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Beet Greens Salad With Honey Yogurt Dressing

By Astaire Hailu on June 6, 2013 in DFW Local Box, Salads, Spring, Staff Picks

beet greens salad

Hello! My name is Astaire, and I’m a new Greenling recipe blogger! I recently decided to switch my family over to a (nearly) 100% organic diet, and am blogging about those adventures at chicorganicmama.com. I’m happy to join you in your kitchen to cook with the Local Box!

Beets and beet greens really pack a punch when it comes to nutrition! Beet roots are high in several nutrients including iron, magnesium, potassium, zinc, and B6. They’re extremely high in manganese and folate! Beet juice is perfect for doing a liver cleanse or detox as it stimulates circulation through the liver. And don’t we all just love their beautiful, vibrant color! Believe it or not, beets’ leafy green tops are even MORE nutritious than their roots! Yep, the greens surpass the roots in just about every mineral/vitamin except manganese and folate. Beet greens contain almost 50% RDA of vitamin A, 20% RDA of vitamin C, and drum roll. . . a whopping 190% RDA of vitamin K! Now go grab those beet greens and radishes from your Local Box and let’s make a salad!

I love this salad because it looks fancy, but is so easy to throw together! My uncle and his wife were in town for dinner last week, so I wanted something easy, pretty, and delicious to serve with our sauerkraut and keilbasa. I prepped everything the day before, and then took just 10 minutes to plate the salad before serving the next day! I love how the the sweet and tangy yogurt dressing contrasts with the fresh, earthy flavors of the beets and radishes.

Beet Greens Salad With Honey Yogurt Dressing

Ingredients
5 or 6 small roasted beets
1 bunch baby beet greens or any other type of fresh greens (if you’re using a tougher green like mature beet greens or kale, sautee for 5-10 minutes in 1 T. olive oil before serving)
4 small radishes
juice from 4 juicy limes, lemons, or use 1/3 c. wine vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup local whole milk yogurt or Greek yogurt
1/4 cup local honey
1/4 t. coarsely salt
dash pepper

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325. Wash the beets. Place in greased baking pan.
2. Drizzle beets with olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt.
3. Cover with foil and bake for @ 1 hr. (or until largest beet is soft in center when tested with fork).
4. While the beets are baking, whisk together the lime juice or vinegar, yogurt, honey, garlic, salt, and pepper. Set in refrigerator.
5. After roasted beets have cooled, peel and slice.
6. Wash and dry beet greens. Chop or break into bite sized pieces.
7. Wash and slice radishes.
8. Divide greens among 4 plates, top with radishes and beets.
9. Serve the chilled yogurt dressing on the side.

beet greens salad 2

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Save Green- Make Your Own Stock!

By Margo on April 5, 2013 in Greenling DFW, Soups, Staff Picks

stock

Here at Greenling, we’re constantly on a mission to use as much of the vegetable as possible. Beet greens? Sauteed and delicious! Skins? We eat ‘em on almost everything! But sometimes there are parts of the vegetable you just don’t want to eat (the bottoms of onions, tough ends of celery), or maybe you simply have too much to use before the vegetable goes bad. Don’t worry, there’s a tasty solution for that- homemade chicken or vegetable stock! Homemade stock is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to add flavor and depth to your meals all while reducing kitchen waste.

Preparation
You probably won’t have to buy veggies to make your stock- simply scraps alone will suffice! A good plan of action is to simply keep an airtight container or gallon ziplock bag in your freezer that you can toss scraps/unused veggies in as you cook. You can do the same thing with herbs- if you’re not going to use them before they go bad, add them to the bag. It is important to make sure you scrub and wash your vegetables! Use common sense- cut and discard moldy or slimy parts. You’ll want to use each stock bag within a few weeks.

Similarly, if you’d like to make chicken (or beef) stock, buy a whole chicken and keep the neck, back, and wings, and any bones. Store in a separate bag or container in your freezer.

What to use
Onions, green onions, leeks, shallots (skins, peels, cores, trimmings)
carrots (vegetable and green)
celery (stalk and leaves)
mushrooms (and stems)
potatoes
squash
root veggies (and their leaves)
peppers
peas
corn (and cobs)
spinach, kale
apples
pears
herbs
(note: Brussels sprouts, asparagus, cauliflower, broccoli, fennel, and cabbage impart strong flavors, and beet skins have a tendency to make broth bitter. Avoid these, or add towards the end of cooking time.)

Cooking
The key to a great tasting stock is to cook slowly, and use a variety of vegetables, herbs, and spices. Balance the strong (onions, celery) with the sweet (carrots, sweet potatoes.) Deb (from Smitten Kitchen, recipe below) simmers her stock uncovered for 3 hours. Similarly, a crockpot is a great solution for strong, delicious stock. You could set your crockpot on the lowest setting before you go to sleep and leave it for 10 hours or more. Taste as you go, the flavor will develop over time. After your stock is finished, you’ll want to strain it through a sieve or fine strainer. Discard or compost the solids. Store stock in the refrigerator for 3-5 days or frozen (in jars or ice cube trays!) for a few months.

Chicken Stock Recipe
Recipe and photo (above) from SmittenKitchen.com

Makes approximately 3.5 quarts

3 1/2 to 4 1/2 pounds chicken necks, backs and wings (omit if making vegetable stock)
Contents of your stock bag, cut into chunks (classic combination: onions, celery, turnips, carrots, sweet potatoes)
1 head garlic, cut horizontally in half
1-2 California bay leaf
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
1 tablespoon Kosher salt (optional)
a few bunches of herbs, like parsley or thyme (whatever is in your stock bag)
4 quarts cold water

Bring all ingredients to a boil in an 8- to 10-quart heavy pot. Skim froth. Reduce heat and gently simmer, uncovered for 3 hours. (Or use crock pot method described above.) Pour stock through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl and discard solids. If using stock right away, skim off and discard any fat. If not, cool stock completely, uncovered, before skimming fat, then chill, covered.

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Sweet Potato, Kale, and Black Bean Skillet

By Margo on March 11, 2013 in Main Dishes, Recipes, Staff Picks, Winter

Craving Mexican food but determined to eat healthy and use in-season veggies? This Sweet Potato, Kale, and Black Bean skillet does just the trick. Fairly simple and deliciously aromatic (and vegetarian!), this recipe makes a meal for 4-6, or sides for a crowd. Sumac and cumin give this dish its wonderfully deep flavor. Sumac isn’t a super common spice, but I found it at Central Market. (If you can’t find it, you can get a similar flavor from mixing chili powder and paprika in a 1:1 ratio.)

I like this recipe because it isn’t fussy. I wanted kale and sweet potatoes to be center stage, but if you would rather taste more black bean, just use a little less of the veggies. If you’re sensitive to onions or garlic (like my Mom is), you can easily leave them out and it will be just as good. Similarly, to kick it up a notch, I’d consider adding another clove or two of garlic, some chili powder, and thinly sliced red onions (added with the kale.) Serve it alongside rotisserie chicken, or eat it wrapped up in a tortilla. And if you’re not interested in healthy, I think this would be an excellent enchilada filling! Because lets be honest, who doesn’t love things smothered in cheese? Any way you slice it, this recipe can easily be made your own.

Sweet Potato, Kale, and Black Bean skillet
serves 4-6
prep time: 15 minutes | cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

2 or 3 sweet potatoes
1 shallot
1 clove of garlic
1 can organic black beans, low-sodium, drained
3 hearty handfuls (3 cups ish) kale (I used Russian kale, because it’s what I had, but green kale is just as good!)
1-1/2 to 2 tbsp. organic olive oil
1/4 tsp. sumac
1/8 tsp. cumin
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
1 lime, for serving
tortillas, for serving
sour cream or greek yogurt, for serving
1 avocado, for serving

Prep
1. Peel sweet potatoes, shallot, and garlic. Wash and dry kale.
2. Cut sweet potatoes in half lengthwise. Lay cut surface flat on a cutting board and slice in half again lengthwise. Then, slice into ¼-1/2 inch thick pieces. (Sweet potatoes are tough to cut. I don’t have an amazing knife, but this method works great! See photo.)
3. Dice shallot and garlic.
4. Tear kale into large pieces.

Cook
1. Place large sauté pan over medium high heat and drizzle with olive oil. Add sweet potatoes, shallot, garlic, sumac and cumin to pan and cook for 2 minutes until you can smell the spices, stirring throughout to coat.

2. Bring the heat down to medium and cover. Let cook for about 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, making sure the sweet potatoes don’t burn (oops, a few of mine did!) Cook until the sweet potatoes are soft enough to easily cut in half and are nice and brown.

3. Add black beans. Stir to mix. Add kale. At this point it will be a little hard to stir, but don’t worry, kale cooks down! Season generously with salt and pepper, mix and cover.

4. After 3-4 minutes, uncover and stir. If it’s feeling a bit too dry at this point, drizzle a little more olive oil. Taste for seasoning- if you want more spice, add a pinch of sumac! Cook for another minute or so until kale is cooked to your liking.

5. If you’re serving with tortillas, start warming them up. For just a few people, heat them with a bit of oil in a small skillet. For a larger group, wrap a tortillas in foil and stick in a warm oven for 2-3 minutes. Cut your lime and slice the avocado.

6. Serve on top of warm tortillas, drizzled with lime and served with avocado slices and greek yogurt. I made a taco out of mine. Enjoy!

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Strawberry Cream Cheese

By Christy on May 13, 2012 in Appetizers & Snacks, Breakfast, Desserts, Gluten-free, Recipes, Spring, Staff Picks

Yummy, luscious, oh-so-sweet local strawberries! I ordered a pound of these beauties and savored a few every morning with breakfast for a week. When I reached the bottom of the container, I had a few mushy berries left. Too scrumptious to just throw away or turn into compost, I used the Full Quiver cream cheese I had in the fridge to make a strawberry cream cheese spread. A touch of cinnamon adds an interesting taste but feel free to omit or substitute vanilla if you prefer. I used brown sugar to sweeten but of course, you can use honey, agave, or plain sugar.

3-4 strawberries

8 ounces cream cheese

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1-2 Tablespoons brown sugar

Rough chop berries and sprinkle with 1 Tablespoon sugar. Allow berries to sit for at least 1/2 hour to macerate, which means the sugar will draw moisture and flavor out of the berries. Add berries, cream cheese, and cinnamon to a mixing bowl and mix for 2-3 minutes on high speed. Taste and add more sugar if desired.

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Mushroom Pesto Grilled Cheese

By Megan on April 28, 2012 in Main Dishes, Recipes, Staff Picks

As a novice mushroom eater, I’m always looking for interesting ways to work mushrooms into my meals. Although I’ve managed to work my way up to eating whole mushrooms instead of picking out every tiny bit of ‘shroom from condensed soup, I don’t often get a craving for them. Of course, when many of your groceries are selected for you by the team at Greenling, you have to change your mind about what you want to eat, and make it what you want to eat.

I don’t remember how I thought of this combination of mushroom pesto and grilled cheese, but I know I love regular pesto with cheese and bread, so I couldn’t go much wrong.

Mushroom Pesto Grilled Cheese

For the pesto:

6 ounces button mushrooms
1/4 cup walnuts
1/2 cup fresh parsley
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large garlic clove
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt

Blitz everything in a blender or food processor until smooth.

For the grilled cheese:

Butter
Sourdough bread
Slices provolone cheese
Mushroom pesto

For each sandwich, butter two slices of bread on one side. Spread the pesto on the opposite side of one slice bread, add 1-2 slices of cheese, then top with the other slice of bread. Fry on the stove over medium heat for about 3 minutes a side, or until golden brown.

Leftover pesto can be used as a dip for veggies, a pasta sauce, or mixed into scrambled eggs. When storing in the fridge, add a thin layer of olive oil to the top to help prevent an unattractive browning of the pesto. If you forget, you can just scrape the darker portions off.