living in the woods and making stuff

We are members of a wonderful CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in Fairfield, and enjoy fresh greens every week. It is one of the things that makes this whole winter thing a little more doable.

My mom and I get a box every week, and sometimes we have a little trouble eating anything…everything is just so beautiful and fresh, and we want to save it! (She often nibbles a little, but wants to save some for me, and we don’t always getting around to cooking or eating together.) Kind of silly, but oh well.

So this morning, as we were baking cookies, I dug through the fridge and found a few gems that we had not eaten. My mom came up with the idea to make a little casserole. She is such an inspired cook. You could probably give her a basket of vegetables, and she would turn whatever she was given into something fresh and delicious!

The base for the casserole is steamed greens: chard, kale, beet stems, and spinach. She placed the steamed greens into several baking dishes, drizzled with olive oil. On top of the greens she put mashed potatoes (cooked quickly in the pressure cooker), and finished the top with grated prairie breeze cheese (from Milton, IA).

It was a quick delicious casserole, fresh with the greens, but hearty with the potatoes (made with organic sour cream) and cheese.

To go with the casserole, she made a salad of lettuce, and ridiculously fresh arugula, topped with avocado, grapefruit sections, and carrot ribbons. YUM!

So if you ever find yourself with a produce drawer filled with yummy greens, this is a great meal to use them up and really ENJOY them. Thanks to my mom, of course!