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Fresh Fork Market 2012–Summer CSA–week 22

Nov 012012

Because of Sandy, our Trick or Treat was moved to tomorrow, so we decided to pick up our share today. I didn’t want to be in a rush to put it away, have dinner and have the kids ready. This is our last pick up for the summer season and also the coldest/wettest pick up. I planned a nice butternut squash soup for dinner from the freezer today. It’s a great day for soup.

Here’s a group shot of today’s pickup:

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

1 bunch carrots with tops
1 head jumbo white stem bok choy
1 lb. ground pork
1 lb. ground beef
1 head broccoli
1 butternut squash
2# turnips
1 bag salad mix, lettuce
2# bag of sauerkraut
1 quarter peck Empire apples
2 frozen pizza dough balls
1 package goat feta cheese
Baby Peppers (came in last week’s package)

The carrots will make a nice simple side dish. Everyone likes them in our house, so these won’t last long. The pork and beef is intended for meatloaf. Maybe Stephen will make his famous meatloaf this weekend. That would be delicious.

I’ve started looking at lamb recipes and found a Lamb and Feta Stuffed Cabbage recipe. I think the feta will go into that recipe soon.

We were almost out of apples again. Those will go into oatmeal. I can’t get enough winter squash. I’ll be roasting this along with pie pumpkins that I picked up today. Uses are endless.

For the first time, we received fresh sauerkraut. I’m excited to try it, but I am also glad that it will keep a while in the fridge, so there’s no hurry. This broccoli looks outstanding.

We’ll have it as a side along with pizza for dinner tomorrow. With Trick or Treat, we’ll need an easy to clean up meal. The lettuce will go into salads tomorrow or Saturday.

I’m not sure about the bok choy, but I am thinking a stir fry like we made with the Napa cabbage last week.

I don’t have any current plans for the turnips, but I am glad they will last a while. Maybe we’ll make soup later in the week.

I’ve enjoyed trying out the large package this year. I’d never go back to the small. I love the bag size for us. It worked really well. I’m not interested in the full access package. I like getting the variety in the large and then supplementing with extras as needed.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 19

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Oct 092012

Next week will be our last pick up. The summer season has flown by.

Here’s what we received today:

apples, butternut squash

huge kohlrabi, garlic

bell peppers, broccoli

lettuce

Stephen and the kids picked 49 pounds of apples on Saturday. I’m in the process of making applesauce. I’ll probably add some of the apples from the share to it for variety. I’m going to make some puree out of the butternut squash. I’m also going to try a recipe I saw for butternut squash bean burritos. I’ll use this recipe as a base, but I won’t be making them vegan. I’ll use the garlic and peppers in them too. The broccoli was a side for dinner. All that’s left is a little bit that someone can have with lunch tomorrow. The lettuce will make a nice salad. It’s so fresh and crisp. I’m going to roast the kohlrabi with some beets and radishes that I have left in the fridge. I have a chicken thawed, so I will be turning on the over in the morning to cook a couple of meals ahead. I’m picking up 1/2 lamb this week and need to make some freezer space. There will be more to come on that purchase soon.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 17

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Sep 252012

The customer service booth was gone today when we arrived at Whole Foods. I guess that aren’t quite done with the remodel. Our sign out sheet for the CSA was easy to find, so the pick up was smooth.

Here’s what we received today:

Eggplant, green beans

Leaf lettuce, tomato

Bell peppers, PIE PUMPKIN!!!

Apples, basil

I’m going to roast the eggplant as a side dish. I’ll do it when I cook the pie pumpkin. We ate the green beans for dinner tonight. I’ll be using the bell peppers in fajitas tomorrow night. Some of the basil will go into salad dressing and the rest I’m going to puree with olive oil and freeze.

The lettuce will make great salads. We were almost out. I picked tomatoes at the garden today and this one will get combined with those for the freezer.

Between the apples and pie pumpkin – I’m in heaven this week.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 16

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Sep 182012

We did a little shopping at Whole Foods before picking up our share today. I’m so glad that the store remodel is complete. Everything seems like it’s in its place. Now, we just need to learn where those places are.

Here’s what we received today:

Bok choy, lettuce

Apples, slicing tomatoes

Hot peppers, red onions

Bell peppers, red Russian kale

I’m going out of town on Thursday and won’t return until Sunday night. So, I’ll be prepping items for the freezer or cooking them for the family to eat while I am gone.

I now have two heads of bok choy. I’m going to sauté them with garlic, onion and sesame oil for Stephen. The lettuce will get eaten in salad. The apples have been popular in oatmeal and for snacking. The tomatoes are going straight to the freezer with the romas that I picked from our garden today. I’ll be making a batch of sauce for canning before our lamb comes in from the butcher at the beginning of October.

I have no desire to deal with the hot peppers, so I am sending them to work with Stephen in hopes that someone there will put them to good use. I wish we had a swap table at Whole Foods where you could take and item and leave and item. One of our other CSAs used to do that and it was great.

I’ll chop and freeze any pepper and onion left before I leave on my trip. I’m just going to blanch the kale for later use in soup. We have plenty of greens out in the fridge already.

Lately, I feel like I’m preserving more than we’re eating, but some weeks are just like that.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 14

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Sep 042012

We picked up on share in the rain today. It was pouring as we went into Whole Foods. Luckily, it had calmed down a bit when we were leaving. The store was in much better shape than last week, but they still have some work to be done. I picked up some blue cheese, grass fed beef and sandwich buns. I wasn’t sure what we’d have with the burgers until we picked up our share.

Here’s what we received:

sweet snacking peppers, lettuce

corn, green beans

zucchini, bell peppers

cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes

eggplant

So, we ended up having the corn and green beans with dinner. They were easy to fix and are bulky in the fridge.

I’ll be making chili this week. The peppers and slicing tomatoes will go into it. The lettuce and snacking peppers will make a nice salad. My husband and son will eat the cherry tomatoes. I have a recipe for pancakes that uses zucchini, so I’m going try it out with the squash.

It really comes down to the eggplant. Last time I had eggplant, I cooked it with onion, olive oil and some garlic until it was mushy and made a dip. I intend to use it as a layer in lasagna, but that hasn’t happened yet. It’s currently frozen in my freezer.

I’m ready for tomato season to end and I’m missing fruit. I’m happy with our share, but I am excited for winter squash and apple seasons to begin.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 13

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Aug 282012

We picked up our share at Whole Foods today. Turns out they are in the middle of a remodel of the whole store. It was a mess. Usually, I can easily pick up two or three things to round out our needs, but not today. There were several things on my list that weren’t worth hunting down. I’m hoping that we get fruit in our bags again soon. I know apples were hit hard this year, but I still hope we see some soon.

Here’s a shot of what we received this week:

Mixed cherry tomatoes, onions

Lettuce, mixed bell peppers

Green beans, yummy orange snacking peppers

Slicing tomatoes, patty pan squash

Beets with lovely green tops

With the holiday weekend approaching and Nick starting preschool soon, we are taking a trip this weekend. So, all of our food needs to be packed, preserved or eaten. We used two peppers, one tomato and one onion in tonight’s dinner. I sautéed them to go with some Italian sausages that I had thawed today. The other pepper was rotten and needed to be pitched. I haven’t received anything bad in a while, but it happens occasionally.

I’m going to just freeze the slicing tomatoes. The cherry tomatoes will be good snacking for Stephen and Nick. We’ll have salad using the lettuce for the next couple of days. The snacking peppers probably will be eaten tomorrow. They look delicious. The green beans will make a nice side dish for lunch tomorrow. I have some beets in the fridge already, and I’m expecting some more tomorrow. I suspect they’ll all be made into Harvard beets tomorrow night. Efficiency this week is especially important. I’ll cook the greens with some eggs for breakfast or lunch tomorrow or Thursday. I’ll probably just shred and freeze the squash.

I’m feeling lazy in the cooking department. Some weeks, there is just too much going on to cook lots of recipes. Lately, dinners have been quickly thrown together without much of a plan. I am looking forward to more of a routine in upcoming weeks and the opportunity to spend a bit more quality time in the kitchen.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 12

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Aug 212012

Is local melon season really over already? The share seemed so light this week without a tasty watermelon. Maybe we’ll get lucky and see one more next week. The week’s share is full of tasty looking items.

Peppers, green beans

Zucchini, onions

Cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes

Sweet corn, green pepper

Lettuce

I took a dehydrating class last night. I’m hoping to try out my new skills with the peppers and slicing tomatoes. We’ll have the corn and beans for dinner. This lettuce will go into salads for Stephen. It’s not my favorite variety (leathery romaine), but it won’t go to waste. I’ll pair it with some feta and cherry tomatoes an add a bit of basil balsamic vinaigrette. I currently have a mound of onions that need chopped and froze so these will get added to that project. I was hoping for zucchini since I found a recipe for cornbread that uses it. I think I’ll be making it this week.

I’m glad I get a small share early in the week. It tends to pair well with my large share that I get on Fridays. It’s hard to believe that summer is almost over.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 10

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Aug 072012

My day started by leaving at 6AM to take the kids to Niagara Falls. My mom came with us and we met up with friends. It was a great day. My pick up for the CSA was smooth, but 2 1/2 hours later than normal. My photos are a bit dark and I’m glad that I found a bit of time for this post tonight.

Here’s what we picked up today:

cantaloupe, watermelon

bell pepper, corn

onions, banana peppers

tomatoes, cherry tomatoes

lettuce

We love local melon season. We will be cutting these melons up as soon as possible so we can enjoy them. I also have a recipe from Jane Snow for cantaloupe gelatin that I am excited to try. If it works out, I’ll share more about it soon.

Our green pepper, lettuce and tomatoes will go into salad. The rest of the tomatoes will be snacks or frozen. I found a recipe for tomato jelly that I’m going to try soon. The onion and banana peppers will be chopped and frozen. We’ll have the sweet corn with dinner tomorrow.

This is a pretty easy week. It’s a good thing for us, since it’s a super busy week in our household.

Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 9

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Aug 032012

We picked up our bag in Mayfield this week without issue. I was glad to make it a quick trip and didn’t even get the kids out of the car. I’ve decided that the large is really hard to take a photo of since it’s so large. This is all of the items except the meat. I had already popped them into the freezer.

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.

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