spaghetti squash » Life Lyn Style

Fresh Fork Market Winter CSA–week 1

Nov 082012

Today was the first pick up for the winter program with our Fresh Fork CSA. It was also our first pick up in the dark. Since we are on to the winter program, Mayfield is no longer a pick up site, so we pick up in Beachwood. Thursdays, Nick and Sally have swim lessons, so we pick up on the late side around 5:30PM. Stephen is a great help and set up the lights for me so I could take decent photos.

Here’s what we were expecting this week:

Winter Week 1:

1 whole pasture raised chicken, approx. 5 lbs.
2 spaghetti squash (unless we have a few enormous ones)
1 half gallon apple cider
1 quarter peck Winesap apples
1 handful sweet peppers (all of them are sweet, even though some look hot)
1 bunch turnip greens
1 bunch kale
1 head cauliflower
1 dozen eggs
1 bunch beets with tops
1 stalk Brussels sprouts
1/2 lb. bag stir fry mix

And, it’s exactly what we received.

I was excited to see the Brussels sprouts. I’ve been eyeing this recipe from my pal Katie. I’m thawing my bacon for it now. I have all of the other ingredients on hand. We were out of eggs, so I was glad to get them in my bag this week. I’ve made the butternut squash custard drink a couple of times now and don’t want to be out of eggs just in case I want to make it again.

These are the turnip greens. We don’t get them too often. My go to recipe for greens that I don’t know what to do with is quiche. So, I’ll probably make one of them this week. It will include some leftover chicken and turnip greens. And, it’s another reason that I’m glad we got eggs this week (although I also have some eggs frozen that I could use). I like cooking the whole chickens. We had them a lot growing up, so they never intimidated me. I like making stock and using all of the pieces.

The different colors of cauliflower have been fun. I’ll make this as a side dish and maybe serve them mashed. The stir fry mix will go into a stir fry. Wasn’t that an original idea. I may combine it with some spaghetti squash and serve it Asian style.

My family isn’t a big fan of the spaghetti squash with tomato squash. I need to investigate some additional recipes for it. The peppers will go into chili that I am making tomorrow.

I’ll probably just sauté the kale. I don’t have anything specific in mind. I’ll make Harvard beets and use the greens in some eggs this week.

Apples almost always go in oatmeal and for snacks. These will be no exception. I don’t like apple cider. I may decide to try it again some day, but it always has given me a headache. That being said, Stephen, Nick and Sally all like it so they will enjoy it this week.

So, our winter season is off and running. Three weeks in a row and then we go to every other week until May. I love the CSAs, but I am also looking forward to a break in the action so we can use some of our preserved food. I also need to start cooking some of the lamb soon.

Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 18

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Oct 052012

Today was a rainy, but very green pick up. We haven’t seen this much green since the spring.

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

1 lb. city chicken (cubed Berkshire pork)
1 head broccoli
1 bunch turnips
1 spaghetti squash
A handful Croatian peppers
1 bunch beets
1 bunch mustard greens
1 head cabbage
1 bunch kale
1 head cauliflower
1 lb. bulk Italian Sausage
Approx. 1 lb. onions
8 oz. piece smoked cheddar cheese

We actually had our choice of the city chicken or a pork tenderloin. We haven’t had tenderloin in ages and I had never had city chicken. I ended up buying one as an extra. The Italian sausage I cooked up to go with some pasta for dinner tonight.

Turnips are hard for me, but I’ve been perusing some new recipes. Cabbage is always welcome in our house. I’ll probably make unstuffed cabbage this week.

Local broccoli is one of my favorites. It will probably be part of tomorrow’s dinner. I’ll use the peppers in quiche or chili this week.

I’m going to prep the greens by sautéing all of them in the morning. That way they will be easy to add to quiche, eggs or other dishes throughout the week.

I’ll probably include the onion when I sauté.

The smoked cheddar will go into quiche or perhaps some butternut squash burritos that I was just reading about. We ate most of the cauliflower at dinner tonight. The left over will be part of lunch tomorrow.

I love winter squash, but spaghetti squash is not my favorite. I must research a new way to prepare it. We are still finishing up our last two.

I missed apples this week. Hopefully, Stephen will be taking the kids picking tomorrow and we can make some applesauce this week. Last year, we canned many quarts and still didn’t have enough to get through the winter months.

Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 15

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Sep 132012

We have plans tomorrow evening, so we picked up our CSA in Beachwood today. There was quite a line when we arrived, but it moved quickly.

I love the colors this week!

Here’s what we were expecting:

1 bunch golden beets
Approx. 2.5 lbs. San Marzano Roma Tomatoes
Either heirloom tomatoes or 1 pint grape tomatoes
1 pint yummy pepper mix (all sweet peppers)
1 lb. Berkshire bacon
1/2 lb. mixed baby greens (chard, kale, arugula, mizuna, and more)
1 head cabbage
1 quarter peck Gala apples
1 head broccoli
8 oz. grass-fed smoked cheddar cheese
1 half pint of either Pappy’s pepper butter (like a sweet and tangy homemade mustard) or 1 half pint of Pappy’s Candied Jalapeños (semi-hot jalapeños in a honey syrup)
A handful of colored peppers (red long peppers probably early week and purple peppers later week)

I’m not sure what happened, but we ended up with eggs and spaghetti squash. We didn’t get broccoli. I can see the switch with broccoli and squash – but eggs? We also got lettuce, but I think that was a deliberate attempt at BLT ingredients.

I have two spaghetti squashes. I’m thinking about making it Italian style and serving it like spaghetti. I think everyone in the house will eat it like that (especially with cheese on it). The head of cabbage is pretty small. I think I’ll keep it a few days and then make some of my coleslaw.

We’ll be eating apples in our oatmeal. Also, I ordered a new dehydrator and I’m anxious to try fruit rolls, so some puree might be in order. These are really good paste tomatoes, so they’ll end up in sauce at some point. For now, the freezer will be their home, along with the heirloom tomatoes. We have an over abundance of tomatoes this year, but we aren’t getting them all at once, so it’s harder to make and can sauce.

The Pappy’s Pepper Butter is medium hot. I’m not a fan of hot things, but I’m determined to try this and a few other things that are on our shelf soon. My goal is to eat from our house as much as possible.

Delicious bacon never goes to waste around here. I didn’t get it in the freezer right away, so it’s thawing in the fridge. We’ll probably have it on Saturday or Sunday. I wasn’t expecting eggs and we have an overabundance. I’m going to gift a dozen to my mom since she’s helping with the kids tomorrow.

I don’t think I’ve ever tried this cheese, but there are very few that I don’t like. All of the peppers this week should be sweet (not hot!) and I’m happy about that.

We also got some mixed greens. This batch looks pretty good to me, so I’m going to have a big salad for lunch tomorrow. I’ve gotten away from lunch salads and need to get back to them since they are delicious.

We still have some beets from the other week, so I am going cook all of them all of them tonight or tomorrow. I’ll probably make a big batch of Harvard beets since we haven’t had them for a while. The lettuce looks very tasty and will be good in salads or maybe a BLT.

There’s 7 weeks left and I’m already getting sad that the season will be ending soon. It’s a good think there’s a winter program starting sometime in November.

Fresh Fork CSA–week 22–The Final 2011 Summer Week

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Oct 282011

Yesterday, we picked up week 22 of the summer Fresh Fork CSA. It was the last pick up. I’m glad that the winter CSA starts next week. We received a few higher dollar items, so we didn’t have as many different things. That was fine with me.

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

Small CSA:

1 pack of Berkshire pork chops, center cut and boneless. Approx. 1 to 1.25 lbs.
1 quart farmstead yogurt
8 oz. aged cheddar cheese, pepper Havarti ,or Havarti cheese
1 head Napa cabbage
1 quarter peck Jonagold apples
1 bag of mixed salad/braising greens
2 count butternut squash

Here’s a group shot:

The Berkshire pork chops are one of our favorite items from Fresh Fork. We’ll bake them in the oven with spices and apples for a yummy dinner.

I’ve only had Napa cabbage one other time. I’m not sure what fate it will have. Spaghetti squash was substituted for the butternut squash. I was hoping for butternut. We like spaghetti squash ok, but it’s not our favorite and it’s less versatile.

The mixed green will probably go into salad. If not, we can sauté them. We were out of yogurt and there wasn’t any on the truck last week, so we were happy to see it expected this week.

Cheese is always a bit hit in our house. This is aged cheddar and we can’t wait to try it.

We picked up an extra yogurt ($5) and a bag of honey puffed spelt ($3) while we were there.

I’m excited to have a slower week in terms of items that have to be used right away. I’m recovering from a badly bruised knee and a little less kitchen time will be a good thing for a few days.

Fresh Fork CSA–week 19

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Oct 062011

Today, we picked up week 19 of our Fresh Fork CSA. It was our worst pickup of the season. Nick, Sally and I had spent a good chunk of the day in Akron. Both kids feel asleep on our way from Akron to Beachwood High School. Sally woke up about 15 minutes from the pick up and would not stop crying. Nick was fast asleep even through the crying and was still sleeping when we arrived at the school. He would have been very upset if he couldn’t say Hi to Mr. Robert at the truck, so I woke him up. (Last time I didn’t wake him up for something, he cried for 2 hours). He was fine when I first woke him up, but then he started crying. Sally cried the whole time we were there too. Robert brought out bag over to the car to help us out, but I still took the time to get the kids out because they wanted to say hi and I wanted to buy extras with our vacation credits. We ended up cutting out losses at one bag of corn chips for $3.50 and decided to settle up next week.

Here’s the list of what we were expecting:

Small CSA:

1 half gallon apple cider
1/2 lb. leaf spinach
1 bunch Swiss chard
1 bunch leeks
1 head broccoli
4 oz. piece brie
1 head kohlrabi
2 ct. winter squash
Quarter peck pears (4-5 depending on size)

Here’s a group shot:

I love winter squash. Spaghetti squash is not my favorite, but we’ll cook it and eat it with pasta sauce this week. My husband already opened the cider. I’m sure it will disappear easily.

This is the biggest kohlrabi that I ever saw. The leaves are edible and in great shape, so I’ll probably make a au gratin dish with it. The broccoli looks tasty and will make an easy side dish in the next day or two.

My friend Chaya mentioned honey mustard roasted leeks. We didn’t get very many, but I still might try fixing them roasted style. We have Swiss chard from both CSAs this week, so I’ll cook it together with some sausage for a meal this weekend.

I’m still working through the 2 bushels of pears that I picked up this week. This won’t be ready to eat for a few days and I’m ok with that. We’ll enjoy them early next week. The spinach and brie cheese will go into a tasty pasta dish.

Dare I say that I think I’m starting to get the hang of these CSAs. It’s a good thing because I just signed us up for both winter ones.

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