Breaking My Vegetable Cooking Rut - Good Eats from a Great Cookbook!
I love vegetables. My mother would be so pleased to hear that. But, she sure wouldn’t recognize some of the wonderful vegetable dishes I’ve been making from Serving Up the Harvest. A product of her times, she leaned toward frozen and canned vegetables. She was a gardner, yes, but not a vegetable gardener. From her I get my love of flowers and I focus on those and a few herbs and leave the vegetable gardening to others. Fortunately, there are plenty of community supported agriculture (CSA) options in our area so I can concentrate on flowers, purchase great vegetables and help support something that’s near and dear to my farmer’s daughter heart — agriculture.
I purchased Serving Up the Harvest a few years ago at a Michigan Master Gardener Association function and I’ve looked at the wonderful recipes many time. It wasn’t until this spring that we started cooking from it more frequently. That timing coordinated with the arrival of our CSA share for this spring.
With our CSA we get an email the day before pick up telling us what’s ready to enjoy this week. And that inspires us to be creative in recipes, which has pushed me to this book looking for new options.
The subhead - Celebrating the Goodness of Fresh Vegetables - really summarizes what this book has to offer. Since there are a lot of salad greens in the spring CSA share — it’s such a treat to have fresh, locally grown instead of winter grocery store fare — I’ve tapped into the salad recipes of course, but this book offers so much more!!!
Recently we had lacinato kale in our CSA share box. We both like kale, but this kale was particularly fresh, tasty and especially tender!!! I made the vegetarian version of Tuscan Kale with White Beans and Garlic. It was spectacular, especially the last minute addition of some olive oil/garlic/red peppy just before serving. We served that up with a side of white Italian sausage made at a local market for a spectacular dinner.
Serving Up the Harvest has quickly become my go to book for creative ways to use our CSA share each week. Now that we’re in the middle of asparagus season in Michigan I can’t wait to try their lemony grilled asparagus, which looks really easy and simple, and the grilled asparagus and chicken salad which makes the most of both the asparagus in our share and also the salad greens. Spring eating is soooo refreshing after a long winter!
If you’re looking to either add more vegetables into your diet or to break out of your vegetable cooking rut, this book is a great one to choose. It’s divided into sections that follow the seasons of the year — something that I particularly appreciate in our four season environment. It also has suggestions for a well-stocked pantry and basic recipes for dressings, broths and more. It’s a real treasure trove. You can purchase this book on Amazon by clicking the Buy on Amazon button under the cover image of the book, which is pictured below.
Note: I'm a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com
Creative and targeted programs that make an impact are the hallmark of experienced marketing professional Ruth Steele Walker. Focusing on results that improve the bottom line, she accelerates projects from conception to implementation with a mastery of writing, production, placement, budgeting and coordination.
During more than 25 years with Foremost Corporation of America, the nation's leading insurer of manufactured housing and recreational vehicles, Walker consistently produced effective communications programs that resulted in increased net written premium. Her expertise in crisis communications was a vital part of Foremost's exemplary customer service in the wake of hurricanes, floods and earthquakes. Walker specializes in communications targeting the 50+ demographic, with an emphasis in communications for the 65+ segment.
Among other achievements, Walker developed communications for the merger of Foremost and Farmers Insurance, addressing audiences including customers, employees, trade and consumer media. For Foremost's 50th anniversary, she created a celebration program of internal and external promotions, special events, recognition and a 162-page commemorative book.
Earlier in her career, Walker was a newspaper reporter, a TV and radio producer, and worked in national sales and traffic at network TV affiliates. Walker earned a BA in journalism from Michigan State University and an MS in communications from Grand Valley State University.
She and her husband Scott operate a small vineyard in Michigan's Leelanau Peninsula, producing premium vinifera wine grapes. The vineyard has been the largest local supplier for Suttons Bay wine label L. Mawby, recently named one of the world's top producers of sparkling wines.
