Here’s what we received in our small share this week:

tomatoes, pickling cucumbers

onions, cucumbers

zucchini, cherry tomatoes

beets, lettuce

green beans

I think we’ve passed the heavy greens part of the season with all of the heat lately.  I suspect, we’ll see more greens when the weather cools toward the end of the CSA season.  The tomatoes will be great for salads.  Stephen and Nick like them.  Sally and I do not.  If anyone has any tips on learning to like the texture of tomatoes, please let me know.

I’m going to make refrigerator pickles with both types of cucumbers this week.  I need to slice the onion for a cabbage dish that I am going to make.  I used the reserved onions in tonight’s dinner, so I need to replenish.  I had some squash grilled at an event this past weekend, so I decided to just make zucchini straight up tonight.  I’m not sure what I don’t eat it like that more often.  This week’s zucchini will be eaten with minimal preparation.

I’m going to venture out of my comfort zone on the beets and try to use one raw on some salad.  I may also use some on a quesadilla of sorts.  I’ll let you know how it turns out.  The beet greens weren’t worth keeping this week.

The lettuce will go to salad and the beans will be a great side dish in the next day or two.  I was sad that we didn’t receive any fruit this week.  I was expecting blueberries.  The ones we received the last couple of weeks were so good.  I have plans to go picking on Thursday, so I’ll be able to replenish our supply then.

With all of my preparations over the weekend, I feel very caught up in the kitchen and ready to tackle this week’s share.

Here’s what we received this week:

cherry tomatoes, blueberries

tomato, squash (yellow squash and zucchini)

cucumber, onion

lettuce, cauliflower

green beans, basil

Stephen and Nick will probably eat all of the cherry tomatoes tomorrow.  I’m glad that’s one item that I never have to worry about.  We are also going to get some out of our garden this year.  We’re psyched about that.  The blueberries made me smile.  I picked 7 pounds of blueberries today, so this container doesn’t seem like much to me.  I froze most of what I picked already.  These will be used on cereal at breakfast or snacks tomorrow.  Nick is in camp this week and has to pack a snack and lunch.  I’ve been trying to give him as many good local items as possible.

I’m going to try squash chips with the squash this week.  I’ve read a few recipes on line and will create my own version of them.  I hope that I can get enough moisture out of them to make them crunchy.  The tomato and lettuce will go in salads.  The cucumber will be chopped up for snacks.

We have quite a bit of onion at the moment.  I’ll try to make fajitas this week.  We still have pepper strips frozen that need used up anyway.  I’m in the mood for homemade whole wheat tortillas so that will work out well.

We’ll have the cauliflower as a side dish one day this week.  We had the beans with dinner tonight.  They were absolutely delicious and there’s just enough left to put a few in Stephen’s lunch tomorrow.

The basil looks a bit tired, but I’m sure it will be tasty. I’m going to make a vinaigrette dressing with it.

I haven’t really tried many actual recipes lately.  I’m planning to carve out some more time for cooking in the next couple of weeks.  I feel like I’m still adjusting from being away on vacation.  I’m already looking forward to next week’s share.

Here’s what we received this week:

I think it’s a pretty easy identification week, but just in case I’ll list them.

zucchini, cucumbers

sugar snap peas, candy onion

small head of cauliflower, blueberries

tomato, kohlrabi

lettuce, cabbage

I was quite excited to pick up our share today.  We picked up a few things at the store yesterday since our fridge was bare from being gone 2 weeks, but for the most part, we were still lacking in produce.

The last couple zucchini were shredded and put in the freezer.  I’m going to make squash fritters tomorrow so these don’t fall victim to the freezer later in the week.  The cucumber, tomato and lettuce will go into salad with tomorrow’s grilling.  I’ll probably have Stephen grill the kohlrabi, too.  The kids will snack on the peas.  The blueberries will go on cereal for breakfast.  I now have two head of cauliflower since I bought one yesterday.  One head will just be steamed and served plain.  I’m thinking of making a au gratin dish with the other.

I have a cole slaw  recipe that I love that involves cabbage, apple, pineapple juice, onion, raisins, blue cheese and a simple dressing.  I’m going to look for it since I don’t think I could quite make it from memory.  It’s a great summer dish and I think I have all of the ingredients on hand.  Once I find the recipe, I’ll try to get my version in a post soon.  We’re sure to see cabbage again.

My goal is to use 100% of this share up before I pick up our other one on Friday.

Here’s what we received:

Let’s take a closer look.

Cherry tomatoes, carrots

Lettuce and more lettuce

Watermelon, cantaloupe

Green bell peppers, broccli

Yellow squash, eggplant

Cucumber, zucchini (yes it looks funny, but it is a variety of zucchini)

HOT peppers, slicing tomatoes

Peaches, green beans

We got 3 different types of fruit.  That is pretty odd for our CSA, but we love fruit.  Most of the items this week will be easy to use.  The fruit will disappear in a couple of days.

One pepper and the cucumber will go into salad along with the lettuce.  We ate the broccoli for dinner tonight.  The beans will make a great side dish to our meal tomorrow.  Carrots, eggplant and squash feel like staples in our house, so we’ll be making a quiche or lasagna to use them up soon.

Then, there are the hot peppers.  If there is one item that I wish we didn’t get, it would be the hot peppers.  I just haven’t found a good use for them yet.  But, I am determined.  I’ll keep you all posted!

Here’s a group photo of what we received:

Let’s take a closer look.

Cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes

Peaches, beets

Green peppers, hot peppers

Eggplant, yellow squash

Cucumber, lettuce

Lettuce, yellow wax beans

Parsley, watermelon

I think we have entered my favorite part of the season.  I love melons!  I was glad to see lettuce since we were almost out.  I’ve put my parsley in water.  I think some parsley potatoes or salad dressing may be in order.  The squash, cucumber and peppers will probably go into a wheat or rye berry cold salad for dinner tomorrow night.  We eat at Wade Oval near the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and it’s challenging to make cold CSA food.  I’m getting better as the season progresses.

I’m going to remove the skins from the peaches, slice and freeze them for oatmeal.  One of my favorite ways to have oatmeal is with peaches.  I’ll be sure to save a couple of peaches for Thursday.  I’m expecting basil in my CSA pick on Thursday and I want to try my version of this dressing recipe from The Chubby Cook. I’m going to make the same recipe, but use an extra peach.  I sampled it at Whole Foods on Sunday and it was tasty.

I haven’t found any great ways to use hot peppers since I don’t care for spicy dishes and I like the kids to be able to eat anything that I prepare.  Usually, they get chopped and frozen and I use them sparingly as I make taco meat, pulled pork and chili throughout the winter.

I usually make Harvard beets whenever we get beets.  At dinner tonight, my son was content to eat beets and watermelon for dinner.  That made me very happy!

All in all, it should be a great week!

Here’s what we received:

Let’s take a closer look.

Zucchini, cucumber

Eggplant, cabbage

Onion, yellow squash

Tomatoes, cauliflower

Blackberries, cherry tomatoes

Hot peppers, Roma tomatoes

Basil, lettuce

Lettuce

I’m thinking that a gluten free chili mac dish might be in order when my in laws visit this weekend.  I saw all of the tomatoes and immediately thought chili or sauce.  With the chili route, I could use the onion, peppers and tomatoes in one shot.  The basil will be dried or frozen for use in sauce in the upcoming weeks.  We were almost out of lettuce, so it’s nice to be stocked up for salads.  The cabbage will go into cole slaw along with the head I have from our other CSA.  The cauliflower will get eaten for lunch tomorrow.  I’m not sure about the other ingredients.  We will make an effort to use or preserve everything by Friday night as we have company for the weekend and we don’t want anything to go bad!

Here’s what we received in our family share:

Let’s take a closer look.

Black cherry tomatoes, cucumber

Pickling cucumbers, potatoes

Blueberries, green onions

Onions, peppers (probably hot!)

Cabbage, red raspberries

Lettuce, Swiss chard

Tomatoes, zucchini

Yellow squash

Personally, I’m not much of a tomato fan (unless they are in BBQ sauce, ketchup or pasta sauce), but the black cherry tomatoes were my husband’s favorite last year, so I was happy to see them today.  The pickles we made a couple of weeks back should be ready, so we’ll eat them this week and make some more with today’s share.  I bought some whole wheat lasagna noodles at the beginning of the season.  I think this is the week for veggie lasagna with squash as the highlight.

Some of our raspberries were moldy,  I sorted them and used the good ones in raspberry lemonade this evening.  It’s so refreshing on a hot day like today.  The blueberries probably won’t make it past breakfast in the morning.

I’m going to assume the peppers are hot.  Last year, almost all of the peppers that we received were hot.  I had a tough time using them since my kids and I don’t really like HOT.  For the most part, I ended up chopping and freezing them and then putting them in crockpot recipes like chili a bit at a time.

Have a great week!

Small CSA:

• 1 bunch beets with tops
• 1 bunch carrots with tops
• 1 head cabbage
• 2 ct zucchini
• 2 ct squash
• 1-2 cucumbers depending on size
• 1 quart yogurt
• 1 head bibb lettuce
• Approx 1.5 lbs tomatoes
• Approx 2 lbs sweet black cherries
• 1 lb grassfed ground beef

Here is what we received:

So, it looks like the black raspberries were an unexpected bonus this week.  Everything looks fabulous.  We’ll be feasting well for the holiday weekend.

In addition to the above, I had placed an order for extras via the Fresh Fork website.  It worked well.  I ordered maple syrup, oats, 2 wheat flour, chorizo sausage, whole wheat linguini and 2 bunches of spinach.  It was just under $30.  I probably wouldn’t order the flour again since I didn’t realize they were one pound packages.  The oats are just to try in a granola recipe.  The spinach was the most delicious spinach that I ever had last week and I have the perfect recipe for it (along with the pasta), and we weren’t expecting any this week.   We also really enjoyed the chorizo two weeks ago and I was glad that it was in stock this week.

Between two CSA pick ups and the field night this week, our fridge is well stocked with veggies.  I’ve put together a simple lists of dishes to prepare this weekend in hopes to use many of the items up.

Menu Planning for CSA items this week:

• Camembert / brie herbed cheese over spinach and linguini
• Kolhrabi/radish au gratin
• Salad with quinoa, beans, chorizo, etc.
• Harvard beets
• Summer squash fritters or baked squash fries
• Carrots
• Cole slaw (with apples, onion, cabbage, etc.)
• Salads (with cucumber, radishes, red pepper)
• Stuffed cousa squash (with quinoa or rice and ground beef, onion, etc.)
• Beet greens
• Foil pack glazed carrots

It will be a weekend full of cooking and eating local!

Here is what we received.

Let’s take a closer look.

2 containers of strawberries (approximately 2 quarts), 3 tomatoes

loaf of wheat bread (that was sampled on the way home), 1/2 dz. eggs

small head of green leaf lettuce, 2 small heads of another variety of leaf lettuce

bok choy, 2 different views

garlic scapes, cucumber

green onions

I’ll be back tomorrow to share our plan of attack for consumption.