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Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 15

Sep 112012

Two crabby kids and I picked up our CSA today. Nick just started preschool and has a shortened schedule for the first few days. Nick’s so excited that he’s exhausted and Sally didn’t have a nap. It was a rough day. Surprising, our pick up was smooth, but I knew better than to shop for anything at Whole Foods today.

Here’s what we received:

apples, green beans

bell peppers, onions

cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes

yellow squash, bok choy

leaf lettuce

I’m so happy to see apples. We love apples in our house and I’ve been waiting for them to start showing up. Most of the local PYO is sparse this year. We’ll be enjoying them in oatmeal this week. The green beans will be a side dish for a meal tomorrow or Thursday.

I’m done with tomatoes, peppers and onions. We planted a community garden this year and our tomatoes are out of control – and I don’t like tomatoes. Actually, we’re ok on peppers since I didn’t pick them this year. We’ll be chopping and freezing them along with the onions. I love having local ones available throughout the winter. I’m mostly just freezing tomatoes right now. We have tons of sauce and I’m not sure what we’ll need next. I did make some great enchilada sauce this week. I don’t think I’ll ever buy store bought again.

One lonely squash will just get eaten in a stir fry with the bok choy and maybe some garlic and onion. Bok choy isn’t my favorite, but luckily Stephen likes the Asian flavors.

We’ll use the lettuce in salad. We might even have BLTs this week with some local bacon. I think everyone would like them as long as we hold the T for Sally and I.

I’m hoping for fewer tomatoes next week.

Geauga Family Farms–week 15

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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.

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

Red Russian kale, bok choy

Garlic, sweet potatoes

Apples (mixed varieties), carrots

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

Red leaf lettuce, onions

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

Eggplant, yellow squash

Tomatoes

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.

Geauga Family Farms–week 13

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Sep 062011

Today, we picked up our Geauga Family Farms CSA. I was glad that we remembered it was Tuesday. It feels like a Monday since yesterday was the Labor Day Holiday. It’s week 13 already. I think we have 20 weeks total.

Here’s what we received:

Let’s take a closer look.

Cabbage, sweet corn

Potatoes, yummy SWEET oranges peppers

Swiss chard, watermelon!

2 varieties of leaf lettuce

Tomatoes, yellow squash

Carrots, green peppers

This week looks superb! Everything was vibrant, fresh, and we had a rainbow of colors in our box.

I’m hoping that we get apples from our other CSA this week and I can make my coleslaw recipe with the cabbage. I have all of the other ingredients on hand. I’ll be cooking the sweet corn tomorrow or Thursday.

After juicing 100 pounds of Roma tomatoes for sauce over the weekend, this amount of tomatoes doesn’t seem like very many to me. I’ll probably just use a couple in salad and juice the rest for some ketchup or BBQ sauce.

I don’t really have specific plans for the other items, but we’ll be eating well this week!

PS – Yes, we got another watermelon. Yes, I am HAPPY about it!

Geauga Family Farms–week 11

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Aug 232011

Wow, we had pick up #11 today for the Geauga Family Farms CSA. We had 14 different items!

Here’s what we received:

Let’s take a closer look.

Green bell peppers, onions

Hot pepper, yellow squash

Pickling cucumbers, peaches

Yellow beans, basil

Beets, watermelon

Tomatoes, cherry tomatoes

Eggplant, cabbage

We didn’t do too badly last week, but we had company this weekend and I feel a little bit behind. It’s really because of peach and tomato picking, not the CSA items. I finally canned the tomatoes yesterday and I’m finishing the peaches now.

With this week’s CSA items, I see some coleslaw in our future since we got cabbage today and we are getting apples on Thursday. I’ll make some pasta sauce with the tomatoes, basil, eggplant and squash and we’ll have that with pasta for a meal. I’ll probably add that hot pepper too.

I’ll also be making some more pickles. I think we ate all of the ones from the last batch, so that’s timely.

I think this week is easy, especially since we don’t have any meals out planned.

Geauga Family Farms–week 10

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Aug 162011

Today was the 10th pick up for the Geauga Family Farms CSA. This week’s share was similar to last week’s share.

Here’s what we received:

Let’s take a closer look.

Cherry tomatoes, carrots

Lettuce and more lettuce

Watermelon, cantaloupe

Green bell peppers, broccli

Yellow squash, eggplant

Cucumber, zucchini (yes it looks funny, but it is a variety of zucchini)

HOT peppers, slicing tomatoes

Peaches, green beans

We got 3 different types of fruit. That is pretty odd for our CSA, but we love fruit. Most of the items this week will be easy to use. The fruit will disappear in a couple of days.

One pepper and the cucumber will go into salad along with the lettuce. We ate the broccoli for dinner tonight. The beans will make a great side dish to our meal tomorrow. Carrots, eggplant and squash feel like staples in our house, so we’ll be making a quiche or lasagna to use them up soon.

Then, there are the hot peppers. If there is one item that I wish we didn’t get, it would be the hot peppers. I just haven’t found a good use for them yet. But, I am determined. I’ll keep you all posted!

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!

Geauga Family Farms–week 9

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Aug 092011

Today was the 9th pick up for the Geauga Family Farms CSA. It’s hard to believe that we are almost half way through the season. Today’s bounty was heavy! The season’s first watermelons have arrived.

Here’s a group photo of what we received:

Let’s take a closer look.

Cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes

Peaches, beets

Green peppers, hot peppers

Eggplant, yellow squash

Cucumber, lettuce

Lettuce, yellow wax beans

Parsley, watermelon

I think we have entered my favorite part of the season. I love melons! I was glad to see lettuce since we were almost out. I’ve put my parsley in water. I think some parsley potatoes or salad dressing may be in order. The squash, cucumber and peppers will probably go into a wheat or rye berry cold salad for dinner tomorrow night. We eat at Wade Oval near the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and it’s challenging to make cold CSA food. I’m getting better as the season progresses.

I’m going to remove the skins from the peaches, slice and freeze them for oatmeal. One of my favorite ways to have oatmeal is with peaches. I’ll be sure to save a couple of peaches for Thursday. I’m expecting basil in my CSA pick on Thursday and I want to try my version of this dressing recipe from The Chubby Cook. I’m going to make the same recipe, but use an extra peach. I sampled it at Whole Foods on Sunday and it was tasty.

I haven’t found any great ways to use hot peppers since I don’t care for spicy dishes and I like the kids to be able to eat anything that I prepare. Usually, they get chopped and frozen and I use them sparingly as I make taco meat, pulled pork and chili throughout the winter.

I usually make Harvard beets whenever we get beets. At dinner tonight, my son was content to eat beets and watermelon for dinner. That made me very happy!

All in all, it should be a great week!

Geauga Family Farms–week 8

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Aug 022011

Today was the 8th pick up for the Geauga Family Farms CSA.

Here’s what we received:

Let’s take a closer look.

Zucchini, cucumber

Eggplant, cabbage

Onion, yellow squash

Tomatoes, cauliflower

Blackberries, cherry tomatoes

Hot peppers, Roma tomatoes

Basil, lettuce

Lettuce

I’m thinking that a gluten free chili mac dish might be in order when my in laws visit this weekend. I saw all of the tomatoes and immediately thought chili or sauce. With the chili route, I could use the onion, peppers and tomatoes in one shot. The basil will be dried or frozen for use in sauce in the upcoming weeks. We were almost out of lettuce, so it’s nice to be stocked up for salads. The cabbage will go into cole slaw along with the head I have from our other CSA. The cauliflower will get eaten for lunch tomorrow. I’m not sure about the other ingredients. We will make an effort to use or preserve everything by Friday night as we have company for the weekend and we don’t want anything to go bad!

Geauga Family Farms–week 7

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Jul 262011

Today, we had the week 7 pick up for the Geauga Family Farms CSA. Since it was the 4th Tuesday and there was a farm visit this evening, my husband picked up our share. Even though we had the list of what could be in our share earlier today, it’s really a surprise when you actually see it.

Here’s what we received today:

Let’s take a closer look.

Tomatoes, beets

Lettuce, kohlrabi

Swiss chard, onion

Green beans, cherry tomatoes

Radishes, cucumbers

Yellow squash, patty pan squash (Most of the patty pan squash that I have seen before is more flat and scalloped, but I am pretty sure this is patty pan squash.)

Zucchini, honey (add on order)

New this year, we can place orders though the website for some additional items. There are things available like honey, maple syrup, eggs, etc. I ordered some honey for this week. We didn’t really need honey at the moment, but I wanted to try out the ordering system. Pay with paypal and pick up with the share. It was easy!

I’m still thinking about the bounty that we received and haven’t made any specific plans for it, but we’ll be busy eating our veggies this week for sure!

Geauga Family Farms–week 6

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Jul 192011

Today we had another pick up for the Geauga Family Farms CSA. It’s week 6 already. The amount of produce has really picked up the last couple of weeks.

Here’s what we received in our family share:

Let’s take a closer look.

Black cherry tomatoes, cucumber

Pickling cucumbers, potatoes

Blueberries, green onions

Onions, peppers (probably hot!)

Cabbage, red raspberries

Lettuce, Swiss chard

Tomatoes, zucchini

Yellow squash

Personally, I’m not much of a tomato fan (unless they are in BBQ sauce, ketchup or pasta sauce), but the black cherry tomatoes were my husband’s favorite last year, so I was happy to see them today. The pickles we made a couple of weeks back should be ready, so we’ll eat them this week and make some more with today’s share. I bought some whole wheat lasagna noodles at the beginning of the season. I think this is the week for veggie lasagna with squash as the highlight.

Some of our raspberries were moldy, I sorted them and used the good ones in raspberry lemonade this evening. It’s so refreshing on a hot day like today. The blueberries probably won’t make it past breakfast in the morning.

I’m going to assume the peppers are hot. Last year, almost all of the peppers that we received were hot. I had a tough time using them since my kids and I don’t really like HOT. For the most part, I ended up chopping and freezing them and then putting them in crockpot recipes like chili a bit at a time.

Have a great week!

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