recipes

Angelic Organics is offering free recipes to promote their cookbook, Farmer John's Cookbook: http://www.angelicorganics.com/recipeservice

This is a nice service because you can download the recipe right in PDF or Word format and paste it right in your newsletter. I assume these are recipes straight out of the cookbook.

I have the cookbook and I really like the stories and photos that are sprinkled throughout the book; it makes a very attractive package. I have found some of the recipes to be a little untested or untasty, so I do not favor the cookbook. I am not sure how others have found the recipes.

This sharing of recipes is a great concept and something we have done from the beginning here at Small Farm Central. Each recipe that is added to a Small Farm Central is available for any other farmer to add to their site with one click.

It has been fun watching the database grow to over 500 recipes and counting. Farmers who just start a new website really like having all that content that they can quickly insert into their website. Search for chard, green beans, or bokchoi and find recipes ready for your site that you don't even need to type or categorize.

Whether you use Farmer John or Small Farm Central, it is a great resource to have all these recipes at your fingertips.

Among my favorites of the orange foods is the sweet potato. Don’t let the rich, sweet flavor fool you, this variety has a lower glycemic index than regular potatoes and packs a nutritional punch of beta carotene and vitamin c. Just like regular potatoes, sweet potatoes can be served mashed alongside a favorite roasted meat. Here are a couple versatile ways you can prepare mashed sweet potatoes to complement your meal.

Orange-Basil Sweet Potatoes
About 2.5 pounds sweet potatoes (2 large)
1/2 cup orange juice (unsweetened, no pulp)
1 tablespoon finely chopped basil or 1-1/2 tsp. dried basil
kosher salt to taste

Peel sweet potatoes and cut to a large dice (about 1-inch cubes).
Steam for about 20-30 minutes until fork tender.
Mix in other ingredients.

If you want more orange flavor, you can add 1/2 tsp. of orange flavor (natural) or orange zest to bump up the citrus.

Honey-Chipotle Mashed Sweet Potatoes
3 lbs. sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed in 2-inch cubes
1 tbs. honey
1 tbs. brown sugar
sea salt
1 tbs. olive oil
1⁄4 cup half and half
2 tbs. butter
1 canned chipotle pepper with 1 tbs. of the adobo sauce it comes in, chopped
(note that is one pepper from the can, not one can! Very hot.)

Heat oven to 400° F.

Toss the potatoes with the oil, salt, honey and brown sugar. Roast in the oven for about 40 minutes until fork tender. Mash the potatoes with the half and half and the butter. Add the chopped chipotle and 1 tbs. sauce. The texture will be coarser than mashed potatoes because of the roasting, but the flavor is worth it.

Find seasonal recipes for all of your CSA produce at The Expatriate’s Kitchen, http://expatriateskitchen.blogspot.com