CSA 21 and Beautiful Food

Next week will be the last of the CSA for 2015. We are getting a lot of vegetables each week as the fields end-of-season harvest rolls on. The week the bag was stuffed again.  The leaves of the bunch of turnips and stalk of Brussel sprouts stuck out of the top. The 3 pounds of sweet potatoes and watermelon radishes were at the bottom of the bag. A head of cabbage and bell peppers were toward the middle and the lettuce and bunch of cilantro was at the top. I traded the hot peppers included in the share for an extra bunch of cilantro. We were allowed two items from the overage table and I chose the pink stemmed chard and a pound of small broccoli stalks.

There is so much that is beautiful about fall foods. The one-potato-soup made with a broth started with water beets were cooked in (very red, a little vinegary) was a beautiful color and tastey.

Some food are beautiful in the raw – like these Brussel sprouts.

I’ve discovered that I use the firmer veggies like broccoli, sweet potatoes, kohlrabi, radishes and turnips in salads (slaw or added to lettuce) and stir fries when they are already shredded and ready to go.  The shredder disk of the food processor makes it very easy and the result – all mixed together – is beautiful and tastey. The picture below is from last week with the watermelon radish contributing the bright pink, sweet potato the orange, broccoli (the whole stalk!) the green, turnips and kohlrabi the white. Later today I’ll make a new batch with the veggies I need to use up now: purple cabbage, watermelon radish, sweet potato, broccoli, and turnips.

CSA Week 13

My husband picked up this week’s share…there will be processing and good eating when I return home (the day before the CSA week 14 share will be distributed. The 5 pounds of red tomatoes will go into the freezer and maybe some of the 2 pounds of cherry tomatoes will too. My husband kept the poblano peppers rather than trading so I am planning something he will help be eat!

The ‘new’ foods this week are marjoram and acorn squash. I’ll have to search my recipes for one that requires marjoram. I already know I want to back the acorn squash and eat it with butter and cinnamon; I remember eating it cooked that way at a Yosemite lodge more than 25 years ago and it has always been my favorite way to enjoy the squash.

My husband chose watermelon from the overage table and is saving it for when I return. Good choice.

CSA Week 11

It’s a good thing that some of the veggies this week do not need to go into the refrigerator (onions, garlic, potatoes) because we got both a watermelon and cantaloupe along with 3 kinds of tomatoes (3 heirloom, a pint of cherry, and 2 pounds of romas) and 2 kinds of peppers (1 bell and 4 snacking (since I traded my 2 jalapenos for snacking)). I decided to put the thyme in water on the window sill since I am using it up pretty quickly (I’ve already finished the bunch I got a few weeks ago). I had to make two trips to the car for this share since the watermelon was so heavy it had to be carried by itself; the same thing happened to me last year.

I am enjoying the herbs from the CSA (thyme, basil, chives and oregano so far) and the ones I have in my garden (basil, chives and mint). They - along with the garlic and onion - definitely add a lot of flavor to foods very quickly. Stir fry sauces are not needed when there are so many herbs readily available around the kitchen!

Am I to the point of freezing the cherry tomatoes? Maybe. I did it last year about this time and they were very easy to pop into soups - still frozen - to provide tomato flavor and color in the dead of winter. I like to just make sure they are clean then put them into a plastic container to freeze. Usual their skin does not break - or if it does the tomato is already frozen enough that the juice does not leak out. For me - it is the fastest way to save the goodness of summer tomatoes until winter.

CSA Week 10

About all I have left from the week 9 share is chives, onions and leeks…a few purple skinned potatoes. But I think the week 10 share is a bit overwhelming.

The variety and amount of tomatoes skyrocketed this week: 2 big heirloom tomatoes, 1 pint cherry tomatoes, and 2 pounds red tomatoes. There was some fresh oregano which encourages me to make homemade tomato ‘something’ - soup or sauce.

We also got potatoes - this time with red skins. Fortunately potatoes last long enough that they won’t go to waste even if we don’t eat them this week.

The assortment of peppers went up: snack peppers of all colors (I got red/green ones), bell peppers, and jalepenos (which I promptly exchanged for another bell pepper).

We had a choice between cucumbers and summer squash; I picked the squash to I can make squash hummus again.

We had our choice of cantaloupe, red watermelon or yellow watermelon this week. I got a red one - just to be different from last week’s yellow one (which we enjoyed).

One of the items available on the overage table was lettuce….it will go well with the tomatoes and peppers for summer salads.

Once again - the next week is going to have a lot of good eating --- enjoying the bounty of summer foods!

CSA Week 9

Hurray! The share this week included a small watermelon! I had a choice between yellow and red….and chose a yellow.

There were also two kinds of peppers (bell and snack), two kinds of tomatoes (cherry and heirloom), two ‘onions’: chives and purple, purple skinned small potatoes that were still wet from a rain a few hours before our pickup time. I had a choice between lettuce, eggplant or okra and I chose lettuce. And I chose leeks from the overage table.

I envision all kinds of good meals this week…the ones I am thinking of right away are:

Large salads with lettuce, tomato, pepper, chives (edamame or peanuts for protein to make it a meal)

Hash browns made with shredded potatoes (leaving on the purple skins), onion, and bell pepper

Eggs with chives or leek

Stir fry with leek, pepper  and mushrooms (the last ingredient from the grocery store)

CSA Week 8

I cleared out most of the remains of past shares before I picked up the week 8 haul. Only cucumbers, leeks, onions and garlic were left!

There was another onion in the week 8 share - and a bunch of scallions. It was a second week for tomatoes and continuation of summer squash/cucumbers. Items new this week were thyme, bell pepper and potatoes (purple!). I got three small kohlrabies from the overage table.

And there was a sunflower too! I cut off the stem a bit to fit it into an old wine decanter.

A special treat this morning for breakfast….purple hash browns seasoned with rosemary and scrambled eggs! Yum!