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Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 17

Sep 282012

We picked up our bag in Mayfield today. Tonight’s the Homecoming Football Game, so the hours are shortened and they are expecting full parking lots for the game. We got there early and quickly picked up our bag.

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.

Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 12

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Aug 242012

We stopped by Mayfield to pick up our bag today. It worked well in our schedule this week. I love the flexibility of the different pick up locations.

It’s still tough to get a large in one photo. This one is missing the cherry tomatoes, but they wouldn’t have fit anyway.

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

1 bag of oats, 1.5 lbs.
1 bunch red Russian kale
Either 1 bag (approx. 1 lb.) mixed sweet and hot baby peppers or 2 ct. zucchini/squash
1 lb. beans
1 bunch French Breakfast radishes
1 pint blackberries or 1 cantaloupe
1-2 Candy onions, depending on size
2 green peppers
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 package (1.25 lbs.) green onion bratwursts, made from Berkshire pork
1 piece grass-fed Swiss cheese from Heritage Grass Farms (12 oz.)
2.5 lbs. San Marzano Roma tomatoes
1 bunch carrots with tops
1-2 cucumbers depending on size

I’m probably going to make some sort of kale sausage ragout from the newsletter with the leek, brats, zucchini, garlic, kale and tomatoes. Some of these ingredients we just picked up and others I have left in my fridge. I have some beans ready to go in the freezer and will pull them out tonight.

Carrots and beans will make good side dishes to go with our brats. I’ll probably pickle the radishes.

I’m going to chop and freeze some peppers and dehydrate some of the others. The plums were a nice surprise, I’m sure they’ll disappear quickly.

The cherry tomatoes will be weekend snacking for Stephen and Nick.

I will probably use the cheese with a quiche. I have some eggs to use soon. We eat oats everyday for breakfast, so these will disappear quickly.

I’ll probably make a few more pickles with the cucumbers since we are short on lettuce.

The photo doesn’t do the cantaloupe justice. It’s the size of a watermelon!

All in all, it’s another great week with Fresh Fork. We love not going to the grocery store much. Our list for our last trip to Heinen’s was yellow bananas, buns for brats and a cookie treat for the kids. I can’t wait to see what’s in the bag next week!

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.

Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–weeks 4&5

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Jul 062012

Last week, I was still on vacation for week 4, so I didn’t do a pick up. My friend Kelly was nice enough to send me a few photos. I was jealous when I received them on my phone, even though I was at the beach. I love her photos!

Here’s the list of items for the week:

1 quart of yogurt
1 pt of black raspberries
Assorted tree fruit
1 package Italian Sausage links, 1.25 lbs.
2 ct zucchini
1 bunch radishes
1 head green leaf lettuce
1 bunch kale
1 head kohlrabi
1 red bulb onion
1.5 lbs hoop house tomatoes
2 ct cucumbers
1 head broccoli or cauliflower, whichever comes in
1 jar strawberry balsamic sauce made from leftover week 1 strawberries

The highlights were the fruit. She received apricots, plums as an add on, raspberries, and Clark Pope Catering’s Roasted Strawberry Balsamic Sauce. Kelly mentioned that the plum were like heaven in a paper bag. Even though I wasn’t here last week, I was able to get a bottle of the sauce. I’m excited to try it out.

Now onto this week’s bag!

It was 95 degrees when we picked up our bag. This has been one hot day! I was glad to quickly get everything home and unloaded.

Here’s what we were expecting to receive:

1 whole chicken or pork roast
1 bunch beets
2 bulb onions
1 bunch carrots or 1 head kohlrabi
Approx. 2# tomatoes
1 baby bok choy
2 lbs. peaches
1 bunch spinach
1 lb. garlic scape and black pepper linguini
2 lbs. apricots
2 ct. cucumbers
2 ct. zucchini

We love the spinach. It’s quite versatile. We already used some in our white sauce tonight. I’m not a big tomato person. I think they are “guishy”. I’m such a texture eater. I’m not sure if I’ll ever like them. Some other Fresh Fork CSA folks were talking about having a tomato tasting party. I might be swayed to participate if that were to occur. For now, these will be eaten by Stephen and Nick or I’ll use them in sauce.

I have a total of 4 zucchini and I am making fritters for lunch tomorrow. I’m not sure why we got extra cucumbers, but they are great for snacking and salads. Since we don’t have any lettuce at the moment, I suspect these will become snacks for the weekend. I may try my hand at a quick relish.

Some of the onion will go into our pulled pork and coleslaw recipes. The rest will be chopped and frozen for future use. We ate almost all of the carrots at dinner. The leftover ones will be gone at lunch tomorrow.

Our apricots aren’t going to last long. They are very ripe. I’m thinking of making smoothies with them tomorrow since it’s going to be another scorcher. I contemplated an apricot dessert, but I’m not sure I want to turn on the oven. Maybe, I’ll get creative. We’ve been enjoying peaches in our oatmeal each morning. With 4 of us, these won’t last long.

Bok choy always stumps me. I just don’t have a great go to recipe for it. It usually just ends up in a stir fry for Stephen. I’m going to make pulled pork with the roast tomorrow. I am going to put the crock pot in the basement so our whole house doesn’t heat up while it cooks.

We’re going to grill the beets this week. We have a kohlrabi to use as well. We didn’t get our pasta when we picked up our bag. Since I was out anyway, I stopped back to get it on our way home from the spray ground. It went straight to boiling water for dinner and had already missed it’s photo opportunity.

I’m not going to say that every CSA week is easy, but I like feeling like I finally have the hang of it. I’m looking forward to eating fresh and local this weekend.

Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 1

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Jun 082012

Today was the first of our 22 weekly pickups for our Fresh Fork CSA. We decided to switch from Beachwood to Mayfield for our location this year. Mayfield is a new site for pick up and it’s close to our house. We were glad there was also some shade for the stop.

This year, we upgraded from the small to the large share. This is what we were expecting today:

Small CSA Share

1 whole chicken, approx. 5 – 6 lbs.
1 head kohlrabi
1 bunch collard greens
1 quart strawberries
1 bunch red Russian kale
1 bunch garlic scapes
1 head green leaf lettuce
1 bunch radishes
1 quarter lb. bag pea tendrils

Large CSA Share Small contents above plus:

2 bunches spinach
1 lb. shelled peas
1 head broccoli
1 lb. sweet pea and black pepper linguini from Ohio City Pasta

Here’s a group shot of the items:

Our quart of strawberries was full when Dan gave them to us. The kids ate some in the parking lot before we left for home. The rest of the berries will be gone by the end of the night. We received zucchini instead of broccoli. I’ll probably use the squash in my squash fritter recipe. Everyone here likes them. The squash will be fine for a few days in the fridge, so those will probably make an appearance at lunch Monday or Tuesday.

This time of year, I use garlic scapes every chance I get. I chop them and use them in salads, casseroles, when sautéing greens, etc.. They keep well so, I don’t have to freeze them often. We haven’t had an Ohio City Pasta that we didn’t like. I’m sure this sweet pea and pepper variety will be no exception. I’ll probably make a béchamel sauce for it. I tend to like most of the pasta with a white sauce instead of red.

I’ll use some spinach with our pasta. I like to wilt it just a bit in the pasta water and then serve it together. Sometimes I also chop it and add it to the sauce first. It will depend on my mood. Our chicken is thawing in the fridge. I’ll probably cook it for lunch Sunday or dinner on Monday. Once cooked, we get a couple of meals out of it. The rest of the weeks bag will complement our chicken nicely. I’ll also make stock with the bones. I love not having to buy chicken stock.

One kohlrabi isn’t really too much. I’m either going to fix it for myself for lunch one day or roast it with some beets and radishes if we grill a meal in the next few days. I haven’t mastered kale yet. We’ve had it several ways, but I don’t have a favorite way to prepare it. I’ll probably just sauté this with garlic scapes and olive oil and serve it with a splash of lemon.

I need to verify what type of peas these are. If they are sugar snap, the kids will devour them quickly. If the are snow peas, we’ll cook them for a side dish this weekend. I’m thinking about steaming the collards and letting the leaves cool and then using them for wraps instead of tortilla. I have some taco flavored meet and peppers left over and I think it would make a good filling.

We’ll probably roast a few radishes, use a few in salad and maybe try the newsletter recipe that uses them. Pea tendrils was a brand new item to me this week. I’ve heard that they are good in salads or sautéed. There’s aren’t really very many, so I don’t think I’m going to cook them. I’d thinking of just using them in a salad.

In addition to our bag, I also picked up a couple of extras. We were out of eggs, so I picked up a dozen. I also decided to pick up a half gallon of milk. I’m hoping to switch to local milk 100% of the time soon.

It’s going to be a great week in the kitchen.

Geauga Family Farms–Winter CSA week 6

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Dec 172011

It’s hard to believe that this was the last Geauga Family Farms CSA pick up for the winter. Once again, Stephen and the kids went to St. Noel to pick up our share. I had a scheduled hike that began at 10AM in Ashtabula County.

Here’s a group shot of what we received:

Let’s take a closer look:

Wheat bread (not 100%), Swiss chard

Radishes, very large sweet potato

Lettuce, spinach

Cabbage, turnip

Beets

We were getting pretty low on produce. Before this pick up we had a small head of cabbage and a little bit of lettuce left. Most of these items are quite welcome in our fridge.

We’ve had many meals out this week, but I’m happy to say that after tonight, I don’t have any meals planned out this entire week. Eating at home will make it very easy to use our veggies.

I’ll probably make unstuffed cabbage again. It’s easy and freezes well. Stephen sliced the bread so we could freeze it. I’ll make Harvard beets again. It’s an easy recipe and everyone likes them.

I never know what to do with the turnip, but last time I made some turnip and potato soup that turned out well, so I am guessing that will make an encore appearance.

The spinach will get used in a pasta dish or quiche this week. We’ve been cooking the chard with some onion, spice and Balsamic vinegar.

I’m looking forward to cooking a few local fresh meals at home.

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 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–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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