If you’re a fan of Portlandia you’ll know the joke behind pickling, but pickling really is an easy way to transform food and extend its life in your kitchen. Daikon in particular is wonderful pickled, as anyone who is a fan of banh mi sandwiches can attest to.

This recipe made exactly one pint jar, which in my mind is the perfect amount for fridge pickles, especially if you are unsure about what you’re doing or the flavors of the end result. You can omit the spices if you’d like, but be sure to not reduce the vinegar. By the way, I find pickling works best if you use a wide-mouth jar, but regular jars work fine too, and you can even use a Tupperware if you don’t have jars on hand.

Pickled Daikon and Carrot
makes 1 pint jar

1 pound total daikon and carrot
1/2 tablespoon salt
3/4 cup white vinegar
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger (or use fresh grated if you have it!)
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Peel daikon and carrot and slice into thin rounds. Place in a fine sieve or colander set over a bowl, and sprinkle salt over vegetables. Stir to coat, and let sit for at least 20 minutes while the salt draws excess water out. (This will speed up the pickling process.)
Mix together the rest of the ingredients and stir until sugar is dissolved.
Pack vegetables tightly into a clean jar, and pour liquid over the top, leaving about 1/4 inch of space at the top of the jar. Place lid and ring on jar and store in the fridge. Let ferment for at least 4 hours before eating, but preferably overnight.

Note: You might have liquid left over, but don’t worry about it. As long as your veggies are covered they should be fine.

Have you ever seen the musical Into the Woods? It’s a terrific show, and I love it for many reasons. However, my favorite moment of the whole thing is when the witch (of Rapunzel fame) raps about vegetables.

Any time there are several green item in the Local Box, I am reminded of this scene and I can’t help but smile. This clip shows the greens rap, but it’s not nearly as good as the version of the musical with Bernadette Peters in the role. (The rap portion of the song starts around :54, below.)

Isn’t it funny? Before I started receiving the Local Box, I had never heard of half the vegetables listed in that song. Now, I’ve cooked nearly all of them! That witch would be jealous!

Here’s what I’m making with all the greens in the Local Box this week:

Meal one: Apple Cider Braised Greens, Sweet Potato Hash, sliced avocado on the side. Go ahead and substitute the radish or turnip greens from your box for the swiss chard in that greens recipe. The greens taste wonderful, and the radishes or turnips will keep longer if you cut away the greens and store them separately.

Meal two: Broccoli, Ginger and Grapefruit Pork Stir-fry. If you think you don’t like grapefruit, you owe it to yourself to try it in a stir-fry with ginger. I have made this recipe several times, substituting slices of drained, extra-firm tofu in place of the pork, and it’s one of my favorite grapefruit vehicles. Don’t skip the fresh ginger– it makes the recipe sing!

Meal three: Tuna Pasta Salad with Dill, orange slices on the side. This is one of my favorite recipes from childhood, and it tastes wonderful if you substitute fresh dill for dried, and add 1/2 cup grated radishes to the recipe. I will garnish the salad with sliced green onions, too.

It’s not exactly photogenic, but trust me on this one. A great thing about this soup is that you can use virtually any kind of green you might have on hand, because even the most bitter greens will be balanced by the sweetness of the caramelized onions. I like the tang brought in by the yogurt, though you can certainly leave that out if you prefer. Serve with pita chips or wonton crisps for a bit of crunch.

Greens Soup
adapted from Anna Thomas
serves 8

Olive oil
3 medium yellow onions, sliced
2 cups sliced button mushrooms
4 cups vegetable stock
3-4 bunches assorted greens, such as mustard, komatsuna, mizuna, beet greens, kale, or chard
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
¼ cup plain yogurt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Salt and pepper

In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat a swirl of olive oil over medium. Add onions mushrooms and stir to coat. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until onions take on a nice brown color, approximately 30 minutes.
Add stock and increase heat to just bubbling. Wash and chop greens and add to the soup. Reduce heat to medium and cover soup. Let cook until greens have wilted, about 10 minutes.
Puree soup and return to heat. Stir in paprika, yogurt, and lemon juice, then season to taste. Alternatively, you can leave the yogurt out until just before serving, and then add a swirl into individual bowls.

• Daikon Bunch with Greens – My Father’s Farm
• Cauliflower – Hillside Farms
• Butternut Squash – Gundermann Acres
• Lime – G&S Groves
• Oranges – G&S Groves
• Rutabaga Bunch – Just Peachy Farms
• Kale – Gundermann Acres
• Avocados – G&S Groves
• Green Leaf OR Red Leaf OR Bibb Lettuce – Gundermann Acres
• Tomatoes – Walnut Creek Organics

Here’s what I’m cooking with the bounty:

Meal one: Lettuce, orange and pecan salad, low carb cauliflower leek soup. Watch out for that soup recipe– it easily serves 12 people! Use the recipe calculator function on the Allrecipes website to scale down the portions for your family. Also, since there haven’t been leeks in the Local Box for weeks now, I will substitute a finely chopped yellow onion for the leeks in that recipe.

Meal two: Cauliflower tomato curry with pita bread and avocado hummus. That avocado hummus tastes great if you use lime juice instead of lemon. When you chill the hummus in the fridge, make sure to put a layer of plastic wrap directly on top of the avocado mixture to help keep it from turning brown.

Meal three: Chicken and Rutabaga Stew. I am going to live adventurously and add peeled, chopped daikon radish to this stew. Daikon cooks very much like turnip and other root vegetables, so I think it will fit right in here. This stew tastes great served over bulgar wheat, couscous, or brown rice.

Meal four: We’re doing breakfast for dinner this night, with butternut squash breakfast bowls. Just looking at the pictures of that breakfast bowl makes me crave poached eggs and kale together. YUM!  Roasting the squash for that recipe will take some time, so you can do that step ahead of time if you wish: just peel and dice the squash and bake it at 350 for 30-40 minutes until it is tender. Store it in the fridge until you’re ready to make dinner.

Sometimes I really struggle to stay meatless on Mondays if I’m craving a nice creamy pasta dish for dinner. It doesn’t happen often, but when the hunger for rich food strikes, the avocado is my secret, meatless weapon against dairy-meat-munchies!

The avocado in this creamy pasta recipe works as a binder, creating a rich, smooth dressing with flecks of bitter greens and zesty citrus notes. You’ll notice that there’s no Parmesan cheese in this dish. Most varieties of that cheese are made with animal rennet– not good for Meatless Monday! I use almonds, nutritional yeast, and plenty of salt in my recipe to replace the “oomph” that Parmesan might add.

Creamy Avocado Pasta (serves 2)

1/2 pound vegan pasta
1 medium avocado
1 1/2 cups spinach, arugula, or romaine lettuce
1/2 cup basil leaves
1 tablespoon fresh lemon or lime juice, plus extra for seasoning
1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup almond
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm, about 8-10 minutes. Reserve 1 cup of cooking liquid, and drain.

Meanwhile, scoop out the flesh of the avocado and place in a food processor. Add the greens, basil, citrus juice, garlic, salt, pepper, almond, and nutritional yeast. Blend until smooth.

Pour the pesto over the pasta in a serving dish. Toss to coat the pasta with sauce, adding a little pasta water as necessary to loosen the sauce. Taste the finished pasta and season to taste with lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Serve immediately.

This pasta is best served on the same day it is prepared, since the avocado will oxidize and turn the sauce an unsightly brown color after a while.

Ever since I was introduced to roasted Brussels sprouts a few years ago I’ve looked forward to their season, and I even have a couple of slowly growing plants in my raised bed garden. It’s never been a problem finishing a pint, but I still love to try out new combinations.

Admittedly, this pizza requires a bit more work than the standard pepperoni pie, but I think it’s worth it. I didn’t designate what kind of cheese to use for this pizza, although I used smoked mozzarella on mine. I asked my Twitter followers for cheese recommendations based on the other pizza toppings, and I received at least ten different suggestions – so I have a feeling you can’t go much wrong when it comes to the cheese on this pizza.

Brussels Sprouts Pizza

1 pizza dough of your choice
1 small onion
8 ounces Brussels sprouts
1-2 slices thick-cut bacon
1 pear
Olive oil
1/2 cup shredded cheese of your choice

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. If you have a pizza stone, make sure it is in the oven while preheating – you want it nice and hot!
Slice onion in half and then into long strips, and cook over medium-low to low in a small saucepan, stirring often. You want them to be nicely browned, but not completely caramelized (remember, they will cook more in the oven).
In a frying pan, cook bacon until crispy. Meanwhile, trim ends off Brussels sprouts and then slice lengthwise into 3 or 4 pieces, depending on the size of the sprout. Once the bacon has cooked, remove it to drain on a paper towel, and add sprouts to the bacon fat. Cook 2-3 minutes, until sprouts are bright green. Remove from heat.
Peel and core pear, then slice thinly.
Roll out pizza dough. Add a light drizzle of olive oil to the top of the dough, being careful to not get too close to the edge (if oil leaks off pizza, it might burn on your pizza stove and make your fire alarm go off).
Arrange pear slices on dough, then scatter sprouts, bacon, and onions on top. Sprinkle on shredded cheese.
Bake for about 10 minutes, until crust has browned. Let cool on pizza stone for 5 minutes before cutting.

We'll be sourcing local items from DFW-area farms, like The Farm at Paul Quinn College.

After growing the local food system in Austin for 6 years, Greenling is going to help our friends up north, too!

We’re setting up shop in DFW and couldn’t be more excited. We’re making friends with all the North Texas local and sustainable producers we can find, and later this month will start delivering their local goodness all over the DFW Metroplex.

We need your help spreading the word to your family and friends in DFW- and we’ll make it worth your while! We’re giving away an iPad2 with a foodie spin – it’s pre-loaded with all kinds of fun food and sustainability apps.

It’s super easy  to enter- everyone who likes our Greenling DFW page on Facebook is entered, plus anyone who enters their zip code and joins our DFW email list gets an extra entry. Finally, you get yet another entry for everyone who joins our email list from your referral! How cool is that?

Rutabagas are coming! Rutabagas are coming! We’re expecting a big shipment of these nutritious root vegetables from Just Peachy Farms in Palestine, Texas next week.

Rutabagas are in the brassica family of vegetables, along with turnips, cabbage, kale, and Brussels sprouts.  They’re one of our favorite winter items, since they cook up well in recipes with potatoes, carrots, beef and other hearty fare.

Just Peachy’s rutabagas are small and tender, with a mild flavor. They are still in the ground as we speak, and farmer Billy Moore will be harvesting them for our Local Box over the weekend. In preparation for the harvest, Billy shared with us one of his favorite rutabaga recipes:

Mashed Rutabagas and Onions (serves 4-6)
4-6 cups peeled, diced rutabaga
1 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Cook rutabaga and onion in a small amount of boiling salted water until tender. Drain and mash; add butter, salt, and pepper. Mash rutabaga and onions well.

Beet brownies aren’t a new thing, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be proud of them. Plus, these are gluten-free, so I know I can feed them to my friends without having to worry about dietary issues. I’ve found that garbanzo bean flour to be really reliable for me in the gluten-free department – it has worked well for cornbread, cookies, and now brownies. These did end up a little more cakey than I had expected, so if you like a more fudgey brownie, use a bit less flour.

You’ll notice that I included gram measurements for the chickpea flour and cocoa. This is due to differing scoop methods – I’ve been burned in the past with recipes that only list a cup measurement, so I have decided to be more precise when it comes to my flour measurements on posts. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, they are extremely affordable and perhaps the best tool you’ll add to your arsenal.

Beet Brownies
serves 15

250 g / 9 ounces beets
1 packet (2 tablets) Taza Mexican chocolate (or 3 ounces 70% chocolate)
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter
3/4 cup (70 g) garbanzo bean flour
1/4 cup (30 g) cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla

Trim long roots and greens from beets and clean off any dirt. Dice them into quarters (or smaller, depending on the size of your beets) and set in a pot of water to boil. Boil until easily pierced by a fork, approximately 30 minutes. Drain and let cool until they are comfortably handled.
Meanwhile, melt chocolate in the microwaves at 30-second intervals. Whisk until smooth and completely melted. Set aside. In another bowl, melt the butter in the microwave, and set aside.
Once the beets have cooled, the peels should slip off easily. Place peeled beets in blender or food processor and puree until smooth.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×13 baking pan.
In a medium bowl, mix together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt, and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together beets, chocolate, and sugar. Beat in the eggs, and add the vanilla. Stir until smooth.
Add the flour mixture to the large bowl and stir until well-incorporated.
Pour into prepared pan and smooth the top.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool as much as possible before cutting. Great the first day, better the second.

Despite a devastating historical drought, our hard-working local farmers thankfully persevered and still managed to dish out thousands of pounds of local goodness for all of us to enjoy. Can we get a woop woop for this amazing group of farmers?

Without further ado, ‘lettuce’ wrap-up 2011:

• 20,369 Local Boxes were delivered- that’s about 142,583 lbs of local produce on Central Texas tables this year.

• In addition, we delivered about 20,000 lbs of local produce in addition to what was in the Local Box

• 54 different local farms provided the local goodness we delivered this year

Animal Farm in Central Texas

• We estimate that because all of our local growers use sustainable methods, they saved over 150,000 pounds of pesticides NOT used on our food this year!
• Since you ‘lettuce’ deliver your groceries in our fuel-efficient & sustainably routed trucks, 9,735 gallons of gas were saved on trips to the store.

• Hundreds of thousands of ladybugs fed through organic pest control methods.
• 13,800 meals made ridiculously easy and with all local and organic ingredients from our recipe kits.

Our awesome Prep Kitchen Team!

• Countless food puns brainstormed at Greenling headquarters (only the best ones make it public, you know)

It was a great year and we know 2012 will be even better for local food. Thanks from the bottom of our artichoke hearts for all of your support!