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Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 16

Sep 182012

We did a little shopping at Whole Foods before picking up our share today. I’m so glad that the store remodel is complete. Everything seems like it’s in its place. Now, we just need to learn where those places are.

Here’s what we received today:

Bok choy, lettuce

Apples, slicing tomatoes

Hot peppers, red onions

Bell peppers, red Russian kale

I’m going out of town on Thursday and won’t return until Sunday night. So, I’ll be prepping items for the freezer or cooking them for the family to eat while I am gone.

I now have two heads of bok choy. I’m going to sauté them with garlic, onion and sesame oil for Stephen. The lettuce will get eaten in salad. The apples have been popular in oatmeal and for snacking. The tomatoes are going straight to the freezer with the romas that I picked from our garden today. I’ll be making a batch of sauce for canning before our lamb comes in from the butcher at the beginning of October.

I have no desire to deal with the hot peppers, so I am sending them to work with Stephen in hopes that someone there will put them to good use. I wish we had a swap table at Whole Foods where you could take and item and leave and item. One of our other CSAs used to do that and it was great.

I’ll chop and freeze any pepper and onion left before I leave on my trip. I’m just going to blanch the kale for later use in soup. We have plenty of greens out in the fridge already.

Lately, I feel like I’m preserving more than we’re eating, but some weeks are just like that.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 14

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Sep 042012

We picked up on share in the rain today. It was pouring as we went into Whole Foods. Luckily, it had calmed down a bit when we were leaving. The store was in much better shape than last week, but they still have some work to be done. I picked up some blue cheese, grass fed beef and sandwich buns. I wasn’t sure what we’d have with the burgers until we picked up our share.

Here’s what we received:

sweet snacking peppers, lettuce

corn, green beans

zucchini, bell peppers

cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes

eggplant

So, we ended up having the corn and green beans with dinner. They were easy to fix and are bulky in the fridge.

I’ll be making chili this week. The peppers and slicing tomatoes will go into it. The lettuce and snacking peppers will make a nice salad. My husband and son will eat the cherry tomatoes. I have a recipe for pancakes that uses zucchini, so I’m going try it out with the squash.

It really comes down to the eggplant. Last time I had eggplant, I cooked it with onion, olive oil and some garlic until it was mushy and made a dip. I intend to use it as a layer in lasagna, but that hasn’t happened yet. It’s currently frozen in my freezer.

I’m ready for tomato season to end and I’m missing fruit. I’m happy with our share, but I am excited for winter squash and apple seasons to begin.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 13

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Aug 282012

We picked up our share at Whole Foods today. Turns out they are in the middle of a remodel of the whole store. It was a mess. Usually, I can easily pick up two or three things to round out our needs, but not today. There were several things on my list that weren’t worth hunting down. I’m hoping that we get fruit in our bags again soon. I know apples were hit hard this year, but I still hope we see some soon.

Here’s a shot of what we received this week:

Mixed cherry tomatoes, onions

Lettuce, mixed bell peppers

Green beans, yummy orange snacking peppers

Slicing tomatoes, patty pan squash

Beets with lovely green tops

With the holiday weekend approaching and Nick starting preschool soon, we are taking a trip this weekend. So, all of our food needs to be packed, preserved or eaten. We used two peppers, one tomato and one onion in tonight’s dinner. I sautéed them to go with some Italian sausages that I had thawed today. The other pepper was rotten and needed to be pitched. I haven’t received anything bad in a while, but it happens occasionally.

I’m going to just freeze the slicing tomatoes. The cherry tomatoes will be good snacking for Stephen and Nick. We’ll have salad using the lettuce for the next couple of days. The snacking peppers probably will be eaten tomorrow. They look delicious. The green beans will make a nice side dish for lunch tomorrow. I have some beets in the fridge already, and I’m expecting some more tomorrow. I suspect they’ll all be made into Harvard beets tomorrow night. Efficiency this week is especially important. I’ll cook the greens with some eggs for breakfast or lunch tomorrow or Thursday. I’ll probably just shred and freeze the squash.

I’m feeling lazy in the cooking department. Some weeks, there is just too much going on to cook lots of recipes. Lately, dinners have been quickly thrown together without much of a plan. I am looking forward to more of a routine in upcoming weeks and the opportunity to spend a bit more quality time in the kitchen.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 12

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Aug 212012

Is local melon season really over already? The share seemed so light this week without a tasty watermelon. Maybe we’ll get lucky and see one more next week. The week’s share is full of tasty looking items.

Peppers, green beans

Zucchini, onions

Cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes

Sweet corn, green pepper

Lettuce

I took a dehydrating class last night. I’m hoping to try out my new skills with the peppers and slicing tomatoes. We’ll have the corn and beans for dinner. This lettuce will go into salads for Stephen. It’s not my favorite variety (leathery romaine), but it won’t go to waste. I’ll pair it with some feta and cherry tomatoes an add a bit of basil balsamic vinaigrette. I currently have a mound of onions that need chopped and froze so these will get added to that project. I was hoping for zucchini since I found a recipe for cornbread that uses it. I think I’ll be making it this week.

I’m glad I get a small share early in the week. It tends to pair well with my large share that I get on Fridays. It’s hard to believe that summer is almost over.

Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 11

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Aug 172012

This marks week 11 of our Fresh Fork Market CSA. It’s hard to believe that we are 1/2 way through the season.

Since I was in Utah earlier in the week, I opted to take a vacation week this week. Occasionally, I take a vacation week when we are having busy week or if I feel behind on veggies even if I am actually in town on pick up day.. Then, I usually hold my breath and hope that Trevor doesn’t send out the “best bag of the season” list two days later since vacation requests are due on Saturday and the list usually comes out on Monday.

Here’s what folks received in their bags this week:

3# bag red Norland potatoes
1/2 dozen sweet corn
1 bunch leeks (may be 1 leek depending on size)
1 bulb fennel
Approx. 1.5 lbs. heirloom tomatoes
2 oz basil
Approx. 2 lbs. slicing tomatoes
1 lb. grass-fed ground beef
Approx. 2 lbs. peaches
1-2 eggplant, depending on size
2 zucchini or squash
1-2 onions
2-3 “Italian frier” peppers (red sweet stuffing peppers)
1 melon – choice of cantaloupe or watermelon
1/2 lb. Swiss chard
1 bulb garlic
1 piece Havarti cheese

I’ve been hearing from other people who do CSAs that they have too much food or are too busy to get it all used. I can’t say that we are perfect in our house, but we are pretty good at blanching, chopping and freezing items to make sure we don’t waste food when we are particular busy or have an over abundance.

Almost all of the above items could be froze with little effort. I love pulling items out of the freezer in the middle of winter and getting a taste of fresh local food.

I think every bag is outstanding, but this is a bag that has lots of items that we get on a fairly regular basis. I am happy with my decision to be on vacation. With a little luck, I’ll get a photo of a large share tomorrow and add a photo to my post.

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–week 8

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Jul 272012

Since we had my niece and nephew this week, we waited until today to pick up our share in Mayfield. Although I did stop in Beachwood yesterday for yogurt and milk since we needed to replenish.

Here’s what I picked up:

Here’s what we were expecting to receive:

1 pint blueberries
6 ears sweet corn
3 lb. Yukon gold potatoes
1 bunch rainbow Swiss chard
1 bunch collard greens
2 ct. cucumbers
1 pint cherry tomatoes or approx. 1.5 lbs. heirloom tomatoes (about 3 depending on size)
1 package chicken bratwursts
1 lb. yellow wax beans
2 ct. green peppers
1 cantaloupe
1 package pork spare ribs
1 jar Pope’s BBQ sauce

It looks like we got regular slicing tomatoes and some cherry tomatoes. We were also shorted the BBQ sauce, but my husband was able to pick it up on his way home from work. So, it’s here, but missed its photo opportunity.

We’ll have the chicken brats for lunch or dinner on Sunday. We’ll either grill them or braise them in beer. The kids have really been enjoying the cucumbers for snacking.

I’ll be making some fajitas Sunday or Monday. I’ll use a couple of onions that I still have along with the collards or chard and peppers in them. The blueberries will be lucky to be around after breakfast tomorrow.

We never got around to our Ohio City pasta last week, so I’ll probably make the béchamel sauce this weekend and use the tomatoes. The cherry tomatoes will make good snacks for the guys of the house tomorrow.

The beans will make a great side dish in the next couple of days. We’ll probably cut the cantaloupe up this weekend and eat it, but I am interested in trying Jane Snow’s cantaloupe gelatin dessert recipe.

Both the corn on the cob and ribs are on tomorrow’s lunch menu. I think we’ll be grilling!

The potatoes will last a few days, and I don’t have an immediate plan for them. Either the collards or chard will go into our fajitas. The other will probably go into a quiche or just be sautéed for a side.

It’s been fun getting the large from our Fresh Fork CSA. But, on Friday evenings, our fridge is packed to the max. We have been trying to use local eggs, milk and yogurt. When we add that stuff to the contents of our bag, it makes for a well stocked kitchen. It also means that we don’t need the grocery store much and prioritize our meals to use up bulky items first. I can’t wait to see what we are getting next week.

Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 2

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Jun 152012

Today, we had our second pick up at the new Mayfield location. Dan and Kyle were pretty busy when we arrived, so we didn’t get a chance to talk to them. Everything looked like it was running smoothly. I’m still getting used to reading the rest of the share list. Since this is our first time with a large, I keep forgetting to read past the “small CSA share” list.

Small CSA Share

2# black turtle beans
1 bag corn chips
1 # chorizo sausage
1 bunch green onions
1 bunch cilantro
1 head red leaf lettuce
1 head either baby bok choy or 1 bunch swiss chard (depends on stop)
1 head jumbo white stem bok choy
1.5# red slicing tomatoes (approximately 3 tomatoes)
1 lb. snow peas

Large CSA Share Small contents above plus:

1 head cauliflower
1 bunch red kale
1 lb. snow peas
2 ct. zucchini
1 package chicken brats

It’s hard to get a shot that shows all of the items in a large:

I’m getting ready to leave on vacation, so I’ll be prepping the lettuce for my husband to eat in salads. I’ll be cooking the cauliflower for a side dish tomorrow and/or for Stephen to eat while the kids and I are gone.

I’m going to make soup or a stir fry with the bok choy. I’ll use some of the peas and onions in that dish.

I put the meats in the freezer. I’ll probably cook up the chorizo tomorrow. I will probably make a cold salad with quinoa, chorizo, onions, cilantro, lime, etc. We’ll pack some for the road this weekend and leave the rest for Stephen to enjoy. The brats will magically disappear while I’m away with the kids or we’ll enjoy them in July. The last time I made the brats, I simmered them in beer on the stove. They were quite tasty.

I still had a couple of zucchini in the fridge, so I am making my fritters with them tomorrow.

I’m soaking the beans tonight so I can cook them tomorrow. I’ll use some of them and the cilantro in the quinoa salad and freezer the rest.

I haven’t decided on the kale yet. I just got a kale recipes book in the mail today, so maybe I’ll be inspired to cook something new with it. The beets were subbed for some of the peas. They are getting added to a few I have in the fridge for a pickled beets recipe that looked promising. I hope to make them tomorrow.

We often buy these corn chips as extras, so they will disappear quickly.

Once again, the truck didn’t have any of our favorite yogurt with them, but I was able to pick up some of our favorite granola and milk while we were at our stop.

I’m glad to be going on vacation, but I hate that I’ll miss all of the fun CSA contents for the next two weeks.

Geauga Family Farms–week 12

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Aug 302011

Pick up #12 for the Geauga Family Farms CSA was today. We pick up at our local Whole Foods. Nick calls it the little Whole Foods because it’s so much smaller than the Cedar Location and doesn’t have a waterfall.

Today’s box was overflowing!

Here’s what we received:

Let’s take a closer look.

Green beans, watermelon (hmmm.. these photos are not to scale)

Lettuce, eggplant

Cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes

Peaches, bell peppers

Cantaloupe, dozen sweet corn

Hot peppers, patty pan squash

We got 3 fruits again this week. In our house that is a good thing. I actually used frozen peaches in today’s oatmeal, so I am excited for the peaches. We have lots of melon since we got extras in our other CSA on Thursday, but we are eating it at a good clip so I don’t think we’ll have a problem. Our biggest challenge is having to take the seeds out of the watermelon for our 22 month old daughter.

We ate 1/2 the corn for dinner tonight and we are getting another 1/2 dozen on Thursday. I’ll probably cook and take the rest of this batch off of the cobs for a wheat berry, corn, bean salad of sorts. We need to pack dinner for our Wednesday outing at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

I’m going to chop and freeze the peppers. I’m assuming the non-bell peppers are hot. They seem to always be hot and I’m not taking chances with them. The bell peppers will go into tomato sauce. I’ll save the hot ones for chili and salsa.

I just read a blog post about mini lasagnas that were made in muffin tins. I may use the eggplant and squash for my own version of that.

The remaining few items will easily be eaten as part of our meals. We need to stay on top of our game this week since we have several meals planned out over the holiday weekend. Friday, I need to blanch/chop/freeze anything that we haven’t used so we don’t have waste.

Fresh Fork CSA–week 10 and 11

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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:

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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!

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