Quick Crispy Sugar Snap Peas

A fast and flavorful side, these sugar snap peas are quickly sautéed with spring onions for a crunchy accompaniment to any meal.

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I plant peas each Spring, hoping to get a jump start on the edible goodies coming out of my back yard. I never seem to remember succession planting, though, so I mostly get just a handful of peas harvested at a time. An amount that generally gets snacked on as I walk back into the house.

It's rare for me to get a working amount of sugar snap peas.  Peas are so yummy raw, or dunked in hummus or our favorite Spiced Cottage Cheese Chip Dip that I tend to just eat them that way. In an effort to broaden the family's culinary horizons I've also made a Cold and Creamy Pea, Avocado and Mint Soup--but it turns out that chilled soups are not something the other household residents embrace. All the more for me.

Simon's interest put all my other meh photos of peas and pea blossoms to shame this morning.

Waffled Carrot and Turnip Fritters

Shredded carrots and turnips, combined with a bit of spring onion, make an earthy and sweetly savory side dish or appetizer. Topped with some parmesan cheese and butter, it's a tasty way to enjoy the farm share. Use a waffle iron to make this fun snack.

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I find the start of each Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share season to be rife with promise. We'll have high expectations to eat ALL THE THINGS and then get bogged down in sheer volume of vegetables.


What helps me the most is to have a few 'go to' methods to deal with different types of produce. For example, when I'm overwhelmed with greens I know I can whip up a Fast Greens & Pasta dish to use up a large bunch in a way my family will enjoy.


I shared last week how I turn to my grill, in the summer, or to my roasting pan (in the Fall when I'm not worried about heating up my house too much) to turn root vegetables into building blocks for future meals.

Today I'd like to share another method--fritters.  I like to fritter away my time in the kitchen. It's much more productive than frittering away my time on Facebook, and the results are far tastier. I've shared several recipes for shredding vegetables to make vegetable pancakes or fritters. One summer standby (that you can make off season if you shred and freeze your summer squash) is my Zucchini Pancake recipe. I've shared a previous plain Turnip Fritter recipe here. I've even waffled up some St Patrick's Day leftovers in my Corned Beef Hash Brown Waffles.

Swiss Chard Hash

A skillet supper of Swiss chard, potatoes, mushrooms and sausage served with an egg on top.

"There should be a Sausage Monday"

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I fixed this on a Monday night, after getting the idea from a similar 'throw in whatever's handy' supper the week before that turned out surprisingly good. I was going to leave out the sausage and serve the hash with an egg on top. My spouse came in and asked what was for dinner. After I shared my vision he commented "that would be good with sausage". I replied "I was going for a Meatless Monday meal". He said, "there should be a Sausage Monday". So, sausage it is. Feel free to adapt to your Sausage or Meatless Monday needs by doubling the mushrooms in place of the sausage.

For other recipes using Swiss chard, please see my Swiss Chard Recipes Collection. For other recipes using potatoes since I have 25 pounds of them from the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share, please see my Potato Recipes Collection. Same thing for the Mushroom Recipes Collection (not 25 pounds, just check it out), all part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient--a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share. I'm also contributing to The Spiced Life's Mushroom Mangia board on Pinterest, have a Potatoes board on Pinterest, and interesting chard recipes that catch my eye live on my Greens board on Pinterest. Want to know How to Use This Blog? Click here.

Colorful Chard and Chicken Stir Fry--a Concept Recipe for Stir Fries

Subtitle: The Stir Fry as a Concept for Simple Farm Share Suppers

Swiss chard, carrots, radish and onion cooked with chicken strips and seasoned with Asian flavors. Can be served over rice or rolled up in Chinese pancakes.

One of the most common ways I use the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share to fix supper for the family rarely appears here--a simple stir fry. Stir fries in my kitchen are one skillet meals into which I try to cram as many stray vegetables as possible. I'm not getting fancy with seasonings or sauces, it's just basic food that gets vegetables out of the farm share crate and into our family. I happened to get some photos of one, a rare occurrence, so I'm sharing the idea today.

Last week I made a stir fry using up dribs and drabs of what was available, no photos or anything, and got raves from the menfolk [my daughter was off in Canada pouring maple syrup onto pea soup in a sugar shack. And practicing French]. I was kicking myself for not documenting how I'd made it, so I'll be making that one again, deliberately. It had bok choy, smoked sausage, spring onions and roasted potatoes.

A few Notes:

• When I make a stir fry using the quick cooking greens from the farm share [Swiss chard, bok choy, tatsoi, pak choy, spinach, cabbages--NOT turnip greens, mustard greens, or kale in this case] I separate the leaves from their stems, chop the stems up, and cook the stems first with the onions.

• If I've got root vegetables to use I'll shred or finely dice them and add in along with the onions and stems.

• I typically include a protein in my stir fries--a chopped chicken breast or two, some ground meat, scrambled eggs or a fried egg on top. A piece of diced chorizo or smoked sausage provides a ton of flavor with very little effort.

• We usually have a starch with our stir fries. This is typically rice, but can also be potatoes, tortillas, Chinese pancakes (boughten** Mu Shu wrappers), bulgur or couscous. If you're going to have a separate starch like rice, make sure to start that first so it's ready.

For other recipes using Swiss chard, please see my Swiss chard Recipe Collection, part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, an ever-expanding [thanks to generous links from my fellow food bloggers] collection of ideas for what to do with your farm share. But wait, there's more! I've got a Greens Board on Pinterest. I share recipes on my FB page even. Wanna know how to Use This Blog? Click here.

**boughten. In preparation for a trip West to include sites from the Little House on the Prairie series I've been re-reading the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I love reading how Pa built a house using boughten boards and a boughten door. I buy my mu shu wrappers in the freezer section of Asian grocery stores.

Kalua Pig Summer Rolls with Kohlrabi, Carrots and Pineapple

Kalua pig combined with shredded kohlrabi and carrots in a rice paper wrapped roll, sweetened with a bit of pineapple for an Island style meal. Yes, this is another way to eat that Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share kohlrabi!

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Kohlrabi disclaimers aside, this is also a wonderful way to enjoy some Hawaiian flavors while keeping your house reasonably cool.  Sure sure, you've got an imu [underground pit oven] in the backyard for your monthly luau . . . or perhaps like me you don't.


Kalua pig cooks easily in the slow cooker [please not I said easily, not quickly--if you don't have Kalua pig already cooked you'll need to start this a day early]--but since making Kalua pig means you'll make a whole bunch of meat, it's delightful that the leftovers freeze well [add some pan juices to the container].

While we lived in Hawaii we enjoyed Kalua pig with sautéed cabbage, '2 scoop rice', and pineapple chunks.  I decided to create a summer roll that combined many of the same elements, but in a cool and tidy* package.  I used shredded raw kohlrabi instead of sautéed cabbage, rice paper wrappers in lieu of rice, added in some shredded carrot for color, and tucked the pineapple inside.


This is a terrific hot weather meal--packed with vegetables and quite satisfying--keeping my kitchen cool.  It travels well in a chilled bag, too, for summer picnics.