Somehow, without really intending for it to happen, I’ve found myself the member of two different CSA programs this season. Both are half shares, so it’s not a truly excessive amount of produce, but it’s proving to be just enough that I have to be exceedingly proactive in ensuring it is all used.
For instances, this week I found myself in the possession of three heads of lettuce, three bunches of kale, one bundle of mustard greens, as well as spinach, dandelion greens and a giant head of napa cabbage. I’ve made a series of enormous salads, wilted spinach into eggs, cooked up four sheet trays of kale chips, and made a big old batch of these drop biscuits.
If you’re finding yourself similarly inundated with greens of all varieties, these biscuits are a lifesaver. You can fold a full two cups of sauteed greens into the dough (in this case, I used both mustard greens and kale, but truly, use whatever you have), they freeze really well, and they’re quite tasty when toasted.
Also, the kinds of flours are flexible. This time, I used a combination of whole wheat and rye flours, but in the past have also used whole wheat pastry, all-purpose and even oat flour. For those of you who eat gluten-free, I imagine you could swap in your favorite GF flour blend without trouble.
How are you guys using up all those spring greens these days?
Beautiful biscuit idea! When my CSA overwhelms my crisper drawer, I tend to default to a very thick kale (etc.) pesto that I then spread in a thick slab on everything–toast, eggs, pizza, crackers…all snacks and meals are game. Any nuts in the pantry can be used; nutritional yeast finds its purpose. Bonus: It fits in a jar.
Stuffing greens into biscuits sounds like the best idea. Plus, when you eat a biscuit or two for a snack, you get instant greens too! Yay!
Marisa,
I only have 1 share to deal with, but we’re down to 3 eaters for the season, and 2 of them aren’t really crazy about greens, so I appreciate this recipe’s ability to sock away 2 cups of greens in a way that I bet my kids will eat.
Today I made a spicy kale personal pizza-size dough plus a plain kale dough that will make 2 medium-ish pizzas. Friday nights are pizza nights around here, so stay tuned on how they turn out.
Then I sautéed 2 beets’ worth of greens, with some spring onions, and topped them with a sunny side up egg for lunch.
For dinner we had a summer soup using kale, radishes, carrots and potato.
I’m pretty chuffed that there’s about enough kale left in yesterday’s delivery for a smoothie. Woot! I still have more beet greens, and salad mix, and Swiss chard to get through before next week, but the hardest one for me is kale, and this week I kicked it’s @$$.
We’ve been eating salads, salads, and more salads. Currently inundated with apricots, which went into the dehydrator (two batches), jam, the freezer (sliced for a future cobbler), and some muesli for breakfast. One more bowlful to figure out what to do with.
We’ve been eating a lot of salads – esp taco salad and an oriental chicken salad. We tried our favorite ricotta spinach pie with kale and it was pretty good, though it needed more salt and garlic. I need to try those kale chips.
My current favorite (besides salads) is a variation on the old Italian trick of tossing slightly wilted greens with pasta, add Parmesan and you’re done. Good add-ins are canned tuna & black olives. YUM.
Sort of like this:
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/pasta_with_tuna_arugula_and_hot_pepper/
I made four batches of vegetable potstickers this last week to help use up my Chinese cabbage. In a couple of weeks I’m hoping to make some egg rolls too. These are for the freezer to eat in the winter. For the fresh greens I’ve been eating a lot of salads and made some grilled bok choy and some pizza with greens. And I gave a ton away. I don’t have a CSA, I have a garden. And it produces way too much, so I tend to feed my neighbors too.
What a fabulous idea, love homemade biscuits and haven’t made any for a long time. Marissa, I am struck by the wealth of food your readers are privy to. Brilliant uses of all the produce too. We made a huge green salad the other say and miraculously, it stayed viable (garbanzos, black olives, peppers, cukes, feta, no dressing) so for dinner last night, dressed with vinaigrette, added a couple hard boiled eggs (hens on overdrive) and sauteed some frozen shrimp in butter and garlic, and plopped the lot on top of salad. Amazingly delicious and easy. Our salad greens are beginning to bolt so plan to try grilled, halved romaine, sounds terrific. Oh, is freezing greens an option for you? I sliced, blanched for 2 min, wrung out dry with tea towel, spread on cookie sheet for flash freeze, and pack in gallon baggies and have instant greens with no fuss. Just a thought. Again, thanks for the biscuit reminder, looks scrumptious!
I second the greens pesto! That is the best way to ‘get rid of’…I mean, enjoy a whole load of greens. Some of my other favorites are Swiss chard gratin, sausage and kale saute and a green quiche topped with corn bread. If all else fails I coursely chop and throw it in the freezer!
Personally, I like my greens made the old fashioned southern way… Fry a tidbit of bacon (or not) drop in your washed wet greens, a cup of water or so, add a couple dashes of Tabasco or other favorite hot sauce, add a tsp or two of apple cider vinegar, a tsp of sugar or honey and a pat of butter.. and let em go till they’re soft and pliable and most of the water has evaporated.. That’ll leave you with some lovely pot liqueur to pour over your greens or potatoes if you make them on the side..
I also have an OmegaVrt Juicer… that takes care of all sorts of produce. 😉
I’ll finely chop and cook down kale/chard/collards/whatever all together (2-3 bunches at a time) with garlic or scapes, olive oil, salt, and vermouth or sherry. There’s always a serving or so left over at the end of the week, and it does wonders stirred into Annie’s mac and cheese.
This is great!! I have had kale weekly from my CSA and I am running out of ideas. I know chard is coming in this week. Will that work in these too??