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Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 19

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Oct 092012

Next week will be our last pick up. The summer season has flown by.

Here’s what we received today:

apples, butternut squash

huge kohlrabi, garlic

bell peppers, broccoli

lettuce

Stephen and the kids picked 49 pounds of apples on Saturday. I’m in the process of making applesauce. I’ll probably add some of the apples from the share to it for variety. I’m going to make some puree out of the butternut squash. I’m also going to try a recipe I saw for butternut squash bean burritos. I’ll use this recipe as a base, but I won’t be making them vegan. I’ll use the garlic and peppers in them too. The broccoli was a side for dinner. All that’s left is a little bit that someone can have with lunch tomorrow. The lettuce will make a nice salad. It’s so fresh and crisp. I’m going to roast the kohlrabi with some beets and radishes that I have left in the fridge. I have a chicken thawed, so I will be turning on the over in the morning to cook a couple of meals ahead. I’m picking up 1/2 lamb this week and need to make some freezer space. There will be more to come on that purchase soon.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 18

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Oct 022012

Our CSA pick up was smooth today.

Here’s what we received:

Red Russian kale, romaine lettuce

Garlic, bell peppers

Apples, butternut squash

I feel like the share is a bit light this week. The lettuce will go into salads. We’ll use some peppers for snacking. I’ll chop the garlic and use it with the kale. The apples will be for snacking and oatmeal. I’m going to use some squash for soup and roast the rest as cubes. (I have two of them in our kitchen right now).

I’ve been extra busy the last couple of weeks. I’m anxious to get back to cooking more.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Geauga Family Farms–summer week 9

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Jul 312012

The kids and I had a crazy busy day today. So, when Sally was still sleeping at 4:30PM, I called Stephen and asked him to pick up our share. I should send him more often! He came home with 3 fruits. We like to eat our veggies, but LOVE to eat fruit.

Here’s a shot of what we picked up today:

onions, lettuce

bell peppers (one in our share and one gifted from another member)

slicing tomatoes, cherry tomatoes

peaches, blackberries

watermelon

Since we picked 60 pounds of peaches on Sunday, I’m in clean the kitchen and canning mode. So, this needs to be an easy CSA week. The peppers, onions and slicing tomatoes are going to be frozen. The blackberries will be great with breakfast tomorrow. The lettuce will go into a salad with a cucumber from last weekend. We’ll eat the peaches in oatmeal as they ripen. The watermelon can get in melon line. We have a cantaloupe cut up in the fridge, plus two other melons that we picked up over the weekend. Since everyone in our house loves melon season, we’ll have no problem consuming it. We made two quiches today and have some local pasta in the freezer. We’ll be having easy to throw together meals the next few days.

Fresh Fork Winter CSA–week 1

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Nov 032011

Today was the first winter pick up for our Fresh Fork CSA. Generally, we’ll be picking up every other week, but the first few pick ups are off schedule due to the upcoming holidays.

We are still picking up at Beachwood High School on Thursdays. The pick up times are a tighter with our pick up scheduled between 4PM and 6PM. We still have the option of picking up in Cleveland Heights later if we ever get in a jam.

Thursday is our extra busy day since Nick has a swim lesson at 4:30PM. It’s conveniently just down the street from Beachwood High School, so we just picked up our CSA on our way home.

For the winter CSA, there is not an option for small, large, vegetarian or vegan. Everyone gets the same package.

Here’s what we were expecting this week:

1 Boston Butt Roast, 5-6 lbs.
1 bunch cylindra beets with tops
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 head cauliflower
2-3 green peppers
8 oz. mixed salad greens
2 bulbs hardneck garlic
2 ct. seasoned pizza dough balls
8 oz. fresh mozzarella cheese

Here’s a group shot:

We had our choice between a boneless or bone-in roast. We chose the bone-in. It came frozen and will become pulled pork in a couple of weeks. I saw an appetizer that used shredded pork in a wonton wrapper that I would like to try. I just need to find whole wheat wrappers or make my own.

We haven’t had Harvard beets for a few weeks. So, these will go into that dish.

I’m thinking we might be having delicious pizza this week. We got green peppers, spinach, fresh mozzarella, garlic (1 large bulb), and bread dough. The spinach was a “veggie choice” selection. Instead of the tomatoes, we got to pick between spinach, onions, potatoes or tomatoes. I love the spinach!

The mixed greens aren’t my favorite, but I know they are good for us. They’ll go well with the pizza. We haven’t had cauliflower lately and it’s a family favorite, so it will make a nice side dish over the next couple of days.

Extra are still available at the back of the truck. We picked up another yogurt ($5). I haven’t decided how much we really use in a week, but it’s more than one. Also, my banana bread recipe uses it and I feel like baking soon. This winter, I want to try making my own yogurt, but I’m not sure we’ll ever get away from buying it.

The winter CSA is a bit more low key than in the summer and we didn’t have any line when we arrived just before 5:30PM. I hope that trend continues as it starts to snow soon!

Geauga Family Farms CSA–week 20–the final week

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Oct 252011

Today was our last visit to Whole Foods to pick up our 2011 summer CSA. Just about every week, we were greeted by Andrew. He usually works in the kitchen in the morning, but somehow ended up with the Tuesday afternoon CSA gig most of the summer. He was super nice to everyone, especially Nick and Sally.

The photos are dark again this week. Maybe I can figure out some evening lighting for next year. Here’s the group shot for this week.

Let’s take a closer look:

Green onions, green beans

Red Russian Kale, bell peppers

Butternut squash, lettuce

Radishes, apples

Sweet potatoes, tomatoes

Garlic

We’ve been going through a ton of apples this year. Between morning oats, snacks and applesauce, I can’t keep them in the house. We went picking for the last time this year, but I was still glad to see apples in our pick up today.

I still have some cabbage in our fridge. I’ll be making another batch of unstuffed cabbage in the crockpot Thursday. It will use the garlic, tomatoes, bell peppers, and green onion. I love having a recipe that uses many CSA ingredients and is also flexible.

My kids have been asking for sweet potatoes the last couple of days. I usually slice them, season them and bake them. They disappear quickly with a bit of ketchup for dipping.

Lettuce and some radishes will go in lunch salads. The rest of the radishes will go into turnip soup. The green beans make an easy side dish.

I’m not quite sure about the squash yet. I’m thinking about making some butternut squash soup, but I’m not sure of the timing since I need to make turnip soup first.

It’s supposed to get cold this week. I’m glad we have some hearty items that go well with ovens and soup. It’s been a fun season. I’m already excited about the winter CSA.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–week 19

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Oct 182011

Today, we picked up week 19 of our Geauga Family Farms CSA. It’s hard to believe that next week is the last week. This was our worst pick up ever. It really had nothing to do with the CSA. Sally decided to run from the café area all the way to the parking lot without any regard to cars or traffic. There weren’t cars and she’s ok and I’m ok, but it was rough. Nick tried to grab her hood twice. It slowed her down enough for me to catch up with her. There was another adult near her, so I think she would have intervened if necessary. But, you never know! Sally’s now in the cart or holding my hand at all times. Usually, we do that in the parking lot and approaching parking lots, but we never needed to do it leaving the café the other weeks.

Some of the photos are dark this week. I blame it on the time of year. It’s so dark early right now that we don’t have natural light. Anyway, we picked up lots of yummy looking produce, so let’s take a look:

Tomatoes, lettuce

Beets and either beets or radishes. I don’t think I’ll know about the ones on the right until we taste them or cook them. I have gotten them mixed up in the past. I thought they were beets until I dug further in the boxes and found the beets on the left. Hmmmmmm….

Bell peppers, butternut squash

Bok choy, apples

Onions, garlic

Green beans, spinach

By the end of the season, I really feel like I have the hang of this. The tomatoes will go into a cabbage dish. We’re still working on 2 heads that we got from our other CSA last week. We’ll also use some onion, bell pepper and garlic in that dish.

The green beans have been fantastic lately. They will be a plain side dish. I’ve been using the spinach in pasta dishes. It adds flavor and color.

The lettuce and possibly bok choy will go in salads. Otherwise, I’ll make a stir fry with the bok choy. We were actually out of apples, so these will go in my coleslaw and my oatmeal.

Winter squash will get baked and eaten for lunch a couple of days.

That leaves the beets and radishes or beets as the case may be. My favorite recipe for beets is to make Harvard beets. I’ve been using radishes in salads or pickling them. These will probably go in salad.

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