Hey, Kansas City! Before we start talking about veggies, can you send an email to Mayor Lucas and the City Council, demanding local control of the KCPD, as well as divestment? Then, let the Jackson County Court system know that we need an eviction moratorium NOW to keep Kansas City families housed during the pandemic. I’ve written scripts for these messages that you can use if you’re not quite sure what to say, and have also linked to some resources for assistance and education… check it out! A better world is possible when we work together and take action.

Now onto the veggies:

This week we were seeing green!

As spring gives way into summer, I know there will be less and less leafy greens in our farm share, so I’m trying to savor them while I still can. Lucky for me, this week’s bag was brimful, which meant plenty to eat now… and enough to save for later!

I blended the big bag of arugula into a luscious sunflower seed pesto, co-starring basil from my garden. Half the batch made it into two pasta dinners, and I froze the rest in a silicon ice cube tray. These pesto cubes will keep for months in the freezer — two or three cubes heated up in a pan with warm olive oil creates a fresh, herbal sauce in minutes, or a defrosted cube can be used as a tasty spread on some toast.

The big bag of spinach found it’s way into the aforementioned pasta dishes, some lunchtime salads, as well as into the freezer. Frozen spinach is the perfect way to add greens to smoothies or stirfries.

I also froze the bouquet of kale we received. Neither Tom nor I are big on kale; whether sauteed or raw, it just isn’t our thing. I love a good kale chip, but let’s be honest: oven-baked kale chips never taste as good as the dehydrated ones, and I’m not springing for a dehydrator I’ll only use once or twice. But I do know that I can toss some kale in a smoothie and that it’ll disappear into the berries, adding nutrients without adding flavor. So a future smoothie this kale will make!

I didn’t have to save any of the cilantro: I had already planned on making enchiladas verdes with guacamole, so into that dish it went. Yum!

The curly garlic scapes have been surprisingly useful; I’ve been using them anytime a recipe calls for garlic, approximately 1 scape to 1 clove, to taste. I blended them into the arugula pesto, mixed them into the guac on enchilada night, added them to a slow-cooker sweet potato chili, and sauteed them with Swiss chard (more on that chard in next week’s post.) The scapes truly were the MVP of the kitchen this week, and I still have plenty leftover.

Another bright bundle of radishes rounded out this week’s share, a precious pop of pink against the fields of green. This called for an encore! Just like last week, I pan-fried them in butter, seasoning them with paprika, salt, pepper, parsley, green onion and (of course) garlic scapes. Delicious!