Here’s what we picked up today:

cantaloupe, watermelon

bell pepper, corn

onions, banana peppers

tomatoes, cherry tomatoes

lettuce

We love local melon season.  We will be cutting these melons up as soon as possible so we can enjoy them.  I also have a recipe from Jane Snow for cantaloupe gelatin that I am excited to try.  If it works out, I’ll share more about it soon.

Our green pepper, lettuce and tomatoes will go into salad.  The rest of the tomatoes will be snacks or frozen.  I found a recipe for tomato jelly that I’m going to try soon.  The onion and banana peppers will be chopped and frozen.  We’ll have the sweet corn with dinner tomorrow.

This is a pretty easy week.  It’s a good thing for us, since it’s a super busy week in our household.

Here’s what we were expecting this week:

• 1 whole cantaloupe
• Either 1 pint mixed color cherry tomatoes or approx. 1.5 lbs. heirloom tomatoes
• 2 ct. zucchini/squash
• 2 ct. eggplant
• 1 bulb garlic
• 1 large candy onion
• 2 oz. basil
• 1 bunch curly kale
• Approx. 1.5 lbs. slicing tomatoes
• 1 lb. bulk Italian sausage (ground)
• 1 pint blackberries or approx. 1.5 lbs. peaches
• 1 small yellow watermelon
• 1 lb. yellow wax beans or green filet beans
• 1 lb. grass-fed ground beef
• 1 head lettuce
• 1 bunch radishes
• 1-2 cucumbers depending on size

These melons are really small.  I think I’ll call them personal size.  We’ll eat them quickly.

The guys of the house will snack on the cherry tomatoes.  The rest are going into some salsa (hopefully tonight).

We’ll eat the lettuce in salad and use the basil for some dressing.   I need to pick up some more balsamic vinegar, but we’ll make due until then.

I haven’t decided on a dish for the kale yet.  It may just get sautéed.  The cucumbers will be great for salads and snacking.

I have lots of garlic frozen from last year.  I’ll have to remember to use it more often.  We had the onion with our dinner tonight.

I’m not a huge fan of ratatouille, so we’ll probably make a veggie lasagna this week and use the eggplant.  I’m hoping to try a bread and butter zucchini pickle recipe with the zucchini (and a few others we have).

We’ll have the blackberries for breakfast tomorrow.  Our fridge is too full to keep them around.  We’ll either roast or pickle the radishes.

The beans will be a side dish for Sunday.  I put the Italian sausage and ground beef in the freezer.

I really need to get some preserving done, my fridge is over flowing.  A little canning and freezing and we’ll be all set.  It’s easy for us to use our items when we eat at home, but we’ve had a strange schedule lately and we’re a bit behind on consumption.

Here’s what I picked up:

Here’s what we were expecting to receive:

• 1 pint blueberries
• 6 ears sweet corn
• 3 lb. Yukon gold potatoes
• 1 bunch rainbow Swiss chard
• 1 bunch collard greens
• 2 ct. cucumbers
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes or approx. 1.5 lbs. heirloom tomatoes (about 3 depending on size)
• 1 package chicken bratwursts
• 1 lb. yellow wax beans
• 2 ct. green peppers
• 1 cantaloupe
• 1 package pork spare ribs
• 1 jar Pope’s BBQ sauce

It looks like we got regular slicing tomatoes and some cherry tomatoes.  We were also shorted the BBQ sauce, but my husband was able to pick it up on his way home from work.  So, it’s here, but missed its photo opportunity.

We’ll have the chicken brats for lunch or dinner on Sunday.  We’ll either grill them or braise them in beer.  The kids have really been enjoying the cucumbers for snacking.

I’ll be making some fajitas Sunday or Monday.  I’ll use a couple of onions that I still have along with the collards or chard and peppers in them.  The blueberries will be lucky to be around after breakfast tomorrow.

We never got around to our Ohio City pasta last week, so I’ll probably make the béchamel sauce this weekend and use the tomatoes.  The cherry tomatoes will make good snacks for the guys of the house tomorrow.

The beans will make a great side dish in the next couple of days.  We’ll probably cut the cantaloupe up this weekend and eat it, but I am interested in trying Jane Snow’s cantaloupe gelatin dessert recipe.

Both the corn on the cob and ribs are on tomorrow’s lunch menu.  I think we’ll be grilling!

The potatoes will last a few days, and I don’t have an immediate plan for them.  Either the collards or chard will go into our fajitas.  The other will probably go into a quiche or just be sautéed for a side.

It’s been fun getting the large from our Fresh Fork CSA.  But, on Friday evenings, our fridge is packed to the max.  We have been trying to use local eggs, milk and yogurt.  When we add that stuff to the contents of our bag, it makes for a well stocked kitchen.  It also means that we don’t need the grocery store much and prioritize our meals to use up bulky items first.  I can’t wait to see what we are getting next week.

Today’s box was overflowing!

Here’s what we received:

Let’s take a closer look.

Green beans, watermelon (hmmm.. these photos are not to scale)

Lettuce, eggplant

Cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes

Peaches, bell peppers

Cantaloupe, dozen sweet corn

Hot peppers, patty pan squash

We got 3 fruits again this week.  In our house that is a good thing.  I actually used frozen peaches in today’s oatmeal, so I am excited for the peaches.  We have lots of melon since we got extras in our other CSA on Thursday, but we are eating it at a good clip so I don’t think we’ll have a problem.  Our biggest challenge is having to take the seeds out of the watermelon for our 22 month old daughter.

We ate 1/2 the corn for dinner tonight and we are getting another 1/2 dozen on Thursday.  I’ll probably cook and take the rest of this batch off of the cobs for a wheat berry, corn, bean salad of sorts.  We need to pack dinner for our Wednesday outing at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

I’m going to chop and freeze the peppers.  I’m assuming the non-bell peppers are hot.  They seem to always be hot and I’m not taking chances with them.  The bell peppers will go into tomato sauce.  I’ll save the hot ones for chili and salsa.

I just read a blog post about mini lasagnas that were made in muffin tins.  I may use the eggplant and squash for my own version of that.

The remaining few items will easily be eaten as part of our meals.  We need to stay on top of our game this week since we have several meals planned out over the holiday weekend.  Friday, I need to blanch/chop/freeze anything that we haven’t used so we don’t have waste.

Here’s what we were expecting to receive this week:

Small CSA:

• 1 yellow doll watermelon
• 2 ct. eggplant, some mixed colors may be included
• 1 quart hot Hungarian peppers
• 1 lb. clover honey
• 1 medium cantaloupe
• Approx. 1 lb. heirloom tomatoes (about 1 large or 2 small)
• 2 summer squash
• 1 pint mixed baby sweet peppers
• Quarter Peck Golden Supreme apples (about 5 to 6 apples, very crisp, yellow apple)
• Approx. 1 lb. slicing tomatoes

Here’s a group shot:

I’m going to make my favorite cole slaw recipe and it uses a couple of apples.  The rest will probably go into my oatmeal and/or be made into a quick applesauce for the kids.  We also got eggplant on Tuesday, so I think I’ll be making a veggie lasagna tomorrow.

I’m not sure about the squash.  If it doesn’t end up in the lasagna, we’ll probably grill it.  All of the tomatoes are going into sauce since I have a stock of them from Tuesday’s CSA as well.

The sweet peppers will get added to my sauce.  I’m never sure what to do with the hot ones.  I don’t like to make things that aren’t kid friendly (and Lyn friendly).

I don’t cook with refined sugar, so we use lots of honey.  I’m excited to try the clover honey that we received.

Yum!  We are certainly enjoying our local melon this year.  I’m curious to try the watermelon since it’s “yellow” and I’m not sure what to expect.

In addition to our share above, we had $25 to spend on items from the on-line store since we were on a planned vacation a couple of weeks back.  I decided on lettuce ($2.75), 2 cantaloupes ($3.60 ea.), 2 packages of Chorizo sausage ($12.40) and 2 quarts of yogurt ($9.90).  The total was $28.65, so I paid Robert $3.65 at the truck.

It was fun to stock up on Chorizo and yogurt since we were out of both.  Neither of my CSAs received lettuce this week, so I was glad to have it as well.  I love the vacation flexibility with Fresh Fork!

Here’s what we received:

Let’s take a closer look.

Cherry tomatoes, carrots

Lettuce and more lettuce

Watermelon, cantaloupe

Green bell peppers, broccli

Yellow squash, eggplant

Cucumber, zucchini (yes it looks funny, but it is a variety of zucchini)

HOT peppers, slicing tomatoes

Peaches, green beans

We got 3 different types of fruit.  That is pretty odd for our CSA, but we love fruit.  Most of the items this week will be easy to use.  The fruit will disappear in a couple of days.

One pepper and the cucumber will go into salad along with the lettuce.  We ate the broccoli for dinner tonight.  The beans will make a great side dish to our meal tomorrow.  Carrots, eggplant and squash feel like staples in our house, so we’ll be making a quiche or lasagna to use them up soon.

Then, there are the hot peppers.  If there is one item that I wish we didn’t get, it would be the hot peppers.  I just haven’t found a good use for them yet.  But, I am determined.  I’ll keep you all posted!