CSA » Life Lyn Style

Fresh Fork CSA–week 4

Jun 232011

Today was the 4th pick up for the Fresh Fork CSA. We were expecting the following items.

Small CSA:

1 package chicken bratwursts (1.25 lb)
1 bunch garlic scapes
Approx 1.5 lb tomatoes
1 quart strawberries
1 bunch green onions
1 bunch spinach
1 head leaf lettuce
2 ct zucchini or yellow squash
4 oz tub fresh chevre goat cheese

Here is what we received.

So, our cheese was different, but it should be tasty. And we ended up with one of each for the squash. I could tell that strawberry season was ending as they aren’t in the best shape. It’s another yummy week.

Also, we bought 2 bags of the corn chips that were included a couple of weeks ago. I have taco salad on the menu and these are delicious. They were $3 each – $6.

We did pretty good with last week’s items. I haven’t really thought about the new batch.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–week 2

CSA 2 Responses »

Jun 212011

Today was the second pick up for the Geauga Family Farms CSA. As usual, we had no idea what we would receive. A newsletter comes out that gives us an idea of what we may receive, but I usually don’t see it before our pickup. Today was the second pick up and also the second time the truck was late. Both times, it arrived before we did, so we haven’t had to wait for them. I’m not sure what will happen next week since we want to come to the farm visit. Maybe I’ll enlist some assistance from my husband. Even with an on-time truck arriving at Whole Foods by 4pm, it will be tough to pick up, store and get to the farm by 6pm.

Here’s what we received:

Let’s take a closer look.

1 bunch of kale, 2 containers of strawberries

2 tomatoes, 1 dozen eggs

garlic scapes, green onions

pickling cucumbers, lots of lettuce (3 bags with 4 heads total)

Here’s our plan of attack:

This week, we plan to have several salads with the lettuce. I’ve been making spelt and quinoa and also using beans in some salads. I’ll pickle the cucumbers. I’m glad I stocked up on the spices for them. I’ll need to double check our vinegar stock. Some of the onions and garlic scape will be used in a batch of taco filling and the rest will be used in a sauté with mushrooms for the top of burgers or chopped and frozen. There aren’t too many of them, so that might all got in the taco filling. The tomatoes will go in the taco filling also. I’ve been making baked oatmeal, scrambled eggs and hard boiled eggs so the eggs have been easy to use in a timely fashion. Also, they have a long shelf life. We just picked some strawberries and made jam today, so these will most likely get eaten. If we feel like we have too many, we’ll make some strawberry ice cream or freeze them for later.

So, I’m left without a plan for kale. It’s an item that we only received twice last year, and I don’t have a “go to” dish in mind. Some quick searching in Google gave me lots of ideas. Now, I have to think about it. We have plans to eat dinner away from home Wednesday and Thursday , so kale will have to be lunch for us one day or for dinner on Friday. I’m leaning toward steaming it with vinegar, garlic scapes and green onion.

Update on last week:

Since the bread was opened for a snack on the way home, Nick, Sally and my husband had no trouble making sure it was eaten. The bok choy went into an Asian tofu stir fry along with some of the garlic scapes and green onions. The eggs were used in regular cooking and the cucumber and lettuce were used in salads. Some of the strawberries were eaten and the rest went with some others we had to make jam. The rest of the green onions and garlic scapes went into a Mexican filling for salad.

Recipe: Taco Salad

CSA, Recipe No Responses »

Jun 192011

This week in our CSA, we received many items that fit into a Mexican theme. It seemed appropriate to create a taco salad.

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Recipe: Taco Salad

Summary: All ingredients are approximate as I don’t really measure much.

Ingredients

1 T olive oil
3 garlic scapes, chopped
3 green onions, chopped
1 pound local grass fed ground beef
1 cup black beans (already cooked or canned)
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup water
4 T Penzeys taco seasoning
2 cups quinoa with cilantro, prepared
handful of corn chips per person
bed of lettuce per person

Instructions

Heat olive oil in skillet.
Add garlic scapes and onion and cook for a couple of minutes.
Add ground beef and cook until beef is almost done.
Drain off grease and return to pan.
Add tomatoes, beans, water and taco seasoning.
Stir to combine. Bring to a boil, simmer until tomatoes are done and sauce is thickened.
Assemble 1/3 cup quinoa and 1/6 of the filling on top of the lettuce.
Add a handful of corn chips to each plate.

Quick notes

To make the quinoa, use a rice cooker. You need 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water. I used previously frozen chopped cilantro that was frozen into ice cubes with water to make up some of the water. Add the cubes to a measuring cup and fill with water to desired level. You can always add fresh cilantro or leave it out.

Preparation time: 10 minute(s)

Cooking time: 20 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 6

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Fresh Fork CSA–week 3

CSA 2 Responses »

Jun 162011

Today was our third pick up for the Fresh Fork CSA. We were expecting the following items.

Small CSA:

1 lb grassfed ground beef
1 qt organic strawberries
Approx 1.5 lbs slicing tomatoes
1 head leaf lettuce
1 bag (16 oz) corn chips
1 bunch green onions
1 bunch cilantro
1-2 zucchini
1 bunch field grown spinach (braising greens)
1 half gallon milk

Here is what we received.

Update on last week: We didn’t blanch any radishes, so we need to use them up. We haven’t used our eggs or spelt berries yet. The sausage ended up in a quinoa salad dish. I’ll be posting that recipe this weekend. I think everything else was enjoyed.

Here’s our plan of attack for this week:

The strawberries were made into jam this evening. The milk we’ll enjoy with our cereals. The spinach is going into a Camembert cheese pasta dish. Most of the other items will be part of a Mexican themed dinner and I’ll freeze the left over cilantro if needed. A few of my cubes from last week were used as part of the liquid for quinoa and it was delicious. I haven’t decided about the zucchini yet.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–week 1

CSA 2 Responses »

Jun 142011

Today was our first pick up for the Geauga Family Farms CSA. Sometimes we get a “what’s in season this week list”, but usually surprised when we pick up our items for the week.

Here is what we received.

Let’s take a closer look.

2 containers of strawberries (approximately 2 quarts), 3 tomatoes

loaf of wheat bread (that was sampled on the way home), 1/2 dz. eggs

small head of green leaf lettuce, 2 small heads of another variety of leaf lettuce

bok choy, 2 different views

garlic scapes, cucumber

green onions

I’ll be back tomorrow to share our plan of attack for consumption.

Recipe: Chunky Tomato Béchamel Sauce

CSA, Recipe 2 Responses »

Jun 112011

This week in our CSA, we received garlic scapes, tomatoes and Ohio City whole wheat linguini pasta. This sauce was created to utilize these ingredients as well as some other items on hand. I needed a sauce with some flavor since I was out of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese which I usually add to my Béchamel sauce. I served this sauce on top of my linguini with a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese.

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Recipe: Chunky Tomato Béchamel Sauce

Summary: All ingredients are approximate as I don’t really measure much.

Ingredients

2 T butter
2 T whole wheat flour
1 cup skim milk
1 t black pepper
1 T olive oil
1 tomato, chopped with seed removed
1 carrot, chopped
2 garlic scapes, chopped
1 T Penzeys pizza seasoning
2 T Penzeys red and green bell pepper flakes
1/4 cup water

Instructions

Melt butter in a non-stick skillet.
Incorporate flour a small amount at a time to make a paste.
Add milk slowly and stir.
Continue to stir frequently until thickened.
Add black pepper.
In another pan, heat olive oil.
Add remaining ingredients.
Continue to cook until it looks like sauce, stirring occasionally.
Once thickened, combine with Béchamel sauce.
Serve over pasta with or without cheese.

Preparation time: 10 minute(s)

Cooking time: 20 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 4

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Fresh Fork CSA–week 2

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Jun 092011

Today was our second pick up for the Fresh Fork CSA. We were expecting the following items.

Small CSA:

1 lb Berkshire chorizo sausage
2 lbs spelt berries
1 lb whole wheat linguini
1 bunch garlic scapes
1 head assorted leaf lettuce
1 quart strawberries
2 lbs hoop house tomatoes
1 dz brown eggs

Here is what we received.

The radishes were owed to us from last week since ours were missed. The yogurt was an add on. Most weeks, there are additional items for sale at the back of the truck. It was $5 and although it’s expensive, we really like it.

Update on last week: I ended up serving the tomatoes to my husband and son on their salads.

Here’s our plan of attack for this week:

We like the yogurt with jam mixed in and as the liquid for overnight oats. I’m going to make whole wheat honey strawberry shortcake with the strawberries I have radish top soup on the stove now. Some of the radishes will be used in salad and the rest will be blanched and frozen. The lettuce and tomatoes will get eaten in salad. The sausage and pasta will be eaten as a main course. We will sauté most of the garlic scape with other veggies during the week. We may make some garlic pesto pizza as well. Eggs and spelt berries are staple items and have a long shelf life, so we don’t have specific plans for them yet.

Fresh Fork CSA –week 1

CSA 3 Responses »

Jun 022011

Today was the first pick up for the Fresh Fork CSA. We were expecting the following items.

Small CSA:

1 whole pasture raised chicken, 4-5 lbs
2 lbs organic cornmeal
1 bunch cilantro
1 bunch radishes with tops
1 head assorted leaf lettuce (approx .5 lbs)
2 hydroponic cucumbers
1 quart farmstead yogurt

Farming is never an exact science, here’s what we received:

So, I think we have tomatoes instead of radishes and one cucumber instead of two. Update: the tomatoes were in place of one cucumber and we were shorted radishes. We’ll get our radishes next week.

Here’s our current plan of attack:

The chicken is frozen and we put it in our freezer. I cleaned the lettuce so it’s ready for salad. Nick is excited to make corn muffins with the corn meal. I chopped and froze the cilantro in ice cube trays. The yogurt will be useful in overnight oats. We already ate our cucumber at dinner. It was small (think pickling cucumber), but delicious! The only thing I’m not sure about is the tomatoes. I’m sure I’ll figure out a good use for them or I’ll freeze them for later in the season.

Local Food and CSAs

CSA 1 Response »

May 302011

We enjoy eating fresh, local food whenever practical.

For the past couple of years, our family has participated in a local CSA. CSA stands for community supported agriculture. Traditionally, it has meant that farmers (or groups of farmers) sell shares of their crop to individuals. The individuals pay up front and it allows the farmer to purchase seeds, marketing etc. before the season begins. The consumer assumes some of the risk with weather etc. and receives a share of the crop each week during the season. This model has morphed into many different programs all.

For summer 2011, my family is participating in two CSAs. We love eating local foods and it’s good for us in many ways. I plan to write about our our produce and how we use it all season long.

Geauga Family Farms is one of our CSAs. You can read how they describe it here. We participated in this CSA last year. This is a group of Geauga county farmers that combine efforts to provide us with mostly organic, seasonal produce for 20 weeks from June – Oct. This year, we will be picking up on Tuesdays at Whole Foods on Chagrin Blvd. We are looking forward to the start of the season. The photo above shows the variety of items that we enjoyed in 2010.

Fresh Fork Market is our other CSA. This one is set up quite differently from the GFF one. Trevor Clatterbuck runs the program. He partners with many farms and local producers to provide a variety of local produce and other products. We participated in this CSA for the winter and really enjoyed the variety of items (including meat, cheese, grains, etc.) We’ll be picking this bounty up at Beachwood High School on Thursdays this summer. We’ll have a pick up for 22 weeks beginning this Thursday.

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