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 19

The week 19 share from the Gorman Produce Farm CSA was a full bag again this week. It was as large as last week (and I still have a few items in the refrigerator from last week…and I’m drying shredded radish leaves for use in soups through the winter).

In this week there is red leaf lettuce, arugula, chard (I chose the chard with the magenta stems), turnips (all white), red cabbage, bell peppers, banana peppers, 2 pounds of sweet potatoes, tatsoi, pac choi (traded my hot peppers for this), 1 pound of tomatoes, mustard greens, kohlrabi. I’m already thinking about making slaw of raw sweet potato, turnips, kohlrabi, and a watermelon radish from last week’s share. I’m enjoying the shredder attachment on my food processor!

I couldn’t resist including a close up of a chard leaf with this post. The color combination adds to the appeal of this vegetable in both salads and stir fries!

CSA Week 7

I have a lot of veggies to eat over the next week - most of the week 5 and 6 share left when I picked up week 7 share. There are going to be two full meals each day that are heavy on veggies (salad or stir fry are my favorite generic recipes to use lots of veggies fast)!

The veggies in the week 7 share include lettuce, leeks, zucchini, cucumbers and onions. There was a choice between carrots, beets, okra, eggplant, or cherry tomatoes; I chose the tomatoes even though I know in a few weeks I’ll probably be overwhelmed by tomatoes and be looking for ways to preserve them to use after the season.

I was also allowed a pick from the overage table and I couldn’t resist picking up a small purple cabbage; I like the additional color it adds to salads.

CSA Week 5

The remnants of the week 4 Gorman Farms CSA share traveled from Maryland to Texas in an ice chest (a two day road trip). The only portions left are a few carrots and a cucumber!

It has been hot and wet in Maryland recently so the veggies are abundant…and the CSA share is full of variety:

• Leafy greens like lettuce, kale, collard greens, kohlrabi greens, carrots tops, cabbage
• Roots like carrots, kohlrabi, onions and garlic
• Cool cucumbers.

The only downside is that I am in Texas and my husband picked up our share this week. How much will still be good by the time I get home.