes rather than canned, and I added chicken breast.  

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Shredded Chicken BBQ Sandwiches: How to Shred Chicken in Your Stand Mixer

BBQ has never been one of my favorite things. I know, how un -American of me! I never really liked pizza either until I discovere...

One of the best kitchen lifehacks I know.  Shred your chicken in a stand mixer

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Week 1: Kale, Kabocha, Quinoa Stew

Ok so what did I do with all the delicious veggies from my previous post?  Well I looked at pinterest for some recipe inspiration and decided to use this kale and kabocha stew recipe as my base.  http://www.loveandlemons.com/butternut-squash-kale-quinoa-stew/

I made a few modifications though.  I’m not vegetarian and I wanted my soup to have meat.  I had two chicken breasts in the fridge so I threw those in the stew.  I also used chicken stock instead of vegetable stock and I diced my tomatoes instead of using canned tomatoes.  I added a bit of tomato paste I had in the fridge to offset this (about 1 tbsp).  I also used my farm share leek instead of an onion.  

The part of the recipe that took the longest was chopping up the kabocha squash.  I had more than enough for the stew so I roasted the other half of it tossed in coconut oil and some salt and pepper.  I roasted it at about 425F.

When the soup was finished I took the chicken breasts out and shredded them before putting them back in.  I shredded them using my kitchenaide mixer which is one of my absolute favorite kitchen lifehacks.  You can read more about it here http://www.simplyhealthyfamily.org/2010/05/shredded-chicken-bbq-sandwiches.html

The stew was delicious with some tea and the sourdough bread.

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First Farm share allotment.  

-1 bunch kale -4 tomatos -1 large kabocha squash -2 sweet potatos -4 macintoch apples -1 bunch napa cabbage -1 leek -1 country sourdough loaf - 1/2 gallon whole milk

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Hello Tumblr!

I love local and seasonal food.  But I was worried getting a farm share for just myself would be wasteful.  It’s been a few weeks now and I have to say I really enjoy the challenge of creating delicious recipes with my weekly allotment of produce.  I’m making things I would never have gone out to buy in a grocery store.  I’m eating much healthier and eating way less sugar than I was before. Most of all I’m having fun!  In fact I’m having so much fun I thought other people might find this little experiment interesting too.  Join me as I try each week to figure out how to use all the produce and keep waste to a minimum.