Look at the BEAUTIFUL Chinese Cabbage our single shares are getting this week!  I suggest making this cole slaw recipe........out of this world!

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  1/2 cup vegetable or olive oil
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
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• 2 (3 ounce) packages raman noodles (with or without flavor packets), lightly crushed
• 1 cup slivered almonds
• 1 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 head chinese cabbage, chopped

This week our family shares will be enjoying butter crunch and red lettuce, beets, cucumbers, summer squash and zucchini, our first tomatoes! basil and beans.  Enjoy!!!

A great snack.........salty, crisp and best of all, good for you!



Kale Chips


Ingredients
1 bunch of kale, washed and thoroughly dried
2 tablespoons olive oil
Sea salt, for sprinkling
Directions
Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.

Remove the ribs from the kale and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces. Lay on a baking sheet and toss with the olive oil and salt. Bake until crisp, turning the leaves halfway through, about 20 minutes. Serve as finger food.

In Maui, we had an amazing kale salad with red pepper dressing that I promised to remake once we got home. And now I have done just that. This salad is super simple, but tastes really decadent with such a rich and creamy dressing. Raw salads are so quick to make, and having them on hand is such a great way to ensure you always have a healthy option in the fridge.

Ingredients (4 servings)

For the dressing

• 1/2 cup shelled hempseeds
• 1 tablespoon white or yellow miso
• 1/2 red bell pepper, sliced/cubed
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons water
• pinch of salt

For the salad

• 2 bunches Italian kale, torn and de-stemmed
• 1/2 head red cabbage, thinly sliced
• 2 avocados, peeled and cubed

Instructions

1. To prep the dressing, add hemp seeds, miso, bell peppers, lemon juice, and water to a high powered blender. Mix until totally smooth - you'll probably need to scrape the sides down several times.
2. The dressing should be creamy and silky! Season to taste with kosher salt.
3. To make the salad, simply rinse and tear the leaves off of two small bunches of Italian kale (the flat-leaf variety). You can also use curly kale if that is your preference, but I tend to find those to be too hearty for raw kale salads.
4. Thinly slice 1/2 head of red cabbage, and add to the bowl with the kale.
5. Peel and cube two large avocados and toss with the kale and cabbage. If you are making this ahead of time, reserve the avocados until the last minute to avoid browning.
6. Toss the salad with the dressing and work it with your hands to distribute it evenly.
7. Season to taste with any additional salt, if needed.
8. Serve along with soup for dinner, or pack leftovers for a healthy lunch!

We've Got Swiss Chard!

Swiss Chard & Herb Summer Salad

(serves 4)

2 bunches Swiss chard, washed and sliced into ribbons

1 cup loose basil leaves, sliced into ribbons (chiffonade)

2 medium carrots, grated

2 tablespoons olive oil

1.5 tablespoons lemon juice

2/3 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup roasted sunflower seeds

salt to taste

Instructions

Clean and tear Swiss chard from stems. Lay leaves flat and cut into thin ribbons. (This cut is called a chiffonade!) Add to a large mixing bowl and set aside.  Clean basil leaves and cut into thin strips as well. I also think other herbs such as mint and tarragon would be great in this salad.

Grate two carrots into the bowl with the chard and herbs, and mix to combine.  Another good addition would be red bell pepper.

Pour olive oil and lemon juice into bowl, and then massage liquid into the greens. The dressing should slightly wilt the salad.  Cover with a damp paper towel pressed directly against the top of the salad, and let greens marinate for at least 30 minutes.  When ready to serve, add sunflower seeds and dried cranberries, along with a few grinds of fresh salt.

Garlic Scapes are here, for a short time!

Introducing the garlic scape.......

Here's the anatomy lesson: Garlic and its relatives in the allium family, (leeks, chives, onions) grows underground, where the bulb begins its journey, soft and onion-like. As the bulb gets harder (and more like the garlic we know), a shoot pokes its way through the ground. Chlorophyll- green like a scallion (maybe even greener), the shoot is long and thin and pliable enough to curl into gorgeous tendrils.

This stage of growth is the garlic scape. If left unattended, the scape will harden and transform from green to the familiar opaque white/beige color of garlic peel. Keeping the shoot attached will also curtail further growth of the bulb. So, in an effort to allow the garlic to keep growing, the farmer is getting a two-fer with this edible delectable that cooks are just beginning to discover.

At home, the scape is great fun; try dicing it into scrambled eggs, adding to a veggie saute or using as garnish for rice. However, the best way to understand the beauty of the scape is to pulverize a bunch into pesto. Instead of pine nuts, I use heart-healthy walnuts and far less cheese than I do with a basil-based pesto. The garlic flavor is fresh and light rather than redolent and pervasive, which means you can spread the pesto on toast and still kiss your kitchen mate.

I love it with short pasta and few cherry or grape tomatoes thrown in for color and acidity. The scapes last through June, a small window to understand what the fuss is all about. If you're like me, you'll stockpile a bunch and whip up pesto to enjoy into the rest of the summer.

Garlic Scape Pesto

Ingredients:
1 cup garlic scapes (about 8 or 9 scapes), top flowery part removed, cut into ¼-inch slices
1/3 cup walnuts
¾ cup olive oil
¼-1/2 cup grated parmigiano
½ teaspoon salt
black pepper to taste

Method:
Place scapes and walnuts in the bowl of a food processor and whiz until well combined and somewhat smooth. Slowly drizzle in oil and process until integrated. With a rubber spatula, scoop pesto out of bowl and into a mixing bowl. Add parmigiano to taste; add salt and pepper. Makes about 6 ounces of pesto. Keeps for up to one week in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

For ½ pound short pasta such as penne, add about 2 tablespoons of pesto to cooked pasta and stir until pasta is well coated.