What Happened to My CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Posts?

No pretty veggie pictures!  What's happened?  Inquiring minds may want to know!

I haven't gotten much from the CSA this summer.  I got a nice selection in June, and I just got a couple of tomatoes and a couple of zucchini this past week.  That's it.  Disappointing.

We've already eaten our beautiful tomatoes, and I expect to do something with the squashes tomorrow.  Probably zucchini bread (yum!) and steamed squash.  Gotta use 'em before they get mushy!

A New Season of CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) - What I Got

The first official CSA pickup was this past week, and here's what we got!

Green lettuce
Red lettuce
Kohlrabi
Radishes
Green onions

This year, it works a little differently.  Instead of showing up and picking what you want from what's available, a couple of days before the pickup day, you are emailed a list of what's going to be offered, and then choose what to pick up.  Then the price of what you choose is charged against your membership fee.  There were some weeks last year that I wasn't all that thrilled with what was on the list, so those weeks felt kind of wasted.  It's an evolving system.

Four weeks ago, we got a preview of what was to come.  LETTUCE!  It was pretty good, so I ordered some this time around.

Because I tried (and liked!) kohlrabi last year, I got some again.  They are HUGE!  And so PURPLE!  Here's how I prepared them last year.  They went over really well.

That Man likes radishes, so I got some especially for him.  I probably should have gotten an extra bunch.

Green onions go into a lot of things.  Hmmmm...  Maybe I should have gotten an extra bunch of those, too.

Anyway, it's another season of fresh veggies from the church's organic farm - YUM!

Slow Cooker Harvard Beets - A CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Box Recipe

Two of my later CSA boxes had 1-pound bags of beets in them.  Now, I LOVE beets, but nobody else in my family is a fan of cooked (hot) beets.  That Girl and I both are pickled beet fiends, but I’m pretty sure I’m the Hot Beet Queen (now THERE’S a mental image).  

When I eat at an MCL cafeteria in Indianapolis, I can guarantee that at least one of my side dishes will be Harvard beets.  (Yes, I often choose to have TWO orders of Harvard beets - you wanna make something of it?)

I was browsing one of my untouched cookbooks, Taste of Home's Slow Cooker Throughout the Year, and came across this easy recipe for Harvard beets in a slow cooker:



Slow Cooker Harvard Beets

2 pounds small fresh beets, peeled and halved
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c packed brown sugar
2 T cornstarch
1/2 t salt
1/4 c orange juice
1/4 c vinegar
2 T butter
1 t whole cloves

Place beets in a 3-quart slow cooker.  In a bowl, combine the sugar, brown sugar, cornstarch, salt, orange juice, and vinegar. Pour over the beets in the slow cooker, then dot with the butter.  Place the cloves on a double thickness of cheesecloth, bring up the corners, and tie with string.  Place the clove bag in the slow cooker.  Cover and cook on low for 7 to 8 hours, or until tender.  Discard the clove bag.

Candied Carrots, and My Eighth and Ninth Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Boxes Continued!

My last two CSA boxes included a boat load of carrots!  Oh my!  What to do with all those orange spears?  

I let them languish in the crisper drawer in the fridge through my trip with my sister to the Lake of the Ozarks, and through the washing machine bearing repair week, and through the bring-the-boat-home weekend.  

Last week I decided to do something with the carrots, so I gathered up all the bags I had, dumped them onto the counter, peeled them, and put them into a large storage container.  

I ate quite a few of them raw, and they were great!  But enough raw carrots is enough, so I decided to cook some one night.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy!  But a little dull.  I wanted something just a little more than plain old cooked carrots.  So I got online and found a recipe for candied carrots, and here it is…



Candied Carrots

1 lb carrots, peeled, and cut into one-inch to two-inch pieces
2 T butter, diced (so it melts faster)
1/4 c packed brown sugar

Put the carrots in a saucepan and cover with lightly salted water.  Bring to a boil then turn down and simmer about 20 minutes or until fork tender (not mushy!).  Drain off the cooking water, then add the butter and brown sugar to the carrots in the pan.  Stir it all up, and cook on low heat until the sugar in the bottom of the pan is bubbly (about three to five minutes).  Serve them warm!

Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage, and My Eighth and Ninth Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Boxes - What I Got (The Late Reveal!)

The Eighth Box

I obviously received my eighth and ninth CSA boxes a while back, but I just had to complete the series and show you what my last two boxes contained!

The eighth box included tomatoes, sweet peppers, onions, carrots, and beets, and the ninth box, tomatoes, sweet peppers, potatoes, and carrots - lots of carrots!

I've chopped and frozen most of the onions and peppers, and eaten the tomatoes and potatoes, and some of the carrots (raw).

I still have some of the onions, all the beets, and a lot of the carrots.  I have plans for the beets and carrots, and you'll hear about them in time.

But today, I used one of the onions.  I never got to an Oktoberfest celebration this year - it rained and rained, and I wasn't going to wade through the mud.  I can wait until next year.

In the meantime, I decided to make German cuisine in my own kitchen.  

Today I was inspired to make red cabbage.  The recipe I use is called Rhineland Sweet-Sour Red Cabbage from the original Crockery Cookery cookbook, written by Mabel Hoffman.  YUM!  I've had a hankering for it for weeks, so I went a little crazy and made it.  I'll have a couple of other German recipes in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned!

The onion came from one of my CSA boxes, but the red cabbage, alas, did not  We never received any cabbage, red or green, so I bit the bullet and headed to the store to buy a couple of heads.  It's a simple, foolproof way to make delicious red cabbage.  

Here's the recipe (my paraphrase):

Rhineland Sweet-Sour Red Cabbage (6 to 8 servings)

6 slices bacon, cooked and chopped (reserve 3 T bacon grease in the skillet)*
1 large head red cabbage, shredded
1 medium onion, chopped
6 T brown sugar
3 T flour
2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
3/4 c water
6 T vinegar

Put the cabbage, onion, and bacon in a 3 1/2- or 4-quart slow cooker.  Mix together the bacon grease, sugar, flour, salt, and pepper.  Stir in the water and vinegar.  Pour over the cabbage, onion, and bacon in the slow cooker.  Cover and cook on low 4 hours.  If the cabbage isn't cooked to your liking, turn the heat up to high for 1/2 hour.  Stir and serve.

*If you want the preparation to go even faster, here's a shortcut - chop up 6 slices of pre-cooked bacon and put it in the slow cooker with the cabbage and onion, and use 3 T of vegetable oil instead of the bacon grease.

My Seventh Communitty Supported Agriculture (CSA) Box - What I Got

I picked up my produce box at Teter Organic Farm, and on the way home, it started to rain - a real frog strangler!  I was glad I got my stuff loaded into the car before all THAT started.  We've had a lot of rain the past few days, and I'm tired of it - UGH.

So this week, we got some mixed salad greens (two bags!), some assorted small sweet peppers, more new potatoes (YAY!), slicer tomatoes, cherry tomatoes (I didn't take any since I'm not a fan), beets (double-YAY!), and some bonus bell peppers.

I'm looking forward to making wilted lettuce again - break out the bacon!!!  And more roasted potatoes.  Or, I have a recipe to try for roasted chicken breasts, potatoes, and carrots that sounds REALLY good.

And the beets - one of my favorites.  I'm afraid that when I cook these, they'll bleed all over the place and look pale and washed out.  To prevent that, you're supposed to leave a couple of inches of the stems on, but alas, there are no stems on these lovelies.  Maybe roasted they won't do that.  I'll need to do some research!

This is also the first week of  EGG SHARES!  For the next eight weeks, I'll pick up a dozen eggs every other week.  The new chickens have finally started to lay, so now we can not only provide eggs to families who attend the free Thursday night dinners at the church and donate eggs to a local food pantry, but we can sell shares.  The idea is for the shares to cover the costs of keeping the chickens, making them a sustainable part of the farm.  Of course, I'm super excited to get my paws on some "fruit of hen" because I help care for the lovely ladies.  Some of their eggs are beyond jumbo, so it will be fun to watch for double yolks!

Greek Tabouleh Salad (A CSA Box Recipe)

Greek Tabouleh Salad

1 package tabouleh wheat salad mix (I use Near East)
1 c boiling water
1 T olive oil
2 T lemon juice
1 large tomato, seeded and chopped
1 cucumber, seeded and chopped (about 3/4 c)
1/4 c chopped fresh basil leaves (about 10-15 leaves)
3 oz crumbled feta cheese (about 3/4 c)
garlic powder to taste

In a 2-quart bowl, combine the wheat and seasoning from the mix package with the boiling water.  Stir well, cover, and let stand at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator.  Then stir in the rest of the ingredients.  Mix well, cover, and chill in the refrigerator at least 1 hour or overnight.  Toss well before serving.

You may also add 1/2 c black olives and/or  1 c chopped bell pepper (any color).

Biscotti Bites - A CSA Box Recipe

Biscotti Bites

Zucchini bread, banana bread, applesauce bread, pumpkin bread - you name it!
Honey

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Slice the zucchini bread thinly (no more than 1/4” thick) and place in a single layer on the baking sheet, with no less than 1/4” between pieces.  Drizzle with honey.  Bake for 45 minutes.  Turn off oven and let cool in the oven.  Store in an airtight container.  I used a half-gallon Mason jar.

This is a great way to use up leftover zucchini (or similar) bread.  My zucchini bread recipe makes two fairly large loaves.  I’m the only one in the house who eats it, and I hate to waste it.  One of the ladies in my church’s Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group shared this recipe.

My Sixth Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Box - What I Got

This week, the CSA distributed tomatoes, red onions, more new potatoes (YAY!), radishes (meh), carrots, cherry tomatoes (again, meh), and assorted sweet peppers.  I really enjoyed my new potatoes last time - I roasted them in the oven, and they were delicious! 

I left the cherry tomatoes and radishes to be donated to a local food pantry.  Radishes and I don’t get along very well, and I just can’t bear to eat another cherry tomato!  I’m all cherry tomato-ed out. 

I have lots of my own tomatoes, too, because my five volunteer plants have kept pace with the three intentional plants’ production, so I’m pretty well covered up with tomatoes!  I've given away several bags of the red scourge, and I’m considering making and canning stewed tomatoes.  That would use up the tomatoes, some of the onions, and some of the peppers.  I’m definitely going to chop up the onions I don’t need for the stewed tomatoes and freeze them.   I use chopped onions all winter for chili, soups, sloppy joes, and other yummy stuff!

Caprese Salad - A CSA Box Recipe

Caprese Salad

Tomatoes, sliced
Olive oil
Salt
Fresh mozarella cheese
Fresh basil leaves, chiffonade (about 10-15 leaves)
Balsamic glaze

Arrange tomato slices on a plate or platter.  Drizzle olive oil over the slices.  Lightly salt all the tomatoes.  Arrange the cheese pieces and basil leaves over the tomatoes.  Drizzle balsamic glaze over all.

This is a great way to use up the late summer tomato explosion, and it's quick and easy to make.   

Tomato Sandwich - A CSA Box "Recipe"

Tomato Sandwich

1 Tomato, thickly sliced
Bread, white
Duke's mayonnaise
Salt

This isn't much of a recipe, is it???  But plenty of people have never heard of, much less had, a tomato sandwich!

First you need is a large, ripe, slicing tomato.  Slices should be about a half inch thick.

Next you need white bread.  Squishy white bread.  Something along the lines of  Wonder Bread or Sunbeam Giant Bread.  Don't cheat and toast it!

What really makes it is the mayonnaise.  Now, until recently, I was NOT a fan of mayonnaise.  I didn't like the taste.  I preferred (gasp!) Miracle Whip.  Then I discovered Duke's.  Oh.  My.  Gosh.  I've read several books set in the south, and anytime mayo is mentioned, it's Duke's.  Never just mayonnaise.  DUKE'S mayonnaise.

Anyway, slather it on.  Don't be stingy!

Salt that tomato!

Assemble that sandwich!

Eat it!

YUM!!!

My Fifth CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Box - What I Got

Here's this week's haul from Teter Organic Farm!

Slicing tomatoes, onions, assorted sweet peppers, carrots, cherry tomatoes (traded for an additional slicer), and (wait for it)...NEW POTATOES!

I am SO EXCITED for the potatoes!  I will probably do something wonderful with them tomorrow - maybe roasted...YUM.

I still have so many onions that I'm going to chop them all up and freeze them.  I use a lot of chopped onions when I cook, but right now, I'm not cooking much because it's hot outside, and raw onions and I don't see eye to eye most of the time.  So, they will be chopped up and put in cold storage.  Sounds like Mafia hit to me.

I also have an abundance of tomatoes from my CSA boxes, PLUS my backyard tomato plants are on the verge of ripening.  There are boatloads of huge green tomatoes, but three of them have started to get a little blush to them.

You know what that means.

Soon those plants will bury me in mountains of tomato-ey goodness.  I've already been eating tomato sandwiches and Caprese salads (watch for them to be featured on upcoming Wednesdays), but I won't be able to keep up just by doing that.

Most of them will end up canned.  Tomatoes are easy to can, and they are pretty in the jars - like red jewels on the shelf.  I sometimes have a hard time bringing myself to open them because it seems such a shame to spoil the display, but I manage to overcome my aesthetic sense, raid the larder, and actually USE THEM.

I'll give some away, too.  I've already had a couple of requests, so...!

How do you use up a bumper crop of tomatoes?  Let me know in the Comments!

Refrigerator Pickles (Sweet) - A CSA Box Recipe

Refrigerator Pickles (Sweet)

2 or 3 cucumbers, sliced thinly
1 small onion, sliced thinly
1 1/2 c vinegar
1 1/2 c sugar
1 t salt

Put the sliced cucumbers and onions in a non-metallic (plastic or ceramic) bowl.

In a saucepan, bring the vinegar, sugar, and salt to a boil.

Pour the vinegar/sugar/salt solution over the cucumbers and onions in the bowl.  Place a small plate or similar item in the bowl on top of the cucumbers and onions to keep them below the surface of the liquid.  Cover the bowl and refrigerate 24 hours.  At the end of that time, you can transfer the pickled cucumbers and onions and liquid to a jar or other container.  Keep refrigerated.

The pickles will be good for about 3 weeks, but they'll probably be gone by then!

Ratatouille (A CSA Box Recipe)

Ratatouille

Sauce:
2 T olive oil
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 bell peppers (not green), diced
salt/pepper to taste
28 oz canned tomatoes, crushed
2T fresh basil, chiffonade (8-10 leaves)

Saute onion,garlic, and peppers.  Add tomatoes and heat well.  Add basil.

Vegetables:
2 eggplants
6 roma tomatoes
2 yellow summer squash
2 zucchini

Slice vegetables about 1/8” thick.

Herb Seasoning:
2 T fresh basil, chiffonade (8-10 leaves)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 T fresh parsley, chopped
2 t fresh thyme
Salt/pepper to taste
1/4 c olive oil

Mix all together.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

To Assemble:
In a 9”x13” baking pan (or a 12” round pan), spread sauce even and level.  Arrange vegetables in an alternating pattern (squash, eggplant, zucchini, tomato) on top of sauce, slices on their edges.  Pour the herb seasoning over vegetables. Cover with foil and bake 40 minutes. Uncover and bake another 20 minutes.

My Fourth CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Box - What I Got

And another CSA box from Teter Organic Farm!

This week we received tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, onions, carrots, and (drum roll please) a WATERMELON!  I am so excited about the watermelon!

There were two containers of cherry tomatoes, but I traded them for some extra slicing tomatoes.  I have a really nice basil plant in my garden, so I'm looking forward to making several Caprese salads - YUM.  They're so simple and yet so special, too.

That watermelon, though.  I'm going to cut it up and put it in storage boxes so it will be ready to eat any time the urge hits.  I'll probably have to contend with That Man over it.  He's a watermelon junkie!

Zucchini Bread (A CSA Box Recipe)

Zucchini Bread

3 eggs
1 c oil
2 c sugar
2 c grated squash
1 t vanilla
3 T cinnamon
3 c all purpose flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 c chopped pecans or walnuts

Beat eggs until foamy.  Add the next four ingredients.  Whisk or sift together dry ingredients, then add to mixture..  Fold in nuts.  Bake in two sprayed loaf pans.  Cool 10 minutes before removing from pans.

My Third Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Box - What I Got

Another CSA box from Teter Organic Farm!

This week we received zucchini or yellow squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, red onions, carrots, and scallions!

There were actually two containers of cherry tomatoes, but I traded them for some zucchini.  I haven't had a chance to do much with them yet because I left to visit my sister a few days after picking up the box.

However, I DID make zucchini bread (again) and refrigerator pickles - watch for recipes on Wednesdays!  I also ate some steamed zucchini with butter - simple, but oh, so tasty!  It's easy to overcook, though. 

I've been trying to eat up the cherry tomatoes, but there are SO MANY.  That's the way cherry tomatoes are - prolific.  I haven't grown them in years because there was a year I had ONE plant, and for the following several years I had volunteers all over the garden.  It doesn't take a green thumb to grow cherry tomatoes!

When I return from Kentucky, I'll start feasting!

Wilted Leaf Lettuce (A CSA Box Recipe)

Wilted Leaf Lettuce

4 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped
1/2 c vinegar
1/4 c sugar
2 bunches leaf lettuce
2 green onions, chopped
1 hard-cooked egg, chopped

Fry bacon until crisp.   Add vinegar and sugar, heat through.  Put lettuce, onions, and egg in a large bowl.  Pour bacon mixture over the lettuce mixture and toss well.  The lettuce will wilt slightly.

Kohlrabi in White Sauce (A CSA Box Recipe)

Kohlrabi in White Sauce

4 kohlrabi bulbs, peeled and cubed
2 T butter
4 T all purpose flour
1 c milk
1 t salt
1 t nutmeg
1 t white pepper

In a saucepan, cover the kohlrabi with water.  Bring to a boil, and cook 5 minutes or until the kohlrabi can be pierced with a fork but is still firm.  Drain, reserving 1 cup of the water.  Place kohlrabi in a bowl and cover to keep warm.

Melt butter in the saucepan over medium heat.  Whisk in the flour until the mixture forms a paste.  Gradually whisk in the milk and reserved cooking water, stirring until thick and smooth.  Stir in the rest of the ingredients until well blended.  Cook another 10 minutes, then stir in the kohlrabi, tossing to coat evenly with the sauce.

My Second Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Box - What I Got

I neglected to take a picture of my second CSA box - sorry!

This time I got scallions, more zucchini, spring onions, cherry tomatoes, roma tomatoes, and cucumbers.  I passed on kale (traded for extra zucchini and roma tomatoes) because I still had some left from the previous box.

I sliced up the largest of the tomatoes for bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches.  I made zucchini bread (YUM).  I sliced up the cucumbers, chopped up the largest onion, and made refrigerator pickles.  We ate some of the cherry tomatoes with a meal as a salad.  Another roma tomato was chopped up for burrito garnish.   I made wilted lettuce again, using some of the scallions, chopped kale from the first CSA box, and store-bought lettuce.  The rest of the tomatoes and some basil went toward caprese salad, one of my favorite summer treats.

I expect I'll roast zucchini again - there's so much of it - LOL!  And I'll probably make ratatouille, since I haven't, yet, from the CSA zucchinis.  Maybe some pickles, too.

It's been fun so far!  I'm looking forward to the next installment this week.