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Fresh Fork Market Winter CSA–week 1

Nov 082012

Today was the first pick up for the winter program with our Fresh Fork CSA. It was also our first pick up in the dark. Since we are on to the winter program, Mayfield is no longer a pick up site, so we pick up in Beachwood. Thursdays, Nick and Sally have swim lessons, so we pick up on the late side around 5:30PM. Stephen is a great help and set up the lights for me so I could take decent photos.

Here’s what we were expecting this week:

Winter Week 1:

1 whole pasture raised chicken, approx. 5 lbs.
2 spaghetti squash (unless we have a few enormous ones)
1 half gallon apple cider
1 quarter peck Winesap apples
1 handful sweet peppers (all of them are sweet, even though some look hot)
1 bunch turnip greens
1 bunch kale
1 head cauliflower
1 dozen eggs
1 bunch beets with tops
1 stalk Brussels sprouts
1/2 lb. bag stir fry mix

And, it’s exactly what we received.

I was excited to see the Brussels sprouts. I’ve been eyeing this recipe from my pal Katie. I’m thawing my bacon for it now. I have all of the other ingredients on hand. We were out of eggs, so I was glad to get them in my bag this week. I’ve made the butternut squash custard drink a couple of times now and don’t want to be out of eggs just in case I want to make it again.

These are the turnip greens. We don’t get them too often. My go to recipe for greens that I don’t know what to do with is quiche. So, I’ll probably make one of them this week. It will include some leftover chicken and turnip greens. And, it’s another reason that I’m glad we got eggs this week (although I also have some eggs frozen that I could use). I like cooking the whole chickens. We had them a lot growing up, so they never intimidated me. I like making stock and using all of the pieces.

The different colors of cauliflower have been fun. I’ll make this as a side dish and maybe serve them mashed. The stir fry mix will go into a stir fry. Wasn’t that an original idea. I may combine it with some spaghetti squash and serve it Asian style.

My family isn’t a big fan of the spaghetti squash with tomato squash. I need to investigate some additional recipes for it. The peppers will go into chili that I am making tomorrow.

I’ll probably just sauté the kale. I don’t have anything specific in mind. I’ll make Harvard beets and use the greens in some eggs this week.

Apples almost always go in oatmeal and for snacks. These will be no exception. I don’t like apple cider. I may decide to try it again some day, but it always has given me a headache. That being said, Stephen, Nick and Sally all like it so they will enjoy it this week.

So, our winter season is off and running. Three weeks in a row and then we go to every other week until May. I love the CSAs, but I am also looking forward to a break in the action so we can use some of our preserved food. I also need to start cooking some of the lamb soon.

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.

Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 6

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Jul 132012

Due to some other plans today, we picked up our bag yesterday. The flexibility is awesome.

WOW, I need to get a better photo set up as I am having trouble fitting everything in one frame! This week’s bag is great. I’m still getting used to the vast amount of stuff in a large vs. the small that we subscribed to last year. I’d never go back to the small.

Here’s my attempt at a group shot.

Here’s what we were expecting to receive:

1 whole chicken
1 pint blueberries
1 head leaf lettuce
2 ct cucumbers
2-3 zucchini/squash
1 head red cabbage
About 3 tomatoes, depending on size
1 lb. apricots
1 bunch beets or 1 bunch carrots (rotating for the next two weeks, everyone will get each)
2 lbs. peaches
1 bunch green onions
1 lb. green beans
1 package of ravioli
1 bunch Swiss chard

Our chicken was partially thawed. I’m guessing that was due to the excessive heat yesterday. So, instead of putting it straight in the freezer, it’s thawing in our fridge. That made fitting everything in the fridge a bit challenging, but we managed. I’m hoping to cut it up and have Stephen grill it for dinner tomorrow. We’ll see how that goes. Usually, I roast them whole. I’m going to cut the onions up and freeze them.

I’m not sure about the red cabbage. I may use some of it in a slaw, but I need to do a bit more research. The cucumbers have been great for salads and snacking. I keep thinking about making some pickles, but they keep disappearing.

We’ll grill the zucchini with the chicken. The apricots almost didn’t make it through dinner. After packing lunches today, there’s one left.

The peaches have been great for snacking or in our oatmeal. These need another day or two to ripen. With our abundance of lettuce, the tomatoes will be great in the salads (for Nick and Stephen).

I made a simple white sauce to go with the spinach and garlic scape pasta last night. The pasta was on the strong side, but it was definitely tasty. You can’t really tell from this photo, but this is the biggest head of lettuce ever.

After going to the Beet class last week, I’m excited to make puree and freeze it for future pizza! These are the best beet greens that I’ve ever seen. I’m going to use them tomorrow so I can enjoy them. The four of us finished the blueberries this morning at breakfast. It’s a good thing that I picked 15 pounds for the freezer this week.

The green beans have been tasty this year. These will make a great side dish with one of our chicken meals. I’ll probably use the Swiss chard in some eggs for breakfast tomorrow.

This weekend is all about using up the bulk. Our fridge is overflowing with fresh goodness. Hopefully, by Sunday night, we’ll have it a bit more under control.

Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 1

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Jun 082012

Today was the first of our 22 weekly pickups for our Fresh Fork CSA. We decided to switch from Beachwood to Mayfield for our location this year. Mayfield is a new site for pick up and it’s close to our house. We were glad there was also some shade for the stop.

This year, we upgraded from the small to the large share. This is what we were expecting today:

Small CSA Share

1 whole chicken, approx. 5 – 6 lbs.
1 head kohlrabi
1 bunch collard greens
1 quart strawberries
1 bunch red Russian kale
1 bunch garlic scapes
1 head green leaf lettuce
1 bunch radishes
1 quarter lb. bag pea tendrils

Large CSA Share Small contents above plus:

2 bunches spinach
1 lb. shelled peas
1 head broccoli
1 lb. sweet pea and black pepper linguini from Ohio City Pasta

Here’s a group shot of the items:

Our quart of strawberries was full when Dan gave them to us. The kids ate some in the parking lot before we left for home. The rest of the berries will be gone by the end of the night. We received zucchini instead of broccoli. I’ll probably use the squash in my squash fritter recipe. Everyone here likes them. The squash will be fine for a few days in the fridge, so those will probably make an appearance at lunch Monday or Tuesday.

This time of year, I use garlic scapes every chance I get. I chop them and use them in salads, casseroles, when sautéing greens, etc.. They keep well so, I don’t have to freeze them often. We haven’t had an Ohio City Pasta that we didn’t like. I’m sure this sweet pea and pepper variety will be no exception. I’ll probably make a béchamel sauce for it. I tend to like most of the pasta with a white sauce instead of red.

I’ll use some spinach with our pasta. I like to wilt it just a bit in the pasta water and then serve it together. Sometimes I also chop it and add it to the sauce first. It will depend on my mood. Our chicken is thawing in the fridge. I’ll probably cook it for lunch Sunday or dinner on Monday. Once cooked, we get a couple of meals out of it. The rest of the weeks bag will complement our chicken nicely. I’ll also make stock with the bones. I love not having to buy chicken stock.

One kohlrabi isn’t really too much. I’m either going to fix it for myself for lunch one day or roast it with some beets and radishes if we grill a meal in the next few days. I haven’t mastered kale yet. We’ve had it several ways, but I don’t have a favorite way to prepare it. I’ll probably just sauté this with garlic scapes and olive oil and serve it with a splash of lemon.

I need to verify what type of peas these are. If they are sugar snap, the kids will devour them quickly. If the are snow peas, we’ll cook them for a side dish this weekend. I’m thinking about steaming the collards and letting the leaves cool and then using them for wraps instead of tortilla. I have some taco flavored meet and peppers left over and I think it would make a good filling.

We’ll probably roast a few radishes, use a few in salad and maybe try the newsletter recipe that uses them. Pea tendrils was a brand new item to me this week. I’ve heard that they are good in salads or sautéed. There’s aren’t really very many, so I don’t think I’m going to cook them. I’d thinking of just using them in a salad.

In addition to our bag, I also picked up a couple of extras. We were out of eggs, so I picked up a dozen. I also decided to pick up a half gallon of milk. I’m hoping to switch to local milk 100% of the time soon.

It’s going to be a great week in the kitchen.

Fresh Fork Winter CSA–week 9

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Feb 162012

We had a productive day today. The kids and I went to story time at the library, cleaned two bathrooms, did the dishes, did 2 loads of laundry, went to the gas station, the post office and two stores. All of this occurred before lunch! After nap time, we took Nick to his swim lesson and then picked up our Fresh Fork CSA (where I put the cold items in a cooler with ice) before returning to the J so I could take a class. Whew! No wonder I’m tired.

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

1 whole pasture raised chicken
1 pint frozen raspberries
1 quart farmstead yogurt
1 8-oz. piece gouda cheese
1 1lb bag of granola, either Krispy treat or spelt granola (vegan)
3 lbs. Yukon gold potatoes
1 bag mixed salad greens
1 quarter peck gold rush apples
1 package tofu

Here’s a group shot:

The chicken is in the freezer. I had just cooked our last chicken this week and we still have stock in the fridge. We’ll probably cook it soon since it takes up quite a bit of room. The greens look really good this week, so some more salad will be in the mix.

I am always glad to see yogurt. We’ve been buying this brand at Heinen’s whenever there isn’t any on the truck. I love that my kids eat plain yogurt with a bit of homemade honey sweetened jam. We’ll use the apples in our oatmeal for breakfasts. We were down to our last one today.

My kids were happily surprised to see “more raspberries”. We haven’t been getting them in our CSA, but we have been eating frozen ones from our summer picking for the past few days at home. They have been very popular, so I don’t expect these to last long. There was a problem with a truck this week, so we were given a choice of waiting until the next pick up for the Yukon gold potatoes or taking sweet potatoes. We love sweet potatoes and already had some white potatoes at home, so we opted for the sweet potatoes.

All of the local cheese we have received has been great. Gouda is one of our favorites. The tofu is a new product for the CSA. I’ve poled several people and everyone describes it differently. The best description that I have heard so far is that it’s really firm, but crumbly. I plan to freeze it and make tofu sausage crumble with it. I also heard that I need to freeze it for two weeks. So, that’s what I’m going to try.

The granola is one of my favorites. I bought an extra bag for $5 because it’s so good.

All in all, we have another great batch of local goods to work with. I’m going to do some meal planning in the next day or two so we can use our pantry staples and new products for some tasty dishes.

Fresh Fork Winter CSA–week 6

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Jan 052012

Today, there was no rain for our Fresh Fork CSA pick up. There was also no line at the time we arrived. This week’s package was also easier to pack than some and I think that helped. We’d rather have snow on the ground that rain coming down for our pick ups.

Here’s what we were expecting this week:

1 whole pasture raised chicken
1 lb. carrots
1 lb. Brussels sprouts (removed from stalk)
2 lb.s beets
1/2 lb. mixed organic greens
1 dozen pasture raised eggs
2 lbs. organic black turtle beans
1 smoked pork hock
1 lb. roasted butternut squash and cracked black pepper linguini

We were also expecting 1 pound of ground beef that was missed for everyone at Beachwood last time.

Here’s a group shot:

We didn’t have many eggs left and use quite a bit in everyday cooking. So, I was glad to have these in the bag this week. I also have some frozen egg beaters that I need to work into some recipes soon. Surprise, surprise, we’ll be making Harvard Beets with the beets this week.

I was originally going to make this pasta for dinner, but we had other pasta in the fridge and opted for a quicker dinner tonight. The Ohio City pasta cooks fast, but I usually make a white sauce to go with it and the leftovers were easy tonight. We’ll save that for another day this week. Everyone in our house loves cooked carrots. Now that Stephen can eat raw ones again (since getting his braces removed), we may have to discuss how to prepare them.

We’ll have the Brussels sprouts tomorrow. Last time, we let them go too long and I think they lost some of their flavor. The greens will hopefully go into salad. I’m not the biggest fan of this variety, but I need to get better of just eating them.

With pork hock and black beans in the same week, black bean soup is in order. I’ve been looking at recipes for a couple of days and haven’t quite decided on a version for us yet.

Our chicken is 7.8 pounds! That is definitely the biggest Fresh Fork chicken we have have gotten thus far. For now it’s parked in the freezer along with our ground beef.

Lastly, the warehouse did a “blow out” sale on the ham loaf. We remembered it fondly so I stocked up. It was $2 a pound. I like to describe it to people as ham based meatloaf mix. I will be making meatballs and muffin size meatloaves with some yet to be invented rhubarb honey BBQ sauce and then freezing them for meals. I’ll serve them with potatoes, different grains, pasta, etc. I like to bake them and freeze in big batches so we can get several meals out of them.

Lastly, this is the first time that I got to take photos of my CSA pick up with my new lights. I think that I have tons to learn, but it’s a huge improvement over the dark photos of recent weeks. I’m mostly intrigued by how different the wood table looks in the photos when I think I had the same lighting and camera settings for all of my photos. I think that the angle of the camera has a big impact. I think I’ll be learning how to use a tripod next. Hopefully, I’ll have a some time to experiment over the next couple of weeks.

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.

Fresh Fork CSA –week 1

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Jun 022011

Today was the first pick up for the Fresh Fork CSA. We were expecting the following items.

Small CSA:

1 whole pasture raised chicken, 4-5 lbs
2 lbs organic cornmeal
1 bunch cilantro
1 bunch radishes with tops
1 head assorted leaf lettuce (approx .5 lbs)
2 hydroponic cucumbers
1 quart farmstead yogurt

Farming is never an exact science, here’s what we received:

So, I think we have tomatoes instead of radishes and one cucumber instead of two. Update: the tomatoes were in place of one cucumber and we were shorted radishes. We’ll get our radishes next week.

Here’s our current plan of attack:

The chicken is frozen and we put it in our freezer. I cleaned the lettuce so it’s ready for salad. Nick is excited to make corn muffins with the corn meal. I chopped and froze the cilantro in ice cube trays. The yogurt will be useful in overnight oats. We already ate our cucumber at dinner. It was small (think pickling cucumber), but delicious! The only thing I’m not sure about is the tomatoes. I’m sure I’ll figure out a good use for them or I’ll freeze them for later in the season.

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