Kale and Sweet Potato Gratin

1 bunch kale chopped

2 lbs sweet potatoes, thinly sliced

1 1/2 cups shredded parmesan cheese

1 pint heavy whipping cream

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion sliced thin

2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 Tbsp olive oil to coat the pan

1 tsp salt

Black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400°F. Bring a Pot of water to boil. In the meantime, chop kale into bite-sized pieces. Add kale and heat for about 1 minute or until kale is bright green and slightly wilted. Remove from water and allow to cool slightly.  Squeeze out excess water.  

In a small saucepan add the heavy cream and bring to a simmer.  Add garlic, red pepper flakes, salt and 1 cup of parmesan.  

Add a layer of sweet potatoes to the bottom of a baking dish.  Begin layering kale and cream mixture with the sweet potatoes until the ingredients are gone. Add sliced onion and pour some of the cream mixture over the top. Top with remaining parmesan cheese and cover dish with aluminum foil and bake for 40-50 minutes.  Remove foil for the last 10 minutes of cooking. Allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Creamy Thai-Inspired Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup

3 cups diced peeled carrots

3 cups diced peeled sweet potatoes

1 tablespoon coconut oil

2 cups chopped yellow (sweet) onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

2 tablespoons red curry paste

4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth, plus more if needed

¼ cup raw almond butter or peanut butter

½ teaspoon fine-grain sea salt, plus more to taste

Freshly ground black pepper

Up to ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional, if you like spice)

In a large pot, melt the coconut oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and ginger and sauté for 5 to 6 minutes, until the onion is translucent.

Stir in the curry paste. In a small bowl, whisk together some of the broth with the almond butter until smooth. Add the mixture to the pot, along with the carrots, sweet potatoes, salt, and remaining vegetable broth. Stir until combined.

Bring the soup to a low boil over medium-high heat and then reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until the potatoes and carrots are fork-tender.

Ladle the soup carefully into a blender. You will likely have to do this in a couple of batches, depending on the size of your blender (never fill your blender past the maximum fill line). Being careful to avoid hot steam escaping from the lid, blend on low and slowly increase the speed until the soup is completely smooth. (Alternatively, you can use an immersion blender and blend the soup directly in the pot.)

Taste, and season with salt and black pepper. If you’d like more spice, add a pinch or full ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, and blend again. Transfer the soup back to the pot and reheat if necessary. If desired, you can thin the soup out with a bit more broth if it’s too thick for your preference.

Sweet potato Curry & Rice

1 1/2 Tbsp coconut oil or safflower oil

1 small yellow onion minced

2 Tbsp minced fresh ginger (+1tbsp minced ginger to cook with the rice)

2 Tbsp minced garlic

1 Tbsp crushed red pepper

3 Tbsp red curry paste

2 medium Sweet Potatoes

2-3 carrots sliced thin

2 14-ounce cans coconut milk 

1-2 Tbsp maple syrup 

1 1/2 tsp ground turmeric

Sea salt to taste 

2 cups chopped kale

1/2 cup roasted cashews 

1 medium lemon juiced

• Heat a large pot over medium heat. Once hot, add coconut oil, shallot, ginger, garlic, and pepper. Sauté for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently.

• Add red curry paste, sweet potato and carrots, stir, and cook for 2 minutes more.

• Add coconut milk, maple syrup, turmeric, and a pinch of salt and stir. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Once simmering, slightly reduce heat to medium-low heat.

• Simmer for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, to soften the potato

• At this time, also taste and adjust the flavor of the broth as needed. Once the broth is well seasoned and the potatoes are softened, add kale, cashews and lemon juice, and cover. Simmer for 3-4 minutes more over low to medium-low heat.

• Serve over rice.

Happy New Year!

Hope you rang in the new year with enthusiasm! We joyfully celebrated until after the 9pm fire works and pulled a classic farmer on vacation and snuck back inside to go to bed!

New year was very special this year because Steven and I were able to get down to Florida to celebrate my mothers birthday with close family. The weather was great, and we ate as much local fish as we could find. Now that we are back from vacation we are getting back into gear and working on all the important new year tasks we farmers work on. The seed catalogs are dog eared and book marked as we discus new varieties. We also go through and catalog our existing seed stock and evaluate which types we want to grow again.

This new year is especially important this to us this year. With the big leap we took back in May to purchase our own farm we are now right in the heart of what makes or break a farm. Which isn’t as dramatic as it sounds but I can’t stress enough how much additional planning being on a new farm takes. We’re also at that point in the year where your membership is really important. We are still 8 weeks away from starting new seedlings and another 4 weeks after that will we start to have a small amount of greens to sell for income.

We are also making a big change for our quality of life and scaling back production. One of our goals from the last four years is to avoid the 85-90 hour weeks. We love farming, but year after year that kind of hustling can really break you down. This also gives us a chance to really focus on our Farm Share members and closer community. Thank you to everyone that has signed up already! Yes you are purchasing vegetables when you be come a member. But you are sincerely supporting every aspect of what we do to grow those vegetables!

Check out some photos from the trip and enjoy a great seasonal recipe!

Nights

of Lights in St. Augustine. The oldest city in the US knows how to party!

Pelicans

on the beach at sunset. The water tends to be too cold to get in, but the wildlife watching is great!

Sweet Potato and Cabbage Curry

3 tablespoons canola or safflower oil

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 cup chopped onion

4 garlic cloves, crushed

1/2 tablespoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 cup vegetable broth

1 can coconut milk

Salt and pepper

2-3 sweet potatoes, diced

2 carrots cut into coins

1 daikon radish, quartered then sliced

½-1 cabbage, shredded

Juice of half a lime

In a large sauté pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the pepper flakes, onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until beginning to soften, about 5 minutes.

Add the garlic, ground cumin, curry powder and cook, stirring, about 1 minute.

Add the vegetable broth, coconut milk, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to medium-low.

Add the potatoes, cabbage and carrots. Cover and cook about 15 minutes. Then daikon radish (you want this to still be a little crisp) and the lime juice Stir well and cook for 2 minutes more. Serve warm on top of rice.