Kale, Potatoes, and Sausage Delicious.

So!  Enough of the whining.  One thing really awesome that has been happening throughout the crazy is that our CSA has started.  CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture and what it means is that we get a bag full of fresh, local, delicious food every week.

We're only one week into it but so far it has been a blast.  Upon picking up our goodies we immediately went to DQ for some soft serve to go with our delicious strawberries.  Kindof defeating the purpose on so many levels but so, SO tasty.

I do not have a picture of the kids consuming the ice cream/strawberries combo because they ate it so fast.  The dude actually cried in between bites.  Yeah.  This was her dancing around afterwards.

But the thing that really has blown me away is the colors of all of the food.

Seriously.  How beautiful is that?  And equally delicious:

Radishes, CSA and friend-grown lettuce, Almonds, and Feta.  The perfect summer salad.

And my kid is loving the insane shapes:

Kohlrabi and Garlic Scapes:  "That is a monster.  I like the curly things."

I wasn't sure what to do with that.  I mean it does kindof look like a monster head.  And I've certainly never cooked Kohlrabi before!  So I used this recipe - Roasted Kohlrabi:

I omitted the garlic and added chopped up garlic scapes in with the Parmesan.  It turned out fantastic.  Although I'm fairly certain you could roast a turd with copious amounts of olive oil, cheese, and garlic and it would end up damn delicious.  I think if I made the recipe again I'd add some potatoes or carrots or something to beef it up a bit.

But the real star this week was the Red Russian Kale:

So beautiful.  But I was at a loss.  I've never cooked with Kale before either so I didn't know what I was doing.  However!  By combining a few other recipes I found online (especially this one) I came up with this:

HOLY SHIT IT WAS SO GOOD.  All caps is really the only way to express the deliciousness.  I was blown away.  So I thought I'd share the recipe because wow will I ever be making this again....

Kale, Potatoes, and Sausage Delicious:

Ingredients:
Bunch of Kale (I used Red Russian b/c that's what came in our CSA box)
7-8ish potatoes
Small Red Onion
Small Green Pepper
3 Cloves of Garlic
Package of pre-cooked sausage.  I used Giant Eagle Organic Chicken Sausage in the Sweet Italian variety.
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Start a pot of water boiling for the kale.  While you're waiting for the water to boil pierce the potatoes with a fork and stick them in the microwave for 10 min or so.  Enough that they are starting to get soft.  While that's happening chop up the garlic, onion, pepper, and sausages.  Clean and chop the kale:

My kid is such a good helper.

Start 2-3 tablespoons of Olive Oil in a big skillate / wok / frying pan / whatever.  Add in the garlic, onions, and peppers.  Saute until the peppers are starting to get soft.  Then add the sausages.  Meanwhile chop up the softened potatoes into 1/4" hunks.  Add to the pan and saute for a few minutes.  Add in salt and pepper to taste.

While all of that is coming together blanch the kale (I found great instructions on how to do this here).  Meaning dump it into a pot of boiling water, cover it for 3 minutes, then scoop out into a bowl of ice water.  Add the kale into the pan with everything else and cook until heated through again stirring frequently.  After that I let everything chill cooking on low heat for the amount of time it took me to clean up the kitchen and get the table set... so maybe 10 min?

 Seriously it was so good.

I think this summer is going to be filled with delicious CSA meals!