I’m starting to recognize the weather based on our bags.  It’s October and getting cooler.  We’re seeing more greens again and the start of more winterish crops like potatoes, rutabagas and cabbage.

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

• 1 head either savoy green cabbage or red cabbage (smaller heads)
• 1 bunch kale
• 1 to 2 rutabagas with tops, depending on size (some are rather large)
• 3# bag red Norland potatoes
• Approx. 1# onion
• 1 head cauliflower
• 1 8 oz. piece goat gouda
• 1 lb. Spelt Flour and Rosemary Linguini
• 2# Roma tomatoes
• 1 bunch Swiss chard
• 1 package sirloin pork chops, approx. 1.5#
• 1 carving pumpkin or bag of corn chips

It’s definitely the end of tomato season.  These are the “good” side of these Romas.  I have a couple that aren’t going to be usable.  We’ll be making mashed rutabaga/potatoes or creamy soup with those ingredients.

We ate the cauliflower for dinner with the pasta.  It was tasty.  It had one bad spot so I wanted to wash, cook and eat it quickly.

I’m a little behind on cooking our cabbage.  This will be a 2 head consumption week!

I’ll chop and add the onion to the “unstuffed cabbage recipe I hope to put in the crockpot tomorrow.  The small sweet peppers were a nice surprise.  I might stuff them with the red pepper Havarti from last week and roast them in the oven.

We had a choice between pumpkins and chips.  We took the chips since we already have a pumpkin.  If I could find some mild black bean and corn salsa from Blaze, we’d be all set.  The pork will probably get baked for a meal this weekend.

I’m not sure what to use the Gouda for.  It’s probably going to be enjoyed in its own so we can taste the flavors.  I don’t think I’ve ever had goat Gouda before.  We also have more greens this week.  Swiss chard and kale.  I’m pretty sure the Swiss chard will go into the Andouille sausage/sweet potato dish similar to what we made last week.

I haven’t decided on a use for the kale yet.  We may have another quiche in the cue for this week.  That’s one of my go to dishes when I don’t know what to do with a green.

It’s hard to believe that next week is the last week for summer.  I’m glad there no break before the winter CSA starts!  I’m also starting to think about getting a turkey.  We don’t host Thanksgiving at our house, but last year I bought a package anyway since we like many of the ingredients.  It was just a bit too much food at our house all at once.  If I buy a turkey, I’d cut it up and freezer the parts and probably also make some turkey sausage.  I need to decide soon.  Turkey deliveries are three and a half weeks away.

What a pretty bag!

Here’s what we were expecting this week:

• 1 piece Mayfield Road Creamery “Bloomfield,” a brie style cheese
• 1 lb. raw honey
• 1 bunch Swiss chard
• 1 bunch carrots with tops
• 1 bunch radishes
• 1 bag mixed greens, can be used for braising or salad greens
• 1 head speckled romaine lettuce (it will have brown spots…that is how it should be)
• 1/2 dz. ears sweet corn
• 1 quarter peck gala apples
• 1 butternut squash (2 if they are small…but that’s doubtful based on what I’ve seen)
• 1 pint mixed color cherry tomatoes
• 2.5 lbs. Roma tomatoes
• 2 zucchini/squash
• Approx. 1 lb. onions
• 1 head broccoli
• A handful Croatian sweet peppers

We received everything exactly as listed.  I’ll probably just use the Swiss chard in a quiche.  We haven’t had it in a while and I plan to be home on Sunday, so it’s a good day to make it.  I’ll probably use some other veggies in it as well.  The kids are excited to see the carrots, so they’ll make an easy side dish for lunch one day this week.  I usually just cook them and sprinkle a bit of cinnamon on them.

I have plenty of eggs and think some zucchini muffins are in order.  The corn is going to need cooked today, so I’ll be adding it to tonight’s dinner.

I haven’t decided on a specific use for the Brie, but I’m sure it will disappear.  We use honey as our regular sweetener.  This will mostly go into tea and muffins.

I’m going to make some sauce this week and use the onion, peppers and tomatoes.  We also picked tomatoes from our garden, so we have plenty.

We’ve been eating the apples as they come.  I’m going to try to source some additional ones for sauce this week.  Winter squash is my favorite.  I’ll probably make soup with this butternut squash.

The speckled lettuce and radishes will go into salads.  The broccoli is part of tonight’s dinner.

I’m determined to tackle braising greens this winter.  We’ll see these often and I never can get away from the bitterness.  I am going to conquer them.  I’m open to ideas.

Hopefully, our schedule will start to calm down this week and I’ll be able to cook a bit more in the kitchen soon.  Lately, our meals have been thrown together based on what’s handy.  It works, but I miss some of the more complex dishes.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Here is what we received in this week’s Geauga Family Farms CSA small share.

First up are the tomatoes, in regular size and cherry. In fact, some of these cherry tomatoes are so small that they may count as the “grape” variety.

Next, some onions and a bell pepper. The onions are strong. I could smell them as soon as I opened the bag.

Corn and cabbage…

And finally, a head of lettuce and a medium watermelon.

The forecast is for a break from this unusually cool August now that these peppers have arrived to heat things up…

I love this time of year!

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.

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.

Here’s what we received in our single share:

lettuce, patty pan squash

green pepper, onion

cherry tomatoes, potatoes

green beans, fennel

I was quite happy to see lettuce in the share this week.  We’ve been out since Saturday.  We’ll roast the patty pan squash and stuff it for lunch one day soon.  I like to use some sausage, rice or egg and veggies in a stuffing.

The green pepper will go into our salad and also be used for snacking.  I’m going to probably just chop up the onion and freeze it.  The cherry tomatoes will go to lunch with Stephen the next couple of days.  I’ll probably make some mashed potatoes and green beans for dinner tomorrow.

In 4 years of doing different CSA programs, I received fennel for the first time today.  I’m anxious to read a little about it and pick out a good recipe or two.  I’m hoping that I can find something with ingredients that I already have on hand so I can use it tomorrow!

Other than the fennel, this is a pretty straight forward week.  I’m hoping for fruit next week!

Here’s what we received this week:

cherry tomatoes, blueberries

tomato, squash (yellow squash and zucchini)

cucumber, onion

lettuce, cauliflower

green beans, basil

Stephen and Nick will probably eat all of the cherry tomatoes tomorrow.  I’m glad that’s one item that I never have to worry about.  We are also going to get some out of our garden this year.  We’re psyched about that.  The blueberries made me smile.  I picked 7 pounds of blueberries today, so this container doesn’t seem like much to me.  I froze most of what I picked already.  These will be used on cereal at breakfast or snacks tomorrow.  Nick is in camp this week and has to pack a snack and lunch.  I’ve been trying to give him as many good local items as possible.

I’m going to try squash chips with the squash this week.  I’ve read a few recipes on line and will create my own version of them.  I hope that I can get enough moisture out of them to make them crunchy.  The tomato and lettuce will go in salads.  The cucumber will be chopped up for snacks.

We have quite a bit of onion at the moment.  I’ll try to make fajitas this week.  We still have pepper strips frozen that need used up anyway.  I’m in the mood for homemade whole wheat tortillas so that will work out well.

We’ll have the cauliflower as a side dish one day this week.  We had the beans with dinner tonight.  They were absolutely delicious and there’s just enough left to put a few in Stephen’s lunch tomorrow.

The basil looks a bit tired, but I’m sure it will be tasty. I’m going to make a vinaigrette dressing with it.

I haven’t really tried many actual recipes lately.  I’m planning to carve out some more time for cooking in the next couple of weeks.  I feel like I’m still adjusting from being away on vacation.  I’m already looking forward to next week’s share.

Parsley… what to do with it? Several times a summer, our CSAs present us with big bunches of parsley. It is far more than one might want for garnish or flavoring. We could dry it, but dried parsley doesn’t keep its flavor as well as other herbs do. As a lover of world foods, though, one thing comes to my mind when I see a big bunch of parsley: Tabouli!

Tabouli is a middle eastern salad of parsley, mint leaves, and bulgur. The versions I made in our kitchen this summer were always from items at hand, so mine may not be particularly authentic. In any event, it is a light and refreshing dish, perfect for a summer evening meal.

Here is how I make Tabouli. It is a forgiving dish. I recommend measurement-free cooking for it.

1 large bunch of parsley. Flat parsley is best. A mix of flat and curly will work. Curly alone makes an odd texture and inferior flavor.

1 handful of fresh peppermint leaves. I usually aim for anything from 2-to-1 to 4-to-1 of parsley to mint, by volume. It depends on how much parsley we have and how much mint there is to harvest in our garden. I tried spearmint and can’t recommend it. Garden mint would probably be good.

2-3 small tomatoes or 1-2 larger ones, chopped. It is possible to put in too much tomato. A green-to-red ratio like Christmas holly is about right.

1/2 to 2 cups of a grain, cooked. Traditionally, this should be bulgur wheat. I’ve used couscous (not a success), quinoa (pretty tasty), and wheat berries (good flavor, but a bit chewy).

1 clove garlic, finely minced, and/or some onion, chopped

olive oil — extra virgin is nice, but any variety will work.

Combine the parsley and mint leaves, then chop them up finely. I like the texture best with pieces about 1/16″ in size. A food processor is the best way to do this. I’ve tried doing it by hand and don’t have the patience to get the pieces small enough.

Add the tomatoes and grain, as well as the onions or garlic.

Drizzle with olive oil and toss. Add olive oil if needed in order to get the leaves lightly coated, but not drenched.

Refrigerate until serving, and enjoy.

Lyn, Nick and Sally do not care for tabouli, which means I get to keep it to myself. It keeps fairly well for a few days  in the fridge, so I can enjoy a batch in a few days of packed lunches.

It’s easy to make this a local-foods dish. Olive oil isn’t produced locally, but all of the other ingredients are available from growers near us. In fact, the herbs and tomatoes may be in your garden already!

As you can see, you need not fear a big bunch of parsley in your CSA box. Instead, whip up a batch of tabouli and enjoy a delicious summer treat.

Here’s what we received:

Let’s take a closer look.

Zucchini, cucumber

Eggplant, cabbage

Onion, yellow squash

Tomatoes, cauliflower

Blackberries, cherry tomatoes

Hot peppers, Roma tomatoes

Basil, lettuce

Lettuce

I’m thinking that a gluten free chili mac dish might be in order when my in laws visit this weekend.  I saw all of the tomatoes and immediately thought chili or sauce.  With the chili route, I could use the onion, peppers and tomatoes in one shot.  The basil will be dried or frozen for use in sauce in the upcoming weeks.  We were almost out of lettuce, so it’s nice to be stocked up for salads.  The cabbage will go into cole slaw along with the head I have from our other CSA.  The cauliflower will get eaten for lunch tomorrow.  I’m not sure about the other ingredients.  We will make an effort to use or preserve everything by Friday night as we have company for the weekend and we don’t want anything to go bad!