Hi Oahu Fresh members!  This week’s bag is hot (as in awesome!), just like our weather lately (not so awesome)!  We’re hoping to cool you off though by bringing your bag full of refreshing locally grown food.  We have eggplant and kirby cucumbers from Ho Farms, local bananas, roma tomatoes, and avocado from Pacific Gateway Farmers, Tahitian Limes from Hoalike Farm, and mixed organic keiki greens from Kahumana Farm.   And be warned–it’s been so hot that greens  in some areas, especially lettuces, are just not making it- so the items you will find in this week’s bag are hot weather friendly.  But we’ve got some recipes in mind to help you transition from “melting” to cool, calm, and collected, so stay tuned and find a comfy spot to relax while your temperature drops!

Tahitian Limeade   Use your Tahitian limes and find a shady breezy spot on the lanai for sipping.

Tilapia Ceviche   I know you can find locally raised tilapia, so here you go–a local ceviche recipe!  (and you can omit the mayo and use an avocado spread instead)

Smoky Eggplant and White Bean Dip

Roasted Eggplant and Tomatoes with Tangy Cucumber and Yogurt

Rum-Coconut Banana Bread   Just in case you don’t eat all of your bananas before they get too ripe…

Vinaigrette for Green Salad   This is an easy dressing that you can mix up in a jar with a lid so you can store it.  So easy, and no worries  if you don’t have champagne vinegar, just use a little apple cider, red, or balsamic and adjust to your taste.

 

 

Oahu Fresh members, how are you?  Well we hope, and excited for another bag this week with tasty local goodies.  I was looking online tonight for something about celebrating mid August, something that I could center this post about and I found that there’s a film called Mid August Lunch!  And it happens to be an Italian film, so there’s definitely going to be a lot of food involved!  I think I’ll watch it soon and verify.  If you’re interested check out the plot summary here.

Anyway, this got me to thinking about a few recipes for this week’s bag that are based on a leisurely lunch, stretching out over hours, with family and friends, Italian style!  Or French, Czech…you could name almost any group and this scenario might apply.  So with that in mind, what follows are a few recipes to get you in the mood for a nice local lunch, using your bag contents for this week!  We will be bringing you organic mixed baby greens and kalamungay (malungaay) leaves from Kahumana Farm, swiss chard and tomatoes from Ho Farms, long beans, radishes, and cucumbers from Pacific Gateway Farmers in Kunia, and avocados from Uluwehi Farm.

Some lunch ideas…

Corn and Malungaay Soup

Tomato, Onion, Avocado Salad

Avocado BLT with Spicy Mayo and Fried Egg   WOW!  I want to eat this right now…

Scallops with Swiss Chard and Polenta   an elegant idea for lunch for two maybe!

Cold Cucumber Soba

and finally, Greek Salad as it’s prepared and eaten in Greece.  Nanette G passed this link on to me and I’ve eaten this salad for dinner two nights out of three so far…IT. IS. WONDERFUL.

A little bit about Malungaay…malungaay is the term used in the Philippines for the moringa tree.  Leaves can be eaten in salads, soups, stews, and as a tea.  There are numerous health benefits attributed to malungaay, and it is known to have high doses of various vitamins, is considered to be anti inflammatory, and very nutritious.

Aloha everyone!   Are you soaking in the last bit of summer? –maybe it’s not really the last but it seems so with school starting back up already.  This week we’re bringing you a bag that we are super excited about.  We hope that spending some time in the kitchen with this wonderful produce will help get you relaxed and ready for whatever the next few weeks bring!

This week we’ll have tomatoes, romano beans, and peppers from Pacific Gateway Farmers in Kunia, fresh and crispy lettuce from 808FarmFresh in Waimanalo, organic beets from Kahumana Farm in Waianae, green eggplant from Ho Farms, and lilikoi from Uluwehi Farm in Pupukea.  Wow!!  Super good selection from our farmer partners this week–thank you!

Braised Romano beans with Cherry Tomatoes

Garlicky Romano Beans   This recipe has several links for other mouth watering recipes for those romano beans- scroll to the end!

Farro Salad with Tomatoes and Romano Beans

Pan Roasted Shishito Peppers

Raw Beet Salad   The beets in this week’s bag are going to be small, so what better way to use them than raw, in a wonderful salad that you can put together quickly.  This recipe also lists a few other variations you can try.

Grated Raw Beet Salad   This will help utilize your lettuce too–even though the recipe calls for romaine, you can certainly substitute your mixed lettuces from 808FarmFresh!

Happy local eating everyone!

 

Happy Summer everyone!  We hope you survived Tropical Depression Flossie and didn’t have too much rain or wind damage.  Luckily it seems that O`ahu was spared and we haven’t heard too much from our farmer partners yet so we’re keeping our fingers crossed that we were lucky this time.

This week we’ve got a nice bag for you with some hefty produce.  Since we went heavy on the greens last week we thought we’d take a break from those this week.  You will find two avocados, 2 japanese cucumbers, long beans, long squash, tomatoes, and mixed lettuces in this week’s delivery.

Long squash is a vegetable that holds up well if you leave it out, so don’t feel rushed to use it right away.  It is a great addition to soups and since you also have long beans and tomatoes I would recommend finding a soup recipe to take advantage of.  If you don’t want to look for one, here’s our suggestions!

Tomato Green Bean Soup   You can easily add your long squash to this, cut into chunks or even diced.  It could replace the carrot or put it in as an addition!

Creamy Green Bean and Potato Soup   This is another one you can add your diced long squash to.  Also consider using pork belly or even chicken instead of bacon.

Homemade Pickle Relish   An easy way to utilize a few cucumbers, and perfect for taking to the beach for your cook-out.

Avocado Hummus Cucumber Bites   A fresh way to think about how to eat dips!

Soba Noodle Salad with Cucumber and Mango

Fresh Tomato Juice   in case you have too many tomatoes or are tired of slicing them…

Aloha everyone!  Are you staying cool in this hot weather?  We hope you have been in the shade or the water to cool off over the last few days.  And since it was just recently a full moon, if you haven’t been in the water or out for a cool evening walk, take that opportunity!

This week we’ve got a bag full of summer’s bounty–the late rains and plenty of sunshine have given us a bumper crop of good local produce.  You’ll be receiving round eggplant and swiss chard from Ho Farms, cherry tomatoes, bush beans, and radishes from Pacific Gateway farmers in Kunia Ag Park, fresh crisp lettuce from 808 Farm Fresh in Waimanalo, beautiful baby pak choy from Green Growers, and 2 lilikoi from Uluwehi Farms in Pupukea.  So much healthy goodness…here’s our suggestions on how to turn that produce into some wonderful meals and salads.

Roasted Eggplant and Garlic Salad with Tomatoes   This is a side dish you can make ahead of time.  It goes well with grilled foods too.

Easy Dill Beans   This is really simple and since the weather’s been so hot, you may as well enjoy something tart and refreshing!  Have these with an egg salad sandwich or some grilled chicken!

Sometimes when it’s hot out you don’t have a very big appetite.  This  Swiss Chard and Rice Soup  would be a great light meal at any time.

Tip:  Store your lilikoi in the fridge.  If they are ripe and left at room temp they may spoil quickly!   You can spoon the pulp into a blender and then strain if needed to remove the seeds.  Add the juice to a smoothie, water, club soda, or even add in vodka.

Bok Choy Chicken   Easy, pretty, & delicious!