Fresh Fork CSA–week 12

CSA 2 Responses »
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:

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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

CSA No Responses »
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:

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Let’s take a closer look.

Cherry tomatoes, carrots

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Lettuce and more lettuce

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Watermelon, cantaloupe

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Green bell peppers, broccli

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Yellow squash, eggplant

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

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HOT peppers, slicing tomatoes

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Peaches, green beans

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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!

Great Workout Today!

Exercise No Responses »
Aug 152011
 

I had 2 items on the agenda today.  They included a workout and peach canning.

First up was the workout.  The kids and I headed to the J.  I rode the E Spinner for 15 minutes and worked on triceps.  Then, I foundChaya for and chatted 30 minutes while I did the elliptical.  I ended with some misc. weights for biceps and shoulders.

I feel good about the workout, but I need to write out my workout plan ahead of time.  I feel like I need to push myself more when I have solo workouts.  I was happy with my cardio today.

Next was peaches!  I’ve canned 14 quarts of peaches today.  I still have a few peaches left, but they aren’t quite ripe (soft) enough yet.  I’m also in the process of trying to make peach honey.  More on my canning successes soon!

Next up: Botanical Gardens with friends tomorrow.

U-Pick Tour–Patterson Fruit Farm, Chesterland Ohio–Peaches!

Adventures with Nick and Sally, U-Pick 1 Response »
Aug 132011
 

Today, we went back to Patterson Fruit Farm.  Our last trip there was on June 23rd when we picked strawberries for the last time of the 2011 season.  Today’s trip was all about peaches!  Peaches are one of my favorite fruits to eat with my oatmeal.  I could eat them almost everyday.  I have blueberries in the freezer for the other days.

The peach picking is new at Pattersons.  I believe this is the second year.  They only have peach picking for 2 weekends.  So, that’s 4 days of picking.  They are open from 9 AM – 5 PM, but it’s more realistic to say they are open from 9 AM until they are picked out for the day.  The peach picking is at 8765 Mulberry Road.  Pattersons also has a market on Caves Road.  Once you arrive, it’s a simple drive to the peaches by following the arrows.  You park right in front of the peach trees.  There’s not too much walking involved.  We did bring the stroller and we were glad to have it so we could carry the peaches.

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We approached the tent and were greeted by a nice gentleman working and this sign.  A 1/2 bushel of peaches is $25 and holds approximately 27 pounds.  You buy the container of choice and head to fill it up.  It was easy.  The trees were full of peaches.  We were instructed to pick only the ones that were “big and plump”.  We walked to the end of the rows of peaches where it wasn’t crowded and didn’t have any trouble filling up our container.

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Stephen joined us today, which also made the picking go faster.

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Nick and Sally picked a couple of peaches.  Of course, they had to try them out.

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While Stephen was busy picking, they were busy eating them.  Sally could live off fruit.

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We ran into some friends and were able to get a group shot.  It’s always fun to get a photo of the 4 of us.  That doesn’t happen often enough.

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We ended up picking 2 half-bushels of peaches.  We didn’t weigh them, but it’s approximately 54 pounds of peaches for $50.  These containers are cardboard boxes that are approximately 8 inches tall.  I was going to spend the morning canning the peaches, but I don’t think they are quite soft enough for the skins to come off easily when I boil them, so I will probably be canning on Monday and Tuesday.  I’m hoping to can slices, jam, sauce and peach honey.

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 Posted by at 9:44 PM  Tagged with:

Fresh Fork CSA–week 10 and 11

CSA No Responses »
Aug 112011
 

Last week, we took a vacation from our Fresh Fork CSA.  There is a generous vacation plan.  In a nutshell, you can miss up to 4 weeks as long as you give advance notice.  When you return, you can double up a week or place a la carte orders for the dollar value.

Here’s what we would have received last week:

Small CSA:

  • 1 lb mild Italian sausage, ground
  • 8 oz grassfed Gouda cheese from Mayfield Road Creamery
  • 1 bunch of leeks
  • 1 pint cherry tomatoes
  • Approx a quart of hot hungarian peppers (6-8)
  • 2 Patty Pan Squash
  • 1.5 lbs slicing tomatoes
  • 1 pint blueberries
  • 1.5 lb peaches

In my opinion, it wasn’t a bad week to miss.  We love the sausage and cheese, but can easily get that on a special order or buy it from the back of the truck.  This time of year, we get tons of tomatoes, and our freezer is well stocked with blueberries.  I picked up some local peaches at Whole Foods over the weekend.  I have a hard time using hot peppers.  I’ve successfully used leeks before, but I’m fine without them.  I really liked the Patty Pan squash a couple of weeks ago.  It made the best veggie lasagna.

Now for this week:

Small CSA:

  • 1 4-oz. package goat chevre cheese from Lucky Penny Farm
  • 1 watermelon or 1 pint of blackberries
  • 6 ears corn
  • 1 pint heirloom cherry tomatoes (multi-color)
  • 2 ct. zucchini (dark green, light green, or golden…we have a good mix this week)
  • 2 ct. yellow summer squash
  • Approx. 1.5 lbs red slicing tomatoes
  • Quarter-lb. basil
  • 2 green bell peppers
  • 1 large black opal eggplant
  • 1 large candy onion

Here’s a group shot:

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We bought 3 watermelons on sale this past Sunday.  We also got a watermelon on Tuesday in our CSA pick up.  We’ve eaten almost 2 watermelons so far.  We may end up freezing some for a watermelon frosty or two.

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I think I’m going to use the tomatoes (along with the ones from Tuesday) and make some sauce to use in some eggplant/squash lasagna.  I think we have everything we need except cottage cheese.

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I love the color on the golden zucchini.  I’m not sure I’ve ever had this variety.  I’m excited to try it.

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I saw a recipe for corn fritters this week.  I think I’m going to combine that idea with my squash fritter recipe for a new fritter this week.

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I’m sure the Cheve cheese will be tasty.  We enjoyed the corn for dinner.

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Usually, I end up freezing herbs like basil.  But, this week I wished I had some fresh more than once.  I currently have it in water on our kitchen table and I’m hoping it lasts for Peach Vinaigrette salad dressing and Lemon Basil Egg Salad.  I’m hoping to make both this week.

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Due to more company next week, we have week 12 as a vacation day.  Then, I need to figure out the best way to spend our credits.  They are worth the full value for 4 weeks.

Meanwhile, our fridge is well stocked and we have plenty of watermelon!

Geauga Family Farms–week 9

CSA No Responses »
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:

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Let’s take a closer look.

Cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes

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Peaches, beets

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Green peppers, hot peppers

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Eggplant, yellow squash

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Cucumber, lettuce

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Lettuce, yellow wax beans

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Parsley, watermelon

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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!

Fresh Fork CSA–week 9

CSA No Responses »
Jul 282011
 

Today was week number 9 for our Fresh Fork CSA.  Robert who works at the truck was back today.  He seems to be going better.  It was nice and smooth to have him in his usual position.  There was only one person ahead of us and everything was smooth at pick up.

As usual, we received our list of contents on Tuesday.  It’s nice to know what we have to work with between our CSAs by Tuesday night.

Here’s what we were expecting:

Small CSA:

  • 1 package Mild Italian Sausage links, 4 to a pack
  • 1.5 lbs apricots
  • 1.5 lbs Red Haven peaches
  • 1 dozen pasture raised chicken eggs
  • 6 ears Mira 301 Super Sweet corn
  • 1 candy onion
  • 1 head leaf lettuce
  • 1 lb green beans
  • 1 bunch kale, either Curly or Black Tuscan

Here’s a group shot:

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Apparently, the Italian sausage is really good.  I don’t think we’ve had it yet.  Always happy to see peaches.

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We still have onions to chop and freeze and the corn is already gone.

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We were almost out of lettuce, so I see a couple of salads in our future.  I don’t think I’ve ever had fresh apricots and certainly not local ones.  I’m looking forward to having one at breakfast.

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Curly kale might make for another batch of kale chips,  The last batch was ok, but I’ve read a few other variations lately and may have to experiment again this weekend.  I’m in love with local eggs and just used our last two yesterday, so these were especially nice to get.

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Everyone in our house likes green beans.

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In addition to our small, we purchased 2 packages of chicken brats.  These were $7 each.  They were amazing when we had them in our box a few weeks back.  We’re having company next weekend and I stuck these in the freezer for grilling.  We also paid for our cream cheese ($5) that we picked up 2 weeks ago.

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I’m happy that we had a week off of squash and tomatoes.  I still have some to use up from our Tuesday CSA pickup.  Next week we are “on vacation” from Fresh Fork and I hope that gives us a little extra time to regroup and make sure we are caught up in the fridge.

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