Fresh Fork Winter CSA–week 2

CSA 2 Responses »
Nov 102011
 

Today was our second winter Fresh Fork CSA pickup.  It was our first in the dark!  It’s hard to get used to the time change.

I was super excited for today’s offerings.

Here’s what we were expecting this week:

  • 1 whole pasture raised chicken
  • 3 lbs. sweet potatoes
  • 1/2 lb. baby leaf lettuce
  • Quarter peck Winesap apples
  • Choice of collards, Swiss chard, kale, or watermelon radishes
  • 1 lb. krispy treat granola
  • 1 lb. grassfed ground beef
  • Approx. 1.25 lb. chorizo sausage links
  • 1 pie pumpkin (for making your own pumpkin pie)

Here’s a group shot:

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We got the braising greens for our “choice of”.  Apples are always welcome in our house.  I tried freezing chunks for use in oatmeal today.  I’m anxious to see how they turn out in the morning.

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We love freezing pumpkin puree for use in pancakes and other dishes throughout the year.  You can never have too many pie pumpkins.  We’ll have salad with our mixed baby greens.

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These sweet potatoes are good size and will probably end up in sweet potatoes fries for the kids for lunch one day soon.  They can’t get enough of them when I make them.  I just put the chicken in the freezer, but due to space, I’ll probably thaw it to cook on Sunday to make for a few easy meals to start the week.

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The ground beef was starting to thaw, so I put it in the fridge.  I think we’ll make some fajita flavored for tortillas this weekend.  The chorizo is one of my favorite Fresh Fork products.  It’s frozen, but it won’t last long.  I will probably take it out of the casing and cook it ground for use in salad with quinoa, black beans and olives, etc.

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In addition was bought 2 more yogurts ($5 each) since there isn’t a pick up next week.  Also, we were gifted a few watermelon radishes to try.  We’ve never had them before.

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We didn’t get our granola and I’m not sure if it was on the truck, but we are checking on it.  It’s shelf stable, so we can get it later.   We’re actually out of granola, so I make make a batch this weekend since I’m in the mood for it.

I love that many items this week don’t have to be used right away.  It’s nice to have an easy week once in a while.

Geauga Family Farms Winter CSA–week 1

CSA 2 Responses »
Nov 052011
 

Today was our first pickup for our winter Geauga Family Farms CSA.  For the 6 week winter program, our pick up is on Saturday at St. Noel church in Willoughby.  For the most part, this works well for us although there is the occasional time when we have other plans on Saturday and would prefer not to bother.

Here’s a group shot of what we received:

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2 types of lettuce

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Sweet potatoes, green onions

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Lacinato blue kale, wheat bread

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Daikon radish, green bell pepper

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Cabbage, acorn squash

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We’ll enjoy the lettuce in salads this week.  We have some other salad greens as well and they will mix nicely together.  We can’t get enough sweet potatoes.  Lately, I’ve just been slicing and baking them.  We have been using the onions and pepper in unstuffed cabbage and will make that again this week.

By the way, I had no idea we had lacinato blue kale.  I was able to check with the farm reps and get a speedy reply!  I’ll probably cook it like my other greens.  I usually saute them with garlic, onions, peppers and a splash of balsamic vinegar.

The Daikon radish always stumps me.  We’ve made “chips” and soup before.  I’ll have to see what strikes me this week.

I was surprised that we didn’t get eggs.  I thought we were going to get a dozen eggs and a baked good each week.  I’m guessing that with the abundance of other items still available that we will get eggs some of the future weeks.  I’ve been enjoying the local eggs, but I wasn’t out yet.

It looks like a great week!

Geauga Family Farms CSA–week 20–the final week

CSA No Responses »
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.

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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.

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Let’s take a closer look:

Green onions, green beans

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Red Russian Kale, bell peppers

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Butternut squash, lettuce

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Radishes, apples

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Sweet potatoes, tomatoes

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Garlic

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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 17

CSA No Responses »
Oct 042011
 

We picked up week 17 of our Geauga Family Farms CSA today.  Andrew was on vacation, so we were greeted by Sarah.  The set up was a little different, but the pick up was smooth.  We have a nice routine.  We go into the store, get a cart, stop by for a sample of pineapple, buy anything we need (usually yogurt, cheese, bananas or the like), use a reusable bag, get two wooden nickels, let the kids color, get our veggies, and then leave.  It works for us and both Nick and Sally look forward to our CSA pickup at “The Little Whole Foods”.

Today’s box was lighter than the last few.  We didn’t have any melon or squash.  Here’s a group shot:

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You might be wondering about the dark wooden background.  We didn’t get a new table.  But, our kitchen table where I usually take the photos looks like this.

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I picked up 2 bushels of pears from Eddy’s on Monday. They aren’t quite ripe enough to can. So, our table was out of commission. Nick and Sally had a picnic breakfast today. Nick wants to have one everyday. I don’t think that will happen. They ate raisins, graham crackers and pears. By lunch time, I had put away enough stuff from our vacations that they used the dining room table.  Since that space was clean, I used it to take the CSA photos today also.

Let’s take a closer look at the veggies.

Collards, leaf lettuce

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Romaine, bell peppers

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Tomatoes, garlic

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Poblano peppers, onions

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Apples, green beans

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Sweet potatoes

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I was in Hawaii two weeks ago and I was also out of town most of this past week.  I’m feeling a bit out of the loop on the CSA.  I am glad that this is an easier week.  I’m going to make some stuffed collard wraps with the collards.  The lettuce, bell peppers and probably tomatoes will go in salads.  If we don’t use the tomatoes up, I’ll freeze them.  I have some others frozen and will make sauce or chili with them soon.   I have Stayman (tart) apples from Delaware to use up and will mix these apples with them for sauce.  The green beans will be an easy side dish.  I’ll probably freeze the onions, other peppers and garlic.  For the sweet potatoes, I’ll probably slice them for sweet potato fries.  Everyone in my house likes them and with the cooler temperatures, the oven sounds more appealing these days.

It’s hard to believe that it’s October already!  I’m excited for the upcoming winter CSA season.

Geauga Family Farms–week 15

CSA No Responses »
Sep 202011
 

Hi, there! My role here at Life Lyn Style is usually limited to the background, but with Lyn enjoying herself in a tropical paradise, it is up to me (her loving husband) to share what we found in our Geauga Family Farms CSA today. The harvest season is upon us, with the bountiful crop we found in the box today.

First off, here is the group shot. I’ll bet we could measure how big the week’s harvest is by how high we have to hold the camera to take this picture. The camera was pretty close to the ceiling today.

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“I’m ready for my closeup,” cried the kale, and I was happy to oblige.

Red Russian kale, bok choy

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Garlic, sweet potatoes

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Apples (mixed varieties), carrots

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Parsley (mix of flat leaf and curly), green beans

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Red leaf lettuce, onions

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Bell peppers, little peppers (I don’t know yet if they are hot)

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Eggplant, yellow squash

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Tomatoes

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Using this up with Lyn away is going to be a challenge. My cooking skills have rusted a bit in recent years, with the grill more my specialty than the stove is. The parsley says “tabouli”, which could use some tomato and onion as well. The kale and bok choy I will saute, with some balsamic vinegar for the kale and some sesame oil for the bok choy. We will surely have some delicious salads as well.

Thanks for visiting! Lyn will be back tomorrow.

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