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 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.

Here’s a group shot of what we received today.

Garlic, tomatoes

Apples, green beans

Turnips (mostly greens), lettuce

Broccoli, green pepper

Parsley, butternut squash

Sweet potatoes

This will be a very easy week for us to use up our items.  My husband like tabouli, so we will be making a batch of that using mint from our garden along with the parsley and tomatoes from today’s pick up.

The sweet potatoes will combine with a couple we have left from previous weeks for a batch of baked sweet potato slices.  We like to peel and slice the potato, drizzle with olive oil and use Ozark seasoning and cinnamon.  Nick and Sally like to eat them with ketchup.

We already ate the broccoli for dinner tonight.  The green beans will be an easy side dish for lunch tomorrow or dinner on Thursday.  I plan to make soup with the turnips and greens along with some potatoes and kohlrabi that we already have on hand.  We’ve accumulated some garlic lately and I think I’m going to chop and freeze it.  The apples have been going great in my oatmeal.

I haven’t decided on a specific dish for the butternut squash.  But it’s second only to acorn in my book, so we’ll have no problem eating it.

I love this time of year.  The hearty dishes make for excellent comfort food.

Here’s what we received:

Let’s take a closer look.

Cabbage, sweet corn

Potatoes, yummy SWEET oranges peppers

Swiss chard, watermelon!

2 varieties of leaf lettuce

Tomatoes, yellow squash

Carrots, green peppers

This week looks superb!  Everything was vibrant, fresh, and we had a rainbow of colors in our box.

I’m hoping that we get apples from our other CSA this week and I can make my coleslaw recipe with the cabbage.  I have all of the other ingredients on hand.  I’ll be cooking the sweet corn tomorrow or Thursday.

After juicing 100 pounds of Roma tomatoes for sauce over the weekend, this amount of tomatoes doesn’t seem like very many to me.  I’ll probably just use a couple in salad and juice the rest for some ketchup or BBQ sauce.

I don’t really have specific plans for the other items, but we’ll be eating well this week!

PS – Yes, we got another watermelon.  Yes, I am HAPPY about it!

Here’s what we received:

Let’s take a closer look.

Green bell peppers, onions

Hot pepper, yellow squash

Pickling cucumbers, peaches

Yellow beans, basil

Beets, watermelon

Tomatoes, cherry tomatoes

Eggplant, cabbage

We didn’t do too badly last week, but we had company this weekend and I feel a little bit behind.  It’s really because of peach and tomato picking, not the CSA items.  I finally canned the tomatoes yesterday and I’m finishing the peaches now.

With this week’s CSA items, I see some coleslaw in our future since we got cabbage today and we are getting apples on Thursday.  I’ll make some pasta sauce with the tomatoes, basil, eggplant and squash and we’ll have that with pasta for a meal.  I’ll probably add that hot pepper too.

I’ll also be making some more pickles.  I think we ate all of the ones from the last batch, so that’s timely.

I think this week is easy, especially since we don’t have any meals out planned.