Since this is the last week of the season, I wanted to see if I could find a special recipe to share. This is one my friend's grandmother gave her many years ago (she still keeps it, in all its handwritten, grandmotherly-scrawl glory, lovingly displayed in her kitchen), and I thought it was apropos. My friend says she found the source for this recipe years later: a yellowed 'Dear Abby' clipping, of unknown vintage, mounted on a 3x5 card in her grandmother's recipe box! I still think it is sweet though, and worth sharing.   -  Debbie
 

Happiness

Take 2 heaping cups of patience
1 heartful of love
2 handsful of generosity
Dash of laughter
1 headful of understanding
Sprinkle generously with kindness
Add plenty of faith, and mix well.
Spread over a period of a lifetime and
Serve everybody you meet.
 

But since y'all might like some recipes that use box ingredients too... here are two recipes I actually concocted today (necessity is the mother of invention!!), which came out tasty enough, I thought I could share them with you, my fellow CSA members. Plus, they use some of our nemesis ingredients: kale and cabbage! Meanwhile, I wish you all a beautiful, peaceful, joyous holiday season... and we'll be talkin' to you next year!! - debbie
 

Kale & Tuna Puttanesca
(serves 2 big eaters or 4 small eaters... depending on amount of pasta made!)

olive oil, for sauteeing
garlic, crushed or chopped
can o' chopped tomatoes (or can o' whole peeled tomatoes... you can mush 'em up while cooking)
can o' tuna (packed in water, not oil)
a few spoonfuls of capers
a sprinkling of dried, crushed red chilies
fresh lemon juice (1/2 a lemon)
1 goodly bunch chopped, de-stemmed kale (remember: after washing kale, you can strip the leaves from the stems w/your hands, then chop 'em up. discard stems.)
salt to taste
Your choice of pasta

Bring salted pasta water to a boil. Meanwhile, saute garlic in hot olive oil until it begins to sizzle. Keep temperature fairly high; add tomatoes, tuna (including its juice/water), capers, chilies & lemon juice. If using whole tomatoes, break 'em up a bit with a wooden spoon.  Add chopped kale and stir. Cover. Cook pasta separately in the boiling salted water you started. Sauce is done in as few as 5 minutes (on high heat) or as many as 15 minutes (on medium heat). Should be slightly thickened. Remember to taste for salt, adding more if you think it needs it (tuna can be salty enough). Serve sauce over hot cooked pasta. Pass the grated parmesan!
 

Thai Cabbage & Carrots
(similar to Kale, above, in that the number of servings depends on how much rice you make, and also how much cabbage you decide to use! 1 good-sized head of cabbage should serve about 4 people)

a splash of olive oil
garlic, crushed or chopped
coarsely shredded cabbage
thinly sliced carrots
minced fresh mint leaves
juice of 1/2 a lime
1 tsp. or so of fish sauce (several 'shakes', if you have a shaker-top type bottle of fish sauce)
about 1/2 tsp. sugar
small shake of crushed red chilies

Sizzle garlic in hot olive oil. Add cabbage and carrots, and stir-fry a few minutes. Sprinkle veggies w/sugar; add mint, lime juice, fish sauce and chilies and stir-fry another minute or two, until nice and hot, and just slightly wilted. Serve over fresh hot rice. Note: I made brown basmati rice in my rice cooker with a few smashsed-for-flavor stalks of lemongrass, a goodly shaking of tumeric, and some salt. T'was good! (Don't forget to remove and toss the lemongrass stalks before serving!) See 16th harvest week 1999 for this lemongrass-rice-recipe inspiration.