whole foods, super natural foods

food creativity.  food thoughts.  we've been incorporate more grains into our diet as well as eating as many whole foods as possible.  our CSA is amazing and inspiring and aids in our quest.  we love the foods we're given and want to use them to the best of their potential.  a friend in st. louis has been a guide over the years in this pursuit, as she's living a healthy whole-foods lifestyle.  one of my favorite cookbooks, super natural foods, came from her christmas 2008 and i'm just now really getting into the recipes.  recipes from that book forthcoming.

because i miss my classes throwing clay, i find a good substitute in baking and making pasta by hand.  yum.  each batch is better than the last, which is encouraging.  fresh spinach & ricotta ravioli like those we cooked on our trip to italy is a must.  the kneading in making bread & pasta certainly connects to my clay work.  my goal is to bake bread once a week, or make the grilled bread we love or fresh pizza dough.  crackers are next on the agenda this week, and i'll tell you how that goes.  a special treat that we made for a few friends last week: oatmeal fruit cookies (mostly organic & whole foods), from the cookbook i recommend below.  

since the recipe below fits into the scheme of our CSA & garden and is so good and comforting, I wanted to share it with you.  we've enjoyed making this over the last year or so.  so good.  so good.

Sausage & Greens Soup adapted from Simply in Season:  Recipes that celebrate fresh, local foods in the spirit of More-with-Less.  Herald Press.  The unadapted version can be found on our CSA's blog.  You can also adapt the recipe to be a meatless sausage or some other creative protein.  

1/2 lb bulk sausage (we had amish sausage on hand, with virtually no fat, so i added 1 T. olive oil)
  Brown in soup pot and drain all but a spoonful of fat. Remove meat.  (though sometimes i forget to remove the meat.  works well either way)

Add: 
1 cup onion, green onion, chives (we love using green onions from the garden)

garlic scapes to taste or 1 clove garlic, minced

  Saute in reserve fat until soft.  Return sausage to pot, if you removed it.  

Add:  
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup potatoes, diced
1/2 cup turnips, cut into sixths (my addition)

sea salt and fresh pepper to taste
  Bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer until potatoes are soft, about 10-15 minutes.

Add: 
1 1/2 cups evaporated milk
1-3 cups of fresh spinach, kale, chard, watercress, or any other young tender greens or combination of greens, chopped
parsley to taste.  (A must!)

  Cook until tender.  
  Serve with freshly grated Parmesan or other hard cheese and enjoy!  Great with toast & garlic butter. 

Enjoy!