Bring back the barter system
I am officially going into my seventh week of home quarantine. Being autoimmune puts me in the high risk category for COVID19, and I do not take that lightly. Besides hand washing and staying at home, one of the major things I am doing to keep myself and my family healthy is serve tons of fresh (local if possible) veggies!! This week I was blessed to have the opportunity to barter for some amazing local fresh vegetables! I traded an assortment of hand canned jams, BBQ sauce, pickles, and tomatoes for local grown bibb lettuce, flat and curly leaf kale, turnips, oregano, and sage! Shout out to the Lexington County Museum for this amazing fresh haul!
Being that we are in quarantine and avoiding the grocery store at all costs, I wanted to process this amazing veggie delivery so that nothing went to waste! Bonus 1: Saves $ by not wasting any food or making unnecessary trips to the store (if you are like me, something off of my grocery list always ends up in the cart). Bonus 2: Saves time and stress to have some food already prepped and ready to go for later!
Sage and Oregano: I processed the herbs by 2 different methods -drying and freezing.
Freezing Herbs: After washing the herbs in a colander in the sink, I carefully hand dried the leaves with a towel. The herbs were then roughly chopped and placed in an ice cube tray with extra virgin olive oil. After freezing overnight, you can simply pop out the herb ice cubes and store in a freezer safe bag or container for later use! They can be dropped into your favorite soup, stir fry, you name it!
Alternative: Freeze the herbs in water. You can defrost the ice cube to use only the leaves – this is a great way to preserve those leftover fresh herbs you buy at the grocery store (because I know we all end up with leftover store bought herbs rotting away in the back of your fridge).
Drying Herbs: After washing the herbs in a colander in the sink, I simply lay several of the leaves out on a dehydrator tray and let it run overnight. You could also hang the leaves upside down for a few days to allow them to dry if you don’t have a dehydrator. Once dry, simply grind the leaves up with a mortar and pestle and store in an air tight container! You won’t believe the difference when you season your dishes with freshly dried herbs compared to the store bought variety!
Turnips: I cooked both the roots and the greens!
Turnip Greens: Though turnip greens can be quite bitter, I found them to be tasty by turning them into a Green Sauce! I was first introduced to the AIP Magical Green Sauce by Joanna Frankham at Joanna Frankham Coaching. I followed her recipe except for substituting the parsley for the turnip greens! Delicious! I was able to make enough to enjoy this week along with freezing 3 bags to enjoy later! I love to put this on top of my eggs or soup for a punch of nutrient density!
Turnip root: I found a simple delicious recipe at HealthySeasonalRecipes.com. You simply peel and cut the turnips. Toss them in avocado oil and salt in a large bowl and spread out on a baking sheet. Bake at 425 F for 30 minutes. Pull the turnips out, sprinkle with oregano (use your freshly dried oregano!), thyme, and garlic. Toss the turnips to coat with the herbs. Return to the oven to roast until tender when pierced with a fork (about 5 minutes). They are best served warm. Can be served as a tasty side time or thrown into your lunch salad!
Curly and Flat Leaf Kale: I transformed the flat leaf kale into a freezable pesto sauce. The curly leaf kale was cleaned and left to remain in it’s natural form for immediate consumption!
Kale Pesto: After washing the flat leaf kale leaves, they were placed (in batches) into a food processor with extra virgin olive oil, salt, garlic, and fresh lemon juice. Once everything was blended smoothly, raw almonds were added and ground to a desired consistency. The pesto was then placed in portion sized freezer safe dish for later consumption on pasta, pork, fish, or chicken! Recipe is from Pinch of Yum!
Curly Leaf Kale: I simply washed, dried, and stored the leaves in the fridge. Can be thrown into salads, soups, quesadillas, quiches, omelettes, etc!
Bibb Lettuce: This was also simply washed, dried, and stored in fridge for my daily salad!
I was so happy to be able to barter for these amazing vegetables. I am excited to have them available for my family meals for the next month or more! Any leftover bits of vegetables that were not used, were fed to our chickens or placed in our compost to fertilize our garden.
Enjoy!