Sweet Basil---I hear it’s going to be enough to make pesto. Easy: wash and spin dry basil leaves. Put into processor with lots of garlic and some olive oil. Blend up. Add more oil to make it the consistency you want. Add some shredded Parmesan and serve over hot pasta. What I just did was blend up the basil, garlic and oil and put into ice cube trays. Then pop into zip locks. Add cheese when re-heated for pesto this winter.**
Lettuce---Thanks to our farmers (and maybe a bit due to the cool weather) we have fabulous lettuce. Make some nice salads. Add some cilantro and/ or basil for the heck of it.
Carrots---Chomp on one or two, shred some into a salad or two, make pickled carrots.
Tomatoes---We like having chopped tomatoes on top of our pesto pasta. It’s a nice blend. Make a tomato sandwich with a bit of cilantro. Add to a chile sandwich (see below).
Cilantro---Just a bit for this or that: add some to a squash/ chile/ tomatillo saute, make a quick salsa with some chopped tomatoes, onions, garlic, chile. Make a salsa with tomatillos instead of tomatoes, add some to your
salads, add some to boiled potatoes if you have any potatoes left.
Tomatillos---Time for another tomatillo salsa or a tomatillo/ squash saute. Throw in some cilantro of course.
Chiles---A few different ones: Longish and skinny are Inferno. They are spicy! Dark green and chubby are Poblano; they are on the mild side. Smallish and light yellow are Santa Fe. They are hot but not as hot as the Infernos. The only ones that I think need to be roasted are the Poblanos. Some people do this on the stove top. I do it in a broiler: I roast until they are blistering and put them on a plate covered with a napkin. When cool, I peel them. If you want less heat, take the membranes and the seeds out of the chiles. Ideas: Chop and make salsa with tomatoes and tomatillos. Add to saute with squash and friends. Try the recipe below.
Sweet Red Onions---There was not a great harvest of these so they are going fast. Get them while you can! Add some to the salads, saute up with the squash and tomatillos, add some to that sandwich.
Summer Squash---Chop and saute up with onion, garlic, chopped tomatillos, chiles and cilantro. Use as a filling for tacos, quesadillas on top of a sandwich with sliced tomatoes and lettuce. Hmmmm, sounds like dinner.

Chile Cottage Cheese Dip
adapted from Too Many Tomatoes, Squash, Beans, and Other Good Things A cookbook for when your garden explodes by L. Landau and L. Myers from the Mariquita Farms website

1 pint small curd cottage cheese
2-4 chili peppers (jalapeños or wax peppers), peeled and chopped (you can roast or blanch them to peel them, or not peel them at all) (I would peel the Poblanos (chubby, largish ones - Evie)
2 tomatoes, peeled (or not - Evie) and diced

3 scallions, including tops, chopped (or red onions)
1 teaspoon salt or less to taste
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (or soy sauce to make it completely vegetarian: worch. sauce has a bit of fish in it....)

MIX and Chill for three hours

I haven’t made this but it sounds interesting to me. I would use my food processor and pulse which is what Julia at Mariquita Farms says she would do as well. Check it out and let us know what you think.

**By the Way: This morning I made pesto using a paper shopping bag more than half full of basil. I timed myself out of curiosity. It only took an hour from start to finish. I made two ice cube trays worth of “down and dirty” pesto, meaning it has basil, garlic and olive oil. The Parmesan and probably more oil will go into it when we eat it during the winter. Let us know if you want to do this. The basil is beautiful right now and, trust me, you will be really glad in January or February that you took the time now to make it up.

l

RECIPES: Please send me any seasonal recipes you may want to see in the Menu!






Gift Certificates/ Other Gifts: We will have Gift Certificates available for both the Farm Stand and CSA if you are interested for all
your gift-giving needs. We also have gorgeous wool scarves and blankets as well as beautiful chile vinegar to name a few items.


Wool Products: We have some gorgeous hand woven scarves and blankets/ throws from the WE Tierra Shetland Sheep. Stop in the Farm Stand for a look-see.









Come visit: Please all of you who pick up at drop off locations, come visit. We are open Saturdays from 11 to 6 and you are all more than welcome to come take a walk in the field and visit with your vegetables/ fruits.

HONEY: We’ve got honey from the field: Tierra Vegetables Estate Honey. It is really sweet and flavorful. Scott, our beekeeper at Nelson Family Apiary, is using it for his honey of the month! We can put it in your box. We’ve got two sizes: 10 oz for $8.50 and 20 oz for $12.00. Let me know.



PLASTIC BAGS; We need lots of CLEAN plastic bags, please. We go through a lot and are not ordering any more until we can get the non-GMO biodegradable ones.










PICK UP POLICY NOTE: We are experiencing an issue with boxes not being picked up at various locations, including the Farm Stand, on a timely manner. We understand that sometimes you forget or something comes up that you can’t get your box of vegetables. If this happens, please call me at 696-8148 and we will bag it up for those picking up at the farm or hold it at the drop off locations. Otherwise, boxes left over 24 hours will be donated or used by our hosts. Thank you.

Reminder: The Farm Stand is open Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 11 to 6:00.

VISIT THE FARM: Please come on in for a visit whenever you can and bring the kids!


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EGGS---Our chickens are starting to lay their eggs! Hooray. These beautiful and delicious eggs are available at the Farm Stand. Better watch out, though: the customers at the Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market would take them all if we'd let them. You all get priority! Come check them out and see what a really fresh egg looks and tastes like.




Calling all loyal CSA members. We would love to put your recipes in the Menu. If you have anything that you'd like to share, please e-mail me at evie@tierravegetables.com and most likely your recipe (or comment) will make its way to this little Menu.

Regular Season starts May 29th. If you want to sign up and you haven’t yet, please call or e-mail.

Reminder: The Farm Stand is now open Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 11 to about 5:30. Come on in. Bring the kids!