CSA Love Fest 2012- Week....9?

I'm a bit behind in my CSA Love Fest.  So here's a little photo recap;

Week 6 (7/18)

Week 7 (7/25)-Chris picked up our share this week and forgot to take a picture. Oops.



Week 8 (8/1)

And here we are this week....Week 9:

 

The picture quality on my phone is not great, but hey, at least it's a picture. Not sure what's up with the grey line on the bottom.

Starting 8/1, we added a bread share on to our Whole Diet Share. So from now until November, we will get a loaf of whole wheat bread and one "baker's choice" item with our fruits, veggies, meat and fish. The whole wheat bread is incredibly good, well worth the price alone. But the "baker's choice" items have been phenomenal. Last week we got a loaf of sourdough with herbs....amazing. This week we got a loaf of "Northwoods Bread". A rustic whole wheat loaf with craisins, raisins, agave, walnuts, wild rice and malted barley. Holy crap is this bread good! A slice with a smear of butter is amazing. Throw it in the toaster and smear it with butter and it is out of this world good. We are trying to restrain ourselves and savoring every morsel. So. good.

We've had a great variety of veggies lately and a good amount of blueberries. Chris and the girls love blueberries (you can see them sneaking handfuls while I was snapping away), so they are happy campers.  Chris has been blending them in with his homemade kefir. He says it is amazing. I am taking his word for it.

Here is the run down of this week's haul:
Blueberries
Fennel (I need recipes with fennel, please!)
Green Onions
Salad Mix
Green Beans
Tomatoes
Broccoli
Carrots
Cabbage
Corn
Zucchini
Eggs
Lake Trout
Whitefish
Polish Sausage
Brats
Chicken

Pretty sure I am going to make this Chocolate Zucchini Cake tomorrow. *drool*

CSA Love Fest 2012- Week 5

Yeah, yeah, it's a little late. Better late than never, right? (Sorry weeks 2 and 4, you were lovely too!)

Raspberries 

BASIL

Green Beans

Turnips

Swiss Chard

Broccoli

Zucchini

Green Onions

Lettuce

Carrots

Kohlrabi

Cabbage

Cucumber

Eggs

BACON!!!!!!!!

Pork Roast

2# Ground Beef

White Fish

Lake Trout

Another fabulous week. The raspberries were gone in two days. So was the broccoli. Purple kohlrabi is the best because "it's fancy". Fish sandwiches. Cole Slaw. Cabbage Ramen Noodle Salad (Similar to this one). Used the basil in a caprese salad. Probably going to make and freeze pesto. Lots of salads. Swiss chard and turnips on the grill. Carrots for crunching. Green beans for munching. Eggs for eating and baking the best brownies ever. EVER. Burgers on the grill. Pork roast in the freezer (it's too hot to even look at a roast). Bacon in the freezer. But only because I don't want to eat it all and then be sad because we don't have more. 

Yes, I am hoarding the bacon. Sue me.

CSA Love Fest 2012-Week 3

Here is what week 3 brought us:

Strawberries

Eggs

Leaf lettuce

Pea Tendrils

Swiss Chard

Green Onions

Cucumber

Carrots

Cabbage

Beets (!)

Turnips

Summer Savory (herb)

Whole Chicken

2# Ground Beef

Polish Sausage

Bratwurst

Yum, yum!

The other night we had our first meal made up of only CSA ingredients. Baked lake trout with a side of sauteed veggies (turnips, kohlrabi, zucchini). It was so good! Olive asked when we were going to have fish again, because "I love fish a lot!".

On the menu for this week:

Grilled Porkchops and Bok Choi (from last weeks box) with a side of some sort of cabbage slaw

Hamburgers and Brats on the grill. Maybe with some grilled beets? Or grilled chard? (grilled kale is amazing!)

Roasted Chicken with salad and turnips

Veggie/herb omelets

Lots of fresh salads

Strawberries by the handful

I know I should "do" something with all of the strawberries (jam? pie?) but we love to just eat them as is. Or on waffles, pancakes, peanut butter toast, ice cream, so many options.  Maybe we'll go crazy and have strawberry shortcake...

CSA Love Fest 2012

And so it begins! CSA Love Fest 2012

You may have notice something a little different about our share this year. We have switched farms and are the proud recipients of a Whole Diet Share. The Whole Diet Share runs June-March, with weekly boxes June-November and monthly boxes December-March. During weekly deliveries, we will find a 3/4 bushel box chock full of veggies, fruits, eggs and seasonal goodies like honey and syrup. AND 8lbs of assorted meats. During the winter months, we will find a 3/4 bushel box of storage vegetables and 32lbs of assorted meats.

Our first week brought us:
Salad Mix
Spinach
Kale
Cabbage
Sage
Radishes
Beets(!)
Green Onions
STRAWBERRIES(!!)
Whole Chicken
2# Ground Beef
Lake Superior Trout
Lake Superior White Fish
Eggs


So. Excited.

Weekly CSA Love

I didn't post our CSA love last week because I forgot to take a picture before I divvied it up (we split with another person). Well guess what? I forgot this week too!

But I will forge ahead without a picture. I hope you'll forgive me.

This week's delivery included:

Tomatoes-will definitely be making more of this soup. holy yum.
Peppers-hot and sweet. green and purple.
Carrots-HUGE carrots. HUGE!
Beets-itty bitty tiny beets. adorable.
BLUE potatoes-awesome
Cabbage
Salad Greens

Last week's delivery was pretty much the same. With the addition of a giant jar of beautiful, glorious, amazing HONEY. So good. So, so good.

Weekly CSA Love

Remember the first few weeks of our CSA delivery when the box was pretty sparse?

Yeah, those days are behind us. This week's box was chock full of goodness. 

This week's delivery included:
Tomatoes, tomatoes and more tomatoes. Red, yellow, orange and green. Lots of salsa and tomato soup in our future (and freezer!).
Peppers. Sweet and hot. 
Beans. Green, purple and the creepy purple stripey ones.
Cucumbers. Mmmm....pickles.
Carrots.  Fresh carrots are the bees knees.
Swiss Chard. The rainbow variety. So good. I will be making a giant pot of Sausage and Greens Soup tomorrow. Can't wait!
Summer squash. We've been tossing these bad boys on the grill with a splash of olive oil and S&P. yum.
 And last but not least....BEETS!!! For a girl who used to hate beets, I am so excited to see them this week! I LOVE BEETS! (I should get myself a bumper sticker)

Olive, looking for the perfect "Olive sized tomato"

Yes, I am alive.

Yeah, yeah, I know. I am a horrible blogger. I don't know what happens. I sit down to write a post and then I get distracted. Or hungry. Or someone needs a snack (and yes, that someone is often times me). Or I am feeling uninspired. Or I end up wasting precious double nap time (extremely rare these days) watching pointless (but HILARIOUS) youtube videos. Like this:

Seriously people. That video never gets old. Never.

And this. This girl is adorable. And she's got Star Wars down pat.

Anyway, back to blogging. Or the lack thereof.  It happens. Sorry.

This week's CSA crate was chock full of beautiful veggies. Tomatoes, peppers (sweet and hot), potatoes, three different kinds of beans, peas, squash, cucumbers and greens. Our patience has paid off and we now have veggies coming out of our ears. Love it!

We've been making lots of salads with fresh greens and veggies, sauteing and grilling squash and potatoes and eating beans and peas raw. Olive proclaimed today "I love beans. The purple ones make my tongue feel happy". And I have to say, I agree!

Weekly CSA Love. Or not.

Due to poor harvestable options, we will not be getting our weekly CSA delivery today. Boo. Last week we received a small batch of lettuce, green onions and some more of those beautiful, scrumptious strawberries.

While this is disappointing, it is a risk you take when signing up. I can't imagine how frustrating and disappointing it is for the farmers. We'll keep our fingers crossed that the weather cooperates and the crops begin to flourish.

I know that bountiful baskets of goodness are in our future!

(CSA love from 2010) 

Weekly CSA Love

We got our first CSA delivery last week. Unfortunately we also had a pretty sick and miserable three year old on our hands so I forgot to tell you about it. It was a pretty slim box, salad greens and a few green onions.

But this week, THIS week, there were...

 Strawberries!

I love our CSA. Love it.

Especially when they deliver beautiful strawberries like these. So big, juicy and flavorful.

We also got:

• Kale: Rainbow Lacinato
• Salad Greens: Ruby Red Lettuce
• Green Onions
• Strawberry Rhubarb
• Fresh Mint

Yum, yum!

Here are a few recipes I am thinking of trying with this week's bounty:

Sour Cream and Onion Kale Chips
Kale Salad
Minty Ice Cubes
Place 1-3 mint leaves in each cell of an ice cube tray. Fill with cold water and freeze. Or if you want a stronger mint flavor, fill with boiling water. Let cool and then freeze. Makes a nice minty addition to water, lemonade, ice tea or adult beverages. ;)

And of course lots of salads! Maybe with homemade Strawberry Balsamic Dressing. Oh who am I kidding, those strawberries will be gone before the morning! 

I have a confession to make. . .

I like beets. I would go so far as to say I LOVE beets.

It feels really good to have that out in the open. You see, I've always thought I disliked beets. I have even boldly claimed I HATE beets. I wouldn't even try a bite of anything beet related because I was so certain I hated beets.

And it's all my brother's fault.

Once upon a time, many moons ago, in a galaxy far, far away, he made me eat a beet. And not just any beet, a pickled beet. But not only that, he tricked me into eating it. He told me the purpley-red gelatinous looking round slabs on the table at Thanksgiving were jellied cranberries. I ADORE cranberries (yes, the purpley-red gelatinous looking round slabs from a can). So I was all over those "cranberries" like squirrels on a bird feeder. 

Needless to say, one bite in and I realized I had been had. Duped. Punk'd (Except this was in the early 90s and Punk'd wasn't even a twinkle in Ashton Kutcher's beautiful blue eye). 

So from there on out I was a hater. A beet hater. Can you blame me? 

Fast forward 20 years or so and I am now a proud member of a CSA that has a bountiful crop of beets! So I swallowed my pride (fear?) and forced myself to eat beets. And they were good. Excellent. Amazing! 

What is the point of all this random rambling you ask? Well nothing really, other than to say I LOVE BEETS!

Here are a few of the recipes that cultivated my love affair with beets:

Grilled Beets- Peel beets, slice, drizzle with olive oil, s&p to taste, wrap in foil, grill on med until tender and delicious. 45 minutes or so.  (throw in some sliced onion too if you're so inclined)

Beets 'n' Sweets

Chocolate Beet Cake

Beet Greens and Feta Pasta

Enjoy!

CSA love

We love our weekly CSA delivery. Seeing that wooden crate crammed full of beautiful summer veggies, fruits, greens and herbs just puts a smile on my face. The possibilities are endless. You can be a purist and eat everything raw, fresh from the earth. Or spend hours in the kitchen lovingly creating gourmet dishes from your bounty. 

We usually stick closer to the raw end of the spectrum. Because really, who wants to slave away in the kitchen in this heat? Except now the heat and humidity has broken, so I am not sure what my excuse is. 

Here are a few of the things we've been whipping up with our CSA loot:

*pickles (cukes, zucchini and probably some hot peppers)

*Beet chips 

*Sauteed greens (swiss chard, beet greens, cabbages)

*Blueberry Muffins

*Penne pasta with Beet Greens and Feta

*Potatoes on the grill with onions and herbs

*Salsa with fresh onions and jalapenos (no tomatoes yet!)

*Green smoothies using whatever fruit we have on hand and a handful or two of greens (banana, orange, lemon juice and swiss chard today)

*Big, beautiful salads with fresh greens and herbs

But so far, my favorite CSA creation has been Chocolate Zucchini Muffins. Chocolate and vegetables. Moist and sweet. But not TOO sweet. Yum!

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

makes 2 dozen

3 eggs

1 c. brown sugar

1 c. applesauce

1 c. vegetable oil

1/3 c.  unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 c. grated zucchini

3 c. flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

Chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease two muffin tins.  

In a large bowl beat the eggs. Beat in the sugar, applesauce and oil. Add the cocoa, vanilla, zucchini and stir well.

Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until just moist. Pour batter into muffin tins filling 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy!