Edition 49

October 9, 2009

• Local Box Contents
• News & Updates
• Recipe Corner
• Greenling Tidbits

• New - Halloween Cookies & Halloween Candy, various sources
• New - Bacon Cheddar Scones, Sour Cherry Kolaches, & Pumpernickel Bread, from Local bakeries
• New -Winter Squash, from Local sources
• New -Green Beans, from local sources
• Coming Soon - Fresh Cranberries, from Local & non-local sources
• New -Sandwich Cookies, from Late July
• Coming Soon - Carrots, from Local sources
• Short Supply - Local Persimmons & Pomegranate, will supplement with non-local
• New -Verterra Party Plates & Bowls, made from fallen palm leaves with no additives - 100% biodegradable, sturdy, and quite attractive

Greenlinger Recommends

"The Bastrop Cattle Company beef steak cutlets have to be the best thing you sell. I bought them on promotion and never plan to stop. We eat them once a week. I've been making chicken fried steak with cream gravy all my adult life and it finally got easy and perfect with these. Why?

•the right size, not too big, not too small...not the size of a large dinner plate

•nicely tenderized and thin

•on a low flame, they cook through without any burning

•absolutely delicious

•healthy without regrets

•cost, cheaper than a restaurant

Kudos to Greenling and Bastrop Cattle!"

Elizabeth B.

Delivery Tip - If you have more than one empty bin you can open their lids and put them inside of each other. It's called nesting and saves a lot of space compared to stacking the closed bins on top of each other.

Now That Chemicals Are Banned From Your Food, Ban Them From Your House Too

Toxic household cleaning products get stronger every year and the US is weighing labeling requirements because of outbreaks of allergic reactions & illnesses associated with them. Also, studies have shown higher cancer rates in cleaning crews.

We've had the pleasure of working with Purple Fig Cleaning for a couple of years now. Not only do they clean using their own, proprietary, non-toxic products, but they're also happy to teach you about them and how to make and use your own!

Check out their green cleaning seminar on Saturday, Nov 11th from 10am-1pm at Casa de Luz.

Also, get a special discount on a cleaning when you mention you're a Greenling customer.

Forbidden Fruit No Longer

Apples are in the Malus family, which is a Latin word meaning apple as a noun and evil as an adjective. Many believe this dual meaning is the root of the apple being depicted as a 'forbidden fruit.' Then again maybe it's guilt from hoarding every last morsel of that absolutely perfect Pink Lady you devoured last week.

Apples are thought to be the first cultivated tree and they have an incredibly colorful history. There are over 10,000 varieties partly because every seed that comes from a tree will not taste exactly like the tree it came from. When an especially tasty apple is discovered branches are grafted and grafted again to create orchards producing the same flavor profile. Every Gala Apple tree on the planet is a graft of one single tree. Recently some brave souls have brought a few of those grafts, plus some other varieties, to Texas and they will be appearing in Local Boxes all Fall.

The ole apple-a-day saying is another myth I'll go ahead and crush. Apples, while an amazing, tasty snack and the basis for incredible assortments of desserts are actually not much of a nutritional powerhouse. You do get a wide variety of nutrients, just not much of any of them. Oh well. We still love you, Johnny.

This Week's Box Contents & Local Items

With cooler weather (yes, 90 is cooler) farmers are getting excited about the coming crops. For the first time in a while they're able to grow delicate leafy greens & more sensitive items. Pedro from My Father's Farm (name of the farm, not my dad's farm) brought in some tender and sweet baby bok choy to show us. We can't wait for more!

2009 has seen more fruit in Central Texas than ever before. Local apples are coming in abundance and will be in the Local Box. The first variety we're receiving is Gala, but more are coming soon. I suppose a silver lining of Climate Change is that with fewer early and late season frosts, we get to enjoy things like apples and avocados.

Here's what's available from local farms on our website this week (the best selection of local produce in the state - guaranteed):

In Local Boxes ($34.99) this week (October 12-16):

• Globe Eggplant - McCall Creek
• Butternut Squash - Animal Farm
• Grape Tomatoes - Naegelin
• 3 Bean Mix - Animal Valley
• Gala Apples - Apple Country
• Cucumbers - Animal Farm
• Persimmons - G&S Groves
• Bibb Lettuce - Bluebonnet
• Pears - Lightsey Farms
• Basil or Herb - Pure Luck
• Microgreens - Bella Verdi
• Okra - Various
• Red Onion - Naegelin Farm

Last Week's (Oct 5-9) Local Box Video:

In Farmstead & Local Produce Boxes ($49.99) this week (October 12-16):

• Pepperjack Cheese - Brazos Valley Cheese
• Corn Tortillas - Margarita's
• Candied Jalapenos - Brazos Valley Cheese
• Brownies - Sweetish Hill

Gluten-free Farmstead Box:

• Pepperjack Cheese - Brazos Valley Cheese
• Corn Tortillas - Margarita's (GF - made in same facility, but different equipment as some gluten products)
• Candied Jalapenos - Brazos Valley Cheese
• GF Brownies - Green Brownie Co

Order Here

Fresh, Prepared Meal Selection for this week:

Salad #1 - Sicilian Spaghetti with Olives, Roasted Peppers & Full Quiver Mozzarella (1 pint) - see website for full ingredients

Salad #2 - Crunchy Thai Salad with Cashews (1 pint) - see website for full ingredients

Order Here

Produce from Local Farms

• Arugula, Baby - Animal Farm
• Herb, Asst - Pure Luck
• Herbs, Basil, Live - Bella Verdi
• Lentil Sprouts - Groovy Greens
• Sunflower Sprouts - Groovy Greens
• Habanero - Arnold Organics/Lundgren
• Lettuce, Baby - Animal Farm
• Lettuce, Bibb - Bella Verdi
• Green Beans - Animal Farm/Lightsey
• Meyer Lemons - G&S Groves
• Okra - Bradshaw Farms
• Gala Apple - Apple Country
• Pea Shoots - Bluebonnet
• Watercress - Bluebonnet
• Persimmons
• Red and Green Bell Peppers - My Father's Farm/Walnut Creek

Produce from Local Farms

• Limes - G&S Grove
• Microgreens, Arugula - Bella Verdi
• Microgreens, Broccoli - Bella Verdi
• Mushroom, Crimini - Kitchen Pride
• Mushroom, Portobello - Kitchen Pride
• Mushroom, Shiitake - Kitchen Pride
• Mushroom, White - Kitchen Pride
• Onion, Yellow - Naegelin
• Potatoes, Red - Naegelin
• Shallots - Lundgren Farm
• Jalapeno - Lundgren
• Serrano - Lundgren
• Eggplant - McCall Creek
• Slicing Cucumbers - Naegelin
• Red Radish - My Father's Farm
• LARGE Watermelon - Lightsey
• Texas Hard Pears - Lightsey

New Lunch Bomb Scheduled

Greenling Lunch Bomb

-Tue. Oct 20th, 12pm

-Cipollina (map)

-Dutch

Join Greenling and support local businesses supporting local farms. There are lots of restaurants around town striving to use local products and they need us eating there (when we're not cooking at home with our families....which we should all do more of). We'll try to fill the restaurant up to let them know we appreciate what they do.

This time we'll descend on Cipollina West Austin Bistro where everything is made by hand, from scratch. Their mediterranean-inspired cuisine features the best expressions of central Texas meats, cheese, and vegetables.

So come have lunch with us, get to know some Greenlings, and enjoy some local food prepared by local artisans.

See more details here

Get a Month of Free Local Food Just for Referring 3 People to Greenling!

Tell the most people about us between now and November and win Free Local Boxes for a Year! It's the easiest free food we've ever offered. And to celebrate 3 years of being the 'Best Local Food Company' in the Austin Chronicle tell just 3 people about us and win a month of local food!

See Details on how to do it here

Download the flyer to give people with YOUR coupon code here (read details page to see what your coupon code is)

Fall Fund-raisers

Get out and support local food & Sustainability organizations this fall:

Click here for tickets and details on the Green Corn Project Annual Fund-raiser.

Click here for more details & click here for tickets to the Slow Food Austin Annual Fund-raiser.

Click here for more details on the Keep Austin Beautiful Fall Online Auction. $20 tickets and a grand prize worth over $8,000.

Click here to learn more about a cool new way to give to your favorite organizations - www.givv.org. Just set up an account and pick all your favorite charities. Decide on one monthly donation amount and it will automagically get split between all of your benefactors. Raise or lower the monthly amount at any time to always give what you can. Feel good about supporting all the organizations you like.

Recipe Corner

Greek Moussaka

Ingredients:

FOR THE EGGPLANT AND FILLING

• 3 medium eggplants
• 1 cup Texas Olive Ranch olive oil, or more as needed
• 1½ pounds Bastrop Cattle Co lean ground beef
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 3 tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano leaves, or 1 teaspoon dried
• ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
• Small pinch of ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons Metaxa or other brandy
• ½ cup dry white wine
• Salt, to taste

FOR THE TOPPING

• 3 cups Saltsa Besamel*
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg, preferably freshly grated
• 2/3 cup freshly grated parmensan cheese
  

Instructions:

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Lightly oil several baking sheets.

2. Trim the stem ends off the eggplants, and cut them into ¼-inch-thick lengthwise slices. Coat each slice on both sides with oil. Arrange the slices in one layer, without overlapping, on the baking sheets. (You may need to do this in several batches, depending on how many baking sheets you have and the size of your oven.) Bake for 10 minutes, turn them over, and continue baking until well wilted and slightly golden, another 8 to 10 minutes (see Notes).

3. Remove from the oven and set aside until cool enough to handle. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F.

4. While the eggplant is cooling, prepare the filling: Place the meat in a large nonreactive skillet. Turn the heat to medium-high and cook, using a fork to break up the chunks, until the meat is browned, 10 minutes. Add the onion and garlic and continue cooking and stirring until well mixed, 3 minutes. Add the remaining filling ingredients and mix well. Cook over medium heat, stirring from time to time, until the mixture is fairly dry and crumbly, 20 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and set it aside to cool.

5. Prepare the topping: Stir the besamel, lemon juice, nutmeg, and 2 tablespoons of the cheese together in a mixing bowl. Set it aside.

6. To assemble the moussaka, cover the bottom of a 13- ×9-inch baking dish with an overlapping layer of eggplant slices. Spread one third of the meat mixture over the eggplant, and then sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the remaining cheese over the filling. Repeat the layers of eggplant, filling, and cheese. Arrange the remaining eggplant slices over the second layer (don’t worry if there are not enough slices to cover the filling completely), and spread the remaining filling over them. Spread the topping over the meat, and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

7. Place the dish in the oven and bake until the moussaka is bubbly, golden on top, and slightly browned around the edges, 1 hour. Remove it from the oven and let it rest for at least 20 minutes before serving.

*Saltsa Besamel

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1½ cups milk
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• Generous pinch of nutmeg, preferably freshly grated

Directions:

1. Melt the butter in a medium-size saucepan over medium-high heat until foaming. Add the flour, whisk until the mixture is smooth, and reduce the heat to medium. Cook, stirring, until the mixture begins to turn golden, 2 minutes.

2. Whisk in the milk and salt and cook over medium heat, whisking frequently, until thickened and creamy, 12 to 15 minutes. Whisk in the nutmeg.

3. Use right away, or allow to cool and refrigerate for as long as 10 days. Reheat before using, thinning the sauce with a little milk if it is too thick.

For More Recipes Check Out The Eating Out of the Local Box Blog. Also make sure to become a fan of Greenling on Facebook to get weekly recipes from Woman With A Whisk & The Best of Thymes food bloggers.