Oh, hello! Ada here with your bi-weekly Recipe Roundup. The season is shifting, and the VRDNT box contents will slowly follow suit. If you pay very close attention, you may be able to detect the subtle changes starting now. Sweet potatoes, which we plant in the heat of June, are finally making their way into boxes (see harvest here), and greener things, like bok choy, are making a return. Hot weather veggies - like squash and long beans - are benefiting from the ever-so-slight drop in temperature, as is our okra plot which is fruiting like crazy. Our fields are laden with tiny transplants - fall crops to come - but we're still a few weeks away from the fall brassica bonanza.
The pumpkin-spice buzz abounds, but here in Central Texas, our early October buzz is really more basil-bean-squash flavored. I think it will be at least another 3 weeks before we fish out our sweaters. As someone who consumes a LOT of food media, I sometimes feel like we're so "behind". While other folks are chopping firewood and pulling out the soup pots, we're still drinking margaritas by the pool, eating cucumber salads. But of course, the media mind-meld that has me thinking about chili while it's still 95 degrees outside is pure culinary buffoonery. Tuning in, connecting with internal cues, I see that my body still wants the hot-weather foods.
Join me in owning our own, true, season. There's something quite mutinous about a diet devoted to true, local seasonality, and I invite you to the club. Party on! Happy Cooking!
-Ada
OKRA RECIPES
Chilled Japanese Okra Salad BJ Dennis's Okra Stir Fry with Rice African Okro Soup (with Shrimp + Oxtails) Bhindi Masala (+ homemade naan to accompany)
SWEET POTATO RECIPES
Sweet Potato Gnocchi Quick Vegan Enchiladas with Sweet Potato Sauce
Loaded Nachos with Vegan Sweet Potato Cheese
BOK CHOY RECIPES
Bok Choy Salad with Sesame Ginger Dressing
Bok Choy & Shrimp in Garlic Sauce
Shrimp and Bok Choy Salad with Vietnamese Dressing