Inspired by the dill in this week's CSA share, I knew I wanted to create something to mimic a fish dish.  At first I thought about shredding all of the veggies and making a cold salad using the dill along with some seaweeds to give it that ocean flavor but as I was shredding veggies I had an epiphany - crabless crab cakes!

Ingredients - Crabless Cakes
3 medium sized turnips (I used pink and white salad turnips)
2 large carrots
3 broccoli stalks & florets
1/2 cup hulled buckwheat groats
2 eggs
1 TBSP Old Bay Seasoning
Oil for frying (avocado, sunflower, safflower)
Ingredients - Sauce
1 bunch dill
1/2 cup mayonnaise (see link for instructions to make your own or use Just Mayo)

Using a box grater, shred the turnips, carrots and broccoli stalks. Finely chop the broccoli florets.  Place all in a bowl.  Using a coffee grinder or small food processor, grind the buckwheat to a fine powder and add to bowl.  Add eggs and Old Bay seasoning and stir to combine.  Heat about a 1/4 inch of oil in a frying pan.  Form mixture into 6 patties and fry for a few minutes on each side.  Transfer to a dish lined with paper towels to drain excess oil.  To make the sauce, simply chop the dill finely and stir into mayonnaise.  Serve on top of crab cakes.

Or... What did I get in my CSA box and what did I do with it?

This week I was inspired by a childhood memory.  When I was young and my mom and I would have to go clothes shopping, the nearest mall was about 45 minutes away and we would make a day of it.  Shop, eat lunch, shop some more, go home wiped out.  One of my favorite places to eat at this mall was a sandwich shop that made something called 'Health Salad'.  It was tuna salad filled with all sorts of small bits of vegetables mixed in.  It was our 'go-to' order and we even tried recreating it at home.  This dish I created is a more refined version using delicate, wild caught salmon instead of tuna, and a handful of fresh from the ground vegetables.  I served this in lettuce cups but you can serve it on crackers, in a pita or sandwich, as a dip with celery sticks or just on its own.

This week's CSA share contained a lot of familiar vegetables.  This is the time for creativity to kick in so that those seasonal veggies don't get boring.  In order to create a new dish, I decided to just use the greens - Swiss Chard, Red Russian Kale, Beet Greens, Kohlrabi Greens and Turnip Greens.  This recipe would be great with any cooking green - kale, chard, collard, spinach, sorrel, mustard, broccoli raab, bok choy, etc.

Or... What's In My CSA Box (March 29th) and What Do I Do With It?

This week's CSA share had a lot of familiar faces - beets, carrots, turnips and kohlrabi - and one fresh new arrival, dill.  Excited at the prospect of incorporating the dill into my dish this week, I started mentally scrolling through recipes where dill is the star.  Aside from fish dishes, dill pickles and my favorite garlic dill sauerkraut, the dish that stood out to me was potato salad.  I looked at these beautiful veggies it came to me - a 'potato' salad with no potatoes at all!

And what do I do with it?
This week's CSA box contained a whole lot of root vegetables along with a beautiful head of bok choy.  The bounty of this particular box of veggies highlights the transition phase we're in right now here in southern AZ.  In this time period when winter meets spring, we're enjoying the heartier winter crops like beet and turnip as well as the spring radish and carrot.  Spring is a short season in Tucson; we'll soon be moving on to tomato, eggplant, pepper & cucumber, but for now I'm celebrating the colors and flavors of this in between time.

...And What Do I Do With It?
This week's CSA share contained red leaf lettuce, arugula, carrots, radishes, green cabbage and cilantro. 

Adding some local fresh lemons, this week's share became a fresh, healthy salad and a tasty roasted veggie with pesto dish that I could eat every night of the week.

For the salad, I combined the lettuce, arugula, carrots and radish and made a zesty, fresh salad dressing: