ramps » Life Lyn Style

Fresh Fork Winter CSA–week 15

May 102012

Today was the last pick up for the Fresh Fork CSA winter subscription. Now, we have to wait until the week of June 4th for the summer season to begin. Meanwhile, this week’s pick up is definitely pizza themed.

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

1 8 oz. package smoked gouda
2 frozen pizza dough balls
1 lb. Italian sausage
1 lb. ground turkey or chicken
2 lbs. rolled oats
1 pint pizza sauce
1 package veggie burgers (2 burgers)
1 bunch ramps
1 veg (will likely include kale, chard, spinach, lettuce, and other spring greens)

Here’s a group shot:

I’m hoping to use the ramps and spinach on pizza this week.

We’ve never received ground duck before. We had our choice of duck or chicken. I’ve had ground chicken before, so duck was the easy choice. I’m not sure what I’ll do with it, but I am thinking about making wantons and using it in some kind of filling. The Italian sausage will go well on the pizzas.

I’m excited to try Clark’s sauce. I’ll be using it on pizza with this dough.

I’ve never had the Luna veggie burgers before, but they look delicious. For now, they are in my freezer. I’ll use Gouda on our pizza too.

Stephen and I eat oats for breakfast most mornings. These will be gone in no time.

With a few weeks until our next pick up, we stocked up on yogurt. We were also out of eggs, so I picked up a dozen of them as well.

It’s been a really fun winter season. I can’t wait for summer to start.

Fresh Fork Winter CSA–week 14

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Apr 262012

It’s week 14 of the Fresh Fork CSA winter subscription. It’s hard to believe that the summer season starts on June 6th. I also read this week that local strawberries are about 4 weeks out. It seems crazy that we’ll have strawberries before the CSA starts.

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

1 package chicken brats
4 oz. feta cheese
1/2 lb. mixed salad greens
1/4 lb. ramps
1 lb. fresh ramp pasta
1 bag/bunch of kale or chard, depending on what the farmers harvest
1 quart yogurt
1 quarter peck Fuji apples
2 lbs. butter, salted or unsalted

Here’s a group shot:

We’ll put the chicken brats in the freezer. They will make a good meal one day this week. I’ll use the Swiss chard to make a quick side dish.

We’ll use the feta cheese and mixed greens in salads.

Last time, we used the ramps in meatloaf that worked pretty well. I’m thinking of putting them into ham loaf or a frittata. I think the ramp pasta will go well with the leftover sauce from yesterday’s dinner.

I bought some apples yesterday to tie us over until today’s pickup. We love putting them in our oatmeal. We still have some butter frozen that I’ve been using up. Since I’d like to rotate my stock, I’ll be freezing this butter. We chose the unsalted butter. I can’t remember the last time I used salted butter.

Getting yogurt in the bag just means I buy less extra ones. It’s always welcome. I wish it came in a gallon size. The big restaurant size is something like a 3 gallon container and it won’t fit in our fridge. So, we got one in our package this week and I purchased 3 extra.

The bag this week is great, but I’m looking forward to more photogenic produce. I miss the weeks were we had so many colors of the rainbow.

Fresh Fork Winter CSA–week 13

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Apr 122012

It’s April already and we’re nearing the end of our winter CSA. In just a few short weeks, we’ll be talking about week 1 for the summer CSA season. It will be interesting to see how the early warm weather impacts the crops. Last year, we heard so much about the wet spring and how it negatively impacted the start of the CSA season. But, let’s enjoy the rest of the winter CSA first. This was definitely the week of meat!

Here’s what we were expecting today:

1 meat choice (see above)

option 1: whole chicken, approximately 5 lbs.
option 2: Meatloaf pack, 1 lb. each of ground veal, ground pork, and ground lamb
option 3: 2 packs bone-in beef short ribs and one grass-fed beef round steak
option 4: 1 pack (4 patties, 1 lb.) turkey burgers (new) and 1 pack (1.25 lbs.) chicken bratwurst

1 lb. breakfast patties
1 dozen eggs
1 piece (8 oz.) Havarti cheese
1 pint maple syrup
1 quarter peck apples
1/4 lb. ramps

(earlier in the week, there was a possibility of greens, but I’ll take apples over greens most days)

Here’s a group shot:

We decided to go with the meatloaf pack. I haven’t made meatloaf in a while and there’s a recipe for meatloaf that uses the ramps in this week’s newsletter. It’s more of a guide to meatloaf than a recipe, but I’m not a big recipe follower anyway, so I am happy to use the ideas and make my own meatloaf. I’m going to make muffin shaped loaves. I like using muffing tins for individual meatloaves.

We had the breakfast patties before. They are flavorful, but a little on the salty side. We’ll probably pair them with some homemade sauce and pasta for a meal. We don’t usually cook meat to go with breakfast.

We bought a gallon of maple syrup this year. Having another pint is always welcome. We made several recipes on a regular basis that use maple syrup instead of sugar. Lucky for me, whole grain pancake mix was on sale this week so I stocked up. My kids love to have pancakes with blueberries and real maple syrup. We don’t even use the fake stuff in our house anymore.

We haven’t had apples in a while, so they will be a nice addition for our morning oatmeal. We are nearing the end of our canned peaches and frozen blueberries. Everyone in our house loves cheese. I’m sure the Havarti will be popular. Stephen and I are signed up for the cheese class on Saturday, so I suspect we will be stocking up on local cheeses this weekend.

Eggs are never hard to get used up. We just naturally use them often in baked oatmeal, pancakes, French toast, muffins and other recipes. This week a few will go into meatloaf for sure.

Finally, I picked up 4 yogurts this week. We seem to use at least 2 a week at our house. It’s $20 well spent.

I’m having a Fresh Fork CSA week for sure. Yesterday was the monthly happy hour. Today was our pick up. Saturday is the cheese class. I love local!

Fresh Fork Winter CSA–week 12

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Mar 292012

We were a bit early for our pick up today. I took the opportunity to chat with Eric, who works at the back of the truck. I really enjoy meeting people who are passionate about local foods. It was a bit chilly for the pick up, but at least it wasn’t raining.

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

1 Grassfed beef steak
1 pt. concord grape jelly
1 12oz piece Swiss cheese
2 lbs. spelt flour
3 lbs. red potatoes
1 lb. spinach pasta
1 bunch kale or mustard greens
1 bag mixed salad greens
1/4 lb. ramps

Here’s a group shot:

Grape jelly is probably my favorite flavor in the jelly/jam category. I hope to hoard most of this for myself and use it on French toast and PP&J sandwiches. I’m going to try and make homemade tortillas with the spelt flour. My recipe works well with whole wheat flour, so I thought I’d try the spelt.

We’ll probably just make mashed potatoes this week. Unless my new slicer comes in, then I might try out some microwavable potato chips. I tossed the pasta into the freezer. It will make for a nice quick meal when we need it this week.

I’ve never met a local, grass-fed cheese that I didn’t like. I suspect this new Swiss will be great. So far, Swiss is the only cheese that Sally won’t eat. Maybe this variety will change her mind. I think the kale will go into a casserole dish that I’m still dreaming up in my head.

The steak is frozen, so I put it in the freezer. When we get another stretch of warm weather, we’ll grill it for dinner one night. The winter greens aren’t my favorite, but I’m going to try to make a chopped salad out of them. I’m not a big fan of the texture of the stems, but a chopped version in a roll up is sounding good to me.

The final item this week is ramps. In a nutshell, ramps grow wild this time of year and are similar to a leek. I’ll use them as an onion type of ingredient with fried potatoes or soup this week.

I bought a couple of extras this week as well. At $5 a piece, I picked up 3 yogurts and one Krispie Treat Granola. I can’t seem to keep the yogurt in stock at our house. One of the Heinen’s stores near me carries it, but I like to buy it from Fresh Fork whenever possible. These 3 containers probably won’t last until the next pick up.

I’m starting to get excited for the summer CSA. Only 2 more months away.

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