How I Prep and Use My CSA Produce: Plant-Based Vegan

Written by on in Recipes

For the past several years I have been part of a CSA (community supported agriculture), where I get fresh produce from a local farmer every week from about April/May through November. This week on YouTube I’m showing you the first two weeks of the 2025 season, and how I prep and use my produce.

Check out the video below or click the links to jump to a section:

Potato Spinach Casserole

My method of cooking is to use whatever ingredients I find in the fridge. I always have precooked potatoes, and this week I ended up with about 1 pound of cooked spinach from the CSA. So I whipped up a batch of cheesy sauce and threw it all together in a casserole.

Below is a loose “recipe” for what I did, but this is just a template to give you a basic idea. Change it up and use whatever you have on hand!

slice of potato casserole showing the layers of potatoes, spinach, and cheesy sauce

Ingredients

  • 1 batch cheesy sauce
  • 4 to 5 large precooked Yukon gold potatoes, sliced thinly
  • 1 pound steamed, chopped spinach

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Prepare cheesy sauce per directions. Feel free to add different seasonings to change up the flavor.
  3. Add a thin layer of the cheesy sauce to the bottom of a small casserole dish. Then continue adding layers. You can make as many layers as you like depending on how thick you sliced the potatoes. You’ll repeat the layers in the following order, ending with a final layer of cheesy sauce:
    • Sliced potatoes
    • Spinach
    • Cheesy sauce
  4. Cover with foil and bake for 20 to 30 minutes until everything is completely heated through.
  5. Uncover and cook another 5 to 10 minutes to firm up the cheesy sauce on top.
  6. Allow casserole to cool for a few minutes and then enjoy!

Steamed Kale in the Instant Pot

Ingredients

  • 2 bunches curly leaf kale, chopped
  • 1 cup water

Directions

  1. Add chopped kale and water to a 6 quart or larger Instant Pot.
  2. Secure the lid in the “sealing position” and set to cook at high pressure for 3 minutes.
  3. When the cooking time has completed, do a quick release of the pressure and enjoy kale as-is, or add whatever seasonings you like! I recommend using your favorite balsamic vinegear.

Mashed Potatoes in the Instant Pot

This is my mom’s recipe for making Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes with our secret ingredient…cauliflower! We often make big batches and keep in the fridge or freezer for the future. Then we warm them up in a casserole dish in the oven.

Steam-Sautéed Swiss Chard

Ingredients

  • ½ red or yellow onion, chopped or sliced
  • 3 to 5 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 or 2 bunches chard or rainbow chard, stems and leaves separated and chopped
  • Your choice of seasonings such as balsamic vinegar, coconut aminos, or your favorite salt-free seasoning

Directions

  1. Preheat a large skillet on medium-high heat.
  2. Add onions and steam sauté for about 5 to 10 minutes, or until the onions start to brown and caramelize. Add splashes of water as needed to deglaze the pan and prevent sticking.
  3. Then add the garlic and chard stems and sauté another few minutes until the stems start to soften.
  4. Add the chard leaves along with a tablespoon of water, cover and steam for about 3 minutes or until the leaves are just wilted.
  5. Uncover and stir in your choice of seasonings, then enjoy!

Quick Pickled Radishes

three pint sized mason jars full up pickled radish slices

This week we got many of these beautiful purple KN Bravo radishes. These are great thinly sliced raw on a salad. But we decided to try pickling them since we got so many at once. And it turned out to be delicious!

I used the same quick-pickle method that I’ve showed before for peppers. You can check out my Pickled Peppers video on YouTube to see the whole process.

Ingredients

  • 3 large KN Bravo radishes, quarterd lengthwise and then thinly sliced
  • 1½ cups white distilled vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
  • 1½ cups water
  • Optional: salt, date sugar or syrup, black peppercorns, garlic cloves, mustard seeds, or other seasonings

Directions

  1. Combine the vinegar and water in a large pot, along with optional seasonings, if using. I usually use about ½ teaspoon of salt and ½ to 1 teaspoon of date sugar or syrup, but these are not necessary.
  2. Bring the mixture to a boil, remove from the heat, and add the sliced radishes to the pan.
  3. Carefully transfer the radishes and liquid to mason jars making sure the radishes are fully submerged in the liquid.
  4. Allow these to cool, then cover and store in the fridge.

Notes:

  • These are “quick pickles” or “refrigerator pickles” and therefore they are not shelf stable and must be kept in the refrigerator. They should last about 1 or 2 weeks, but should be thrown out if they develop an off color, smell, or mold.
  • You can also make these by first adding the sliced radishes to your mason jars (or other canning-safe jars). Then after boiling the liquid, pour the liquid over the radishes directly in the jars. Even though it should be safe to use this method with canning jars, I prefer the first method I shared above to avoid any mishaps with pouring the boiling liquid directly in the jars.