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Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 17

Sep 252012

The customer service booth was gone today when we arrived at Whole Foods. I guess that aren’t quite done with the remodel. Our sign out sheet for the CSA was easy to find, so the pick up was smooth.

Here’s what we received today:

Eggplant, green beans

Leaf lettuce, tomato

Bell peppers, PIE PUMPKIN!!!

Apples, basil

I’m going to roast the eggplant as a side dish. I’ll do it when I cook the pie pumpkin. We ate the green beans for dinner tonight. I’ll be using the bell peppers in fajitas tomorrow night. Some of the basil will go into salad dressing and the rest I’m going to puree with olive oil and freeze.

The lettuce will make great salads. We were almost out. I picked tomatoes at the garden today and this one will get combined with those for the freezer.

Between the apples and pie pumpkin – I’m in heaven this week.

Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 16

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Sep 212012

One of my favorite things about the Fresh Fork CSA is that we are permitted to take up to 4 weeks of vacation. I am definitely one who needs all 4 weeks. This week, I’m in Baltimore, so we aren’t going to be able to use/pick up our share. Usually, when I’m on vacation from my pickup, I am very sad to be missing one or two of the items. This week, I finally feel like I picked a great week to be on vacation.

Don’t get me wrong, I love most of the items on the list. But, many of them are either things we’ve been getting all summer or items that are just starting to appear. The only item that would have been new and fun would have been the mini Mira sweet corn. Maybe I’ll get lucky and still be able to obtain some of it.

I hope everyone enjoys their share this week. I’m hoping for lots of winter squash in the upcoming weeks.

Here’s what the large share is scheduled to receive this week:

1 whole pasture raised chicken
3 lbs. Yukon gold potatoes
1 bunch kale or 1 pint mixed color baby sweet peppers
2 ct. eggplant (1 if they are really large)
2 ct. red bell peppers
1 head green leaf lettuce
1-2 onions, depending on size
1 lb. dragon-tongue beans
2 ct. zucchini
6 ears mini Mira sweet corn
3 lbs. sweet potatoes
1-2 leeks
A handful Poblano peppers

Enjoy the change from summer to winter this weekend.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 16

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Sep 182012

We did a little shopping at Whole Foods before picking up our share today. I’m so glad that the store remodel is complete. Everything seems like it’s in its place. Now, we just need to learn where those places are.

Here’s what we received today:

Bok choy, lettuce

Apples, slicing tomatoes

Hot peppers, red onions

Bell peppers, red Russian kale

I’m going out of town on Thursday and won’t return until Sunday night. So, I’ll be prepping items for the freezer or cooking them for the family to eat while I am gone.

I now have two heads of bok choy. I’m going to sauté them with garlic, onion and sesame oil for Stephen. The lettuce will get eaten in salad. The apples have been popular in oatmeal and for snacking. The tomatoes are going straight to the freezer with the romas that I picked from our garden today. I’ll be making a batch of sauce for canning before our lamb comes in from the butcher at the beginning of October.

I have no desire to deal with the hot peppers, so I am sending them to work with Stephen in hopes that someone there will put them to good use. I wish we had a swap table at Whole Foods where you could take and item and leave and item. One of our other CSAs used to do that and it was great.

I’ll chop and freeze any pepper and onion left before I leave on my trip. I’m just going to blanch the kale for later use in soup. We have plenty of greens out in the fridge already.

Lately, I feel like I’m preserving more than we’re eating, but some weeks are just like that.

Braising and Fall Vegetables with Parker Bosley

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Sep 172012

Tonight, I attended a cooking demo and tasting class offered through Fresh Fork Market. The class was held in the basement section of Market Street Brewery. I had never been there before and I am clearly not a west-sider, but I made it there and back.

Parker Bosley shared his infamous wisdom with regard to beets, parsnips, roast, potatoes, braising greens, and much more.

Parker is a legend in the Cleveland area. Honestly, I had never heard of him until recently. He’s really amazing and so personable. It’s a joy to watch him cook.

We watched and heard about different preparations, heard great stories and tasted wonderful food.

We left with a booklet full of recipes that has me ready for the fall and winter bounty that our local farmers have to offer.

I’m most excited to make the Lyonnaise potatoes and parsnip puree. I can’t wait until the Thanksgiving class.

Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 15

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Sep 132012

We have plans tomorrow evening, so we picked up our CSA in Beachwood today. There was quite a line when we arrived, but it moved quickly.

I love the colors this week!

Here’s what we were expecting:

1 bunch golden beets
Approx. 2.5 lbs. San Marzano Roma Tomatoes
Either heirloom tomatoes or 1 pint grape tomatoes
1 pint yummy pepper mix (all sweet peppers)
1 lb. Berkshire bacon
1/2 lb. mixed baby greens (chard, kale, arugula, mizuna, and more)
1 head cabbage
1 quarter peck Gala apples
1 head broccoli
8 oz. grass-fed smoked cheddar cheese
1 half pint of either Pappy’s pepper butter (like a sweet and tangy homemade mustard) or 1 half pint of Pappy’s Candied Jalapeños (semi-hot jalapeños in a honey syrup)
A handful of colored peppers (red long peppers probably early week and purple peppers later week)

I’m not sure what happened, but we ended up with eggs and spaghetti squash. We didn’t get broccoli. I can see the switch with broccoli and squash – but eggs? We also got lettuce, but I think that was a deliberate attempt at BLT ingredients.

I have two spaghetti squashes. I’m thinking about making it Italian style and serving it like spaghetti. I think everyone in the house will eat it like that (especially with cheese on it). The head of cabbage is pretty small. I think I’ll keep it a few days and then make some of my coleslaw.

We’ll be eating apples in our oatmeal. Also, I ordered a new dehydrator and I’m anxious to try fruit rolls, so some puree might be in order. These are really good paste tomatoes, so they’ll end up in sauce at some point. For now, the freezer will be their home, along with the heirloom tomatoes. We have an over abundance of tomatoes this year, but we aren’t getting them all at once, so it’s harder to make and can sauce.

The Pappy’s Pepper Butter is medium hot. I’m not a fan of hot things, but I’m determined to try this and a few other things that are on our shelf soon. My goal is to eat from our house as much as possible.

Delicious bacon never goes to waste around here. I didn’t get it in the freezer right away, so it’s thawing in the fridge. We’ll probably have it on Saturday or Sunday. I wasn’t expecting eggs and we have an overabundance. I’m going to gift a dozen to my mom since she’s helping with the kids tomorrow.

I don’t think I’ve ever tried this cheese, but there are very few that I don’t like. All of the peppers this week should be sweet (not hot!) and I’m happy about that.

We also got some mixed greens. This batch looks pretty good to me, so I’m going to have a big salad for lunch tomorrow. I’ve gotten away from lunch salads and need to get back to them since they are delicious.

We still have some beets from the other week, so I am going cook all of them all of them tonight or tomorrow. I’ll probably make a big batch of Harvard beets since we haven’t had them for a while. The lettuce looks very tasty and will be good in salads or maybe a BLT.

There’s 7 weeks left and I’m already getting sad that the season will be ending soon. It’s a good think there’s a winter program starting sometime in November.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 15

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Sep 112012

Two crabby kids and I picked up our CSA today. Nick just started preschool and has a shortened schedule for the first few days. Nick’s so excited that he’s exhausted and Sally didn’t have a nap. It was a rough day. Surprising, our pick up was smooth, but I knew better than to shop for anything at Whole Foods today.

Here’s what we received:

apples, green beans

bell peppers, onions

cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes

yellow squash, bok choy

leaf lettuce

I’m so happy to see apples. We love apples in our house and I’ve been waiting for them to start showing up. Most of the local PYO is sparse this year. We’ll be enjoying them in oatmeal this week. The green beans will be a side dish for a meal tomorrow or Thursday.

I’m done with tomatoes, peppers and onions. We planted a community garden this year and our tomatoes are out of control – and I don’t like tomatoes. Actually, we’re ok on peppers since I didn’t pick them this year. We’ll be chopping and freezing them along with the onions. I love having local ones available throughout the winter. I’m mostly just freezing tomatoes right now. We have tons of sauce and I’m not sure what we’ll need next. I did make some great enchilada sauce this week. I don’t think I’ll ever buy store bought again.

One lonely squash will just get eaten in a stir fry with the bok choy and maybe some garlic and onion. Bok choy isn’t my favorite, but luckily Stephen likes the Asian flavors.

We’ll use the lettuce in salad. We might even have BLTs this week with some local bacon. I think everyone would like them as long as we hold the T for Sally and I.

I’m hoping for fewer tomatoes next week.

Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 14

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Sep 072012

We were back to our regular pick up this week at Mayfield High School. It’s the time of the year where there’s a changing of the guard with the truck staff. Today, we were greeted by Kirsten. It was nice to see her, but it was busy and we didn’t have time to chat. We can expect to see her at Mayfield for the rest of the season. That will be very nice.

Here’s an overview of what we received (minus the watermelon):

Here’s what we were expecting:

1 large watermelon
1 head green leaf lettuce
Approx. 2 eggplant
1 bunch carrots with tops
1 pint grape tomatoes or Approx. 1.5 lbs. heirloom tomatoes
1 quart concord grapes
Approx. 1 lb. red slicing tomatoes
1-2 onions depending on size
1 bulb garlic
1 lb. beans
1 lb. roasted red pepper linguini
Red peppers
1 lb. bacon breakfast patties
1 bunch leeks
3 lb. bag potatoes

The green beans are dark and rich in color. I think I’ll pull a roast out of the freezer for Sunday and serve them as a side dish. I’m tired of tomato season. It’s nice that farmers are figuring out ways to grow them longer during the growing season using hoop houses and such, but I don’t really care for tomatoes and I’ve been spending my energy elsewhere, so I have tons of frozen tomatoes in the freezer for chili, soup and other dishes and I’m looking forward to the end of adding to it.

I froze the grapes from last week in hopes that we would get them again. I’m going to make grape sorbet or jam with them.

Onion and garlic is status quo at this point. They’ll end up in soup or fajitas this week.

I’ll probably use the carrot and leek in our tomato soup. Nick had fun making it last time, so I thought I’d let him cut up veggies for it again.

I’m going to roast the peppers and add them into a white sauce to serve over the pasta. It’s red pepper linguini, so that should mesh nicely.

I’ll be cooking the breakfast patties soon since we let them thaw when we were out this evening. I’m always at a loss for egg plant. I’ll probably roast it with onions, beets and other veggies tomorrow and see if something else inspires me.

The potatoes will go great with our roast. The lettuce will make a couple of good salads.

I’m glad to see that melon season isn’t quite over. This will be great to have around this weekend. It’s on the larger size, but I suspect it will be gone by Monday.

I’m hoping to cook at home a lot this weekend. We have lots of great looking stuff to use this week.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 14

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Sep 042012

We picked up on share in the rain today. It was pouring as we went into Whole Foods. Luckily, it had calmed down a bit when we were leaving. The store was in much better shape than last week, but they still have some work to be done. I picked up some blue cheese, grass fed beef and sandwich buns. I wasn’t sure what we’d have with the burgers until we picked up our share.

Here’s what we received:

sweet snacking peppers, lettuce

corn, green beans

zucchini, bell peppers

cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes

eggplant

So, we ended up having the corn and green beans with dinner. They were easy to fix and are bulky in the fridge.

I’ll be making chili this week. The peppers and slicing tomatoes will go into it. The lettuce and snacking peppers will make a nice salad. My husband and son will eat the cherry tomatoes. I have a recipe for pancakes that uses zucchini, so I’m going try it out with the squash.

It really comes down to the eggplant. Last time I had eggplant, I cooked it with onion, olive oil and some garlic until it was mushy and made a dip. I intend to use it as a layer in lasagna, but that hasn’t happened yet. It’s currently frozen in my freezer.

I’m ready for tomato season to end and I’m missing fruit. I’m happy with our share, but I am excited for winter squash and apple seasons to begin.

Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 13

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Aug 292012

Due to some last minute travel plans for the weekend, we picked up our CSA share today. It was our first time picking up on a Wednesday in Solon. The pick up spot at a church was very nice. The lot was shady and newly resurfaced. With a busy evening that included preschool parent orientation, it was very dark when I attempted photos. So, I’m just using one tonight. Yes, I have nice lights, but I don’t have the energy for that tonight.

Dark overview photo:

I think the only thing the photo really shows is how big a large share is. I’m continually impressed with a what we receive for our value each week.

Here’s what we received:

1 bunch Cylindra beets
1 quart whole milk yogurt
1 acorn squash
1 pint blackberries
1 bag mixed peppers
1 lb. red fortune plums
2 lbs. Roma tomatoes
1 kohlrabi
1 bunch collards
6 ears sweet corn
1 ball fresh mozzarella cheese
2 frozen pizza dough balls
1 pint heirloom tomato sauce
A handful hot Hungarian peppers
Approx. 1.5 lbs. heirloom tomatoes
concord grapes

Originally, we were going to get a spaghetti squash and not have grapes. You can’t argue with mother nature. We’ll see squash soon.

This is a crazy week for us as we are leaving town for a few days tomorrow. So, all of our food needs to be cooked, eaten, froze, or packed so that we don’t lose any of our items.

I have some beets already in the fridge. I’m going to make Harvard beets and freeze them. I’ve never frozen that recipe before, but a quick Google search tells me that it’s possible.

We love the yogurt and are fully stocked. I’m glad it has good dates. I’ll be taking one container with us in our cooler.

I love winter squash season as much as melon season. I’ll roast this acorn squash, make puree and freeze it. It would probably last if I just waited until we got home from our trip, but I’d rather just take care of it now.

The plums and blackberries will come with us on our trip if they last that long. I’m going to freeze the peppers, tomatoes, collards and corn. I’ll blanch and chop as needed. I’m hoping to make the grapes into a usable concentrate for sorbet. Then, I’ll freeze it.

I’ll use the pizza dough, sauce and cheese to make some pizza for lunch tomorrow and maybe dinner on the road. The dough was already thawing before I got to it, so I need to use it up.

Whew! I need to get busy. We’re leaving at 12:30pm tomorrow and I still need to pack too.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 13

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Aug 282012

We picked up our share at Whole Foods today. Turns out they are in the middle of a remodel of the whole store. It was a mess. Usually, I can easily pick up two or three things to round out our needs, but not today. There were several things on my list that weren’t worth hunting down. I’m hoping that we get fruit in our bags again soon. I know apples were hit hard this year, but I still hope we see some soon.

Here’s a shot of what we received this week:

Mixed cherry tomatoes, onions

Lettuce, mixed bell peppers

Green beans, yummy orange snacking peppers

Slicing tomatoes, patty pan squash

Beets with lovely green tops

With the holiday weekend approaching and Nick starting preschool soon, we are taking a trip this weekend. So, all of our food needs to be packed, preserved or eaten. We used two peppers, one tomato and one onion in tonight’s dinner. I sautéed them to go with some Italian sausages that I had thawed today. The other pepper was rotten and needed to be pitched. I haven’t received anything bad in a while, but it happens occasionally.

I’m going to just freeze the slicing tomatoes. The cherry tomatoes will be good snacking for Stephen and Nick. We’ll have salad using the lettuce for the next couple of days. The snacking peppers probably will be eaten tomorrow. They look delicious. The green beans will make a nice side dish for lunch tomorrow. I have some beets in the fridge already, and I’m expecting some more tomorrow. I suspect they’ll all be made into Harvard beets tomorrow night. Efficiency this week is especially important. I’ll cook the greens with some eggs for breakfast or lunch tomorrow or Thursday. I’ll probably just shred and freeze the squash.

I’m feeling lazy in the cooking department. Some weeks, there is just too much going on to cook lots of recipes. Lately, dinners have been quickly thrown together without much of a plan. I am looking forward to more of a routine in upcoming weeks and the opportunity to spend a bit more quality time in the kitchen.

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