I forgot

[siercia]

to post about our CSA take this past week. Bad me.

It was smallish this week.

• head of lettuce
• fresh garlic
• bunch of kale
• beets
• basil
• more damn cilantro
• potatoes
• carrots

I think that might actually be it. I feel like I'm forgetting something, but it can't be that important. Once again, everything was of a very high quality, and we've eaten almost all of it but the kale, which I'm not sure what to do with it.

And, even better, Miss lorac went blueberry picking yesterday, and brought us a bag full of fresh blueberrires. Even better, Wiley doesn't really like blueberries, so these are ALL MINE. Well, after i share with Widget and imagine77.

Comments

[asmodel.livejournal.com]

Forgive my ignorance, but what's kale?

[siercia]

A dark leafy green. It looks similar to spinach, but tougher. I don't know what it tastes like, because I've never had it.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

You should make Portuguese kale soup!

[siercia]

Do you have a recipe? And please please please tell me it's not the yummy one with sausage I made last year that has more points than I can comprehend. *sigh*

Maybe you can make it without the chourico?

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Caldo Verde (Portuguese Kale Soup)
by Chef John Villa Pico, NYC
Recipe adapted by Irene Sax
Serves 6 to 8

Considered by many to be Portugal's national dish, caldo verde is found everywhere—in the dining rooms of Lisbon's most luxurious hotels to the humblest of country homes. It's a versatile dish: Serve as a one-course meal at lunch or as a light supper in the evening. What's crucial when preparing it is that the kale is cut into extremely fine slices; that's what creates the soup's distinctive character.


Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large Spanish onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
10 ounces chouriço sausage, diced
6 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
8 cups cold water
1 pound kale or collard greens, cut into very fine julienne
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
1. In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until they are translucent. Add the garlic and half the chouriço and cook for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes, cover everything with the water, bring to a boil and lower the heat, simmering until the potatoes are almost done, about 15 minutes.

2. When the soup is cool enough to handle, purée it in the food processor and return to the pot. Add the greens, bring everything back to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, ladle into bowls and garnish with the remaining cubes of chouriço.

Re: Maybe you can make it without the chourico?

[siercia]

Well, if I cut down the chorizo a bit, and decrease the olive oil, I can get it to 11 points a serving. I take it this recipe would serve four easily, since that's what I calculated it on?

That actually seems reasonable. Thanks!

Re: Maybe you can make it without the chourico?

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Up on top it says "serves 6 to 8" but then you always wonder how big the servings are and who actually eats one serving. :)

I've actually never had kale soup with potatoes in it, but I saw this recipe and it sounded yummy. How on earth do those points work, anyway?

Points

[siercia]

Points work on a mathmatical calculation of a food's calories, fiber and fat. (Say, something that has 170 calories. At 0 grams of fiber and 4 grams of fat, it would be 4 points. At 4 grams of fiber and 4 grams of fat, it would be 3.) The higher the calories and fat content, the higher the points, and the higher the fiber content, the lower the points. But pretty much all foods can then be given a "points value" per serving.

And then each person doing the program is given a points range to meet each day. It's based on weight, so, currently, my points range is 28-33 points per day. I can eat whatever I want during the day, as long as I don't go over my range - so if I really WANT to eat a bacon double cheeseburger (about 15 points) I can, if I eat carefully the rest of the day. If I eat at the bottom of my range, I can save the points in a "bank" and be able to splurge another day if I want, but I have to eat to my minimum every day to keep me from over-dieting or under-eating. Exercise also gets me points that I can add to my food allowance if I want to (again, at my current weight, an hour of light exercise is about 4 points).

Make sense? It's a diet plan that instead of telling you what to eat, makes you learn about the health factors of the food you eat, and then choose what you eat based on knowing that, essentially. So far it's working pretty well. And I bet that's WAY more info than you needed.

Re: Points

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Thank you for explaining that. I totally always wondered about "such and such is 11 points" or whatnot.

You are so good for typing that out for me.

Re: Points

[siercia]

Oh, no problem =)

Re: Maybe you can make it without the chourico?

[asmodel.livejournal.com]

Olive oil needs to be cut down?!!!!

Perhaps I just lived in the Italian part of town for far too long, but olive oil is the food of life. Far from that, olive oil is actively healthy. It contains mono-unsaturated oils which is good for cholesterol. Splash olive oil into every pan. Bring on olive oil.

Yeah, I lived in the Italian part of town for far too long.

Re: Maybe you can make it without the chourico?

[siercia]

I know olive oil is good for you, particularly compared to other forms of fats. However, it still packs on the calories, which, when you're cutting calories is still poor. I'd certainly never replace it with any other type of fat if a recipe called for it.

[bigmeanie.livejournal.com]

Cilantro? YUM. :)

*shudder*

[imagine77.livejournal.com]

Just...
*shudder*

Re:

[siercia]

I like cilantro, but there's been a HUGE bunch of it every week so far. Seriously, even if I cooked with it every day, there'd be too much cilantro, and I don't know enough recipes that use it to use it every day.

cilantro

[dchenes.livejournal.com]

Any cilantro would be too much for me. I'm one of those people for whom cilantro tastes like soap.

Thank you Lorac

[imagine77.livejournal.com]

Those blueberries rock my damn world!
Totally nummy!