Maybe you’ve seen pictures of this gorgeous spiral tart all over the internet, but I first made it 3 years ago when I saw it on pinterest. I wanted to make it vegan but you can absolutely use your favorite non-vegan dough and fillings. What’s fun about this tart is that it can be filled with whatever vegetables you like (as long as they can be shaved or sliced into long strips) 
The dough that I like to use is an olive oil and herb dough, but you can use your favorite pie crust recipe or storebought too. ​

​HERB AND OLIVE OIL DOUGH
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
​1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried herbs (I love rosemary or lemon thyme but use whatever you like most) 
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup water or plain unsweetened plant milk

Mix flour, salt & herbs together in a bowl. Make a little well and pour in your liquid ingredients. Mix together with a fork until just combined, then turn out onto a floured work surface for a quick knead until it comes together into a ball. Dust with flour and use a rolling pin to flatten out into a circle. Transfer onto your tart pan and push sides into the grooves. Use a knife to trim the excess. Prick all over with a fork and blind bake at 350°F for about 10-15 minutes (until it’s golden brown). 

FILLING
Under the beautiful vegetable spiral you’ll need some sort of filling. Here you can really get creative. I usually like to spread a layer of garlic hummus or a flavored vegan cream cheese. Kite Hill has chive, everything, and garden veggie and all of these work great. Plus one container fills up the tart perfectly. If you want this to be more of a ratatouille style, you can lay down some thick tomato sauce. I’ve even made this with a layer of pesto. If you’re not vegan I think a layer of ricotta cheese or a bechamel sauce would work well.  Get creative! 

THE SPIRAL
Okay, this is what you’re all here for. The vegetable spiral on top looks STUNNING but is actually pretty easy to make as long as you have your vegetables all prepped. You can use whatever vegetables you like, but I really love to incorporate as many colors as possible. The more straight the shape of vegetable, the easier it is to get thin slices, so if you’re at the market you might want to maybe skip over the really fun shaped zucchinis and squashes. You’ll need about 4-6 cups of vegetables for an entire tart. Here’s what I like to use in mine:

Ingredients:
1 eggplant
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
3 large carrots
1/4 cup olive oil 

1.Cut your vegetables into long thin strips, all the same thickness. A mandolin makes this the easiest (please watch your fingers) but a vegetable peeler or good knife skills can work too. . If your veggies are very wide, you may have to cut each strip in half lengthwise. I usually have to do this for the eggplant so that it’s not taller than all the other veggies. Get all of your veggies cut and ready and a bowl of olive oil. 

​2. Once you have your tart filling spread along the bottom of the crust, you’re ready to spiral. Dip each vegetable strip into the oil, or use a brush if you prefer.. Start with your first strip (anything but carrot) and create a tight spiral on your cutting board. This is going to be your centerpiece so make sure it’s as tight as possible. You can wrap one more strip around to secure the spiral, and then move this to the center of your filled tart. 

3. Continue wrapping immediately so things stay nice and tight. Alternate between all the vegetables as you go. As you get closer to the crust you can really start to pack them in so that I have as many layers as possible. Once the tart is full, pour any remaining oil on top and sprinkle with salt and pepper. 

​4. Bake at 350°F for about 50 minutes. The vegetables should still have a bit of texture to them. Cool for a bit before you slice and serve!

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Spiced Carrot Soup ​
This carrot soup is really easy to put together and has the perfect warm fall flavors. To get it nice and silky smooth you do need a blender or immersion blender. It’s very comforting and sweet, with a hint of harissa spice and coconut.This recipe makes a big pot: 6-10 servings depending on how much soup you like to eat.

Ingredient
1 lb of carrots, peeled & roughly chopped
1 onion (white or yellow), peeled & roughly chopped
1 apple, peeled, cored & roughly chopped
3-6 garlic cloves, peeled & left whole
1 Tbsp coconut or olive oil
1-2 Tbsp harissa (you can use dry or a paste, if you can’t find any you could also use a curry powder)
1 can of coconut milk
2-4 cups of vegetable stock (less if you like a thicker soup, more if you like a thinner soup)
salt & pepper to taste

​Serve it up! 
I always serve this soup with a side of white rice, especially if I’m just having this for my main meal. You can make some great garnishes too- a spiced sour cream topping, a drizzle of basil oil, or chopped vegan bacon all goes really well. But my FAVORITE topping is chhonk.

To make a chhonk you just need to fry aromatics like dried & fresh herbs in some hot fat. Here’s how I make a simple one for this soup:Heat a few teaspoons of oil on low heat until it’s glistening. Toss in a teaspoon of whole mustard seeds until they start to pop a bit. Then add about 1/4 of fresh sage leaves and give them a quick toss in the oil to coat.
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That’s it! You can use any herbs/spices that you prefer, but I love the taste of the sage with this sweet and creamy soup. The fresh herbs get nice and crispy and the dried herbs get beautifully toasty and aromatic. I just pile the chhonk on top of the soup along with any remaining oil since it’s so nicely infused with the spices.

Here's with another quick pickle, this time with carrots. The liquid for this one is a little more tart and less sweet than my picked radish recipe, just because the carrots have their own sweetness. I use a 3-2-1 ratio which is super easy to remember when you want some pickles of the fly. You can use this simple recipe to quick pickle just about anything… watermelon rinds, green beans… the possibilities are endless. You can also throw in flavorings like dill, juniper berries, mustard seeds. This is a nice blank canvas that you can make your own. I love adding picked carrots to salads, sandwiches and even as a garnish on soups when you need a nice acidic bite to balance things out. ​

Ingredients
2 cups of carrots- sliced thin or in ribbons
1.5 cups of vinegar (I like to use a combo of white vinegar and rice wine for this recipe) 
1 cup of water
1/2 cup of sugar
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Method of Preparation

1. Wash and cut your carrots. You want them to be fairly thin to be able to pickle quickly in the fridge. If you want to do large pieces of carrots you’ll have to boil them up a bit to soften. Add your carrots to a glass jar with a lid. 
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2. Boil the water, vinegar and sugar together, stirring to dissolve everything together. 

3. Pour the hot liquid into the jar right on top of the carrots, making sure everything is covered completely. 

4. If some of your veggies are sitting up above the level of the brine you can add a layer of parchment paper to keep everything submerged. 

5. These will be ready to enjoy later the same day, but they get even better after 24 hours. They’ll keep in the fridge for at least a week if not more.
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These are soft, sweet and delicious. Baking them in a covered pan allows the maple/butter combo to settle into the carrots instead of evaporating. I have a hunch these will be a big hit with the kiddos too!

Method:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. While the stove is preheating prepare the carrots by washing, trimming and cutting. Set aside. In a large cast iron pan heat the butter and maple over low heat. Stir in the salt and pepper and add the carrots. Add the rosemary sprigs, mix gently.

Cover with foil and keep over low heat before transferring into the preheated oven. Bake covered for 50 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes uncovered. Transfer onto a serving platter (there will be lots of tasty maple butter to pour atop the carrots). Place an additional sprig of rosemary on the serving platter with the carrots if you desire.

I would like to start this post by disclosing the following: I have never been a big kohlrabi fan....until today! This kohlrabi from Root 5 Farm is so sweet, crunchy and amazing!! If you're like me, and have been missing out all these years, I invite you to try this recipe and report back. I am going to be using kohlrabi in everything I possibly can moving forward. Many of these ingredients are found in your share this week. Have fun with this one!

Mix all of these salad ingredients together in a large bowl and set aside.

Ingredients: for the dressing
5 Tbsp fresh lime juice
2 Tsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp finely grated ginger
4 cloves pressed garlic
2 Tbsp fish sauce or Worcester sauce

Next, prepare the dressing. In a small bowl whisk all these ingredients together until well combined, as shown.

​Gently pour the dressing over the kohlrabi and carrot mixture. Toss until well combined. Serve as a meal or as a side with Thai food (we served it with peanut noodles)! This mouth watering salad will leave you perfectly full and inspired to make more kohlrabi recipes!

Have you ever found yourself unable to stop eating a really great hot dip? Well brace yourself...this week's CSA share includes amazingly green and beautiful brussels sprouts as well as a full bag of dark spinach. This spinach and artichoke dip with a twist will impress all your guests. Another awesome tid bit: you can make this ahead of time and let it sit overnight, all you have to do the day of is bake about 15 minutes longer than suggested baking time in this recipe.

Ingredients:
1/2 lb spinach
12-15 Brussels Sprouts, trimmed, halved and chopped 
1 yellow onion diced
2 cloves crushed garlic
2 cans quartered artichoke hearts, drained
1 8oz block cream cheese
1⁄2 cup sour cream
2 cups grated cheese of choice (I like cheddar)
Salt and pepper to taste.
Carrots, kohlrabi, radishes, salad turnips, or other vegetabes for dipping (I used purple carrots)
Corn chips or crackers for dipping

Method:
Sauté the onion over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and Brussels and sauté 10 more minutes, covered. The Brussel sprouts should start to soften significantly as you cook. Next add the artichokes and cook for 5 minutes uncovered. Add the chopped spinach and cover for 5 minutes, over low heat.

Next add the cream cheese and cover again. Allow the cream cheese to soften before stirring.

​Add in the Sour cream and grated cheeses. Stir well. Taste before adding salt and pepper. The cheeses can make this pretty salty. I like to add lots of pepper, and sometimes even a dash of cayenne or pepper flakes.

Transfer from the stovetop pan into an oven safe dip dish. I like to use a pie pan or smaller casserole dish. If you want a crispy top, reserve 1⁄2 cup cheese for the top and sprinkle before baking! Bake uncovered for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve with a variety of veggies and crackers! The CSA purple carrots look amazing beside this masterpiece!