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Geauga Family Farms–Winter CSA week 6

Dec 172011

It’s hard to believe that this was the last Geauga Family Farms CSA pick up for the winter. Once again, Stephen and the kids went to St. Noel to pick up our share. I had a scheduled hike that began at 10AM in Ashtabula County.

Here’s a group shot of what we received:

Let’s take a closer look:

Wheat bread (not 100%), Swiss chard

Radishes, very large sweet potato

Lettuce, spinach

Cabbage, turnip

Beets

We were getting pretty low on produce. Before this pick up we had a small head of cabbage and a little bit of lettuce left. Most of these items are quite welcome in our fridge.

We’ve had many meals out this week, but I’m happy to say that after tonight, I don’t have any meals planned out this entire week. Eating at home will make it very easy to use our veggies.

I’ll probably make unstuffed cabbage again. It’s easy and freezes well. Stephen sliced the bread so we could freeze it. I’ll make Harvard beets again. It’s an easy recipe and everyone likes them.

I never know what to do with the turnip, but last time I made some turnip and potato soup that turned out well, so I am guessing that will make an encore appearance.

The spinach will get used in a pasta dish or quiche this week. We’ve been cooking the chard with some onion, spice and Balsamic vinegar.

I’m looking forward to cooking a few local fresh meals at home.

Geauga Family Farms–Winter CSA week 5

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Dec 102011

The kids and Stephen went up to St. Noel’s today to pick up week 5 of our Geauga Family Farms CSA. Next week is the last pickup for the winter share. Today’s pickup was particularly great.

Here’s a group shot of what we received:

Let’s take a closer look:

Butternut squash, sweet potatoes

Eggs (Yeah!), garlic

Broccoli, carrots

Red cabbage, beets

Two kinds of lettuce

Wheat bread

We have quite a few squash right now. I will be baking most of them tomorrow and making squash puree for the freezer. We also have quite a few sweet potatoes. The kids really like the baked sweet potato slices, so we’ll be making them again soon.

Eggs we use in everyday cooking and they are always welcome. We have quite a bit of garlic frozen, but this is our only fresh piece. I’ll be putting it in chili this week.

The broccoli and carrots both went into Shepherd’s pie tonight. It was delicious. I used local butter, potatoes, ground beef, broccoli, cauliflower and carrots.

I don’t have any immediate plans for the cabbage, but something will come to me soon. The beets will be combined with some others in the fridge for Harvard beets.

We had some of the lettuce in salad today and will probably use the rest in a day or two. The wheat bread is almost 1/2 gone. It made nice peanut butter and apple butter toast for snacks today.

I’ll be sad to see this CSA end next week.

Fresh Fork Winter CSA–week 4

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Dec 082011

Today, we had a great Fresh Fork CSA pick up. It was not busy when we arrived and we were in and out in a flash. Robert even carried our stuff to the car. Also, it was DRY! There was an almost full moon and no precipitation.

Here’s what we were expecting this week:

1 bunch bok choy (approx. 8 oz.)
1 bunch leaf lettuce
1 bag mixed braising greens, approx. 0.75 lb.
3 count winter squash
2 lbs. onions
1 head broccoli
1 head cauliflower
1/2 lb. spinach or pak choy
1 bag corn chips
1 8-oz. wedge of Havarti or pepper Havarti from Mayfield Road Creamery
3 lbs potatoes, Yukon gold or Red Norland
Approx. 3# beef roast (we’ll have an assortment available)

Here’s a group shot:

Both the ground beef and the roast were frozen, so I just popped them in the freezer.

I really like caramelized onions and haven’t made them in a while. I think I’ll be having them soon. I’m also going to try a Shepard’s Pie with the potatoes.

We were supposed to get one head of cauliflower. I’m guessing we have two due to the size. They aren’t in the best shape, so I will be cooking them tomorrow. The winter squash look nice. We have an acorn, butternut and an orange Hubbard squash.

Bok choy has been being made Asian style for Stephen lately. I’m not sure if we will try something different or not.

The lettuce will go into taco salad. Fresh Fork posted a recipe on the braising greens. I think we’ll try it out this week. We get these weird mixed greens a lot during the winter.

These are two tiny heads of broccoli. I’m sure they are tasty and will disappear quickly. We had the return of the corn chips. We bought one extra bag ($3.5) not pictured.

This week’s share ended with local Harvarti cheese. All of the cheese from Mayfield Creamery has been great and I’m sure this will be no exception.

As you may recall, we we short a few items from our Thanksgiving package a couple of weeks ago. These items were delivered with our regular share today.

So, we have more of a few items and are glad to have apples back in stock. I’ll probably be cooking/freezing the winter squash and pumpkin in the next day or two to have for recipes in the winter.

The holiday ham and other package order form came out today. I’m not sure if we are going to order a ham this year. I’ll need to check with my folks to figure out our menu for Christmas.

I’m off to put the rest of our share away and clean the kitchen from dinner.

Geauga Family Farms–Winter CSA week 4

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Dec 032011

Today was the 4th pick up for the winter Geauga Family Farms CSA. Stephen took the kids for the pick up while I made a quick Kohl’s trip. We met up back at home where I quickly photographed before we headed to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Ironically, I had a class about sustainable eating and supporting the local food movement!

Here’s a group shot of what we received:

Let’s take a closer look:

Leaf lettuce, apples

Loaf of pumpkin bread, potatoes

Butternut squash, red leaf lettuce

Bok choy, collard greens

Beets

Aside for some mandarin oranges from yesterday’s Whole Food sale, a few potatoes and a couple of onions, we were out of everything fresh. So, today’s pick up was welcome in our fridge.

Both of the lettuces will go into salad. I’m thinking of using some leftover chorizo and beans and making some type of Mexican inspired salad. The apples will go into oatmeal. When we have apples available, we use them in our oatmeal. The rest of the time we use frozen or home-canned fruit.

Half of the pumpkin bread is already gone. It’s extremely good. We’ll have the potatoes as part of dinner one night this week. Since butternut squash is one that can be peeled, I’ll probably roast it in chunks with cinnamon, pepper and olive oil.

I’ve been making Asian bok choy for Stephen with garlic and sesame oil. He seems to like it and it gives him an Asian dish. Sesame is not really my thing.

I haven’t decided on a collards dish yet. We’ve tried several. It’s still hit or miss on whether we like the end product. Clearly, I need a consistent go to recipe for them.

We haven’t made Harvard beets lately, so I’ll be making them this week.

Originally, we were supposed to get eggs each week. They have new chickens and the production has not been as anticipated. I was surprised that we didn’t get them this week since we didn’t have a pick up last week. But, I have more than a dozen left from our other CSA, so we aren’t out yet.

We also placed an add on order for a half gallon of local maple syrup ($25). I’ve been reading up on making maple coated pecans and some eggnog type of beverages that used maple instead of sugar, so I thought we should stock up. It’s hard to believe that new maple syrup will be available in less than 4 months.

It’s nice to be stocked back up on fresh items. It’s hard to believe that there is only 2 weeks left of this short winter CSA.

A Fresh Fork Market Thanksgiving Package

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Nov 232011

While I picked up my regular share yesterday, I also picked up a Thanksgiving package from my Fresh Fork CSA. There were 3 to pick from and I choose package number 1. I debated whether to get a package since we don’t usually cook Thanksgiving dinner. We go to my uncle’s house. I discussed it with my husband and we decided to try it out. Let’s just say we will be eating well for a couple of weeks.

Here’s a group shot of what we received. It was hard to get everything in one photo!

We were expecting the following:

Package 1 Contents:

Tom Turkey
Apple Pie
Sweet Potato Pie
Beets
Carrots
Candy Onions
Sweet Potatoes
Red Norland Potatoes
Shallots
Garlic
Dinner Rolls
Turnips
Cauliflower
Lettuce
Bread for Stuffing
Eggs
Winter Squash Mix
Cornmeal
Pie Pumpkin
Frozen Ohio Sweet Corn
Bacon
Braising Greens
Apple Cider
Apples
White Spelt Flour

Let’s take a closer look.

The pies look awesome. The apple pie is made with Ohio apples and came from Humble Pie Baking. It came with instructions for a little bit of additional baking time before serving. We are taking it with us to my uncle’s house. The sweet potato pie came from Lucky’s Café. We didn’t need the pie at my uncle’s house and I didn’t need a whole pie here. So, I sent it to work with my husband this morning sans a piece. The kids and I shared a piece with lunch. It is one of the best pies that I ever tasted! I’m extra glad that it went to work with my husband today.

We hardly ever by grocery store eggs. The farm fresh ones are so good. We also like knowing where they came from. We were almost out of eggs until our delivery. We’ll use some in our waffles this weekend, my sweet potatoes for tomorrow, hard boil some and use some for regular everyday cooking. The frozen corn is a new item. This corn was frozen this summer when it was in season. I just popped it in our freezer. We probably won’t try it for a week or two as we make our way through our fresh items.

The bacon is always great. I just put it in the freezer. We’ll use some with our stuffing recipe and some with our greens. If there is any left, we’ll crumble it on our salad. We were out of apples and already have eaten some on our oatmeal for breakfast. These won’t last long in our house.

We received whole wheat flour instead of spelt. Either is fine with us. We use almost all whole wheat flour in our house, so the change was welcome. We tried a couple of rolls with dinner last night. They were very tasty and buttery. We put the rest in the freezer. My kids love bread and these will be easy to give them with lunches.

Winter squash is one of my favorite foods. It’s so versatile and delicious. These should store well and are not on my immediate radar to use up. This bread looks great. It’s intended for stuffing, but I have a feeling it may become French toast or squash inspired bread pudding instead. For now, it’s in the freezer.

The lettuce is super fresh. Some went to work for my husband’s lunch. The rest will probably be served with dinner. These heads of garlic are HUGE! We are in garlic overload this year. I’m not sure why we have so much, but if I can’t get it used soon, I’ll chop and freeze it. I mostly just need to remember to put it into dishes.

I enjoy cooking with shallots. They have a milder flavor than onions and compliment other flavors well. For now, these are being stored in our basement. Turnips will probably go into soup. I don’t have a great go to recipe for them yet.

Our local, pasture raised turkey came to us fresh from Martha’s farm. This bird weighed in at 22.8 pounds. They were just processed on Monday. Since we aren’t cooking Thanksgiving dinner and I’m interested in trying a turkey sausage recipe, we are freezing our bird in several pieces. I’ll be making some of it for dinner tonight and we’ll get many meals out of this big bird. The braising greens will get sautéed as a side in the next couple of days.

The corn meal is a great pantry item. Nick loves corn muffins and we haven’t made them much lately. They’ll be a great use for some of this corn meal, eggs and whole wheat flour. The carrots look super fresh. Everyone in our house likes carrots and we’re having them for dinner tonight.

Cauliflower is so easy for us to use. Everyone likes it. I usually do it plain, with a few seasoning or in a simple au gratin recipe. With a head here and in our regular pickup, maybe we’ll have it three different ways this week. With the beets, I’ll make a small batch of Harvard beets.

We’ll be having our fill of mashed sweet potato casserole tomorrow, so these will probably get baked into fries for lunch one day next week. The kids love them with Ozark blend and cinnamon spices.

After I got home and sorted out all of our goodies,

I realized that we were missing or short on a few items. We were missing onions, potatoes, pie pumpkin and apple cider. We were short some apples and cornmeal. A quick email to the great guys at Fresh Fork and they’ll remedy it at the next pickup. I was given an option to pick it up at another site today, but I’m in no rush. We have plenty to last us for a while.

Our pick up was not the best yesterday. It was extra busy with the regular shares, holiday packages, turkeys, pies and LOTS OF RAIN. We had to wait for a while, but everyone in line was chatting and taking it in stride. Even the kids just liked running around in the rain.

The food always tastes amazing and the people who work the truck are super nice. I already can’t wait to see what they offer for Christmas. Berkshire ham anyone?

Fresh Fork Winter CSA–week 3

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Nov 222011

Today, we had a rough Fresh Fork CSA pickup. It was extra busy because people were picking up Thanksgiving packages, regular shares, turkeys and a variety of other holiday items. It was also raining!

Here’s what we were expecting this week:

1 half gallon apple cider
1 quarter peck of Mutsu apples (very large, tart apples)
1 lb. nitrate free bacon
1 dozen pasture raised chicken eggs
1.5 lbs. white spelt flour
1 large white stem bok choy
1 bunch medium leeks
1 bag, half lb., of young mustard green mix
2 lbs. butter, salted or unsalted
1 lb. pumpkin sage linguini
1 head cabbage
1 head cauliflower

Here’s a group shot:

We ate the pumpkin sage linguini for dinner tonight. There’s one serving left and I’m hoping to have it for lunch tomorrow. We’ve been out of fresh apples for oatmeal the last few days, so these are welcome.

I put the bacon in the freezer. Soon, I’ll make a version of my uncle’s stuffing and it will use the bacon. The spelt flour came as whole wheat. This is fine with us since we use whole wheat flour all of the time.

I was happy to get unsalted butter this time. We don’t usually buy salted butter. I’m looking forward to trying it. I never know what to do with leeks. I’ll probably chop them up in an Asian stir fry for Stephen along with the bok choy.

We’ll have our standard sautéed greens with balsamic, garlic, salt and pepper with these greens.

Personally, apple cider is too sweet, but my husband and kids love it, so it’s always welcome. Behind all of these leaves is a head of cauliflower. Everyone in our house likes cauliflower, so it will go quickly.

Cabbage is used in the stuffing recipe that I’d like to make in the next few days. I may freeze the cabbage by blanching it just to give me time to use some of our other items up. We were almost out of eggs. I need them for my sweet potato recipe and for waffles this weekend.

We got the granola that was owed to use from the last pickup and purchased some more yogurt ($10).

We also picked up a Thanksgiving package. I’ll show it to you tomorrow! It’s late and there are still dishes left in the kitchen.

Geauga Family Farms–Winter CSA week 3

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Nov 192011

Today was our pick up for week 3 of the winter Geauga Family Farms CSA. The truck was 45 minutes late! We had a full morning packed and had to rearrange our schedule due to the delay. The truck is supposed to get there at 8:30AM and pick up time is from 8:45AM until 10:15AM. The truck arrived at 9:15AM. I had gotten there at 8:45AM. I had a nice chat with the St. Noel volunteer Kathy. It’s a great pick up site, but I really miss my Tuesday pick up. We are just so busy on the weekends that we don’t have much flexibility.

Here’s a group shot of what we received:

Let’s take a closer look:

Small pumpkin roll, daikon radish

Pie pumpkin, parsley

Sweet potatoes, oak leaf lettuce

Leaf lettuce, broccoli

We enjoyed part of the pumpkin roll today. That will disappear quickly. I’m not sure what we are going to do with the daikon radish. I think I’ll make some pumpkin puree for smoothies and pancakes with the pie pumpkin. I’m going to try to make parsley potatoes with the parsley.

We were out of lettuce, so a few salads are in order. The broccoli will get used as a side with leftover chicken tomorrow. We still have a few sweet potatoes left, but we’ll be making sweet potato fries this week.

With the exception of the daikon radish, everything is common and will be very easy for us to use up. It’s a good thing since we get a regular and a Thanksgiving package pick up on Tuesday with our other CSA. I miss the eggs. The winter CSA was supposed to have eggs each week, but there’s been a shortage. Hopefully, we’ll get some eggs in the last couple of weeks. The Geauga Family Farms CSA runs for 6 weeks and we are half way done already. It goes so fast.

Geauga Family Farms Winter CSA–week 2

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Nov 122011

Today was our pick up for week 2 of the winter Geauga Family Farms CSA. We had a full schedule for today and I just ran up to St. Noel without the kids to pick it up first thing this morning.

Here’s a group shot of what we received:

Potatoes, bok choy

Radishes, beets

Acorn squash, apples

1/2 dozen eggs, 2 small heads of lettuce

Dozen of chocolate chip cookies

We have quite a supply of potatoes at the moment. I’ll be rotating these into our storage and trying to make a couple of potato recipes this week. I’m thinking that some kind of Shepard’s pie may be in order. The last time we got bok choy, I cooked it in the crock pot with Asian spices (ginger and sesame oil) and served it to my husband with soba noodles and pork. He liked it. The rest of the family isn’t big on the sesame flavor.

We’re going to roast radishes this week. We’re also going to make Harvard beets. I think I have 2 bunches of both in the fridge right now.

Acorn squash is one of my favorite squash. I’ve been making a rue and adding squash puree and seasonings for use over whole wheat pasta. It will be lunch a couple of days this week.

We’re still using apples in our oatmeal everyday while the season is still here.

We were out of eggs and I’m cooking my dish ahead for Thanksgiving tomorrow so the eggs will disappear quickly. The lettuce will be eaten with salad.

The cookies are GONE!

Looks like another week of great, fresh, local food!

Fresh Fork Winter CSA–week 2

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Nov 102011

Today was our second winter Fresh Fork CSA pickup. It was our first in the dark! It’s hard to get used to the time change.

I was super excited for today’s offerings.

Here’s what we were expecting this week:

1 whole pasture raised chicken
3 lbs. sweet potatoes
1/2 lb. baby leaf lettuce
Quarter peck Winesap apples
Choice of collards, Swiss chard, kale, or watermelon radishes
1 lb. krispy treat granola
1 lb. grassfed ground beef
Approx. 1.25 lb. chorizo sausage links
1 pie pumpkin (for making your own pumpkin pie)

Here’s a group shot:

We got the braising greens for our “choice of”. Apples are always welcome in our house. I tried freezing chunks for use in oatmeal today. I’m anxious to see how they turn out in the morning.

We love freezing pumpkin puree for use in pancakes and other dishes throughout the year. You can never have too many pie pumpkins. We’ll have salad with our mixed baby greens.

These sweet potatoes are good size and will probably end up in sweet potatoes fries for the kids for lunch one day soon. They can’t get enough of them when I make them. I just put the chicken in the freezer, but due to space, I’ll probably thaw it to cook on Sunday to make for a few easy meals to start the week.

The ground beef was starting to thaw, so I put it in the fridge. I think we’ll make some fajita flavored for tortillas this weekend. The chorizo is one of my favorite Fresh Fork products. It’s frozen, but it won’t last long. I will probably take it out of the casing and cook it ground for use in salad with quinoa, black beans and olives, etc.

In addition was bought 2 more yogurts ($5 each) since there isn’t a pick up next week. Also, we were gifted a few watermelon radishes to try. We’ve never had them before.

We didn’t get our granola and I’m not sure if it was on the truck, but we are checking on it. It’s shelf stable, so we can get it later. We’re actually out of granola, so I make make a batch this weekend since I’m in the mood for it.

I love that many items this week don’t have to be used right away. It’s nice to have an easy week once in a while.

Geauga Family Farms Winter CSA–week 1

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Nov 052011

Today was our first pickup for our winter Geauga Family Farms CSA. For the 6 week winter program, our pick up is on Saturday at St. Noel church in Willoughby. For the most part, this works well for us although there is the occasional time when we have other plans on Saturday and would prefer not to bother.

Here’s a group shot of what we received:

2 types of lettuce

Sweet potatoes, green onions

Lacinato blue kale, wheat bread

Daikon radish, green bell pepper

Cabbage, acorn squash

We’ll enjoy the lettuce in salads this week. We have some other salad greens as well and they will mix nicely together. We can’t get enough sweet potatoes. Lately, I’ve just been slicing and baking them. We have been using the onions and pepper in unstuffed cabbage and will make that again this week.

By the way, I had no idea we had lacinato blue kale. I was able to check with the farm reps and get a speedy reply! I’ll probably cook it like my other greens. I usually saute them with garlic, onions, peppers and a splash of balsamic vinegar.

The Daikon radish always stumps me. We’ve made “chips” and soup before. I’ll have to see what strikes me this week.

I was surprised that we didn’t get eggs. I thought we were going to get a dozen eggs and a baked good each week. I’m guessing that with the abundance of other items still available that we will get eggs some of the future weeks. I’ve been enjoying the local eggs, but I wasn’t out yet.

It looks like a great week!

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