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Fresh Fork Market 2012–Summer CSA–week 21

Oct 262012

Today we had a cold and rainy pickup. We gifted our greeter with a hot Starbucks beverage. Starbucks makes everything better. The kids enjoyed their special chocolate milk and it was a nice treat. We arrived at the pick up just about 4PM when it opened and were in and out quickly. We didn’t stay and hang out due to the weather. There’s only so much room under the tent.

I’m starting to recognize the weather based on our bags. It’s October and getting cooler. We’re seeing more greens again and the start of more winterish crops like potatoes, rutabagas and cabbage.

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

1 head either savoy green cabbage or red cabbage (smaller heads)
1 bunch kale
1 to 2 rutabagas with tops, depending on size (some are rather large)
3# bag red Norland potatoes
Approx. 1# onion
1 head cauliflower
1 8 oz. piece goat gouda
1 lb. Spelt Flour and Rosemary Linguini
2# Roma tomatoes
1 bunch Swiss chard
1 package sirloin pork chops, approx. 1.5#
1 carving pumpkin or bag of corn chips

It’s definitely the end of tomato season. These are the “good” side of these Romas. I have a couple that aren’t going to be usable. We’ll be making mashed rutabaga/potatoes or creamy soup with those ingredients.

We ate the cauliflower for dinner with the pasta. It was tasty. It had one bad spot so I wanted to wash, cook and eat it quickly.

I’m a little behind on cooking our cabbage. This will be a 2 head consumption week!

I’ll chop and add the onion to the “unstuffed cabbage recipe I hope to put in the crockpot tomorrow. The small sweet peppers were a nice surprise. I might stuff them with the red pepper Havarti from last week and roast them in the oven.

We had a choice between pumpkins and chips. We took the chips since we already have a pumpkin. If I could find some mild black bean and corn salsa from Blaze, we’d be all set. The pork will probably get baked for a meal this weekend.

I’m not sure what to use the Gouda for. It’s probably going to be enjoyed in its own so we can taste the flavors. I don’t think I’ve ever had goat Gouda before. We also have more greens this week. Swiss chard and kale. I’m pretty sure the Swiss chard will go into the Andouille sausage/sweet potato dish similar to what we made last week.

I haven’t decided on a use for the kale yet. We may have another quiche in the cue for this week. That’s one of my go to dishes when I don’t know what to do with a green.

It’s hard to believe that next week is the last week for summer. I’m glad there no break before the winter CSA starts! I’m also starting to think about getting a turkey. We don’t host Thanksgiving at our house, but last year I bought a package anyway since we like many of the ingredients. It was just a bit too much food at our house all at once. If I buy a turkey, I’d cut it up and freezer the parts and probably also make some turkey sausage. I need to decide soon. Turkey deliveries are three and a half weeks away.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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 Winter CSA–week 11

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Mar 152012

It’s hard to believe that it’s week 11 already. It’s also the middle of March. It won’t be long until we are picking strawberries! We arrived at Beachwood High School to find Trevor manning the truck this week. Also, due to baseball practice, the truck was in a different part of the parking lot. I had that strange feeling that I was there on the wrong day for just a second. Once we circled around the lot, Nick noticed the green bags and all was well.

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

1 pack pork loin chops
1 bag corn crackers
2 lb. black turtle beans
1 pint salsa
1 bag mixed salad greens
1 pint sorghum syrup
1 dozen eggs
1 lb. assorted sausage
1 lb. sweet corn
1 lb. kale, bunched

Here’s a group shot:

We’ll use the beans in a combination of a Mexican casserole and also black bean burgers. The ground pork will also go in our casserole.

The pork chops are the best. We’ll probably just season them and bake them in the oven. The corn was frozen last summer and it’s been delicious. We’ll add it to our Mexican dish or use it as a side.

The sorghum syrup was a head scratcher last year. We ended up using it in a bbq glaze type of sauce that we put over ham loaf. It was delicious. I have no idea how we made the sauce, so we’ll be experimenting once again. I’m thinking of using it as the main sweetener in some homemade sauce. So far, tomato sauce, vinegar, spices, onion, peppers and syrup come to mind. I’m not a huge fan of this type of greens, but we do our best to eat it in salads.

I’ll be putting the kale and salsa in our casserole as well.

Everyone in our house loves these chips. If they don’t get eaten first, they’d be a nice addition to our Mexican meal. Eggs are so easy for us to use. I just saw a recipe for some muffin casserole bites that are egg based. I think I’ll try it this week.

We picked up a few extras as well. Krispie treat granola ($5) and 2 yogurts ($5 each).

I’m excited for this week because I can do just a little cooking and have several meals. Sometimes I like being a lazy cook.

Fresh Fork Winter CSA–week 4

CSA 3 Responses »

Dec 082011

Today, we had a great Fresh Fork CSA pick up. It was not busy when we arrived and we were in and out in a flash. Robert even carried our stuff to the car. Also, it was DRY! There was an almost full moon and no precipitation.

Here’s what we were expecting this week:

1 bunch bok choy (approx. 8 oz.)
1 bunch leaf lettuce
1 bag mixed braising greens, approx. 0.75 lb.
3 count winter squash
2 lbs. onions
1 head broccoli
1 head cauliflower
1/2 lb. spinach or pak choy
1 bag corn chips
1 8-oz. wedge of Havarti or pepper Havarti from Mayfield Road Creamery
3 lbs potatoes, Yukon gold or Red Norland
Approx. 3# beef roast (we’ll have an assortment available)

Here’s a group shot:

Both the ground beef and the roast were frozen, so I just popped them in the freezer.

I really like caramelized onions and haven’t made them in a while. I think I’ll be having them soon. I’m also going to try a Shepard’s Pie with the potatoes.

We were supposed to get one head of cauliflower. I’m guessing we have two due to the size. They aren’t in the best shape, so I will be cooking them tomorrow. The winter squash look nice. We have an acorn, butternut and an orange Hubbard squash.

Bok choy has been being made Asian style for Stephen lately. I’m not sure if we will try something different or not.

The lettuce will go into taco salad. Fresh Fork posted a recipe on the braising greens. I think we’ll try it out this week. We get these weird mixed greens a lot during the winter.

These are two tiny heads of broccoli. I’m sure they are tasty and will disappear quickly. We had the return of the corn chips. We bought one extra bag ($3.5) not pictured.

This week’s share ended with local Harvarti cheese. All of the cheese from Mayfield Creamery has been great and I’m sure this will be no exception.

As you may recall, we we short a few items from our Thanksgiving package a couple of weeks ago. These items were delivered with our regular share today.

So, we have more of a few items and are glad to have apples back in stock. I’ll probably be cooking/freezing the winter squash and pumpkin in the next day or two to have for recipes in the winter.

The holiday ham and other package order form came out today. I’m not sure if we are going to order a ham this year. I’ll need to check with my folks to figure out our menu for Christmas.

I’m off to put the rest of our share away and clean the kitchen from dinner.

Fresh Fork CSA–week 19

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Oct 062011

Today, we picked up week 19 of our Fresh Fork CSA. It was our worst pickup of the season. Nick, Sally and I had spent a good chunk of the day in Akron. Both kids feel asleep on our way from Akron to Beachwood High School. Sally woke up about 15 minutes from the pick up and would not stop crying. Nick was fast asleep even through the crying and was still sleeping when we arrived at the school. He would have been very upset if he couldn’t say Hi to Mr. Robert at the truck, so I woke him up. (Last time I didn’t wake him up for something, he cried for 2 hours). He was fine when I first woke him up, but then he started crying. Sally cried the whole time we were there too. Robert brought out bag over to the car to help us out, but I still took the time to get the kids out because they wanted to say hi and I wanted to buy extras with our vacation credits. We ended up cutting out losses at one bag of corn chips for $3.50 and decided to settle up next week.

Here’s the list of what we were expecting:

Small CSA:

1 half gallon apple cider
1/2 lb. leaf spinach
1 bunch Swiss chard
1 bunch leeks
1 head broccoli
4 oz. piece brie
1 head kohlrabi
2 ct. winter squash
Quarter peck pears (4-5 depending on size)

Here’s a group shot:

I love winter squash. Spaghetti squash is not my favorite, but we’ll cook it and eat it with pasta sauce this week. My husband already opened the cider. I’m sure it will disappear easily.

This is the biggest kohlrabi that I ever saw. The leaves are edible and in great shape, so I’ll probably make a au gratin dish with it. The broccoli looks tasty and will make an easy side dish in the next day or two.

My friend Chaya mentioned honey mustard roasted leeks. We didn’t get very many, but I still might try fixing them roasted style. We have Swiss chard from both CSAs this week, so I’ll cook it together with some sausage for a meal this weekend.

I’m still working through the 2 bushels of pears that I picked up this week. This won’t be ready to eat for a few days and I’m ok with that. We’ll enjoy them early next week. The spinach and brie cheese will go into a tasty pasta dish.

Dare I say that I think I’m starting to get the hang of these CSAs. It’s a good thing because I just signed us up for both winter ones.

Fresh Fork CSA–week 16

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Sep 152011

Today, we once again headed to Beachwood High School to pick up our Fresh Fork CSA share.

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

Small CSA:

1 pint mixed color cherry tomatoes
1 package chicken sausage (4 links, 1.25 lbs.)
1 dz. pastured chicken eggs
1 bunch carrots with tops
1 bunch turnip greens
2 ct. green bell peppers
2 ct. poblano chili peppers
1.5 lbs. Stanley plums
Either 1 hd. broccoli or 1 stalk of celery

Here’s a group shot of share:

We were down to 1 egg in our fridge, so we were glad to see these. We went plum picking this week and the plum-apple sauce turned out great, so I am making another batch.

We were gifted a bunch of peppers this week, so I am chopping and freezing away.

The chicken sausage went straight to the freezer. Trevor included several ideas for the turnip greens in the newsletter. Basically, I’ll make them like my Swiss chard and they should be tasty. I’ll probably have them for lunch tomorrow since they are taking up room in the fridge.

The broccoli looks delicious. Nick and Sally and I will enjoy it with dinner tomorrow. We got Heirloom tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes. I got a couple of extra since mine were bad last week. I’m going to clean/chop and freeze them with some other tomatoes for a later sauce.

My kids couldn’t get enough carrots last week, so they eat these at lunch for a couple of days. I’m not sure they will even last through 2 meals.

Since I am on vacation next week and the week after, I spent a few of my credit dollars today. I put them on my account and it will be a wash over time. I picked up yogurt ($5), corn chips (2 @ $3.50) and a Camembert cheese ($8). So, I “spent” $20.

I bought yogurt at the grocery store earlier this week since we were out. I screwed up and bought vanilla. Yuck, it’s full of sugar and I can’t use it for cooking. I really like my newly found whole wheat dough recipe and it calls for yogurt. I like to keep the ingredients on hand. I was super excited to see the corn chips back. The truck hasn’t had them for sale lately. They are the best corn chips I’ve ever had. One bag was opened in the car. I bought 2 bags so there would still be some with Stephen gets back from his trip.

Today and tomorrow I am preserving food and packing for my trip. I’m trying to avoid too much last minute craziness on Sunday.

Fresh Fork CSA–week 4

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Jun 232011

Today was the 4th pick up for the Fresh Fork CSA. We were expecting the following items.

Small CSA:

1 package chicken bratwursts (1.25 lb)
1 bunch garlic scapes
Approx 1.5 lb tomatoes
1 quart strawberries
1 bunch green onions
1 bunch spinach
1 head leaf lettuce
2 ct zucchini or yellow squash
4 oz tub fresh chevre goat cheese

Here is what we received.

So, our cheese was different, but it should be tasty. And we ended up with one of each for the squash. I could tell that strawberry season was ending as they aren’t in the best shape. It’s another yummy week.

Also, we bought 2 bags of the corn chips that were included a couple of weeks ago. I have taco salad on the menu and these are delicious. They were $3 each – $6.

We did pretty good with last week’s items. I haven’t really thought about the new batch.

Recipe: Taco Salad

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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.

[print_this]

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

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

[/print_this]

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.

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.

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