Geauga Family Farms CSA-summer week 3

CSA No Responses »
Jun 192012
 

Today was the third week for the Geauga Family Farms CSA. It was a crazy evening for me (husband Stephen) to pick up the CSA,but I made it to Whole Foods in time to buy a bit of dinner (sushi and tomato bisque soup – a truly international combination) before picking up the CSA. Then it was off to the day’s next event…

Here is what I found in this week’s share:

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First up was some good-looking lettuce and some bunching onions.

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Tomatoes and peas. Yum! I’m not sure if these are garden or sugar snap peas. I’ll have to try one or two to find out.

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Garlic scapes and zucchini.

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Last, but not least, some cherry tomatoes.

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We also ordered a dozen eggs as an extra item.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–week 20–the final week

CSA No Responses »
Oct 252011
 

Today was our last visit to Whole Foods to pick up our 2011 summer CSA.  Just about every week, we were greeted by Andrew.  He usually works in the kitchen in the morning, but somehow ended up with the Tuesday afternoon CSA gig most of the summer.  He was super nice to everyone, especially Nick and Sally.

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The photos are dark again this week.  Maybe I can figure out some evening lighting for next year.  Here’s the group shot for this week.

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Let’s take a closer look:

Green onions, green beans

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Red Russian Kale, bell peppers

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Butternut squash, lettuce

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Radishes, apples

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Sweet potatoes, tomatoes

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Garlic

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We’ve been going through a ton of apples this year.  Between morning oats, snacks and applesauce, I can’t keep them in the house.  We went picking for the last time this year, but I was still glad to see apples in our pick up today.

I still have some cabbage in our fridge.  I’ll be making another batch of unstuffed cabbage in the crockpot Thursday.  It will use the garlic, tomatoes, bell peppers, and green onion.  I love having a recipe that uses many CSA ingredients and is also flexible.

My kids have been asking for sweet potatoes the last couple of days.  I usually slice them, season them and bake them.  They disappear quickly with a bit of ketchup for dipping.

Lettuce and some radishes will go in lunch salads.  The rest of the radishes will go into turnip soup.  The green beans make an easy side dish.

I’m not quite sure about the squash yet.  I’m thinking about making some butternut squash soup, but I’m not sure of the timing since I need to make turnip soup first.

It’s supposed to get cold this week.  I’m glad we have some hearty items that go well with ovens and soup.  It’s been a fun season.  I’m already excited about the winter CSA.

Geauga Family Farms–week 14

CSA 1 Response »
Sep 132011
 

Today, we went to the “little” Whole Foods and picked up our Geauga Family Farms CSA.  The kids totally know our routine.  We usually need to buy something.  Today, we bought yogurt.  At the checkout, Nick and Sally each get a wooden nickel to donate to a charity since we bring a bag.  They love putting a nickel in the slot to pick their charity.  Then, they go straight to the CSA area which also is the children’s coloring area.  They are also very interested in whatever we get in our box.

Here’s what we received today:

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Let’s take a closer look.  I couldn’t really fit everything in the photo.

Green beans, sweet corn

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Potatoes, apples (Honeygold variety)

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Bell peppers, dill

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Poblano peppers, zucchini

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Onions, hot peppers

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Leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce

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Eggplant, basil

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Tomatoes

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I’m leaving for Hawaii on Monday, so this week is all about food preservation.  I’m cooking some meals for my family to enjoy while I am gone, but most of that work is done or planned.  In addition to my trip, my husband is out of town tomorrow through Friday.

I’m going to blanch and freeze the green beans.  I have others to freeze as well, so it’s worth the effort.

I plan to have some corn with the kids tomorrow and freeze the rest.  There’s only 6 ears so that should be simple.

Unless I get ambitious, I’m going to store the potatoes.  A few of the apples are already mixed in with the sauce that I was making tonight.  The rest will be going into apple-plum sauce tomorrow.  We picked plums yesterday, so I need to make something with them.

I’ll going to make fajitas and use some peppers and onions this week.  I’ll freeze the rest.

I’m going to make some basil/olive oil cubes for the freezer with the basil.  It will be handy for winter soup and tomato sauce dishes.

I already froze the tomatoes.  I just washed them, cored, and quartered them.  I’ll make a saucy dish with them in a couple of week.

The lettuce will get eaten in salads.  I’ll either blanch and freezer the eggplant or make mini eggplant pizzas.  It all depends on the rest of the items are going.

I’ll need to research the dill.  Usually, I use it in pickles, but I don’t have any cucumbers.

It’s going to be a busy week here.  I have a to do list that’s a mile long before my trip.

Cooking with Kids–tomato juice

Adventures with Nick and Sally No Responses »
Sep 072011
 

Nick and Sally love to help in the kitchen.  Sometimes, I have a really hard time figuring out things that they can do.  It’s especially hard to find things that are a real help instead of busy work.

In yesterday’s CSA, we received a couple of packs of slicing tomatoes.  Although they weren’t paste tomatoes, I still wanted to make sauce.  Actually, I want to make ketchup, we it all starts with juice.

I decided to set up the food mill and see what happened.

I sliced the tomatoes, Sally filled the tray and Nick pushed them through.  It worked like a charm.

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The kids had a great time and I was glad that this practice session worked.  It’s almost applesauce time and I am hoping that they’ll be able to help.

Fresh Fork CSA–week 9

CSA No Responses »
Jul 282011
 

Today was week number 9 for our Fresh Fork CSA.  Robert who works at the truck was back today.  He seems to be going better.  It was nice and smooth to have him in his usual position.  There was only one person ahead of us and everything was smooth at pick up.

As usual, we received our list of contents on Tuesday.  It’s nice to know what we have to work with between our CSAs by Tuesday night.

Here’s what we were expecting:

Small CSA:

  • 1 package Mild Italian Sausage links, 4 to a pack
  • 1.5 lbs apricots
  • 1.5 lbs Red Haven peaches
  • 1 dozen pasture raised chicken eggs
  • 6 ears Mira 301 Super Sweet corn
  • 1 candy onion
  • 1 head leaf lettuce
  • 1 lb green beans
  • 1 bunch kale, either Curly or Black Tuscan

Here’s a group shot:

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Apparently, the Italian sausage is really good.  I don’t think we’ve had it yet.  Always happy to see peaches.

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We still have onions to chop and freeze and the corn is already gone.

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We were almost out of lettuce, so I see a couple of salads in our future.  I don’t think I’ve ever had fresh apricots and certainly not local ones.  I’m looking forward to having one at breakfast.

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Curly kale might make for another batch of kale chips,  The last batch was ok, but I’ve read a few other variations lately and may have to experiment again this weekend.  I’m in love with local eggs and just used our last two yesterday, so these were especially nice to get.

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Everyone in our house likes green beans.

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In addition to our small, we purchased 2 packages of chicken brats.  These were $7 each.  They were amazing when we had them in our box a few weeks back.  We’re having company next weekend and I stuck these in the freezer for grilling.  We also paid for our cream cheese ($5) that we picked up 2 weeks ago.

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I’m happy that we had a week off of squash and tomatoes.  I still have some to use up from our Tuesday CSA pickup.  Next week we are “on vacation” from Fresh Fork and I hope that gives us a little extra time to regroup and make sure we are caught up in the fridge.

Recipe: Summer Squash (like zucchini) Fritters

CSA, Recipe 2 Responses »
Jun 262011
 

I made this recipe today and served them with potato salad and chicken bratwursts.  It was a super easy and surprising light dish.  Since we’ll be getting lots of squash this summer, I think this dish will get made often.  I also plan to experiment with different  seasonings as we go.

Recipe: Summer Squash Fritters

Summary: As usual, all measurements are approximate.

Ingredients

  • 1 medium or 2 small summer squash (like zucchini)
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 1/4 t black pepper
  • 1/4 t Penzeys Ozark seasoning
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 green onion, chopped
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • approximately 1/4 cup olive oil for frying

Instructions

  1. Peel and great squash.
  2. Sprinkle with salt and let sit for 5 minutes.
  3. Drain and/or squeeze out as much juice as possible.
  4. In a mixing bowl, lightly beat egg.
  5. Add squash, pepper, seasoning, green onion, and flour.
  6. Mix well.
  7. Heat 2 T of oil in a nonstick skillet on medium heat.
  8. Drop 2 T of batter at a time into skillet until the skillet is full (approx. 6 fritters).
  9. Gently flatten with a spatula.
  10. Cook 3-5 min on each side until golden in color.
  11. Drain on plate lined with paper towel.
  12. Continue until batter is used, adding more oil as necessary.

Quick notes

Ozark seasoning contains salt, pepper, garlic, thyme, sage, paprika, mustard, ancho, celery, cayenne, dill weed, dill seed, caraway, allspice, ginger, cardamom, bay leaf, mace, cassia, savory, cloves. Feel free to season to your taste. Serve with yogurt, sour cream, honey mustard or other sauces.

Preparation time: 15 minute(s)

Cooking time: 15 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 3