Here’s what we received in our bag this week:

Here’s what we were expecting this week:

Winter Week 2:

• 1 bone in pork shoulder roast, approx. 4 lbs.
• 1 half lb. bag hard neck garlic
• 1 bunch carrots with tops
• 3 lbs. sweet potatoes
• 1 head cabbage
• 1 bag broccoli shoots
• 1 bunch collard greens
• 1 bunch mustard greens

I’m going to bake the sweet potatoes and add them to my stash for Thanksgiving.  We’ll get 4 pounds in our package, but I need more than that for our crowd.  I’m adding cabbage to our stuffing, so some of this red head will be used for that.  I’m probably going to braise the rest.

This is a ton of garlic.  I still have plenty of garlic frozen.  I’ll need to get more creative and/or remember to use it more often.  The pork roast is a bit on the small side.  I am planning on making pulled pork with it.  I need an easy crock pot meal tomorrow.  My in-laws are coming to visit and we aren’t sure of their arrival time, so I need something that will be ready and waiting.

I’ve been using the collards in fajitas or taco filling.  It’s a good gluten free item, so I’ll be making that while my brother in law is in town this weekend.  Carrots don’t last long in our house.  The kids will probably eat these at lunch one day this week.

We’ll cook the broccoli as a side soon as well.  The mustard greens worked well in quiche the last time we received them, so I’ll be doing that with them again.

This is my first time receiving broccoli shoots.  We don’t get many new items since I’ve been doing CSAs for 4 years.  I’m wondering if they are suppose to have some “mini” broccoli crowns.  They look a lot like collards, but the photos that I’ve been looking at on line leave me thinking these are broccoli greens.  I’ll probably chop them up with the collards since the greens cook down so much.

I seriously need to spend a few hours in the kitchen tomorrow.  I need room to put the turkey away on Tuesday or Wednesday.  I don’t even know what day I’m picking mine up yet.  I don’t hate green weeks anymore, but they are bulky.

Hmmm…. I’m going to ask the guys at Fresh Fork about the last green. I’m now thinking the broccoli might be the shoots from doing more reading. More to come!

Here’s what we were expecting to receive:

• 1 head Napa cabbage
• 1 8 oz. chunk pepper Havarti
• 1 bunch mustard greens
• 1 lb. black beans
• 1 half lb. mixed greens
• 1 head broccoli
• 1 acorn squash
• 1 half gallon apple cider
• 1 quarter peck Empire Red apples
• 1 bunch collard greens
• 1 butternut squash
• 2 ct. red peppers
• 1 head cauliflower
• 1 head leaf lettuce
• 1 package, 1.25 lb., Andouille sausage (Smokey, Spanish sausage)

I roasted lots of butternut squash this week.  I think I’ll save this one for a few days and then try the squash/bean burritos that I read about last week.

The local broccoli is always delicious.  I’ll use it for a side dish soon.  I love that we received purple cauliflower.  It is really bright and fun!

Pepper cheese is not usually my favorite, but this cheese is really good.  I’m probably going to have it with eggs.  The lettuce is very crisp looking and also a really small head.  It will make one individual salad.

I haven’t made my stuff acorn squash yet this season.  This might just be the week for it.  The peppers will get chopped for salads.

Apples tend to disappear without any work.  We put the sausage in the freezer.  I see some more of the sweet potato hash in our future.  The kids thought it was too spicy, but Stephen and I can eat it for lunches.

I’m too tired to think much about the greens.  I read up on mustard greens, so I am a little less afraid of them.  But, I still don’t know what my plan will be.  We get these bagged mixed greens often, so I need to figure out a way to use them.  I just think they are bitter.

I’ll probably chop the collards and cook them with taco meat.  I have no idea about the Napa cabbage, so I need to look at that one on line.

I’m surprised that the cider has been here for several hours and is still unopened.  Nick, Sally and Stephen will love it.  It’s too sweet for me.

Weeks like this leave me in awe with the huge variety of items that we can obtain locally.

I have a full day tomorrow and then Sunday will be “use the greens day”.

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

• 1 lb. city chicken (cubed Berkshire pork)
• 1 head broccoli
• 1 bunch turnips
• 1 spaghetti squash
• A handful Croatian peppers
• 1 bunch beets
• 1 bunch mustard greens
• 1 head cabbage
• 1 bunch kale
• 1 head cauliflower
• 1 lb. bulk Italian Sausage
• Approx. 1 lb. onions
• 8 oz. piece smoked cheddar cheese

We actually had our choice of the city chicken or a pork tenderloin.  We haven’t had tenderloin in ages and I had never had city chicken.  I ended up buying one as an extra.  The Italian sausage I cooked up to go with some pasta for dinner tonight.

Turnips are hard for me, but I’ve been perusing some new recipes.  Cabbage is always welcome in our house.  I’ll probably make unstuffed cabbage this week.

Local broccoli is one of my favorites.  It will probably be part of tomorrow’s dinner.  I’ll use the peppers in quiche or chili this week.

I’m going to prep the greens by sautéing all of them in the morning.  That way they will be easy to add to quiche, eggs or other dishes throughout the week.

I’ll probably include the onion when I sauté.

The smoked cheddar will go into quiche or perhaps some butternut squash burritos that I was just reading about.  We ate most of the cauliflower at dinner tonight.  The left over will be part of lunch tomorrow.

I love winter squash, but spaghetti squash is not my favorite.  I must research a new way to prepare it.  We are still finishing up our last two.

I missed apples this week.  Hopefully, Stephen will be taking the kids picking tomorrow and we can make some applesauce this week.  Last year, we canned many quarts and still didn’t have enough to get through the winter months.

Usually, we get a list of what to expect at our pick up on Tuesday.  This week it came on Wednesday.  This was due to changes that had to occur due to the storms.  I live in Mayfield Heights and we didn’t really have much in the way of rain Monday, but south of here was hit really hard.  It is devastating to farmers to have too much or too little rain.

Here’s what we were expecting today.

Small CSA:

• 1 bunch multi-color Swiss chard
• 1 pint maple syrup
• 1 package boneless pork chops, approximately 1 lb. each package
• 1 quarter peck Lodi apples (5-6 apples)
• Approx. 1.5 lbs. cling peaches
• 1 candy onion
• 1 bunch mustard greens
• 1 pound beans, either green, purple, dragon tongue, or yellow
• 2 slicing cucumbers

Here’s what we received:

The Lodi apples look great.  They are the first apples of the season in our area.  The maple syrup leaked and created a sticky mess.

These are the mustard greens.  I don’t think I ever had them before.

Dragon beans – another new item for us!

So, our list was dead on this week and our only surprise was that we didn’t get to see Mr. Robert (that’s what Nick calls the guy at the truck).  We also didn’t pay for the cream cheese yet, but I’ll get a price this week.  This is our first week without squash or tomatoes.  It’s fine by us as we enjoy the variety.

Most of these items will be easy for us to use.  I’ll probably start with the Swiss chard since we got it in both of our CSAs this week, so it’s taking up room in our fridge!  Friday and Saturday are about using up the perishables and bulk so we can be more organized the rest of the week.