Veg Box News 10th - 13th July, 2018

We are delighted to be including so much local and UK-grown produce in the boxes this week although for some lines this does mean a slightly higher risk of changes having to be made.  We rely on, our local grower Matt's knowledge and expertise at predicting which crops will be ready during the week and sometimes we have to make a last minute substitution because a line is not as plentiful as we had hoped.  Also some crops are suffering with the warmer weather - so although we are including UK-grown Broccoli in the boxes it may be that this may not look as if it will last the week.  Make sure you pop it in the fridge as soon as you can on receiving your box.

We have sourced some cheaper old season onions for the boxes this week but do let us know if you have any problems - it's not always easy to see from the outside that an onion has gone in the middle.  We offer a no-quibble money back guarantee on produce so don't hesitate to give us a ring or drop us an email to make a claim for these or any other issues you might have.

A Note for G box customers - we have experienced difficulties getting any UK-grown carrots this week so if you want some it will be necessary to phone up and put in a side order for non-UK ones as there won't be any in the boxes.

A

New  Potatoes -Arrow or Accent 800g

Onions  400g

Carrots 300g

Broccoli

Bunched Turnips

Broad Beans

Fancy Cherry Plum Tomatoes

B's will get Courgettes in place of the potatoes

D's will get a further 300g Potatoes and a locally-grown  Lettuce

E's will also get a Lettuce and some other line to be confirmed

L's and M's will also include some items as yet unknown

K

Apples - Braeburn 600g

Bananas 600g

Oranges 600g

A Mango

A Lemon

3-4 Peaches (dependent on Size)

Q's will also get a Watermelon

Veg Box News 26th -29th June, 2018

Apologies for the lack of Veg Box News over the past few weeks.

Timings are an issue sometimes because we can’t finalise the recipe until the very last minute some weeks – and even then it may change midweek.  I’m not trying to make excuses, you understand, but just explaining.  I appreciate that while some people enjoy the element of surprise it can make planning difficult if you don’t know what’s coming.   So if you find yourself desperate to know and can’t find anything online to give you at least some clue, then please do get on the phone and we’ll tell you what we know… You can of course subscribe to this blog so that Veg Box News and our other postings come straight into your inbox.

This week you’ll see we have switched to new potatoes for all the potato boxes. These are of course more expensive, as are the new season carrots and onions, so in order to leave some of our budget for the other box elements we have reduced the portion size of these more costly basics.

We’re have also been unable to get good quality UK-grown carrots recently so they have been dropped from the G (All UK produce) boxes for the last few weeks but my source informs me that there should be some coming in next week. 

Do remember that if you find there are some things you always want, you are very welcome to add them on as a standing order each week.  G box customers will already have noticed that regular onions have already had to be replaced with either bunches of spring onions or of larger fresh green onions.  So if you need some regular cooking onions as well just let us know.

Here are the full listings:

A

• New Potatoes 700g
• Carrots 400g
• Onions 400g
• Lettuce
• Aubergine (UK courgettes or Auybergines for G boxes)
• Tomatoes 400g
• Celery

B’s will get Broad Beans 600g

D’s will get a further 300g Potatoes and a bag of Kale

E’s will also get the Broad Beans and Courgettes 500g

L’s and M’s will receive these additions and also some locally grown mini cucmbers

K

• Apples – Granny Smiths 600g
• Bananas 600g
• Pears 600g (Tuesday and Wednesday) or
• Clementines 500g (Thursday and Friday)
• Nectarines x 3
• Lemon

Q’s will also receive Avocado 300g

Just a couple of general notes as we head into the summer holiday season…

• Don’t forget to let us know if you are going away.  You don't want to come back to a box of mouldering veg on the doorstep.

• If you normally have your boxes left in a conservatory or green house, you might consider finding somewhere less susceptible to overheating.  And if you receive milk or other dairy produce it might be advisable to leave a chiller box out to keep it as cool as possible.

 

• Despite our continued campaign to reduce our plastic use you will still find some leafy produce coming in polythene bags.  Lettuces, Spring Greens, Kale and Chard all benefit from this protection, and often these come to us packed in this way.  Some customers have requested that we do not use plastic in their boxes at all.  This we will aim to do but may result in rapid deterioration of some produce.  Rest assured that we will be happy to take back any plastic bags that we have used in the boxes if you leave them out with your empty for us to collect.  We are not however a recycling business and cannot take bags or plastic containers from other sources.

Breakfast at Beanies Recipes

A massive thank you to everyone who attended our Wake Up To Organic breakfast event at Beanies on Wednesday. It was so lovely to see so many smiling faces so early in the morning enjoying the benefits of a healthy tasty organic breakfast. Here are the recipes for the overnight oats that we served as well as the muesli bars which went down very well. If anyone has a go at making these we'd love to see the results, just tag us in any pictures you post on social media or send us an email!

Choco –PB-Nana Overnight Oat Recipe

½ cup/45g porridge oats

½ cup/120 ml unsweetened milk of choice

¼ cup/60ml plain yoghurt of choice (or more milk)

1 tbsp chia seeds

1 mashed/pureed Banana (spotty=good!)

1 tbsp unsweetened peanut butter

1 tbsp cacao or cocoa powder

½ tsp vanilla extract

Choice of sweetener, to taste (e.g honey, maple syrup etc)

Optional: Fresh sliced banana and cocao nibs/or chocolate drops to top

Mix the first 10 ingredients together thoroughly and spoon into a lidded container. Add your choice of sweetener to taste, cover and chill for a minimum of 4 hours, preferably overnight.

The next morning top with chopped walnuts and enjoy!

Super Carrot Cake Overnight Oat Recipe

½ cup/45g porridge oats

3/4 cup/180 ml unsweetened milk of choice

¼ cup/60ml plain yoghurt (or cream cheese or more milk)

1 tbsp chia seeds

1 grated carrot

20g sultanas

A sprinkle of mixed spice

½ tsp vanilla extract

½ cm peeled & grated fresh turmeric root

Choice of sweetener, to taste (e.g honey, maple syrup etc)

Optional: chopped walnuts

Mix the first 10 ingredients together thoroughly and spoon into a lidded container. Add your choice of sweetener to taste, cover and chill for a minimum of 4 hours, preferably overnight.

The next morning top with chopped walnuts and enjoy!

Chunky Breakfast Muesli Bars

Ingredients:

3 really ripe bananas mashed

150g  organic muesli

25g barley flakes

30g organic seeds (pumpkin, linseed, sunflower etc)

50g dried fruit

50g mixed nuts

2 tbsp maple syrup

3 tbsp organic coconut oil

2 tbsp crunchy peanut butter

3 tbsp organic coconut yoghurt

Method:

1. Pre-heat the overn to gas 190. Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and add the mashed bananas

2. Heat the maple syrup, coconut oil and peanut butter in a saucepan over a low heat until combine

3. Add the wet mix to the dry mixture and stir until combined. Mix in the coconut yoghurt.

4. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and spread the mix on top, around an inch thick

5. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, leave to cool slightly and then divide into bars.

National Vegetarian Week - today's quick to prepare recipe from Dave

Balsamic Roasted Cherry Tomato Bruschetta

Ingredients:  

• Ciabatta
• Some sweet & tasty cherry tomatoes (Sheffield Organic Growers or Isle Of Wight 'Tomato Stall' highly recommended)
• Balsamic vinegar
• Olive oil
• Garlic cloves
• Accompaniment - e.g. locally grown fresh green salad from Sheffield Organic Growers or High Riggs

Directions:

1. Cut ciabatta to your preferred size. 
2. Crush some garlic and mix into olive oil.
3. Brush ciabatta with olive oil & garlic mix.
4. Chop cherry tomatoes to preferred size (sufficient to cover your ciabatta slices).
5. Put tomatoes and ciabatta separately onto a baking tray & drizzle with balsamic & then with olive oil.
6. Put into pre-heated oven on 180 degrees for around 15 minutes (check regularly!).
7. Remove from oven when ready and put the tomatoes on the ciabatta, then drizzle the juices left on the baking tray onto them.
8. Season to taste.

Variations:

• Melt cheese on top (a few chunks of Harrogate or Yorkshire Blue recommended)
• Add chopped onions or garlic or any other favourites.

National Veggie Week Recipe Inspiration!

Every day this week we're going to pass on our favourite veggie recipes from a member of the Beanies Team. This is from Gemma

On a Monday I nearly always end up making pasta. Its quick and filling after a long day!

Spring Veg and Preserved Lemon Pasta Serves 2, easily doubled

Ingredients:

180g Dried Pasta of choice (I use wholewheat penne)
150g Asparagus woodiest end bits removed (save for soup!)
1 Bunch Purple Sprouting Broccoli
3 or 4 Spring Onions
2 Garlic Cloves, crushed
1/2 Preserved Lemon, flesh removed & finely chop
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp Nutritional Yeast

Optional Extras
Capricorn (or other) Goats Cheese
Parmesan

1) Put the pasta on to boil in plenty of boiling water (cook til al dente-how long depends of type of          pasta)

2) Meanwhile remove the aparagus and broccoli tips and slice the rest of the stems

3) On a medium heat fry stems in a glug of oil for 3 or 4 minutes, add a ladle of pasta water if it looks too dry

4) Slice the whites of the spring onions (save the greens) and add to the veg mix with the garlic

5) 2 Mins before end of pasta cooking time add the asparagus and broccoli tips

6) When the pasta is cooked, reserve some of the cooking water and drain the pasta mix and add to the frying pan with the veg mix.

7) Add the preserved lemon and reserved pasta water cook until all well mingled, add the sliced green ends of the spring onion, lemon juice, the nutritional yeast and season with salt and pepper to taste

8) Serve and top with torn goats cheese if using

Veg Box News in Brief 15th-19th May 18

Chief Blogger Chris is off today so i'll try and give you some veg facts:

A..

Potatoes 1.2kg

Carrots 600g

Onions 500g

Cauliflower

UK Grown Lettuce!

Aubergine

Pepper

B's will get 400g Tomatoes

G's will get Cucumber and Tomatoes instead of the Pepper and Aubergine

D's will get 800g Potatoes and a Spring Cabbage

E's will get 500g Tom's and the Spring Cabbage

L/M will get the above additions and 400g Courgettes

K

Gala Apple 600g

Banana 600g

Kiwi 600g

Avocado 300g

Orange 600g

Lemon

Q's will also get a Pineapple 

It's National Vegetarian Week this week so to celebrate we're having a competition! Tell us your favorite veggie recipe for a chance to win a free veg box! See our facebook page for more details..

Veg Box News 24th - 27th April, 2018

I’ve caught a bit of sun this weekend so just a brief Veg Box news this week…

Once again No Potatoes boxes, B’s, E’s and M’s, will be getting some Jerusalem Artichokes.  Do check these links for the best way to tackle these nobbly flavourful beauties~!

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup

Roasted Jerusalem Artichokes

A

(G substitutes in brackets)

Potatoes – Sorrento 1.2kg

Carrots 600g

Onions 500g

Spring Cabbage

Mushrooms

Fennel (Cucumber)

Pepper (Swede)

B’s will get Jerusalem Artichokes instead of the Potatoes

D’s will get a further 800g Potatoes and a Cauliflower

E’s will get Jerusalem Artichokes and a Cucumber

L’s and M’s will get the above additions and also a portion of Tomatoes

K

Apples 600g

Bananas 600g2

A Mango

Lemon

Clementines 500g

A Grapefruit

Q’s will also Oranges 600g