From Wellspring Charitable Gardens this Week - February 16, 2023

From the Garden this Week… Broccoli Shoots, Napa Cabbage, Watermelon Radishes, Baby Carrots, Red Romaine Lettuce, Cilantro, Rosemary, Parsley, Dill, Eureka Lemons, 1 Meyer Lemon, Grapefruit, Navel & Blood Oranges

Using your Produce… by Julie Moreno

The broccoli plants are starting to send out shoots, not that the main heads are cut off. These shoots grow quickly, making them tender and full of flavor. I found this Broccoli pesto recipe today that follows the same basic combination of pesto ingredients but uses broccoli as the main “green”. If you are feeling adventurous, try making pesto with carrot tops, celery leaves, and dill. I like pesto as a topping on sourdough toast, almost like an herb garlic bread. This Napa cabbage salad recipe below has an Asian influence that melds with the crisp shredded cabbage leaves. My favorite ingredient is the toasted sesame oil. It can seem extravagant, but a little goes a long way; use it sparingly.

Napa Cabbage Salad with

Orange and Almonds

½ cup slivered almonds

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 teaspoon soy sauce

½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon honey or sugar

zest from one orange

1 small head Napa cabbage,

finely shredded

2 green onions, thinly sliced

2 carrots, grated

1 radish, sliced thin

1 orange, peeled and sliced

¼ cup chopped cilantro

Freshly ground pepper

* Preheat the oven to 350°. In a small pan or pie plate, toast the almonds for 5 minutes, until they are light brown. Let cool. In a large mixing bowl, mix the oil, vinegar, soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, salt, honey and orange zest. Add the cabbage, green onions, carrots, orange slices, radish, and cilantro and toss. Add the almonds and season with pepper. Toss again and serve.

Hi Fellow Foodies!

We hope you are enjoying the beautiful bounty that comes out of Wellspring Gardens each week, including the fresh herbs. Herbs, when you can’t use them fresh, can be thoroughly enjoyed when dried. Some herbs are even enhanced and can become concentrated when dried. Though an internet search can provide several ways to dry your herbs, I will share what I do. I place them on a baking sheet in a single layer, not clumped together, so air can get to all parts of the herb. I turn them every few days for equal drying. It takes about 2-3 weeks for them to fully dry and become crisp. Then I remove the bigger stems, crumble the rest, and store the flakes in a container jar. I prefer glass. Easy-peasy. Now you can enjoy herbs for the long term rather than throwing them out when they are past their fresh prime. Herb-a-licious! Happy days and happy cooking! - Debbie Wellman, your WCG Photographer

Pesto…

Pesto does not need basil. In the winter, this Broccoli pesto is like a vegetable and sauce in one. Toss with cooked pasta to serve. Allow the pasta to be very slightly undercooked (al dente). When mixing the sauce and pasta, allow time so that the pasta soaks up the flavors of the sauce and softens.

Broccoli Pesto Pasta 1 heaping cup small broccoli floret pieces ½ cup fresh parsley ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice ¼ cup toasted almonds or walnuts 1 teaspoon lemon zest 2 garlic cloves ½ teaspoon sea salt Freshly ground black pepper 8 ounces of pasta, cooked al dente Fresh grated Parmesan cheese. for serving * In a medium pot, fill halfway with water and bring to a boil. Cook the broccoli for 30 seconds then remove and spread out on a plate to let cool. In a food processor or blender, process the cooked broccoli, parsley, extra-virgin olive oil, cheese, lemon juice, nuts, zest, garlic, salt, and pepper, until well blended but not pureed. Toss with the pasta and serve topped with fresh grated Parmesan cheese.

Metaphors of Soil and Soul…

Rest to Rise

by Cindi J Martin

I recently mentioned to a friend that I experience the presence of God when I am baking bread. Knowing my challenges with pain from three cervical spine surgeries, she asked if the physical demands of working the dough increased my pain. Reflecting on her question, I realized the reason I can bake bread without increasing my pain is that I am able to rest and renew while “allowing the dough to rest and rise.” Rest allows dough to fully hydrate, relaxing the starches and gluten in the flour. Helped also by air and yeast, the dough expands and becomes more pliable, easier to properly shape. Rest transforms the dough and the very nature of the bread itself, providing it a delightful texture and satisfying taste.

In Under the Unpredictable Plant, a study of vocational holiness inspired by the book of Jonah, Eugene Peterson looks at the importance of the Second Day, a sacred time of rest for not only Jonah, in the belly of the whale, but also Jesus, in the grave. For Jesus, Saturday provided a Sabbath separating the work of the cross on Good Friday from the work of the resurrection on Easter Sunday. As I read, it occurred to me that Jesus’ three-day ordeal - from garden through the grave to empty tomb - could be likened to baking bread. As the Bread of Life, Jesus’ body, like dough, rested in the grave after having been severely beaten and bruised, just as dough is worked throughout the kneading process! After the “leaven” of sin worked through His body on the Friday, Jesus rested on Saturday and awaited His final “rise” on Sunday! Eternally significant promises were fulfilled as Jesus rested that Second Day - the Silent Saturday - in preparation for His promised Sunday rising.

Being a recovering work / ministry-a-holic, I do not rest easy, but God has taught me through my broken body how to Sabbath, how to Rest, and allow His Spirit to transform me with Light, Life, and Truth from within. Never mind that sacred Rest is one of the Ten Commandments. Apparently, I didn’t think the command applied to me when I was busy doing “the Lord’s work.” Rest seemed a waste of precious time that would be better invested in work with people! However, I now know that rest IS the essential blessing of the Lord’s yoke: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

Incredible things happen to bread dough as it rests, wonderful things happen to garden soil as it is lies fallow, and miraculous things happen to our souls when we rest to enjoy intimacy with the Almighty. May we all take to heart the LORD’s life preserving Word: “Cease striving and know that I AM God!”

“If because of the Sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, and honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasures, and speaking your own word, then you will take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth,

and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,

for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” Isaiah 58:13-14