CSA SEASON! And Simple Slow Cooker Chicken

 

CSA Season is upon us!! I had my first pick up this Tuesday. Have you signed on yet? If not, it may not be too late. If there are no CSA's around you, look for your local farmers market. They may only run a few days a week, so make sure you schedule them in when to your weekly routine. Oh, wait a minute, you don't know what a CSA is? Well, let me explain :)


CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. These are farms where you buy a share of the crop for the growing season. Some farms require you to work several hours throughout the season on the farm, helping plant, harvest, weed, etc. Some farms deliver and some farms you need to pick up. Most farms have half share portions (generally enough for two) and a typical share feeds a family of four. Unless you eat a ton of veggies. If so, good for you :)

I grew up on a farm where we had our own vegetable garden, harvesting peas, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, pepper, radishes... you name it! We grew all sorts of fun veggies. And I LOVED to eat them raw. In fact it's only been within the past 4-5 years that I've taken to cooked vegetables. But I digress.. When I moved away from the family farm, I no longer had that luxury. I had to buy all my vegetables from the super market. Fortunately, I worked for a Farm Market for several months, and also joined a CSA. I have moved again, and yet again joined a different CSA for my second season.

One thing about CSA's is that you don't get to pick your veggies. I mean, typically you get to pick which head of lettuce you want out of the bin, but you don't get to pick cucumbers in May. They aren't ready yet. So you may still have to make regular trips to the supermarket to supplement. It's all about the seasons. Right not, everything we are getting are leafy greens, radishes, and kohlrabi. Carrots will come about soon. Then cucumbers, squash, eggplant, peppers, and of course, TOMATOES! Get your canners ready :)

So today's post features two items from my pick up this week: kohlrabi and Swiss chard. Delish!

Simple Slow Cooker Chicken and Sauteed Swiss Chard
The Food
- 4 Bone-in, skin on, chicken thighs
- 1-2 kohlrabi, 1" chunks
- 1 bunch of Swiss chard, thick stems removed and roughly chopped
- Salt, pepper, rosemary, garlic powder
- 1 tbs butter or fat of choice (butter works wonders with Swiss chard)
- Splash of wine or vinegar,

The Method- Chicken
Place kohlrabi chunks on the bottom of a 4 quart slow cooker
Season chicken thighs on both sides with salt and pepper to taste
Sprinkle with rosemary, about 1 tsp per 3oz of thighs (depends on how big your thighs are, mine were kinda small so I only used about 1 tbs)
Set to high, cook for 2.5 hours or until done (160 internal temp)

The Method- Swiss chard
With 10 minutes left on the chicken, prepare Swiss chard
Heat skillet over medium high heat
Melt butter
Add Swiss chard and sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and rosemary to taste. I used about 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 4-5 cranks of the fresh pepper grinder, 3-4 shakes of the salt shaker, and 1/2 tsp rosemary
Cook about 5-7 minutes until wilted and soft
Splash wine or vinegar in the pan to get anything that stuck to the bottom

Place the Swiss chard on a plate, top with a chicken thigh and side dress with kohlrabi.

Enjoy :)