Where Does Your Food Come From?
Not all vegetables are created equal. It’s a fascinating exploration getting to know our food and the relationship it has with wellness, disease and our taste buds!
I’ve always loved the simplicity of what I thought farm life was like. Deep inside me I knew there was something special that had been lost in my generation and the greater culture at large. Farming and the delicacy of what it takes to produce truly good, live organic sustainable food is an enigma sadly lost in the translation of our culture. We aren’t taught, so those of us who know have a responsibility to teach and reach out in support of local organic sustainable small farms.
Today in my Sage Mountain Farm Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) box, I see beautifully colored & shaped varieties of summer squash, eggplant, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, Anaheim peppers, okra, Valencia oranges, nectarines, Gala apples, and tomatillo de Milpa.
Many exciting ways to prepare these delightfully fun veggies come to mind!
As I ponder the options, my cherry tomatoes are slowly being devoured as I pop them whole. They are my favorite sweet treat! Usually I will save half the basket for my salads but I remember reading that the process of cooking tomatoes boosts their nutritional levels of potent antioxidant lycopene. Having recently come down with a cold, I decide to make a warm nutritious bowl of comfort food and fashion a farm to table vegetable soup with my Sage Mountain Farm CSA box. On the menu tonight….
Farm Fresh Organic Vegetable Soup with Lentils
Directions:
• Slice 1 cup cherry tomatoes in half
Chop the following into bite sizes:
• 1 zucchini
• 1 crookneck squash
• 1 celery stalk, thinly sliced
• 3 baby potatoes, with skin
• 1 onion
• 3 spring onion
• 6 cloves of garlic crushed or pressed & left to sit for 10 min. Then soak in 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil and set aside.
• 2 tablespoons Grass-fed bone broth
• 1 avocado, sliced
• 1 box of Organic Hearty Lentil Vegetable Soup
I have left over lentils in the fridge (cooked in onion & garlic) that I’m adding for a boost of minerals.*Lentils pack a ton of nutrition! They give you iron with energy to burn, stabilize blood sugar and are high in protein.
1. Heat 2 tablespoon broth in medium soup pot. Sauté onion in broth over medium heat for 5 minutes; stirring frequently.
2. Add 1 box of organic hearty lentil vegetable soup, 1 cup lentils, and your fresh, local organic veggies to the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the garlic olive oil mixture into your soup. Continue to simmer for 5 minutes, until your farm fresh organic vegetables are tender.
3. Top with sliced avocado.
4. Season with freshly ground Himalayan salt & pepper.
Give thanks… and enjoy!
To be engaged in Community Supported Agriculture, offers you a chance to share in the farms hand picked daily harvest. There truly is a difference in taste, quality and variety. Let’s make small farms in our region stronger and profitable, for theirs is a labor of love. Support your local small farm and become a CSA member today!
Visit www.sagemountainfarm.com for more information about our farm!
Together, let’s get healthy!
So, now that the weather is cooling down soup can be added to your menu planning rotation! That’s great for me because I love soup. On a cool crisp day, after being outside with your kids, or your animals, or even alone with nature it feels so satisfying to sit down to a steamy bowl of hearty soup. As with most of my recipes, this is a guide to give you ideas and not a strict formula for soup success. Although, with soup how could one go wrong? Well, even though it’s hard to mess up soup, if you don’t add any salt, sometimes people complain, lol! So, let me qualify…as long as it’s seasoned adequately, it’s hard to mess up soup.
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