Since I was in Utah earlier in the week, I opted to take a vacation week this week.  Occasionally, I take a vacation week when we are having busy week or if I feel behind on veggies even if I am actually in town on pick up day..  Then, I usually hold my breath and hope that Trevor doesn’t send out the “best bag of the season” list two days later since vacation requests are due on Saturday and the list usually comes out on Monday.

Here’s what folks received in their bags this week:

• 3# bag red Norland potatoes
• 1/2 dozen sweet corn
• 1 bunch leeks (may be 1 leek depending on size)
• 1 bulb fennel
• Approx. 1.5 lbs. heirloom tomatoes
• 2 oz basil
• Approx. 2 lbs. slicing tomatoes
• 1 lb. grass-fed ground beef
• Approx. 2 lbs. peaches
• 1-2 eggplant, depending on size
• 2 zucchini or squash
• 1-2 onions
• 2-3 “Italian frier” peppers (red sweet stuffing peppers)
• 1 melon – choice of cantaloupe or watermelon
• 1/2 lb. Swiss chard
• 1 bulb garlic
• 1 piece Havarti cheese

I’ve been hearing from other people who do CSAs that they have too much food or are too busy to get it all used.  I can’t say that we are perfect in our house, but we are pretty good at blanching, chopping and freezing items to make sure we don’t waste food when we are particular busy or have an over abundance.

Almost all of the above items could be froze with little effort.  I love pulling items out of the freezer in the middle of winter and getting a taste of fresh local food.

I think every bag is outstanding, but this is a bag that has lots of items that we get on a fairly regular basis.  I am happy with my decision to be on vacation.  With a little luck, I’ll get a photo of a large share tomorrow and add a photo to my post.

Here’s what we were expecting to receive:

• 1 dozen pasture raised chicken eggs
• 1 piece Havarti from Mayfield Road Creamery (8 oz.)
• 2 ct. zucchini or squash
• 1 bunch carrots or 1 bunch beets (switching from last week)
• 1 lb. whole wheat linguini
• 6 ears sweet corn
• 1 lb green beans
• 1-2 bulb onions depending on size
• 1 lb. apricots
• 2 lbs. peaches
• Approx. 1.5 lbs. tomatoes
• 1 pint mixed color cherry tomatoes
• 1 pint blueberries

We were missing our blueberries.  I’m hoping to stop by Mayfield today and pick them up.  We are a bit overstocked on eggs at the moment.  My niece and nephew are coming next week and they love eggs, so I think it will all even out.  I packed some of the tomatoes in Stephen’s lunch this morning.  I doubt any will be left by tomorrow.

I’m actually keeping up with onions.  These are the only two that we have in our fridge.  I’m guessing they will just be used in regular cooking this week.  I’m hoping to grill zucchini for dinner tomorrow.

These tomatoes will probably be made into tomato béchamel sauce for our pasta.  It’s convenient that we received carrots this week too.

Peaches and apricots disappear around here quickly.  Nick likes to do a magic trick where the apricot turns into a pit.  If there are any left tomorrow, we’ll grill some with our zucchini.

Everyone in our house loves cheese, so there’s never a need to figure out a plan.  The pasta will be an easy meal for lunch on Sunday with the sauce.

The beans will make a good side dish for dinner tonight, along with the corn.

I’ve also been buying yogurt and milk from the truck.  Between the CSA and the extras, our fridge is packed today.  It sure beats shopping at the grocery store.

Here’s what we were expecting today:

• 1 meat choice (see above)
• option 1: whole chicken, approximately 5 lbs.
• option 2: Meatloaf pack, 1 lb. each of ground veal, ground pork, and ground lamb
• option 3: 2 packs bone-in beef short ribs and one grass-fed beef round steak
• option 4: 1 pack (4 patties, 1 lb.) turkey burgers (new) and 1 pack (1.25 lbs.) chicken bratwurst
• 1 lb. breakfast patties
• 1 dozen eggs
• 1 piece (8 oz.) Havarti cheese
• 1 pint maple syrup
• 1 quarter peck apples
• 1/4 lb. ramps

(earlier in the week, there was a possibility of greens, but I’ll take apples over greens most days)

Here’s a group shot:

We decided to go with the meatloaf pack. I haven’t made meatloaf in a while and there’s a recipe for meatloaf that uses the ramps in this week’s newsletter. It’s more of a guide to meatloaf than a recipe, but I’m not a big recipe follower anyway, so I am happy to use the ideas and make my own meatloaf. I’m going to make muffin shaped loaves. I like using muffing tins for individual meatloaves.

We had the breakfast patties before. They are flavorful, but a little on the salty side. We’ll probably pair them with some homemade sauce and pasta for a meal. We don’t usually cook meat to go with breakfast.

We bought a gallon of maple syrup this year. Having another pint is always welcome. We made several recipes on a regular basis that use maple syrup instead of sugar. Lucky for me, whole grain pancake mix was on sale this week so I stocked up. My kids love to have pancakes with blueberries and real maple syrup. We don’t even use the fake stuff in our house anymore.

We haven’t had apples in a while, so they will be a nice addition for our morning oatmeal. We are nearing the end of our canned peaches and frozen blueberries.  Everyone in our house loves cheese. I’m sure the Havarti will be popular. Stephen and I are signed up for the cheese class on Saturday, so I suspect we will be stocking up on local cheeses this weekend.

Eggs are never hard to get used up. We just naturally use them often in baked oatmeal, pancakes, French toast, muffins and other recipes. This week a few will go into meatloaf for sure.

Finally, I picked up 4 yogurts this week.  We seem to use at least 2 a week at our house.  It’s $20 well spent.

I’m having a Fresh Fork CSA week for sure.  Yesterday was the monthly happy hour.  Today was our pick up.  Saturday is the cheese class.  I love local!

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.