Behind the scenes

Yay!!  Here it is!  Our "behind the scenes" post!!  Here is how your yummy bags full of produce get to YOU on Mondays and Thursdays!!!

The Global Organics truck delivers the produce to Shannon's house by around 9:00 in the morning. It's a tight fit, but the drivers make it work!

Samantha and Shannon separate out anything that needs to be divided into individual bags.  This could be spinach, spring mix, mushrooms, green beans, garlic, etc.

Mushrooms divided into individual bags.

 Putting the produce in the right order for the bags.  Heaviest stuff on the bottom, lightest stuff on the top.

Shannon's China cabinet top full of yummy produce!

 After all the bags are packed, we load them up into our cars and vans and deliver them to you!

Samantha and Shannon do their absolute best to make sure the produce you receive is packed correctly and that it is in great condition.  As hard as we try to weed out the "bad eggs," we understand that sometimes a bruised peach or tomato gets through in the mix or that damage can occur when moving the bags, so please let us know if your produce is ever unacceptable.  We will always try to make it right!

We love delivering healthy, delicious produce to you every week, and we hope you enjoy the service we provide!  Thank you for ordering from The Neighborhood Garden!

Zucchini Pasta

Yup, that's right!  Another deliciously simple recipe idea: Zucchini Pasta!  My good friend and Neighborhood Garden customer, Lindsey, sent me this picture.  She used a vegetable peeler like this one to turn raw zucchini into "spaghetti."  She added some chopped tomatoes (also from The Neighborhood Garden, of course!), some homemade pesto (a great idea for that Basil we have for sale sometimes), and voila!  A super easy, super healthy, and super yummy recipe that is perfect to take to work for lunch.

Thank you, Lindsey, for sharing this idea with us!

I'm working on a "behind the scenes" post.  We receive lots of questions about how the bags are packed and delivered to you, our wonderful customers.  Do you have a specific question you'd like answered?  Ask it here or on our Facebook page, and we'll do our best to answer it.

We're looking forward to seeing all of you Monday folks tomorrow!

A deliciously simple recipe: Glazed Carrots

Photo credit - How Stuff Works website

The health benefits of carrots are nearly endless.  Vitamin A, beta carotene, soluble fiber, the list goes on! Read more about the health benefits here.

Here's a super simple, extremely delicious way to enjoy your carrots as a side dish with dinner tonight.  

Wash and peel a pound of carrots and cut them into medallions between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick.  Boil them with just a little bit of salt for about 10 minutes until they are fork tender but not mushy.  Drain in a colander and set aside.

While the carrots are boiling, heat 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp brown sugar over medium-low heat in a non-stick skillet.  Remove from heat and toss with the carrots, making sure to coat the carrots.  

YUM!!!!  Try it out, and let us know how you like it!!!  

Zucchini Bread

We have had zucchini in our bags several times over the last couple of weeks.  Zucchini is a super yummy, super healthy addition to your diet.  There are several health benefits to eating zucchini, including prostate health, lower cholesterol, and heart attack and stroke prevention.  Check out several other benefits here.  

OK, great!  It's good for you.  But what do you do with it?  Zucchini bread is a really tasty idea, and no one will even know there is a healthy squash in it!  Samantha Howell, one of the fabulous ladies who helps pack the produce bags, gave us this yummy recipe.

Zucchini Bread

3 Cups Flour

1tsp Salt

1tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Baking Powder

3 tsp Cinnamon

3 Eggs

2 Cups Sugar

1 Cup Oil

2 Cups Grated Raw Zucchini

2 tsp Vanilla

1 Cup Chopped Walnuts (optional)

Combine flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. 

In a separate bowl, beat eggs until light. Stir in sugar, oil, zucchini and vanilla. 

Add dry ingredients and then the nuts. Pour into greased pans. Bake in 350 degree oven for 1 hour.

This makes 2 loaves.

**Hint:  For an even healthier version, try substituting applesauce for some or all of the oil!

Do you have any tried and true zucchini recipes?

Something a little different to do with your cucumbers this week - make cucumber water!

Cucumber water is simple and refreshing, and it adds a classy element to a plain pitcher of water. 

Want a different idea to use your cucumbers this week?  Try making a pitcher of cucumber water!  It's very refreshing and adds a light, sweet flavor to the water.  Cucumber water has vitamins A and C, antioxidants, magnesium, folate, and calcium.  It has also been shown to reduce acidity in the stomach which can help prevent upset stomach.  Plus, it's really yummy!


It's as easy as washing your cucumber, slicing it, and adding the slices to the water.  Yum!

IT'S CONTEST TIME!!

We know that everyone who buys produce from The Neighborhood Garden loves saving money on the quality, organic produce that we offer each week!  Well, we have decided to deepen the savings because we 'heart' our customers!

We have 2 ways to "win" right now!

#1 -- email jaxorganic@gmail.com a photo of a fruit or vegetable (or a few of them together) and a recipe that you make that is a favorite in your house!  Or even one that you've been dying to try!  We'll upload it to our page and then you can SHARE it with your friends.  The photo and recipe with the most LIKES wins a FREE BAG OF PRODUCE!  The winner will be determined on Wednesday, February 8th at 8:00pm.

#2 -- leave a comment on this blog post letting us know which recipe from the blog that you have tried or would love to try.  Leave a link to the post below so others can try it too!  A winner will be randomly selected on Friday, February 3rd at 8:00pm.  We'll post the winner on Facebook (leave your name and email) so we can contact you.  The winner will receive a $5 coupon towards their next order!

Get those pictures emailed to jaxorganic@gmail.com!

Leave your comments and recipes below!

Good luck :)

Peanut Butter and Spinach Smoothie

If you end up making this, send a picture to jaxorganic@gmail.com!  


Healthy Smoothie
Adapted from Oh She Glows
Skinnytaste.com
Ingredients:

• 1 small frozen ripe banana, peeled
• 2 cups baby spinach
• 1 tbsp Better n Peanut Butter
• 3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1/2 cup plain fat-free Greek yogurt (I used Chobani)

Directions:

Place all the ingredients into the blender, add ice (optional) and blend until smooth.

Sweet Potato and Carrots in a soup!

Easy and delicious!

Sweet Potato and Carrot soup

Ingredients:

·         1 ¼ yam or sweet pot.

·         1 large carrot

·         1 fuji apple, peeled cored and cut into 8 pieces

·         1 tbsp. butter or canola oil

·         1 shallot

·         3 cups of chicken broth

·         Salt and pepper

·         Dried cranberries as a garnish if you like

1.       Oven to 400.

2.       Rub oil on yam, carrot and apple to coat. Spread out on a baking sheet and roast for 30 mins.

3.       Let cool and then peel potato

4.       Heat butter in pan and sauté shallot for 5 mins.

5.       Add veg. and apple and broth and boil

6.       Reduce and cover

7.       Simmer for 20 mins.

8.       Puree in blender

9.       Season with salt and pepper and garnish.

Thanks Gretchen!  We love when you email in recipes you love!  Send them to jaxorganic@gmail.com!