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A Fresh Fork Market Thanksgiving Package

Nov 232011

While I picked up my regular share yesterday, I also picked up a Thanksgiving package from my Fresh Fork CSA. There were 3 to pick from and I choose package number 1. I debated whether to get a package since we don’t usually cook Thanksgiving dinner. We go to my uncle’s house. I discussed it with my husband and we decided to try it out. Let’s just say we will be eating well for a couple of weeks.

Here’s a group shot of what we received. It was hard to get everything in one photo!

We were expecting the following:

Package 1 Contents:

Tom Turkey
Apple Pie
Sweet Potato Pie
Beets
Carrots
Candy Onions
Sweet Potatoes
Red Norland Potatoes
Shallots
Garlic
Dinner Rolls
Turnips
Cauliflower
Lettuce
Bread for Stuffing
Eggs
Winter Squash Mix
Cornmeal
Pie Pumpkin
Frozen Ohio Sweet Corn
Bacon
Braising Greens
Apple Cider
Apples
White Spelt Flour

Let’s take a closer look.

The pies look awesome. The apple pie is made with Ohio apples and came from Humble Pie Baking. It came with instructions for a little bit of additional baking time before serving. We are taking it with us to my uncle’s house. The sweet potato pie came from Lucky’s Café. We didn’t need the pie at my uncle’s house and I didn’t need a whole pie here. So, I sent it to work with my husband this morning sans a piece. The kids and I shared a piece with lunch. It is one of the best pies that I ever tasted! I’m extra glad that it went to work with my husband today.

We hardly ever by grocery store eggs. The farm fresh ones are so good. We also like knowing where they came from. We were almost out of eggs until our delivery. We’ll use some in our waffles this weekend, my sweet potatoes for tomorrow, hard boil some and use some for regular everyday cooking. The frozen corn is a new item. This corn was frozen this summer when it was in season. I just popped it in our freezer. We probably won’t try it for a week or two as we make our way through our fresh items.

The bacon is always great. I just put it in the freezer. We’ll use some with our stuffing recipe and some with our greens. If there is any left, we’ll crumble it on our salad. We were out of apples and already have eaten some on our oatmeal for breakfast. These won’t last long in our house.

We received whole wheat flour instead of spelt. Either is fine with us. We use almost all whole wheat flour in our house, so the change was welcome. We tried a couple of rolls with dinner last night. They were very tasty and buttery. We put the rest in the freezer. My kids love bread and these will be easy to give them with lunches.

Winter squash is one of my favorite foods. It’s so versatile and delicious. These should store well and are not on my immediate radar to use up. This bread looks great. It’s intended for stuffing, but I have a feeling it may become French toast or squash inspired bread pudding instead. For now, it’s in the freezer.

The lettuce is super fresh. Some went to work for my husband’s lunch. The rest will probably be served with dinner. These heads of garlic are HUGE! We are in garlic overload this year. I’m not sure why we have so much, but if I can’t get it used soon, I’ll chop and freeze it. I mostly just need to remember to put it into dishes.

I enjoy cooking with shallots. They have a milder flavor than onions and compliment other flavors well. For now, these are being stored in our basement. Turnips will probably go into soup. I don’t have a great go to recipe for them yet.

Our local, pasture raised turkey came to us fresh from Martha’s farm. This bird weighed in at 22.8 pounds. They were just processed on Monday. Since we aren’t cooking Thanksgiving dinner and I’m interested in trying a turkey sausage recipe, we are freezing our bird in several pieces. I’ll be making some of it for dinner tonight and we’ll get many meals out of this big bird. The braising greens will get sautéed as a side in the next couple of days.

The corn meal is a great pantry item. Nick loves corn muffins and we haven’t made them much lately. They’ll be a great use for some of this corn meal, eggs and whole wheat flour. The carrots look super fresh. Everyone in our house likes carrots and we’re having them for dinner tonight.

Cauliflower is so easy for us to use. Everyone likes it. I usually do it plain, with a few seasoning or in a simple au gratin recipe. With a head here and in our regular pickup, maybe we’ll have it three different ways this week. With the beets, I’ll make a small batch of Harvard beets.

We’ll be having our fill of mashed sweet potato casserole tomorrow, so these will probably get baked into fries for lunch one day next week. The kids love them with Ozark blend and cinnamon spices.

After I got home and sorted out all of our goodies,

I realized that we were missing or short on a few items. We were missing onions, potatoes, pie pumpkin and apple cider. We were short some apples and cornmeal. A quick email to the great guys at Fresh Fork and they’ll remedy it at the next pickup. I was given an option to pick it up at another site today, but I’m in no rush. We have plenty to last us for a while.

Our pick up was not the best yesterday. It was extra busy with the regular shares, holiday packages, turkeys, pies and LOTS OF RAIN. We had to wait for a while, but everyone in line was chatting and taking it in stride. Even the kids just liked running around in the rain.

The food always tastes amazing and the people who work the truck are super nice. I already can’t wait to see what they offer for Christmas. Berkshire ham anyone?

Geauga Family Farms Winter CSA–week 2

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Nov 122011

Today was our pick up for week 2 of the winter Geauga Family Farms CSA. We had a full schedule for today and I just ran up to St. Noel without the kids to pick it up first thing this morning.

Here’s a group shot of what we received:

Potatoes, bok choy

Radishes, beets

Acorn squash, apples

1/2 dozen eggs, 2 small heads of lettuce

Dozen of chocolate chip cookies

We have quite a supply of potatoes at the moment. I’ll be rotating these into our storage and trying to make a couple of potato recipes this week. I’m thinking that some kind of Shepard’s pie may be in order. The last time we got bok choy, I cooked it in the crock pot with Asian spices (ginger and sesame oil) and served it to my husband with soba noodles and pork. He liked it. The rest of the family isn’t big on the sesame flavor.

We’re going to roast radishes this week. We’re also going to make Harvard beets. I think I have 2 bunches of both in the fridge right now.

Acorn squash is one of my favorite squash. I’ve been making a rue and adding squash puree and seasonings for use over whole wheat pasta. It will be lunch a couple of days this week.

We’re still using apples in our oatmeal everyday while the season is still here.

We were out of eggs and I’m cooking my dish ahead for Thanksgiving tomorrow so the eggs will disappear quickly. The lettuce will be eaten with salad.

The cookies are GONE!

Looks like another week of great, fresh, local food!

Geauga Family Farms Winter CSA–week 1

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Nov 052011

Today was our first pickup for our winter Geauga Family Farms CSA. For the 6 week winter program, our pick up is on Saturday at St. Noel church in Willoughby. For the most part, this works well for us although there is the occasional time when we have other plans on Saturday and would prefer not to bother.

Here’s a group shot of what we received:

2 types of lettuce

Sweet potatoes, green onions

Lacinato blue kale, wheat bread

Daikon radish, green bell pepper

Cabbage, acorn squash

We’ll enjoy the lettuce in salads this week. We have some other salad greens as well and they will mix nicely together. We can’t get enough sweet potatoes. Lately, I’ve just been slicing and baking them. We have been using the onions and pepper in unstuffed cabbage and will make that again this week.

By the way, I had no idea we had lacinato blue kale. I was able to check with the farm reps and get a speedy reply! I’ll probably cook it like my other greens. I usually saute them with garlic, onions, peppers and a splash of balsamic vinegar.

The Daikon radish always stumps me. We’ve made “chips” and soup before. I’ll have to see what strikes me this week.

I was surprised that we didn’t get eggs. I thought we were going to get a dozen eggs and a baked good each week. I’m guessing that with the abundance of other items still available that we will get eggs some of the future weeks. I’ve been enjoying the local eggs, but I wasn’t out yet.

It looks like a great week!

Geauga Family Farms CSA–week 20–the final week

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Oct 252011

Today was our last visit to Whole Foods to pick up our 2011 summer CSA. Just about every week, we were greeted by Andrew. He usually works in the kitchen in the morning, but somehow ended up with the Tuesday afternoon CSA gig most of the summer. He was super nice to everyone, especially Nick and Sally.

The photos are dark again this week. Maybe I can figure out some evening lighting for next year. Here’s the group shot for this week.

Let’s take a closer look:

Green onions, green beans

Red Russian Kale, bell peppers

Butternut squash, lettuce

Radishes, apples

Sweet potatoes, tomatoes

Garlic

We’ve been going through a ton of apples this year. Between morning oats, snacks and applesauce, I can’t keep them in the house. We went picking for the last time this year, but I was still glad to see apples in our pick up today.

I still have some cabbage in our fridge. I’ll be making another batch of unstuffed cabbage in the crockpot Thursday. It will use the garlic, tomatoes, bell peppers, and green onion. I love having a recipe that uses many CSA ingredients and is also flexible.

My kids have been asking for sweet potatoes the last couple of days. I usually slice them, season them and bake them. They disappear quickly with a bit of ketchup for dipping.

Lettuce and some radishes will go in lunch salads. The rest of the radishes will go into turnip soup. The green beans make an easy side dish.

I’m not quite sure about the squash yet. I’m thinking about making some butternut squash soup, but I’m not sure of the timing since I need to make turnip soup first.

It’s supposed to get cold this week. I’m glad we have some hearty items that go well with ovens and soup. It’s been a fun season. I’m already excited about the winter CSA.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–week 19

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Oct 182011

Today, we picked up week 19 of our Geauga Family Farms CSA. It’s hard to believe that next week is the last week. This was our worst pick up ever. It really had nothing to do with the CSA. Sally decided to run from the café area all the way to the parking lot without any regard to cars or traffic. There weren’t cars and she’s ok and I’m ok, but it was rough. Nick tried to grab her hood twice. It slowed her down enough for me to catch up with her. There was another adult near her, so I think she would have intervened if necessary. But, you never know! Sally’s now in the cart or holding my hand at all times. Usually, we do that in the parking lot and approaching parking lots, but we never needed to do it leaving the café the other weeks.

Some of the photos are dark this week. I blame it on the time of year. It’s so dark early right now that we don’t have natural light. Anyway, we picked up lots of yummy looking produce, so let’s take a look:

Tomatoes, lettuce

Beets and either beets or radishes. I don’t think I’ll know about the ones on the right until we taste them or cook them. I have gotten them mixed up in the past. I thought they were beets until I dug further in the boxes and found the beets on the left. Hmmmmmm….

Bell peppers, butternut squash

Bok choy, apples

Onions, garlic

Green beans, spinach

By the end of the season, I really feel like I have the hang of this. The tomatoes will go into a cabbage dish. We’re still working on 2 heads that we got from our other CSA last week. We’ll also use some onion, bell pepper and garlic in that dish.

The green beans have been fantastic lately. They will be a plain side dish. I’ve been using the spinach in pasta dishes. It adds flavor and color.

The lettuce and possibly bok choy will go in salads. Otherwise, I’ll make a stir fry with the bok choy. We were actually out of apples, so these will go in my coleslaw and my oatmeal.

Winter squash will get baked and eaten for lunch a couple of days.

That leaves the beets and radishes or beets as the case may be. My favorite recipe for beets is to make Harvard beets. I’ve been using radishes in salads or pickling them. These will probably go in salad.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–week 18

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Oct 112011

Today, we picked up week 18 of our Geauga Family Farms CSA. That means there are 2 weeks left. Everyone is a bit off since the season started late due to all of the early rain. Andrew was back and seemed surprised that everyone missed him.

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.

Fresh Fork CSA–week 12

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Aug 182011

Originally, we were going to be “on vacation” from week 12 of our Fresh Fork CSA. But, our plans changed and we were able to cancel our vacation and pick up our share. Next, I’ll need to place an extra order to use the funds from our week 10 vacation.

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

Small CSA:

1 pint blackberries
1 quart yogurt
1 lb. nitrate free bacon from Berkshire hogs
Approx. 1.5 lbs.slicing tomatoes
1 head leaf lettuce
3 lbs. new potatoes, red norland or yukon gold variety
1 bunch swiss chard or 1 bunch chiogga beets (candy cane striped beets)
1 pint heirloom cherry tomatoes
Approx. 1.5 lbs. peaches

Here’s a group shot:

We picked 1 bushel of tomatoes today, so these will get added to that bounty for canning. This is a “fluffy” variety of lettuce and looks extra fresh. I can’t wait to have it on a salad tomorrow.

When I left for Mom’s Night Out, Nick was asking for more blackberries. I haven’t checked the fridge to see if they made it past dinner. This yogurt is turning into a family favorite. And, we had been having cottage cheese this week, so it’s nice to have more yogurt in the house. We’ve been sweetening it up with a bit of homemade jam. I also use it in my overnight oats.

I just finished processing my peaches from the peck that we picked on Saturday. I still have to make the jam with the peaches that I skinned this morning. These peaches will soften up in a day or two and be great as a snack or in my oatmeal. We are stocked with cherry tomatoes at the moment. We got a pint at our pick up on Tuesday and it’s one of the items that has survived in our garden. I’m not a fan of the texture of raw tomatoes, but Nick and my husband both like them. I just need to remember to serve them!

We haven’t really had potatoes much lately. I can’t decide between mashed potatoes to go with some Fresh Fork pork that is thawing in the fridge or German Potato Salad. We have some other beets in the fridge, so I will combine them and probably make our standard Harvard Beets. I think there was a choice between beets and Swiss Chard and I asked for beets so we could make a decent amount for a dinner side one night.

Lastly, we got bacon. So, this week was themed BLTs, but I’m not sure if they will appear on our menu or not. I did recently read about cooking bacon in the over on a rack and I just might have to try that with this bacon.

I think this is an easy week for us and that the items are easy to use and store. It’s a good thing because we have a few other items from Tuesday to use up and have a busy weekend coming up.

Geauga Family Farms–week 10

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Aug 162011

Today was the 10th pick up for the Geauga Family Farms CSA. This week’s share was similar to last week’s share.

Here’s what we received:

Let’s take a closer look.

Cherry tomatoes, carrots

Lettuce and more lettuce

Watermelon, cantaloupe

Green bell peppers, broccli

Yellow squash, eggplant

Cucumber, zucchini (yes it looks funny, but it is a variety of zucchini)

HOT peppers, slicing tomatoes

Peaches, green beans

We got 3 different types of fruit. That is pretty odd for our CSA, but we love fruit. Most of the items this week will be easy to use. The fruit will disappear in a couple of days.

One pepper and the cucumber will go into salad along with the lettuce. We ate the broccoli for dinner tonight. The beans will make a great side dish to our meal tomorrow. Carrots, eggplant and squash feel like staples in our house, so we’ll be making a quiche or lasagna to use them up soon.

Then, there are the hot peppers. If there is one item that I wish we didn’t get, it would be the hot peppers. I just haven’t found a good use for them yet. But, I am determined. I’ll keep you all posted!

Geauga Family Farms–week 9

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Aug 092011

Today was the 9th pick up for the Geauga Family Farms CSA. It’s hard to believe that we are almost half way through the season. Today’s bounty was heavy! The season’s first watermelons have arrived.

Here’s a group photo of what we received:

Let’s take a closer look.

Cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes

Peaches, beets

Green peppers, hot peppers

Eggplant, yellow squash

Cucumber, lettuce

Lettuce, yellow wax beans

Parsley, watermelon

I think we have entered my favorite part of the season. I love melons! I was glad to see lettuce since we were almost out. I’ve put my parsley in water. I think some parsley potatoes or salad dressing may be in order. The squash, cucumber and peppers will probably go into a wheat or rye berry cold salad for dinner tomorrow night. We eat at Wade Oval near the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and it’s challenging to make cold CSA food. I’m getting better as the season progresses.

I’m going to remove the skins from the peaches, slice and freeze them for oatmeal. One of my favorite ways to have oatmeal is with peaches. I’ll be sure to save a couple of peaches for Thursday. I’m expecting basil in my CSA pick on Thursday and I want to try my version of this dressing recipe from The Chubby Cook. I’m going to make the same recipe, but use an extra peach. I sampled it at Whole Foods on Sunday and it was tasty.

I haven’t found any great ways to use hot peppers since I don’t care for spicy dishes and I like the kids to be able to eat anything that I prepare. Usually, they get chopped and frozen and I use them sparingly as I make taco meat, pulled pork and chili throughout the winter.

I usually make Harvard beets whenever we get beets. At dinner tonight, my son was content to eat beets and watermelon for dinner. That made me very happy!

All in all, it should be a great week!

Geauga Family Farms–week 7

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Jul 262011

Today, we had the week 7 pick up for the Geauga Family Farms CSA. Since it was the 4th Tuesday and there was a farm visit this evening, my husband picked up our share. Even though we had the list of what could be in our share earlier today, it’s really a surprise when you actually see it.

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!

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