Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 15

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Sep 132012
 

We have plans tomorrow evening, so we picked up our CSA in Beachwood today.  There was quite a line when we arrived, but it moved quickly.

I love the colors this week!

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Here’s what we were expecting:

  • 1 bunch golden beets
  • Approx. 2.5 lbs. San Marzano Roma Tomatoes
  • Either heirloom tomatoes or 1 pint grape tomatoes
  • 1 pint yummy pepper mix (all sweet peppers)
  • 1 lb. Berkshire bacon
  • 1/2 lb. mixed baby greens (chard, kale, arugula, mizuna, and more)
  • 1 head cabbage
  • 1 quarter peck Gala apples
  • 1 head broccoli
  • 8 oz. grass-fed smoked cheddar cheese
  • 1 half pint of either Pappy’s pepper butter (like a sweet and tangy homemade mustard) or 1 half pint of Pappy’s Candied Jalapeños (semi-hot jalapeños in a honey syrup)
  • A handful of colored peppers (red long peppers probably early week and purple peppers later week)

I’m not sure what happened, but we ended up with eggs and spaghetti squash.  We didn’t get broccoli.  I can see the switch with broccoli and squash – but eggs?  We also got lettuce, but I think that was a deliberate attempt at BLT ingredients.

I have two spaghetti squashes.  I’m thinking about making it Italian style and serving it like spaghetti.  I think everyone in the house will eat it like that (especially with cheese on it).  The head of cabbage is pretty small.  I think I’ll keep it a few days and then make some of my coleslaw.

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We’ll be eating apples in our oatmeal.  Also, I ordered a new dehydrator and I’m anxious to try fruit rolls, so some puree might be in order.  These are really good paste tomatoes, so they’ll end up in sauce at some point.  For now, the freezer will be their home, along with the heirloom tomatoes.  We have an over abundance of tomatoes this year, but we aren’t getting them all at once, so it’s harder to make and can sauce.

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The Pappy’s Pepper Butter is medium hot.  I’m not a fan of hot things, but I’m determined to try this and a few other things that are on our shelf soon.  My goal is to eat from our house as much as possible.

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Delicious bacon never goes to waste around here.  I didn’t get it in the freezer right away, so it’s thawing in the fridge.  We’ll probably have it on Saturday or Sunday.  I wasn’t expecting eggs and we have an overabundance.  I’m going to gift a dozen to my mom since she’s helping with the kids tomorrow.

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I don’t think I’ve ever tried this cheese, but there are very few that I don’t like.  All of the peppers this week should be sweet (not hot!) and I’m happy about that.

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We also got some mixed greens.  This batch looks pretty good to me, so I’m going to have a big salad for lunch tomorrow.  I’ve gotten away from lunch salads and need to get back to them since they are delicious.

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We still have some beets from the other week, so I am going cook all of them all of them tonight or tomorrow.  I’ll probably make a big batch of Harvard beets since we haven’t had them for a while.  The lettuce looks very tasty and will be good in salads or maybe a BLT.

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There’s 7 weeks left and I’m already getting sad that the season will be ending soon.  It’s a good think there’s a winter program starting sometime in November.

Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 14

CSA 1 Response »
Sep 072012
 

We were back to our regular pick up this week at Mayfield High School.  It’s the time of the year where there’s a changing of the guard with the truck staff.  Today, we were greeted by Kirsten.  It was nice to see her, but it was busy and we didn’t have time to chat.  We can expect to see her at Mayfield for the rest of the season.  That will be very nice.

Here’s an overview of what we received (minus the watermelon):

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Here’s what we were expecting:

  • 1 large watermelon
  • 1 head green leaf lettuce
  • Approx. 2 eggplant
  • 1 bunch carrots with tops
  • 1 pint grape tomatoes or Approx. 1.5 lbs. heirloom tomatoes
  • 1 quart concord grapes
  • Approx. 1 lb. red slicing tomatoes
  • 1-2 onions depending on size
  • 1 bulb garlic
  • 1 lb. beans
  • 1 lb. roasted red pepper linguini
  • Red peppers
  • 1 lb. bacon breakfast patties
  • 1 bunch leeks
  • 3 lb. bag potatoes

The green beans are dark and rich in color.  I think I’ll pull a roast out of the freezer for Sunday and serve them as a side dish.  I’m tired of tomato season.  It’s nice that farmers are figuring out ways to grow them longer during the growing season using hoop houses and such, but I don’t really care for tomatoes and I’ve been spending my energy elsewhere, so I have tons of frozen tomatoes in the freezer for chili, soup and other dishes and I’m looking forward to the end of adding to it.

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I froze the grapes from last week in hopes that we would get them again.  I’m going to make grape sorbet or jam with them.

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Onion and garlic is status quo at this point.  They’ll end up in soup or fajitas this week.

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I’ll probably use the carrot and leek in our tomato soup.  Nick had fun making it last time, so I thought I’d let him cut up veggies for it again.

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I’m going to roast the peppers and add them into a white sauce to serve over the pasta.  It’s red pepper linguini, so that should mesh nicely.

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I’ll be cooking the breakfast patties soon since we let them thaw when we were out this evening.  I’m always at a loss for egg plant.  I’ll probably roast it with onions, beets and other veggies tomorrow and see if something else inspires me.

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The potatoes will go great with our roast.  The lettuce will make a couple of good salads.

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I’m glad to see that melon season isn’t quite over.  This will be great to have around this weekend.  It’s on the larger size, but I suspect it will be gone by Monday.

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I’m hoping to cook at home a lot this weekend.  We have lots of great looking stuff to use this week.

Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 13

CSA No Responses »
Aug 292012
 

Due to some last minute travel plans for the weekend, we picked up our CSA share today.  It was our first time picking up on a Wednesday in Solon.  The pick up spot at a church was very nice.  The lot was shady and newly resurfaced.  With a busy evening that included preschool parent orientation, it was very dark when I attempted photos.  So, I’m just using one tonight.  Yes, I have nice lights, but I don’t have the energy for that tonight.

Dark overview photo:

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I think the only thing the photo really shows is how big a large share is.  I’m continually impressed with a what we receive for our value each week.

Here’s what we received:

  • 1 bunch Cylindra beets
  • 1 quart whole milk yogurt
  • 1 acorn squash
  • 1 pint blackberries
  • 1 bag mixed peppers
  • 1 lb. red fortune plums
  • 2 lbs. Roma tomatoes
  • 1 kohlrabi
  • 1 bunch collards
  • 6 ears sweet corn
  • 1 ball fresh mozzarella cheese
  • 2 frozen pizza dough balls
  • 1 pint heirloom tomato sauce
  • A handful hot Hungarian peppers
  • Approx. 1.5 lbs. heirloom tomatoes
  • concord grapes

Originally, we were going to get a spaghetti squash and not have grapes.  You can’t argue with mother nature.  We’ll see squash soon.

This is a crazy week for us as we are leaving town for a few days tomorrow.  So, all of our food needs to be cooked, eaten, froze, or packed so that we don’t lose any of our items.

I have some beets already in the fridge.  I’m going to make Harvard beets and freeze them.  I’ve never frozen that recipe before, but a quick Google search tells me that it’s possible.

We love the yogurt and are fully stocked.  I’m glad it has good dates.  I’ll be taking one container with us in our cooler.

I love winter squash season as much as melon season.  I’ll roast this acorn squash, make puree and freeze it.  It would probably last if I just waited until we got home from our trip, but I’d rather just take care of it now.

The plums and blackberries will come with us on our trip if they last that long.  I’m going to freeze the peppers, tomatoes, collards and corn.  I’ll blanch and chop as needed.  I’m hoping to make the grapes into a usable concentrate for sorbet.  Then, I’ll freeze it.

I’ll use the pizza dough, sauce and cheese to make some pizza for lunch tomorrow and maybe dinner on the road.  The dough was already thawing before I got to it, so I need to use it up.

Whew!  I need to get busy.  We’re leaving at 12:30pm tomorrow and I still need to pack too.

Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 11

CSA No Responses »
Aug 172012
 

This marks week 11 of our Fresh Fork Market CSA.  It’s hard to believe that we are 1/2 way through the season.

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.

Fresh Fork CSA–week 16

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Sep 152011
 

Today, we once again headed to Beachwood High School to pick up our Fresh Fork CSA share.

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

Small CSA:

  • 1 pint mixed color cherry tomatoes
  • 1 package chicken sausage (4 links, 1.25 lbs.)
  • 1 dz. pastured chicken eggs
  • 1 bunch carrots with tops
  • 1 bunch turnip greens
  • 2 ct. green bell peppers
  • 2 ct. poblano chili peppers
  • 1.5 lbs. Stanley plums
  • Either 1 hd. broccoli or 1 stalk of celery

Here’s a group shot of share:

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We were down to 1 egg in our fridge, so we were glad to see these.  We went plum picking this week and the plum-apple sauce turned out great, so I am making another batch.

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We were gifted a bunch of peppers this week, so I am chopping and freezing away.

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The chicken sausage went straight to the freezer.  Trevor included several ideas for the turnip greens in the newsletter.  Basically, I’ll make them like my Swiss chard and they should be tasty.  I’ll probably have them for lunch tomorrow since they are taking up room in the fridge.

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The broccoli looks delicious.  Nick and Sally and I will enjoy it with dinner tomorrow.  We got Heirloom tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes.  I got a couple of extra since mine were bad last week.  I’m going to clean/chop and freeze them with some other tomatoes for a later sauce.

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My kids couldn’t get enough carrots last week, so they eat these at lunch for a couple of days.  I’m not sure they will even last through 2 meals.

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Since I am on vacation next week and the week after, I spent a few of my credit dollars today.  I put them on my account and it will be a wash over time.  I picked up yogurt ($5), corn chips (2 @ $3.50) and a Camembert cheese ($8).  So, I “spent” $20.

I bought yogurt at the grocery store earlier this week since we were out.  I screwed up and bought vanilla.  Yuck, it’s full of sugar and I can’t use it for cooking.  I really like my newly found whole wheat dough recipe and it calls for yogurt.  I like to keep the ingredients on hand.  I was super excited to see the corn chips back.  The truck hasn’t had them for sale lately.  They are the best corn chips I’ve ever had.  One bag was opened in the car.  I bought 2 bags so there would still be some with Stephen gets back from his trip.

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Today and tomorrow I am preserving food and packing for my trip.  I’m trying to avoid too much last minute craziness on Sunday.