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Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 15

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.

Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 12

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Aug 242012

We stopped by Mayfield to pick up our bag today. It worked well in our schedule this week. I love the flexibility of the different pick up locations.

It’s still tough to get a large in one photo. This one is missing the cherry tomatoes, but they wouldn’t have fit anyway.

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

1 bag of oats, 1.5 lbs.
1 bunch red Russian kale
Either 1 bag (approx. 1 lb.) mixed sweet and hot baby peppers or 2 ct. zucchini/squash
1 lb. beans
1 bunch French Breakfast radishes
1 pint blackberries or 1 cantaloupe
1-2 Candy onions, depending on size
2 green peppers
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 package (1.25 lbs.) green onion bratwursts, made from Berkshire pork
1 piece grass-fed Swiss cheese from Heritage Grass Farms (12 oz.)
2.5 lbs. San Marzano Roma tomatoes
1 bunch carrots with tops
1-2 cucumbers depending on size

I’m probably going to make some sort of kale sausage ragout from the newsletter with the leek, brats, zucchini, garlic, kale and tomatoes. Some of these ingredients we just picked up and others I have left in my fridge. I have some beans ready to go in the freezer and will pull them out tonight.

Carrots and beans will make good side dishes to go with our brats. I’ll probably pickle the radishes.

I’m going to chop and freeze some peppers and dehydrate some of the others. The plums were a nice surprise, I’m sure they’ll disappear quickly.

The cherry tomatoes will be weekend snacking for Stephen and Nick.

I will probably use the cheese with a quiche. I have some eggs to use soon. We eat oats everyday for breakfast, so these will disappear quickly.

I’ll probably make a few more pickles with the cucumbers since we are short on lettuce.

The photo doesn’t do the cantaloupe justice. It’s the size of a watermelon!

All in all, it’s another great week with Fresh Fork. We love not going to the grocery store much. Our list for our last trip to Heinen’s was yellow bananas, buns for brats and a cookie treat for the kids. I can’t wait to see what’s in the bag next week!

Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 12

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Aug 212012

Is local melon season really over already? The share seemed so light this week without a tasty watermelon. Maybe we’ll get lucky and see one more next week. The week’s share is full of tasty looking items.

Peppers, green beans

Zucchini, onions

Cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes

Sweet corn, green pepper

Lettuce

I took a dehydrating class last night. I’m hoping to try out my new skills with the peppers and slicing tomatoes. We’ll have the corn and beans for dinner. This lettuce will go into salads for Stephen. It’s not my favorite variety (leathery romaine), but it won’t go to waste. I’ll pair it with some feta and cherry tomatoes an add a bit of basil balsamic vinaigrette. I currently have a mound of onions that need chopped and froze so these will get added to that project. I was hoping for zucchini since I found a recipe for cornbread that uses it. I think I’ll be making it this week.

I’m glad I get a small share early in the week. It tends to pair well with my large share that I get on Fridays. It’s hard to believe that summer is almost over.

Geauga Family Farms CSA-summer week 11

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Aug 142012

Hi, everyone! Husband Stephen here with a guest post. Tomato season is upon us, we’re still in melon and corn season (yum!), and there’s pretty much produce everywhere this time of year. It’s great!

Here is what we received in this week’s Geauga Family Farms CSA small share.

First up are the tomatoes, in regular size and cherry. In fact, some of these cherry tomatoes are so small that they may count as the “grape” variety.

Next, some onions and a bell pepper. The onions are strong. I could smell them as soon as I opened the bag.

Corn and cabbage…

And finally, a head of lettuce and a medium watermelon.

The forecast is for a break from this unusually cool August now that these peppers have arrived to heat things up…

I love this time of year!

Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 10

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Aug 072012

My day started by leaving at 6AM to take the kids to Niagara Falls. My mom came with us and we met up with friends. It was a great day. My pick up for the CSA was smooth, but 2 1/2 hours later than normal. My photos are a bit dark and I’m glad that I found a bit of time for this post tonight.

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.

Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 9

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Aug 032012

We picked up our bag in Mayfield this week without issue. I was glad to make it a quick trip and didn’t even get the kids out of the car. I’ve decided that the large is really hard to take a photo of since it’s so large. This is all of the items except the meat. I had already popped them into the freezer.

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.

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 Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 8

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Jul 272012

Since we had my niece and nephew this week, we waited until today to pick up our share in Mayfield. Although I did stop in Beachwood yesterday for yogurt and milk since we needed to replenish.

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.

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