It’s still tough to get a large in one photo.  This one is missing the cherry tomatoes, but they wouldn’t have fit anyway.

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

• 1 bag of oats, 1.5 lbs.
• 1 bunch red Russian kale
• Either 1 bag (approx. 1 lb.) mixed sweet and hot baby peppers or 2 ct. zucchini/squash
• 1 lb. beans
• 1 bunch French Breakfast radishes
• 1 pint blackberries or 1 cantaloupe
• 1-2 Candy onions, depending on size
• 2 green peppers
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes
• 1 package (1.25 lbs.) green onion bratwursts, made from Berkshire pork
• 1 piece grass-fed Swiss cheese from Heritage Grass Farms (12 oz.)
• 2.5 lbs. San Marzano Roma tomatoes
• 1 bunch carrots with tops
• 1-2 cucumbers depending on size

I’m probably going to make some sort of kale sausage ragout from the newsletter with the leek, brats, zucchini, garlic, kale and tomatoes.  Some of these ingredients we just picked up and others I have left in my fridge.  I have some beans ready to go in the freezer and will pull them out tonight.

Carrots and beans will make good side dishes to go with our brats.  I’ll probably pickle the radishes.

I’m going to chop and freeze some peppers and dehydrate some of the others.  The plums were a nice surprise, I’m sure they’ll disappear quickly.

The cherry tomatoes will be weekend snacking for Stephen and Nick.

I will probably use the cheese with a quiche.  I have some eggs to use soon.  We eat oats everyday for breakfast, so these will disappear quickly.

I’ll probably make a few more pickles with the cucumbers since we are short on lettuce.

The photo doesn’t do the cantaloupe justice.  It’s the size of a watermelon!

All in all, it’s another great week with Fresh Fork.  We love not going to the grocery store much.  Our list for our last trip to Heinen’s was yellow bananas, buns for brats and a cookie treat for the kids.  I can’t wait to see what’s in the bag next week!

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

• 1 dz. eggs
• 1 piece gouda cheese
• A handful of hot Hungarian peppers
• Approx. 2 to 3 green peppers, depending on size
• 1 head cabbage (most will be green)
• Either 1 pint mixed color cherry tomatoes or about 1.5 lbs. heirloom tomatoes
• 1 lb. green filet beans
• 2 ct. cucumbers
• 1 pint blackberries or approx. 1.5 lbs. peaches
• 1.5 lbs. spelt berries
• 1 bunch beets
• 1 lb. chorizo
• 1 head broccoli
• 2 ct. patty pan squash
• 6 ears sweet corn

I’m going to be preserving peppers and squash tonight.  We have enough of both to can or freeze.  I’m also going to make a small batch of pickles with my cucumbers since I have a few.

We ate the sweet corn for dinner.  This is one of the weeks when dinner was determined bulkiness.

We’ll be having beans with lunch tomorrow.  I’m not sure about the tomatoes, but they might just get pureed and frozen for later.

The cheese will keep a few days.  The peaches won’t be ready to eat for a couple of days, but will go great in our oatmeal.

The carrots will make a side dish for dinner tomorrow.  These peppers are hot and that is my least favorite Fresh Fork item.  I’ll probably just freeze them for chili this winter.

We have an abundance of eggs and I’m going to make some custard tomorrow.  I’m also going to hard boil some to have for snacks.  The chorizo was partially thawed, so it will become part of lunch tomorrow.

The spelt berries are in the pantry.  The beets will get used tomorrow.  I’ll probably make Harvard beets again.  It’s a household favorite.

The cauliflower was dinner.  I made it “mac and cheese” style.  I used the cauliflower (received instead of broccoli) as the pasta and made a white cheese sauce that used Mayfield Road creamery Smoked Gouda.  It was delicious.  I don’t have plans for the cabbage yet.

I’m leaving town on Sunday and will be back late on Wednesday.  I should have taken a vacation week with Fresh Fork, but I wasn’t really thinking.  I’m going to prepare and preserve as much as possible before I leave.  My goal is for Stephen to have food for while the kids and I are gone, but not be overwhelmed when he tries to find something in the fridge.  I did sign up for vacation next week.  That will give me a few days of recovery when I get back.  Our freezer is pretty full right now.  I just need a couple of days to make some jam and get a bit organized.  I’m hoping to make time for that next weekend.

Here’s what we were expecting this week:

• 1 whole cantaloupe
• Either 1 pint mixed color cherry tomatoes or approx. 1.5 lbs. heirloom tomatoes
• 2 ct. zucchini/squash
• 2 ct. eggplant
• 1 bulb garlic
• 1 large candy onion
• 2 oz. basil
• 1 bunch curly kale
• Approx. 1.5 lbs. slicing tomatoes
• 1 lb. bulk Italian sausage (ground)
• 1 pint blackberries or approx. 1.5 lbs. peaches
• 1 small yellow watermelon
• 1 lb. yellow wax beans or green filet beans
• 1 lb. grass-fed ground beef
• 1 head lettuce
• 1 bunch radishes
• 1-2 cucumbers depending on size

These melons are really small.  I think I’ll call them personal size.  We’ll eat them quickly.

The guys of the house will snack on the cherry tomatoes.  The rest are going into some salsa (hopefully tonight).

We’ll eat the lettuce in salad and use the basil for some dressing.   I need to pick up some more balsamic vinegar, but we’ll make due until then.

I haven’t decided on a dish for the kale yet.  It may just get sautéed.  The cucumbers will be great for salads and snacking.

I have lots of garlic frozen from last year.  I’ll have to remember to use it more often.  We had the onion with our dinner tonight.

I’m not a huge fan of ratatouille, so we’ll probably make a veggie lasagna this week and use the eggplant.  I’m hoping to try a bread and butter zucchini pickle recipe with the zucchini (and a few others we have).

We’ll have the blackberries for breakfast tomorrow.  Our fridge is too full to keep them around.  We’ll either roast or pickle the radishes.

The beans will be a side dish for Sunday.  I put the Italian sausage and ground beef in the freezer.

I really need to get some preserving done, my fridge is over flowing.  A little canning and freezing and we’ll be all set.  It’s easy for us to use our items when we eat at home, but we’ve had a strange schedule lately and we’re a bit behind on consumption.

Here’s what I picked up:

Here’s what we were expecting to receive:

• 1 pint blueberries
• 6 ears sweet corn
• 3 lb. Yukon gold potatoes
• 1 bunch rainbow Swiss chard
• 1 bunch collard greens
• 2 ct. cucumbers
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes or approx. 1.5 lbs. heirloom tomatoes (about 3 depending on size)
• 1 package chicken bratwursts
• 1 lb. yellow wax beans
• 2 ct. green peppers
• 1 cantaloupe
• 1 package pork spare ribs
• 1 jar Pope’s BBQ sauce

It looks like we got regular slicing tomatoes and some cherry tomatoes.  We were also shorted the BBQ sauce, but my husband was able to pick it up on his way home from work.  So, it’s here, but missed its photo opportunity.

We’ll have the chicken brats for lunch or dinner on Sunday.  We’ll either grill them or braise them in beer.  The kids have really been enjoying the cucumbers for snacking.

I’ll be making some fajitas Sunday or Monday.  I’ll use a couple of onions that I still have along with the collards or chard and peppers in them.  The blueberries will be lucky to be around after breakfast tomorrow.

We never got around to our Ohio City pasta last week, so I’ll probably make the béchamel sauce this weekend and use the tomatoes.  The cherry tomatoes will make good snacks for the guys of the house tomorrow.

The beans will make a great side dish in the next couple of days.  We’ll probably cut the cantaloupe up this weekend and eat it, but I am interested in trying Jane Snow’s cantaloupe gelatin dessert recipe.

Both the corn on the cob and ribs are on tomorrow’s lunch menu.  I think we’ll be grilling!

The potatoes will last a few days, and I don’t have an immediate plan for them.  Either the collards or chard will go into our fajitas.  The other will probably go into a quiche or just be sautéed for a side.

It’s been fun getting the large from our Fresh Fork CSA.  But, on Friday evenings, our fridge is packed to the max.  We have been trying to use local eggs, milk and yogurt.  When we add that stuff to the contents of our bag, it makes for a well stocked kitchen.  It also means that we don’t need the grocery store much and prioritize our meals to use up bulky items first.  I can’t wait to see what we are getting next week.

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.

Here’s the list of items for the week:

• 1 quart of yogurt
• 1 pt of black raspberries
• Assorted tree fruit
• 1 package Italian Sausage links, 1.25 lbs.
• 2 ct zucchini
• 1 bunch radishes
• 1 head green leaf lettuce
• 1 bunch kale
• 1 head kohlrabi
• 1 red bulb onion
• 1.5 lbs hoop house tomatoes
• 2 ct cucumbers
• 1 head broccoli or cauliflower, whichever comes in
• 1 jar strawberry balsamic sauce made from leftover week 1 strawberries

The highlights were the fruit.  She received apricots, plums as an add on, raspberries, and Clark Pope Catering’s Roasted Strawberry Balsamic Sauce.  Kelly mentioned that the plum were like heaven in a paper bag.  Even though I wasn’t here last week, I was able to get a bottle of the sauce.  I’m excited to try it out.

Now onto this week’s bag!

It was 95 degrees when we picked up our bag.  This has been one hot day!  I was glad to quickly get everything home and unloaded.

Here’s what we were expecting to receive:

• 1 whole chicken or pork roast
• 1 bunch beets
• 2 bulb onions
• 1 bunch carrots or 1 head kohlrabi
• Approx. 2# tomatoes
• 1 baby bok choy
• 2 lbs. peaches
• 1 bunch spinach
• 1 lb. garlic scape and black pepper linguini
• 2 lbs. apricots
• 2 ct. cucumbers
• 2 ct. zucchini

We love the spinach.  It’s quite versatile.  We already used some in our white sauce tonight.  I’m not a big tomato person.  I think they are “guishy”.  I’m such a texture eater.  I’m not sure if I’ll ever like them.  Some other Fresh Fork CSA folks were talking about having a tomato tasting party.  I might be swayed to participate if that were to occur.  For now, these will be eaten by Stephen and Nick or I’ll use them in sauce.

I have a total of 4 zucchini and I am making fritters for lunch tomorrow.  I’m not sure why we got extra cucumbers, but they are great for snacking and salads.  Since we don’t have any lettuce at the moment, I suspect these will become snacks for the weekend.  I may try my hand at a quick relish.

Some of the onion will go into our pulled pork and coleslaw recipes.  The rest will be chopped and frozen for future use.  We ate almost all of the carrots at dinner.  The leftover ones will be gone at lunch tomorrow.

Our apricots aren’t going to last long.  They are very ripe.  I’m thinking of making smoothies with them tomorrow since it’s going to be another scorcher.  I contemplated an apricot dessert, but I’m not sure I want to turn on the oven.  Maybe, I’ll get creative.  We’ve been enjoying peaches in our oatmeal each morning.  With 4 of us, these won’t last long.

Bok choy always stumps me.  I just don’t have a great go to recipe for it.  It usually just ends up in a stir fry for Stephen.  I’m going to make pulled pork with the roast tomorrow.  I am going to put the crock pot in the basement so our whole house doesn’t heat up while it cooks.

We’re going to grill the beets this week.  We have a kohlrabi to use as well.  We didn’t get our pasta when we picked up our bag.  Since I was out anyway, I stopped back to get it on our way home from the spray ground.  It went straight to boiling water for dinner and had already missed it’s photo opportunity.

I’m not going to say that every CSA week is easy, but I like feeling like I finally have the hang of it.  I’m looking forward to eating fresh and local this weekend.

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

Small CSA:

• 6 ears super sweet Miria 301 corn
• 3 lbs. Yukon gold potatoes
• 1 lb. grass fed ground beef
• 2 ct. green bell peppers
• 1 lb. green beans
• Approx. 1.5 lbs. Flaming Fury Lucky 13 and John Boy peaches (freestone peaches)
• 2 ct. cucumbers
• 2 ct. yellow summer squash (probably last of the summer already)
• 8 oz. bag or bunch of kale
• 1 pint heirloom cherry tomatoes

Here’s a group shot:

Our beef was partially thawed by the time we got home, so I am going to cook it tomorrow.  We’ll probably make potato salad for the holiday weekend with the potatoes.

We have these 6 ears of corn, plus a few left from our Tuesday pick up, so we will be having corn tomorrow.  I have a local steak to cook also.  The peaches are still firm, but will be quite nice in my oats.

The tomatoes will disappear into Stephen’s lunch.  I’m in the process of cutting and freezing lots of peppers since we went picking yesterday.  I’ll add these to the bag.

Looks like we received zucchini instead of yellow squash.  It’s very similar and doesn’t make a difference in my uses.  I think we’ll make squash fritters.  I haven’t had them in a couple of weeks.  We’ll use the cucumbers in salads.

I may try the kale in vegetable lasagna this weekend.  I’ve enjoyed making a lasagna and having it for a few meals during the week to help with planning and cooking.  We’ll enjoy the green beans when we grill out on Sunday.

The yogurt ($5) was an add on for us this week.  We like this yogurt and are trying to stay away from the high sugar varieties.  For this yogurt, we’ve been adding homemade jam sweetened with honey to taste.

I think we’ll do ok this week.  I need to prep some items in our fridge and keep close tabs on our produce use since we have a few meals planned away with the holiday this weekend.

I never realized that cucumbers look a lot like squash when they grow.  They also have little prickles on them.  Nick checked out the cucumber patch.

It was fun to find them under the big leaves.

We ended up getting 9 of them.  I think I’m going to make pickles and/or relish even though these aren’t pickling cucumbers.  I read that the texture will be a bit different, but they should work just fine.

Our next public picking was for peaches this morning.  I’ll have more about that tomorrow.

Here’s what we received today:

Let’s take a closer look.

Tomatoes, beets

Lettuce, kohlrabi

Swiss chard, onion

Green beans, cherry tomatoes

Radishes, cucumbers

Yellow squash, patty pan squash (Most of the patty pan squash that I have seen before is more flat and scalloped, but I am pretty sure this is patty pan squash.)

Zucchini, honey (add on order)

New this year, we can place orders though the website for some additional items.  There are things available like honey, maple syrup, eggs, etc.  I ordered some honey for this week.  We didn’t really need honey at the moment, but I wanted to try out the ordering system.  Pay with paypal and pick up with the share.  It was easy!

I’m still thinking about the bounty that we received and haven’t made any specific plans for it, but we’ll be busy eating our veggies this week for sure!

Usually, we get a list of what to expect at our pick up on Tuesday.  This week it came on Wednesday.  This was due to changes that had to occur due to the storms.  I live in Mayfield Heights and we didn’t really have much in the way of rain Monday, but south of here was hit really hard.  It is devastating to farmers to have too much or too little rain.

Here’s what we were expecting today.

Small CSA:

• 1 bunch multi-color Swiss chard
• 1 pint maple syrup
• 1 package boneless pork chops, approximately 1 lb. each package
• 1 quarter peck Lodi apples (5-6 apples)
• Approx. 1.5 lbs. cling peaches
• 1 candy onion
• 1 bunch mustard greens
• 1 pound beans, either green, purple, dragon tongue, or yellow
• 2 slicing cucumbers

Here’s what we received:

The Lodi apples look great.  They are the first apples of the season in our area.  The maple syrup leaked and created a sticky mess.

These are the mustard greens.  I don’t think I ever had them before.

Dragon beans – another new item for us!

So, our list was dead on this week and our only surprise was that we didn’t get to see Mr. Robert (that’s what Nick calls the guy at the truck).  We also didn’t pay for the cream cheese yet, but I’ll get a price this week.  This is our first week without squash or tomatoes.  It’s fine by us as we enjoy the variety.

Most of these items will be easy for us to use.  I’ll probably start with the Swiss chard since we got it in both of our CSAs this week, so it’s taking up room in our fridge!  Friday and Saturday are about using up the perishables and bulk so we can be more organized the rest of the week.