Member ideas and suggestions

Janine sent me a storage tip for basil, the last part of which I had just read in a food magazine the day before she sent it to me. Many fresh herbs, in particular basil, do not like to be stored in the fridge. For years I have re-cut the stems and placed them in a glass or jar with water. Every few days the stems should be trimmed again and the water changed. The extra tip is to put a plastic bag over the basil to help keep it even longer. Janine picked her basil up from the farm on Monday and sent me pictures of how it looked on Saturday and it still looked beautiful.

Jackie sent me what she did to saute her veggies and make a delicious and simple dinner. Here is what she sent:

I chopped up the yellow and green squash (1 each), garlic scapes (2), a handful of snow peas, and about a 1/4 lb of cremini mushrooms and sautéed them in butter and olive oil with some salt and pepper. After a few minutes I added some chopped chard (4 leaves) and a small handful of basil. At the end I added a bit more olive oil and stirred it all into some linguini. I shredded Parmesan cheese on top. It was so good!

Jackie used this as a side dish, but can be a meal in itself - if you want to add protein, white beans or chick peas can be added to keep it a 1 pan meal. Also, switch the veggies in and out based on what we have - when you run out of peas, use the snap beans instead - but you may want to blanch them for a couple of minutes. Also, now that we have scallions, use them, adding them near or at the end of cooking.

Let me know how you enjoyed your harvest by emailing me at lindadansbury@comcast.net