CSA Week 17

I still have a few potatoes, sweet dumpling squash, chives, and bell peppers left from week 16. The potatoes will keep. I’ll bake the squash in a few days I should freeze the peppers and endeavor to use up the chives as quickly as possible.

The share this week was a typical fall bounty:

Beets ---- I am making fruit beety with the beets and using the stems/leaves in stir fries

Broccoli ---- We were warned by the farmer to soak the broccoli to get the insects out of it. I’ll probably make slaw out of it after that….which can be used in salads and stir fries

Bell peppers and snack peppers ---- It’s a bit overwhelming but I like peppers both raw and cooked

Parsley – I’ll use as much as I can fresh but will probably end up drying some of it.

Thyme – I traded my hot peppers to get a second bunch! I’ve become a fan of thyme in stir fry and soup…and it dries very easily

Kohlrabi – I’ll use the leaves and stems in stir fries. The bulbs may become part of the slaw I make with the broccoli

Tomatoes – We are down to a pound of the red tomatoes this week. I got a pint container of the sun gold tomatoes as my pick from the overage table.

Butternut squash – This is probably my favorite winter squash because it is big enough to have enough left over to make custard (made with the cooked squash instead of pumpkin but otherwise the same ingredients)

Eggplant - There are two again this week. I plan to make another batch of eggplant balls and may freeze some of them.

Yummy meals in week ahead!

CSA Week 6

I am going to have a lot of veggies to process or eat when I get home next week. My husband picked up the week 5 share last week and the majority is still in one crisper of the refrigerator. It’s a good thing my refrigerator has two large crispers since the second one is now filled with the week 6 share from the Gorman Farms CSA share.

This week we got beets (I’ll make fruit beety as soon as I get home), leeks, onions, carrots, yellow squash, cucumbers, green beans (he put them in a mesh bag, and purple basil. He realized that I had green basil growing in a pot on our deck so when he had to choose between green and purple --- he picked the purple.

There was a cut sunflower as part of the share this week too!

I can hardly wait to pick up next week’s share since the ‘overage table’ has been started since I have been away - and is a new feature of the CSA this year.

CSA Week 4

I still had some of the week 3 share from the Gorman Farm CSA on Wednesday when I went to pick up the week 4 share. I managed finish everything except some frozen fruit beety by noon Thursday. Week 4 included beets, kohlrabi, Napa cabbage, zucchini, cucumbers, radicchio and carrots. I decided that when there is a choice of veggies - I’ll always choose the ones I haven’t had yet this season. This week the choices was to pick two from four: chard, kale, Napa cabbage and radicchio…and I made the new rule on the spot to pick the cabbage and radicchio.

I am going to make zucchini hummus with the first of this squash of the season. The beets (without their leaves), kohlrabi and carrots will keep longer so I’ll eat the other veggies first. The two crispers in my refrigerator were very full on Wednesday afternoon but they are already less cramped with two days of meals heavy on veggies.

CSA Week 3

I had no trouble using up everything from the week 2 share from the CSA with a house guest here for most of the week. The last to be eaten was the lettuce - we ate big salads with it just before we went to pick up the week 3 share from the Gorman Farm CSA.

It was another good one: (starting at the left in the picture) beets, broccoli, scallions, dandelion greens, garlic scapes, and arugula.  

When I got the produce home - I cooked the beets (setting the leaves and stems aside) immediately in water laced with raspberry vinegar. While they were cooking I rinsed everything (including the beet greens) and stored everything in 2 plastic bins that fit neatly into the crispers; that will shorten the prep for meals. I started the prep for making fruit beety (getting out the food processor, cutting up oranges). By that time the beets were done and I quickly peeled them and cut them into chunks before processing them with all the other ingredients to make fruit beety. After packing individual servings of the confection - I rewarded myself with fruit beety with coconut on top.