Geauga Family Farms CSA–week 5

CSA 2 Responses »
Jul 122011
 

Today was our 5th pick up for the Geauga Family Farms CSA.  I think we have entered the heart of the growing season.  Based on what we received today, it looks like the crops are doing well despite such a wet spring.

Here’s what we received in our family share (not pictured are raspberries):

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Let’s take a closer look.

Red raspberries, green leaf lettuce

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Red leaf lettuce, large onion

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Yellow squash, zucchini

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Tomatoes, broccoli

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Pickling cucumbers, beets

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Green onions, kohlrabi

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Potatoes, sugar snap peas

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Cucumbers

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This looks like a pretty easy week to use everything.  I may freeze the onions, but I suspect everything else will be used as we prepare meals this week.

Fresh Fork CSA–week 6

CSA No Responses »
Jul 072011
 

Today was the 6th pick up for the Fresh Fork CSA.  We were expecting the following items.  Trevor is good at sending us a detailed list.  We usually get it on Tuesday for our Thursday pick up.  It works out well because Tuesday is when I pick up my Geauga Family Farms CSA and then I can plan dishes and meals for the next few days.  This week, I was particularly glad to see the pasta on the list, since it makes a tasty quick dinner on days when we are running late.

Small CSA:

  • 1 bulb onion, candy variety
  • 1 head German white porcelain garlic
  • 1 lb green beans or sugar snap peas
  • 1 bunch cilantro
  • 2 ct zucchini
  • 2 ct squash
  • Approx 2 lbs sweet cherries
  • 1 pint black raspberries
  • Approx 1.5 lbs slicing tomatoes
  • 1 lb garlic chive linguini
  • 1 cucumber

Here is what we received:

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We were able to request beans instead of peas.  That worked out well for us since we got peas on Tueday.  We didn’t receive cilantro or zucchini, but we have an extra cucumber.  I don’t usually know if these are packing errors or if the order was shorted.  So, I’ll email to ask about it.  I am surprised that we didn’t get lettuce this week, but it’s also starting to get hot, so we can expect a few weeks without it at some point until the weather cools off again.  We’ll see what next week brings.  We still have lettuce from our other CSA this week and plenty of other veggies to eat.

In addition to the above, we bought another bag of corn chips ($3) to have with our taco dinner this weekend.

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Menu Planning for upcoming meals:

  • taco filling with local ground beef, onions, tomatoes, garlic, carrots
  • roast from earlier week (freezer) with roasted carrots, beets, onion, kohlrabi
  • zucchini and yellow squash fritters or baked fries
  • more coleslaw
  • chicken with green beans
  • quiche with collards or maybe a sauté of collards
  • salad with cucumbers, radishes
  • tofu marinated stir fry with peas, cabbage, onions

Except for milk and bananas, we haven’t needed anything at the grocery store lately.  We love our fresh produce.

Fresh Fork CSA–week 5

CSA No Responses »
Jun 302011
 

Today was the 5th pick up for the Fresh Fork CSA.  We were expecting the following items.

Small CSA:

  • 1 bunch beets with tops
  • 1 bunch carrots with tops
  • 1 head cabbage
  • 2 ct zucchini
  • 2 ct squash
  • 1-2 cucumbers depending on size
  • 1 quart yogurt
  • 1 head bibb lettuce
  • Approx 1.5 lbs tomatoes
  • Approx 2 lbs sweet black cherries
  • 1 lb grassfed ground beef

Here is what we received:

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So, it looks like the black raspberries were an unexpected bonus this week.  Everything looks fabulous.  We’ll be feasting well for the holiday weekend.

In addition to the above, I had placed an order for extras via the Fresh Fork website.  It worked well.  I ordered maple syrup, oats, 2 wheat flour, chorizo sausage, whole wheat linguini and 2 bunches of spinach.  It was just under $30.  I probably wouldn’t order the flour again since I didn’t realize they were one pound packages.  The oats are just to try in a granola recipe.  The spinach was the most delicious spinach that I ever had last week and I have the perfect recipe for it (along with the pasta), and we weren’t expecting any this week.   We also really enjoyed the chorizo two weeks ago and I was glad that it was in stock this week.

 

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Between two CSA pick ups and the field night this week, our fridge is well stocked with veggies.  I’ve put together a simple lists of dishes to prepare this weekend in hopes to use many of the items up.

Menu Planning for CSA items this week:

  • Camembert / brie herbed cheese over spinach and linguini
  • Kolhrabi/radish au gratin
  • Salad with quinoa, beans, chorizo, etc.
  • Harvard beets
  • Summer squash fritters or baked squash fries
  • Carrots
  • Cole slaw (with apples, onion, cabbage, etc.)
  • Salads (with cucumber, radishes, red pepper)
  • Stuffed cousa squash (with quinoa or rice and ground beef, onion, etc.)
  • Beet greens
  • Foil pack glazed carrots

It will be a weekend full of cooking and eating local!

Geauga Family Farms CSA–week 3

CSA 2 Responses »
Jun 282011
 

Today was the third pick up for Geauga Family Farms CSA.  Since it was also the first farm field night, my husband picked up our share for us and I took the kids to the farm.  I’ll have more on the farm visit tomorrow!

We had received our newsletter and knew we would be getting items like lettuce, strawberries, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, green onions, zucchini, yellow squash, kohlrabi, carrots, radishes, peas, kale and pickling cucumbers.  Our actual items received vary depending on mother nature, which size share and which pick up day – so we always have an element of surprise.

Here’s what we received:

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Let’s take a closer look.

3 tomatoes, 1 container of strawberries

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2 small bunches of green onions (pictured together), container of cherry tomatoes

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2 heads of romaine lettuce, 1 head of red leaf lettuce

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2 yellow squash, 2 zucchini

 

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2 kohlrabi, small bunch of carrots

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bunch of radishes

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Here’s our plan of attack:

We’ll have more salads with the lettuce.  I’ll probably make squash fritters again with the onions and squash, since everyone liked them this week.  I just pickled some radishes, so I think these will go in salads and in our kohlrabi au gratin dish.  The carrots and cherry tomatoes will get eaten (with our without salads).  The strawberries will either get eaten at breakfast in the morning, or may make their way into a strawberry rhubarb dish.  I’m almost hesitant to say this is a pretty easy week.

Update on last week:

I ended up making kale pesto with the kale.  Most of the other items were used as planned.  I did freeze a few tomatoes, some garlic scapes and some onions for future use.

Fresh Fork CSA–week 4

CSA No Responses »
Jun 232011
 

Today was the 4th pick up for the Fresh Fork CSA.  We were expecting the following items.

Small CSA:

  • 1 package chicken bratwursts (1.25 lb)
  • 1 bunch garlic scapes
  • Approx 1.5 lb tomatoes
  • 1 quart strawberries
  • 1 bunch green onions
  • 1 bunch spinach
  • 1 head leaf lettuce
  • 2 ct zucchini or yellow squash
  • 4 oz tub fresh chevre goat cheese

Here is what we received.

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So, our cheese was different, but it should be tasty.  And we ended up with one of each for the squash.  I could tell that strawberry season was ending as they aren’t in the best shape.  It’s another yummy week.

Also, we bought 2 bags of the corn chips that were included a couple of weeks ago.  I have taco salad on the menu and these are delicious.  They were $3 each – $6.

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We did pretty good with last week’s items.  I haven’t really thought about the new batch.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–week 2

CSA 2 Responses »
Jun 212011
 

Today was the second pick up for the Geauga Family Farms CSA.  As usual, we had no idea what we would receive.  A newsletter comes out that gives us an idea of what we may receive, but I usually don’t see it before our pickup.  Today was the second pick up and also the second time the truck was late.  Both times, it arrived before we did, so we haven’t had to wait for them.  I’m not sure what will happen next week since we want to come to the farm visit.  Maybe I’ll enlist some assistance from my husband.  Even with an on-time truck arriving at Whole Foods by 4pm, it will be tough to pick up, store and get to the farm by 6pm.

Here’s what we received:

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Let’s take a closer look.

1 bunch of kale, 2 containers of strawberries

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2 tomatoes, 1 dozen eggs

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garlic scapes, green onions

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pickling cucumbers, lots of lettuce (3 bags with 4 heads total)

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Here’s our plan of attack:

This week, we plan to have several salads with the lettuce.  I’ve been making spelt and quinoa and also using beans in some salads.  I’ll pickle the cucumbers.  I’m glad I stocked up on the spices for them.  I’ll need to double check our vinegar stock.  Some of the onions and garlic scape will be used in a batch of taco filling and the rest will be used in a sauté with mushrooms for the top of burgers or chopped and frozen.  There aren’t too many of them, so that might all got in the taco filling.  The tomatoes will go in the taco filling also.  I’ve been making baked oatmeal, scrambled eggs and hard boiled eggs so the eggs have been easy to use in a timely fashion.  Also, they have a long shelf life.  We just picked some strawberries and made jam today, so these will most likely get eaten.  If we feel like we have too many, we’ll make some strawberry ice cream or freeze them for later.

So, I’m left without a plan for kale.  It’s an item that we only received twice last year, and I don’t have a “go to” dish in mind.  Some quick searching in Google gave me lots of ideas.  Now, I have to think about it.  We have plans to eat dinner away from home Wednesday and Thursday , so kale will have to be lunch for us one day or for dinner on Friday.  I’m leaning toward steaming it with vinegar, garlic scapes and green onion.

Update on last week:

Since the bread was opened for a snack on the way home, Nick, Sally and my husband had no trouble making sure it was eaten.  The bok choy went into an Asian tofu stir fry along with some of the garlic scapes and green onions.  The eggs were used in regular cooking and the cucumber and lettuce were used in salads.  Some of the strawberries were eaten and the rest went with some others we had to make jam.  The rest of the green onions and garlic scapes went into a Mexican filling for salad.

Recipe: Taco Salad

CSA, Recipe No Responses »
Jun 192011
 

This week in our CSA, we received many items that fit into a Mexican theme.  It seemed appropriate to create a taco salad.

[print_this]

Recipe: Taco Salad

Summary: All ingredients are approximate as I don’t really measure much.

Ingredients

  • 1 T olive oil
  • 3 garlic scapes, chopped
  • 3 green onions, chopped
  • 1 pound local grass fed ground beef
  • 1 cup black beans (already cooked or canned)
  • 2 tomatoes, chopped
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 4 T Penzeys taco seasoning
  • 2 cups quinoa with cilantro, prepared
  • handful of corn chips per person
  • bed of lettuce per person

Instructions

  1. Heat olive oil in skillet.
  2. Add garlic scapes and onion and cook for a couple of minutes.
  3. Add ground beef and cook until beef is almost done.
  4. Drain off grease and return to pan.
  5. Add tomatoes, beans, water and taco seasoning.
  6. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil, simmer until tomatoes are done and sauce is thickened.
  7. Assemble 1/3 cup quinoa and 1/6 of the filling on top of the lettuce.
  8. Add a handful of corn chips to each plate.

Quick notes

To make the quinoa, use a rice cooker. You need 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water. I used previously frozen chopped cilantro that was frozen into ice cubes with water to make up some of the water. Add the cubes to a measuring cup and fill with water to desired level. You can always add fresh cilantro or leave it out.

Preparation time: 10 minute(s)

Cooking time: 20 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 6

 

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Fresh Fork CSA–week 3

CSA 2 Responses »
Jun 162011
 

Today was our third pick up for the Fresh Fork CSA.  We were expecting the following items.

Small CSA:

  • 1 lb grassfed ground beef
  • 1 qt organic strawberries
  • Approx 1.5 lbs slicing tomatoes
  • 1 head leaf lettuce
  • 1 bag (16 oz) corn chips
  • 1 bunch green onions
  • 1 bunch cilantro
  • 1-2 zucchini
  • 1 bunch field grown spinach (braising greens)
  • 1 half gallon milk

Here is what we received.

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Update on last week:  We didn’t blanch any radishes, so we need to use them up.  We haven’t used our eggs or spelt berries yet.  The sausage ended up in a quinoa salad dish.  I’ll be posting that recipe this weekend.  I think everything else was enjoyed.

Here’s our plan of attack for this week:

The strawberries were made into jam this evening.  The milk we’ll enjoy with our cereals.  The spinach is going into a Camembert cheese pasta dish.  Most of the other items will be part of a Mexican themed dinner and I’ll freeze the left over cilantro if needed.  A few of my cubes from last week were used as part of the liquid for quinoa and it was delicious.  I haven’t decided about the zucchini yet.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–week 1

CSA 2 Responses »
Jun 142011
 

Today was our first pick up for the Geauga Family Farms CSA.  Sometimes we get a “what’s in season this week list”, but usually surprised when we pick up our items for the week.

Here is what we received.

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Let’s take a closer look.

2 containers of strawberries (approximately 2 quarts), 3 tomatoes

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loaf of wheat bread (that was sampled on the way home), 1/2 dz. eggs

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small head of green leaf lettuce, 2 small heads of another variety of leaf lettuce

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bok choy, 2 different views

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garlic scapes, cucumber

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green onions

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I’ll be back tomorrow to share our plan of attack for consumption.

Fresh Fork CSA–week 2

CSA No Responses »
Jun 092011
 

Today was our second pick up for the Fresh Fork CSA.  We were expecting the following items.

Small CSA:

  • 1 lb Berkshire chorizo sausage
  • 2 lbs spelt berries
  • 1 lb whole wheat linguini
  • 1 bunch garlic scapes
  • 1 head assorted leaf lettuce
  • 1 quart strawberries
  • 2 lbs hoop house tomatoes
  • 1 dz brown eggs

Here is what we received.

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The radishes were owed to us from last week since ours were missed.  The yogurt was an add on.  Most weeks, there are additional items for sale at the back of the truck.  It was $5 and although it’s expensive, we really like it.

Update on last week:  I ended up serving the tomatoes to my husband and son on their salads.

Here’s our plan of attack for this week:

We like the yogurt with jam mixed in and as the liquid for overnight oats.  I’m going to make whole wheat honey strawberry shortcake with the strawberries  I have radish top soup on the stove now.  Some of the radishes will be used in salad and the rest will be blanched and frozen.  The lettuce and tomatoes will get eaten in salad.  The sausage and pasta will be eaten as a main course.  We will sauté most of the garlic scape with other veggies during the week.  We may make some garlic pesto pizza as well.  Eggs and spelt berries are staple items and have a long shelf life, so we don’t have specific plans for them yet.

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