My Farm Fresh Adventure: I can preserve these or have serious onion breath for a week.

Today was the first day I really tried to preserve anything. I had optimistically hoped that I would use every bit of food before the next delivery rolled around, but I am officially putting that notion aside. Not only because I don't want to eat 2 batches of spring onions in 7 days and have terrible breath, but also b/c I want to keep using onions for a while yet. There's just no way that I could have eaten all of those and the garlic scapes in the past week.

So! What to do, freeze or dehydrate? These seemed to be the two best choices for these foods from what I've read. And since I didn't feel like waiting hours to get anything accomplished today, I figured freezing was the quick and easy thing to do. I know some veggies need to be blanched before freezing, but not these guys. It was as simple as a quick wash, a thorough dry, and then chop them all up into a giant oniony pile of goodness. One thing to keep in mind, in the freezer moisture is not your friend. That's why I made sure everything was thoroughly dry before I cut it up. Obviously there is some moisture released when it's chopped, and that's okay. You just don't want to give it extra. Some people prefer to put them in ziploc bags and suck the air out, but I figured since I'm constantly using onions, I'd just put them in an old spice container with a flip top I had lying around. This way I can just shake out what I want. It works for me!

So glad I won't be wasting all these amazing onions.

Everything else I managed to use up pretty well. I'm still figuring out how to store radishes. Mine got kind of soft and squishy after a couple of days, both in the fridge and out of it. So those I'll have to figure out a new plan or just consume immediately. Not a bad option either. :)

As far as recipes go, I have a few for you! I don't know if anyone else is all about making bread like I am (it's therapeutic for me), but I've included a recipe for homemade burger buns in case you want something fun to go along with burgers or bbq sandwiches. And tomorrow night I'll be making a knock off of Carrabba's chicken gratella, so I'll update soon and let you know how that was!

Have a blessed day!
-Sam

Recipe #1 - Kohlrabi Chips
This isn't really a by the book recipe. It's all about your tastes and preferences. Take a fresh kohlrabi, peel the outer tough layer, and slice down into thin strips, no thicker than 1/4", preferably closer to 1/8". If you have a mandolin or Kitchenaid attachment, use it because the more even your slices are, the more even your cooking will be. If there are varying thicknesses, some will cook faster than others leaving you with either burned or mushy ones.
Toss chips in a bowl with enough olive oil or melted butter to coat, and drain in a colander, or even better, spin off excess in a salad spinner. Lay flat on a lightly greased baking sheet, then add as much salt and pepper as you prefer (or any other spices, though I think you should try it dressed down first). I baked mine at about 425 for around 10 minutes. You gotta watch them, and once they start to crisp go ahead and pull them out. Let them sit a couple of minutes, then throw them on a plate and dig in!
Just an FYI, I did potato chips at the same time and had them on the same tray. BAD IDEA. Kohlrabi cooks about 30% faster so I could either burn the kohlrabi or way under cook the potatoes. Just do separate trays if you want to do them both together. :)

Recipe #2 - Backyard Chicken Rub (Hickory smoked chicken)

1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. onion salt
1/4 c. garlic powder
1/4 c. paprika
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. black pepper
1 Tbsp. poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. cayenne

We had gotten a whole chicken this past week and decided to use this rub and smoke it with some hickory wood. Don't forget to brine poultry if you plan on smoking it! So I mixed this up and put it on the chicken, thoroughly coating it under the skin directly on the meat, and on the outside of the skin about 30 minutes before putting it on our grill. We have a smoker box on ours, but the is keeping the temp around 250-275F and having the indirect heat and smoke cook the chicken over the course of a few hours. We actually pulled ours off after 3 hours because the temperature outside was dropping and I was having a hard time maintaining the grill. So after we knew the smoke flavors were incorporated I popped it in the oven on 300 and roasted it until it was done. It considerably cut down on cooking time, and it was still juicy the entire way through.
Oh, and you may want to keep an eye on your kids when you make this. My almost 3yr old was very concerned and said, "Oh no, Mama, you cut off that bird's head!". She may not trust me around birds anymore.

It took almost 4 hours to cook, and about 15 minutes for my family to eat the whole thing.

Recipe #3 - Beautiful Burger Buns
I've made these several times now, and every time they have come out fabulous. You can mix the dough by hand, with a mixer, or in a bread machine, so it's super easy and requires very little handling if you are having a busy cooking day. They are a little on the sweet side, I prefer them more with a barbeque sandwich than on a burger, but we had them the other day with our first AA ground beef. We grilled some burgers, threw on some AA lettuce, and had the homemade buns with them. It was so good!