Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 2

CSA 3 Responses »
Jun 152012
 

Today, we had our second pick up at the new Mayfield location.  Dan and Kyle were pretty busy when we arrived, so we didn’t get a chance to talk to them.  Everything looked like it was running smoothly.  I’m still getting used to reading the rest of the share list.  Since this is our first time with a large, I keep forgetting to read past the “small CSA share” list.

 

Small CSA Share

  • 2# black turtle beans
  • 1 bag corn chips
  • 1 # chorizo sausage
  • 1 bunch green onions
  • 1 bunch cilantro
  • 1 head red leaf lettuce
  • 1 head either baby bok choy or 1 bunch swiss chard (depends on stop)
  • 1 head jumbo white stem bok choy
  • 1.5# red slicing tomatoes (approximately 3 tomatoes)
  • 1 lb. snow peas

Large CSA Share Small contents above plus:

  • 1 head cauliflower
  • 1 bunch red kale
  • 1 lb. snow peas
  • 2 ct. zucchini
  • 1 package chicken brats

It’s hard to get a shot that shows all of the items in a large:

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I’m getting ready to leave on vacation, so I’ll be prepping the lettuce for my husband to eat in salads.  I’ll be cooking the cauliflower for a side dish tomorrow and/or for Stephen to eat while the kids and I are gone.

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I’m going to make soup or a stir fry with the bok choy.  I’ll use some of the peas and onions in that dish.

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I put the meats in the freezer.  I’ll probably cook up the chorizo tomorrow.  I will probably make a cold salad with quinoa, chorizo, onions, cilantro, lime, etc.  We’ll pack some for the road this weekend and leave the rest for Stephen to enjoy.  The brats will magically disappear while I’m away with the kids or we’ll enjoy them in July.  The last time I made the brats, I simmered them in beer on the stove.  They were quite tasty.

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I still had a couple of zucchini in the fridge, so I am making my fritters with them tomorrow.

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I’m soaking the beans tonight so I can cook them tomorrow.  I’ll use some of them and the cilantro in the quinoa salad and freezer the rest.

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I haven’t decided on the kale yet.  I just got a kale recipes book in the mail today, so maybe I’ll be inspired to cook something new with it.  The beets were subbed for some of the peas.  They are getting added to a few I have in the fridge for a pickled beets recipe that looked promising.  I hope to make them tomorrow.

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We often buy these corn chips as extras, so they will disappear quickly.

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Once again, the truck didn’t have any of our favorite yogurt with them, but I was able to pick up some of our favorite granola and milk while we were at our stop.

I’m glad to be going on vacation, but I hate that I’ll miss all of the fun CSA contents for the next two weeks.

Fresh Fork CSA–week 7

CSA No Responses »
Jul 142011
 

Today was the 7th pick up for the Fresh Fork CSA.  It’s hard to believe we’re 1/3 through the season already.  As far as CSAs go, we’ve been receiving many familiar and easy to use items this year.  Here’s the list of what we were expecting today.

Small CSA:

  • 1 lb green beans
  • 1 bunch cilantro (last week we substituted green onions, this week it will be cilantro)
  • 2 ct zucchini
  • 2 ct squash
  • 1 whole pasture raised chicken
  • 1 head leaf lettuce
  • 1 pint blueberries
  • Approx 1.5 lbs cling peaches
  • Approx 1.5 lbs slicing tomatoes

Here’s what we received:

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There was a problem with the chicken order this week.  Apparently, they don’t fair well with thunderstorms.  One of the farms lost a bunch of them this week.  So, we had the option of a whole chicken or a roast.  We had a chicken thawing in the fridge already, so we opted for the roast.  Also, last week, we were shorted our zucchini, so we have 4 this week to make up for it.

The pint of blueberries seems really small to us.  Lately, we’ve been picking them by the quart or even gallon.  Everyone in our house loves blueberries, so these will probably make it until breakfast tomorrow before they are gone.

I read a recipe for zucchini pizza dough the other day. I’m going to try it out this weekend. I’ll write it up if it turns out well.

We picked up a container of local cream cheese while we were at the truck.  I don’t know how much it is, but I’ll let you know when I pay for it next week.  It was offered as part of the large package this week and will be for sale regularly when we pick up.  Robert wasn’t sure of the price, so we’ll settle up next week.

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Recipe: Taco Salad

CSA, Recipe No Responses »
Jun 192011
 

This week in our CSA, we received many items that fit into a Mexican theme.  It seemed appropriate to create a taco salad.

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Recipe: Taco Salad

Summary: All ingredients are approximate as I don’t really measure much.

Ingredients

  • 1 T olive oil
  • 3 garlic scapes, chopped
  • 3 green onions, chopped
  • 1 pound local grass fed ground beef
  • 1 cup black beans (already cooked or canned)
  • 2 tomatoes, chopped
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 4 T Penzeys taco seasoning
  • 2 cups quinoa with cilantro, prepared
  • handful of corn chips per person
  • bed of lettuce per person

Instructions

  1. Heat olive oil in skillet.
  2. Add garlic scapes and onion and cook for a couple of minutes.
  3. Add ground beef and cook until beef is almost done.
  4. Drain off grease and return to pan.
  5. Add tomatoes, beans, water and taco seasoning.
  6. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil, simmer until tomatoes are done and sauce is thickened.
  7. Assemble 1/3 cup quinoa and 1/6 of the filling on top of the lettuce.
  8. Add a handful of corn chips to each plate.

Quick notes

To make the quinoa, use a rice cooker. You need 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water. I used previously frozen chopped cilantro that was frozen into ice cubes with water to make up some of the water. Add the cubes to a measuring cup and fill with water to desired level. You can always add fresh cilantro or leave it out.

Preparation time: 10 minute(s)

Cooking time: 20 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 6

 

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Fresh Fork CSA–week 3

CSA 2 Responses »
Jun 162011
 

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

Small CSA:

  • 1 lb grassfed ground beef
  • 1 qt organic strawberries
  • Approx 1.5 lbs slicing tomatoes
  • 1 head leaf lettuce
  • 1 bag (16 oz) corn chips
  • 1 bunch green onions
  • 1 bunch cilantro
  • 1-2 zucchini
  • 1 bunch field grown spinach (braising greens)
  • 1 half gallon milk

Here is what we received.

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Update on last week:  We didn’t blanch any radishes, so we need to use them up.  We haven’t used our eggs or spelt berries yet.  The sausage ended up in a quinoa salad dish.  I’ll be posting that recipe this weekend.  I think everything else was enjoyed.

Here’s our plan of attack for this week:

The strawberries were made into jam this evening.  The milk we’ll enjoy with our cereals.  The spinach is going into a Camembert cheese pasta dish.  Most of the other items will be part of a Mexican themed dinner and I’ll freeze the left over cilantro if needed.  A few of my cubes from last week were used as part of the liquid for quinoa and it was delicious.  I haven’t decided about the zucchini yet.

Fresh Fork CSA –week 1

CSA 3 Responses »
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:

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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.