If you’re part of the CSA Subscribers Facebook group, you’ve likely seen (and drooled over) Kathryn’s CSA driven meals. From over the fire feasts while camping to nutritionally dense plates on the go for her busy family, she creates incredible meals that revolve around our veggies. We caught up with Kathryn while she was making soup for a friend who had recently moved to Edmonton and whipping up a snack of her favourite Brussels sprouts at the same time.
At first, Kathryn was drawn to the CSA because of the mental load it reduces for her. She didn’t have to think about what to get for groceries and whatever came in the CSA dictated her weekly meal plans so it took a lot of decision-making off the table for her. Before the CSA, she ordered a grocery delivery box where she could customize what she got in each delivery, but she found there was a large time sink in that process too and she’d still typically have to go to the grocery store to supplement it. With the CSA she feels like she can just work around what’s coming.
She’s a very competent cook and enjoys having fun in the kitchen. She’ll read recipes for inspiration and flavour profile ideas but typically goes off script when she’s creating meals. It’s all about playing with the ingredients to create something delicious, and packed with nutrition.
“It’s a lot of fun. It’s just natural for me, I want to feed people.”
Kathryn and her family have been subscribers to the CSA for 10 years. Her three children, now teenagers, have grown up with CSA as a consistent part of their lives and diet. They’ve learned about seasonality and developed a love of veggies through their experience of the CSA. The first year they got the CSA, the carrots blew their minds. Kathryn’s kids would tear into the carrots on the way home from pick up. But they began to notice that the sweetness of the carrots could vary from week to week*. This helped them learn about seasonality, the impact of pests and weather on the taste and experience of the veggies, and about their own backyard garden. Every year Kathryn grows a small veggie plot of her own and understands the crops better because of her CSA experience.
*In case you’re wondering, the sweetest carrots of the year come after the first frost!
Kathryn cares deeply about making sure her family eats the healthy food she’s preparing in the way that they’ll enjoy it. For example, one of her kids loves scalloped potatoes and another prefers to eat roast potatoes. When she’s chopping potatoes already for scalloped potatoes, it’s barely any extra effort to make a small dish of roast potatoes to throw in the oven at the same time. She’s always finding efficiencies in the cooking process to make sure each family member can enjoy their meal without going too far out of her way to cater to their preferences.
But more than her cooking prowess, Kathryn is a master at making the most out of the food that crosses her path. One look around her kitchen and you’ll see evidence of this skill everywhere. She likes cooking with scrappy vegetables and some lean years in their family have taught her that everything has value. There’s no throwing away food. Kathryn keeps a bag in her freezer for all the scraps from the veggies (roots, leaves, skins, etc) to make incredible broths. She grates zucchini and freezes it so it’s quickly and easily available to add to soups, stews, and tacos. She freezes and dehydrates her celery to make the most of its intense flavour for roast chicken, broths, and Caesar rims. She loves to pickle and makes gorgeous jars of pickled veggies each year. When the Late Season CSA – known for its volume of winter veggies – starts to pile up in her house, Kathryn chops up the veggies they can’t make use of fresh, and freezes them for later use. Nothing that comes in the CSA goes to waste – not even the beets she’s allergic to. She makes those into pickled beets and gifts them to friends and family.
Her favourite veggies in the CSA are corn and Brussels sprouts, but even kohlrabi leaves make her list of favourites because they steam so well and have a beautiful texture. Over the past decade, there have been a few times when she’s received an unusable veggie in her CSA or something has gone awry in the pick up process. When that’s happened, Kathryn says she knows she can just send an email and the issue will get resolved quickly and easily. That connection between her and the Riverbend team is one of her favourite parts of the CSA community.
