My Soapmaking Adventure

I recently started making my own soap to remedy my dry skin and as a hobby.  This has been rewarding so far, I am able to save money and create soap which I can customize to my preferred scent, color, and bar size.  I use the melt and pour method, which uses soap bases made of unscented glycerin and different oils such as olive and Shea, some bases contain other additives such as oatmeal and hemp; then I melt them down in the microwave by cutting the base into small pieces.  Afterwards, I add herbs such as turmeric, and other additives such as spirulina which adds a green color as well. 

Here are pictures of soap I made:

This soap was made using an oatmeal base layered with a clear case, I scented it using ylang ylang and peppermint essential oils.

This soap was made using a hemp base, I used turmeric and spirulina which gave it its color.  I scented this one using bergamot essential oil.

I am planning to incorporate CSA items into soap, fennel fronds can be used as a decoration on top of the soap, or I can add honey or milk.  Fresh fruits and vegetables should not be used in soap, it can have an adverse reaction, however, you can use other items such as fragrance oils, essential oils, lab-created micas or other items to personalize the soap.  Embeds are decorations you can make to resemble fruit or vegetable if you want to make a certain type like citrus or berry type of soap, colors can enhance the look.

I am just learning about the various possibilities of soaps I can make, it is like a new world I am discovering for myself.  I am reading books and getting inspired by YouTubers such as Brambleberry’s Ann Marie and Katie Carson on the Royalty Soaps channel, I watch they then make my own creations from herbal ingredients.

Written by Patrice Hall

Pasta à La Everything

Pasta à La Everything goes a little something like this: survey inventory of Norwood CSA vegetables from given week, decide that they’ll all be tasty in a tomato sauce, and presto! Our version of the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink dish was created this week with:

1. 1 handful of fennel fronds

2.     1 large zucchini

3.     1.5 yellow onions

4.     2 garlic cloves

5.     7-9 small eggplants

6.  1/2 - 2/3 cup cup of red wine 

7. 2 cans of 15 oz whole peeled tomatoes

Steps: Heat olive oil in a medium pan, add garlic and fennel fronds, chopped. Add a few large glugs olive oil, add eggplants, chopped. 

Let the vegetables sweat. Add zucchini and a pinch of sea salt. 

cook until onions, zucchini and eggplants are browned. 

Add 2 cans of tomatoes and red wine. Let simmer on low for 15-20 mins, stirring occasionally.

Enjoy!

Everything-from-the-CSA Pizza

This week, I did the least possible creative thing with our CSA ingredients: I had a pizza party. I bought dough, mozzarella, sausage, and goat cheese at the store. I sautéed eggplant, zucchini, peppers, fennel, scapes, and onions from our share. Tomatoes and plums from our share went on raw. Tomato sauce was from the winter share. Everyone made their own pie, and it was easy and fun (and hot for a Bronx apartment). It was also a solid way to use up produce that, at this point, I have way too much of.

Pizza Ideas:

Sausage, pepper, onion

Tomato, fennel, basil

Zucchini, eggplant, pepper

Plum, goat cheese, balsamic

Surprisingly, the plum was my favorite! It was tart and sweet and goat-cheesy and just right. Overall, the diner was a success. As a friend from out of town put it, "This is just like out of a magazine!" So easy to prepare, so cheap, and so worth it to feel like kids at Pizza Hut again (but with a far more delicious result).

In other news, we're not the only ones with (seemingly) endless zucchini. Deb at Smitten Kitchen seems to have lots of zuc this week, too. Here are some recipes from her site that are on my to-make-asap list:

Ultimate zucchini bread

Zucchini quesadillas

Marinated eggplant with capers and mint

Here's to feeling like a kid again!

Want more CSA inspo? Check us out on insta and Facebook for more recipe ideas and photos.

A Surfeit of Cherries

As the all-too-brief cherry season comes to an end, I found myself in the enviable position of having too many cherries, since the CSA gave us two weeks of sweet and sour cherries this month.  What to do with this abundance?  For the sweet cherries, the answer was simple: eat them by the handful.  But what about the sour cherries?

Sour cherries are often used in baking, as you can see in Christine Loughran’s post about cherry cobbler.  Sour cherries shine in pies, cobblers, turnovers, and tarts.  But, our latest cherry delivery coincided with a four-day heat wave.  So, turning on the oven was the last thing I wanted to do!

The answer?  Cherry curd.  A curd is a custard usually made with sour or tangy fruits such as lemon (and other citrus), berries, or even mango or pineapple. 

Today’s recipe uses both sour cherries and lime.  After making my own curd for a few years now, I find that many fruit curd recipes are unnecessarily complicated and fussy.  A food processor and a fine sieve help streamline the process.

Sour Cherry Curd

Ingredients

1 pint sour cherries

1 lime

1.5 cups sugar

1 stick of butter

4 eggs

Equipment

Cherry pitter

Vegetable peeler

Food processor

Fine sieve

Sauce pan

Instructions

Prepare the fruit:

Wash and pit the cherries, set aside.

Zest* and juice the lime (*Time saving tip: instead of fiddling with a grater, I just peel the lime with the peeler and let the food processor take care of the rest), set aside.

In the food processor, blitz the lime peel and the sugar until the peel is reduced to small flecks.

Add the rest of the ingredients one by one and blitz, making sure each is well incorporated: butter, all 4 eggs, cherries, lime juice.

Pour the mixture into a sauce pan and cook on low heat until it thickens.  This can take 5 – 10 minutes, depending on your stove.  When it’s thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, remove from heat.

 

Strain the mixture using a fine sieve and let it cool completely before putting in the fridge.  The curd should keep for 5 days.

Use the curd as a topping for yogurt (pictured) and ice cream, filling for tarts or between layers in cake, or even like jam on toast, biscuits, or muffins. 

Happy eating!

CSA Cucumber Coolers 😎

As the temperatures are rising, there's nothing nicer than an ice cold drink. This cucumber recipe is an easy and refreshing summer treat, especially for those hot days when you need to give your stove a break!

Ingredients:

3 cucumbers

2 limes

¼ cup sugar

1-2 cups water

*Makes 2 glasses

Directions:

1.     Peel, deseed, and quarter cucumbers. Place in blender

2.     Add juice of 2 limes, sugar, and 1 cup water and blend

3.     Add more water to desired consistency and blend until liquefied

4.     Serve over ice

Different twists: Can add a sprig of mint or even some seltzer water to make a spritzer

Zucchini and Fennel Summer Soup

We’ve has a stressful zucchini situation at the house lately with last week's crop of squash, so turned a few of them into a light summer soup. Without adding any cream, the soup has a silky texture. An easy way to get rid of all of those fennel fronds too or whatever herbs you have in the fridge. It would be delicious with some nice crusty bread, or we garnished with a drizzle of heavy cream and black sesame seeds for crunch.

INGREDIENTS

1 onion
6 cloves garlic
2 lbs zucchini, skin on cut in large chunks (or about 2 large zucchini)
32 oz broth- chicken or vegetable
Any herbs - I used a large handful of each: parsley, garlic scapes, and fennel fronds
salt and black pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Sautee garlic and onion until translucent in oil of choice. Add chicken broth and zucchini in a large pot over medium heat and bring to a boil.
2. Lower heat, cover, and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes.
3. Add herbs and wait till soup cools enough to transfer to a blender or purée with an immersion blender
4. Serve warm or chilled