CSA Today! 9-25-14

I apologize for missing last week.  I had a bad case of vertigo that sent me to bed early.

But back at it again!  Had a wonderful delivery today! 

Fresh From the farm: Pack Choi, Tomatoes, Beets, Turnips, peppers, yellow squash, and arugula!

From Wholesale:  Bananas, grapes and a wonderful cabbage! 

I can't wait to make soup! I love to make cabbage soup! OR even recently I tried some corned beef soup... I'm anxious to give it a try in my crock pot!

I love the veggies I've been getting, but I had so many tomatoes that I couldn't use them all up. I've tossed a few into my compost pile, and tons in the freezer!  I'll have a chance to make tomato sauce this winter.  

I'm glad to see some greens come back into season, and get some variety in the box!

I've never used turnips before, I'll have to think of something to do with them.

CSA Today! 9-11-14

So, I'm guilty.  Guilty of being lazy and letting some of my wonderful veggies go bad.  I've had to throw out 2 little boxes full of tomatoes, because I just couldn't get to them fast enough.  I have even more tomatoes in today's delivery though.  I should be able to use these up. I see more freezer tomato paste in the future. 

Not to mention something with bell peppers in it.

Fresh from the Farm: Tomatoes (LOADS of them), green peppers, gourd, banana peppers, fresh dill and some kind of small dark green melon (watermelon?)

From wholesale: some bananas, and apples!

I at least did manage to use up some zucchini this week!  

I also came up with an ingenious way to get rid of excess veggies!  I had a garage sale last week, and was able to get rid of 3 ziploc bags full of potatoes!  So managed to get rid of veggies I couldn't eat and make money off them at the same time!  I believe the buyer was going to make potato salad.  I should have done that with my tomatoes. :)

CSA Today! 9-4-14

Another week, chock full of activities.  And more wonderful veggies.

Fresh From the Farm:  Radishes, potatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, green peppers, hot pepper?, corn and beets.

No wholesale: all fresh farm veggies

So all these wonderful veggies, I vow to use them this week. I feel so guilty about last week's veggies.  I let them sit around the house all week and didn't use them.  My tomatoes started to go bad, my cucumbers did go bad (they were sitting in the tomato juices). I should have used them up, but I was busy with beginning school stuff, and prepping for yet another garage sale, and sending out massive amounts of resume/job applications, in addition to kung fu, and cub scouts.  This is the Busy Beaver mom blog for a reason!

So I vow this week/weekend I'll actually use them. First step accomplished. I put them away instead of just sitting them on the counter. :)

Next step will be tomorrow night. I foresee a zucchini radish tomato saute with some rice or quinoa for dinner before cub scouts.

CSA Today! 8-28-14

Another Thursday, another delivery!

Fresh From the Farm:  Carrots, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes :), and purslane.  I'd heard of purslane, but didn't really know what it was.

From wholesale:  Bananas!  

I needed the bananas. They are a staple in my house.  One of my favorite ways to use overripe bananas is to blend them with a couple tablespoons of honey and then freeze it.  Great for a couple of bites of a sweet frozen treat without the extra calories of ice cream.

I've got to freeze all these carrots, but I forsee lots of yummy carrot soup this winter!

Evidently purslane is wonderful for you, full of omega 3 fatty acids, and vitamins.

I'll have to try it out!

CSA Today! 8-21-14

Another wonderful delivery from my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) subscription with Fulton Farms!

A pint of Tomatoes to anyone who can guess how many tomatoes I now have!
Ha Ha Ha.... Anything to use up some of these tomatoes before they go bad.
We've been eating tomatoes with breakfast, lunch and dinner.  It's AWESOME that I have a son who loves to eat tomatoes raw. I also see more tomato sauce in my future. Maybe I need to start experimenting in making ketchup.

under all those veggies are more tomatoes!

Fresh from the farm:
Corn, carrots, beet, squash, green peppers, green beans, dill, tomatoes, potatoes

From Wholesale: Nothing!  My box was totally full of fresh local produce!

I've learned, that with veggies this fresh, they stay fresh longer than most grocery store vegetables.  However, fresh corn is better used sooner than later.  If I wait a week to eat the corn, it dries out ( I leave it out, not in the refrigerator.)  The pregnant squirrel in my yard loves me right now due to the corn I leave out for them!

My favorite way to prepare fresh sweet corn: shuck and clean the corn, then put the ears on a plate or other microwave friendly dish.  Microwave them for 1 minute per ear of corn. I usually only cook 1-2-3 ears at a time.  This leaves them slightly under cooked, so they are still plump and juicy, but piping hot.

I am definitely building up a freezer stash of carrots for carrot soup this winter!

CSA Today! 8-14-14

It's a wonderful thing that my son loves tomatoes! Seriously, he eats them like you would eat an apple.

This week's delivery was full of tomatoes!

Fresh from the farm this week:  4 boxes of tomatoes, some green peppers, corn, a beautiful zucchini, green beans and a watermelon.

From wholesale: bananas and a few apples.

Then of course I just returned from a short trip to North Carolina and visited a fabulous state run farmer's market.  There I acquired, fresh peaches, blueberries, cantaloupe, and figs.

I have no idea what to do with figs..... I've never had them outside of a fig newton.  But they are fascinating little fruits. I foresee a fig recipe in the future.

Foodie Friday: Let's Salsa!

As I posted yesterday I have a plethora of tomatoes and green peppers.  I managed to find some time today to utilize as many veggies as I could.

You can see in the picture just how many tomatoes, peppers and onions there are. (4 boxes of tomatoes)

So here's what I did to make salsa today.

First the easiest way to skin tomatoes..... heat up some water.  It doesn't need to be boiling, just nice and hot.  Simmer the tomatoes for about 1-2 minutes each and remove the tomatoes from the water and into another bowl.
(You can also submerge them in cold water to keep them from cooking in the heat after you've removed them.)

Next, undress the tomatoes.   Sorry, I just had to say that. It was running through my head while peeling the tomatoes, because the skins came off as easy as taking a t shirt off on a hot day.

I used most of the tomatoes for the salsa, but saved a good amount to make spaghetti sauce as well. (Told you I have a lot of tomatoes!)

*  7 cups of chopped tomatoes
*  3 cups of chopped peppers (all mild- just whatever came in my weekly delivery)
*  2 cups of chopped onions
*  10 chopped garlic cloves

All of these chopped as fine as I could.  My technique definitely improved as I continued to chop.

peppers, onions, garlic (before tomatoes)

Place all ingredients in a pot and cook over low to medium heat.  I don't recommend boiling, but just heating up to incorporate all the flavors  and cook the peppers until soft..

I intended to only cook for about 15-20 minutes, but I went and ate dinner.  So it cooked for about 35-40 minutes.... oops. Like I said though, keep it on low-medium heat.  Luckily it wasn't ruined at all.

 Season to taste. I added the following:  (ALL Measurements are approximate - cooking is always an experiment for me :)  )

*  1 teaspoon pepper
*  3 teaspoons salt
*  1 Tablespoon garlic powder
*  1 small habanero pepper, finely chopped
*  1 packet of domino's red peppers ( you know that stuff that comes with pizza that no one uses :)  )

Looks pretty good if I do say so myself.  I have small canning jars that  I plan to put it in and then freeze. (They are freezable) This is because I'm still not confident enough for true canning.  I can't wait to try this out on chips!

This made about 6 cups of salsa, and took me about 2.5 hours to make.  Most of that time was prepping the veggies....

CSA Today! 8-7-14

This is the first year of having the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) service.  My box of fresh veggies every week delivered to my house is a wonderful sight.

The biggest challenge to overcome, is somehow using them all up before they go bad.

I've managed to freeze, plant, give away or use most of the veggies.  However, some have managed to go bad before I can get to them.

This latest delivery of more peppers and even more tomatoes, wow. Definitely have to make salsa tomorrow, or else I'm going to have a load of rotten veggies on my hands.

One of the tomatoes I received today was as big as a softball, no kidding!

You can see the softball sized tomato in the middle, directly above the squash.

Fresh from the farm: Peppers (not sure how hot), Tomatoes (tons of them- you can see 3 boxes of them inside the picture), squash, onions, dill, carrots, corn, potatoes, beans, and watermelon!

So tomorrow's feature:  Salsa Recipe!

CSA Today! 7-31-14

I'm loving summer! Look at all these fresh veggies from the farm!

From the farm: TONS of tomatoes (3 little boxes), a large amount of mandrake carrots ( I call them mandrake because they look like a pair of legs :)  ), squash, zucchini, onions, cucumbers, beets, dill, green peppers.

From organic wholesale: 3 apples and 4 bananas.

Seeing as I'm getting tomatoes from my own garden this summer as well, and still have some left over, I gave my mom 2 boxes of tomatoes.

Now, beets, I have never been a huge fan of them.  My son loves them though.  So I gave most of them to my mom so she can make pickled beets and eggs for him, while I kept a few to experiment cooking with.

CSA Today! 7-24-14

It's been a very busy week!  We've had cub scout day camp all week, which me as a volunteer , makes for one tired momma by the time I get to sit down.

Regardless, here's today's veggie delivery update!

Fresh From the Farm:  Tomatoes, Carrots, Beets, Corn , cucumbers, zucchini, squash, green beans, a whole bunch of potatoes.

From organic wholesale: Bananas, apples

Once again, way too many awesome fresh veggies for me to use alone.  Time to strengthen the 'ol community and give some extras away!

In addition, I harvested from my own garden as well!

Some hot peppers, purple cherry tomatoes and purple full size tomato.  I have so many tomatoes, they are weighing down my plants and breaking limbs off.  The majority are still green though, since we haven't had our typical July temperatures.  

Things have been so mild, I'm getting another round of strawberries growing!  That is crazy!

Foodie Friday: Roasted vegetables!

So if you read yesterday's post, you know that I have lots of vegetables.  What to do with all those veggies before they go bad?  Zucchini's are wonderful, but I can't bring myself to freeze them.  Carrots I don't mind if they are frozen since I make soup out of them later.

Tonight's dinner: zucchini, carrots, onions, garlic and meat.

So how am I going to use all these zucchini?  An easy answer would be zucchini bread, but I've not had luck with that yet.... so I'm going to try something I've been nervous about doing.  Roasting Vegetables.

I'm not a huge roaster.  I just found it kind of intimidating I guess.
So here it goes:

chop up however many vegetables you want to roast.  Root vegetables and zucchini work great for this.
Make sure they are all about the same size!  You don't want some of them to cook faster than others.

Most were about 1/2 inch thick or so

Next, place them in a roasting pan (or some other pan where you can get them to a single layer)

Looking online, I found several recipes.  Most called for 325 degrees F, but I'm winging it and decided to leave my oven at the preset 350 F  that comes on when I turn it on.

Now, drizzle some olive oil on the veggies and season however you want.  I used salt, pepper, and some garlic powder.   You don't want to drown the veggies in oil, just give them a light coating for flavor. Mix them up so they are coated in the oil.

So set your pan o' veggies in the oven and then set the timer for 15 minutes. (times may vary depending on your oven, so always check earlier!)

At 15 minutes, I checked the veggies, stirred, and added some meat to make it a total dinner.

Now, usually, I would brown the meat first, but the meat was pre-cut stew meat, and would be totally cooked by browning.  So I just added it halfway through the roasting.

Set the timer another 15 minutes.

Yummy!

And Done!

Total time cooking: ~ 1/2 an hour (not including chopping time)

Add some rice and you have a completed dinner (or sans rice if you want).

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So in a nutshell:

Roast veggies in an oven at 325 degrees F for 30 minutes.  Add some oil to keep them from drying out too much, and check frequently (since the timing depends on how thick you cut the veggies)

And that's it!

CSA Today! 7-17-14

I'm so glad I got the small box of veggies!  With just my son and I in the household, we're having a difficult time eating all these wonderful veggies!  I seriously need to get down to business and make some pickles.

From the farm:  2 bunches of carrots, 2 zucchini, 1 squash, some small onions, green peppers (the small green tomato looking things), cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers, and 3 ears of sweet corn!!!

From organic wholesale:  grapes, apples, and bananas.

I still have cucumbers leftover from prior weeks.  Truthfully, lots of veggies from last week. I need to do some serious cooking.   So, I think it's definitely time to make some pickles.

I'll have to be creative using the rest of these in recipes for the next week. :)

Foodie Friday: Cucumber -Chicken Salad with Bacon

Ok, so I'm not one of those people who think Bacon is the end-all wonder food that should be on anything.

But this chicken salad was definitely enhanced by a little bit of bacon :)

I was looking for a light lunch.
A quick inventory of the fridge for ingredients:
*   leftover rotisserie chicken
*   2.5 pieces of bacon leftover from breakfast
*  Some cucumbers that are going bad due to my fridge trying to freeze them
*  Some grapes ( I had to select the good ones, from the ones going bad)
*  and of course ever present mayo/miracle whip :)


So I chopped up 1 chicken breast (approximately 3/4 - 1 cup), added the 2.5 pieces of bacon (crumbled).   I could only use about 1/2 of my small cucumber due to freezing damage.  After removing the seeds, I managed to get about 1/4 cup of chopped cucumber.
Stir in about 2 healthy Tablespoons miracle whip (I use one made with olive oil and I love it).
I sprinkled a tad of garlic powder in for my personal preference, so of course season to taste.
( I LOVE Garlic!)
I added the grapes as a last minute touch, I wanted the burst of sweetness.  So I cut up about 8 small grapes.  Just enough to add oomph to the sandwich, without overpowering it.

This made about 3 sandwiches worth.  I guess I used about 2 Tablespoons of chicken salad on the sandwiches. You could probably stretch it out for 4 sandwiches.... I tend to be pretty heavy handed when making sandwiches.

The taste was a cross between chicken salad with grapes and cucumber sandwiches. Very Nummy!

Then I added a slice of fresh tomato to each sandwich.... absolutely wonderful. Nothing better than fresh veggies of the summer to add to a light summer sandwich.

CSA Today! 7-10-14

The summer veggies are starting to roll in!
Some fantastic zucchini, tomatoes and cucumbers!

still playing around with watermarks.... sorry!

From the farm:  Zucchini, carrots, tomatoes, bell peppers, banana peppers (i think) possibly chili peppers (or very small bell peppers :)  ), kohlrabi, cucumbers, cilantro.

From wholesale:  bananas, grapes, lemons

Why am I still getting wholesale you ask?  To round out the box.  Otherwise I'd have no fruit (other than technically the tomatoes... I know....)

I'm not complaining though, I like the bananas and grapes.  It saves me a trip to the grocery store.

I'm about to start battle on my refrigerator though... it gets too cold and ends up trying to freeze some of these wonderful veggies, thus ruining them.

And where has this summer gone?  I keep meaning to pickle some of these small cucumbers, but I never seem to have any time!  Maybe next week.

CSA Today! 7-3-14

Yipes! It's been a busy week.  Not a pleasant busy week however.... my dog went out and got skunked.  First time too.
So now the whole house reeks.  In case you wondered:  concentrated skunk odor smells like the strongest garlic smell you've ever encountered.... then multiply that by 100, then burn it.  Yup.. uber burnt garlic smell.  Stinks the nose and head.

Thank goodness for cooler than average temperatures, so I could open EVERY window in my house and activate all fans!

But I digress... you're all here for my latest CSA update!

The groceries are booming.  They could use a little rain at the farm (per the newsletter I get each week), but otherwise things are going well.

Fresh from the Farm:  2 bunches of carrots!, 4 large zucchini, 2 summer squash, the first bunch of tomatoes, cucumbers, green onion, fresh basil, kohlrabi

From organic wholesale:  bananas, strawberries, apples, grapes (to add variety)

I actually gave away 1 zucchini, the kohlrabi, and some basil tonight.  I still have 2 large zucchini in the fridge.  Plus I'm growing basil in my garden (although the one from the farm smells delightful).

Tomorrow I plan on giving my mom a bunch of carrots, a zucchini, and some apples.  Its wonderful that there's so many veggies that I just have to share!  That helps build community.

I'm also looking forward to using the strawberries and some leftover blueberries for tomorrow's July 4th!

I did manage to use some of my broccoli before it went bad... just a simple steaming but it makes broccoli wonderful. Although I do cheat!  I just LOVE the ziploc steamer bags.  So easy for any veggie!

Once again, simple shortcuts.  To be eco-friendly, I do tend to use them at least 2 times before throwing them away.... I need to find an alternative way to steam in the microwave. :)

CSA Today! 6-26-14

Whew.  It's been another busy week here in the Beaver household.  We only had 2 weeks to get ready for a garage sale.  Today was the big opening day!

Needless to say, I'm exhausted.  But even though I've fallen behind in posting this week due to garage sale prep... I still want to make sure I update on what I received this week. 

 

Fresh from the farm:  cucumbers, carrots, dill, cabbage, green onion, green garlic, kale, kohlrabi, sugar snap peas, zucchini, squash

Wholesale organic:  apricots, strawberries, broccoli 

I even had extra zucchini on top of my box.  I guess its a good thing I love zucchini and squash.  So many carrots..... guess its time for carrot soup :)

and I can't way to make cabbage soup!  Maybe first thing Sunday, after this garage sale is all over with.

CSA Today! 6-19-14

Well another fantastic CSA delivery today.

I was very pleased to see some asparagus in this delivery! I can't wait to eat it up! (It's behind the carrots in the picture.)

From the Farm:  Leeks, green garlic, kohlrabi, carrots, sugar snap peas, cabbage, broccoli and kale!

From wholesale: apples, bananas

I shouldn't really complain with how much kale I've been getting.  It will soon be gone with the summer heat moving in.  Then I will miss it.

I'm very happy to see the cabbage though.  I recently ate up the last of my frozen cabbage soup.  And I was wanting to make some more.

Out of our garden this week, we pulled the last of the radishes.  Its been so hot, that they were going to seed.  Most were stunted in growth, but we managed a few good ones.  They were added to the cabbage soup before dinner.

I'm anxious to try kohlrabi.  I've never cooked with it before, so this will be an experiment.

CSA Today! 6-12-14

Happy Thursday! One day closer to the weekend

It's been a busy full first week of summer break.  Another wonderful CSA delivery from Fulton Farms!

From the farm: Kale (2 bunches),  green onions, green garlic, parsley, dill, kohlrabi

From wholesale (to fill the box): blueberries, leek (one huge one cut in half so it would fit in the box), cucumbers, red cabbage, tomatoes 

Sigh.... yes, more kale!  I've only recently started to like kale (the last 2-3 years or so), so I'm still new to it, and can only imagine so many ways to cook it.

I guess more salads are in my future. :)  Then there's the kohlrabi.... no idea how to cook that. Guess there's some research to do.

Of course the wholesale is only until the growing season is in full swing, and there's more to put into the box.  I'm loving the organic produce that comes though. It lasts so much longer than the grocery store items.

I also see more jelly making in my future.... my strawberries are going to go bad otherwise. Hmmmm strawberry/blueberry jam... sounds wonderful.

Tonight was a clean out the fridge dinner night.  I've got so many bell peppers, I'm drowning in them.  So tonight I used 7 of them in a soup.  Yes, 7.  I had throw the other 3 into the compost pile (with some cucumbers that didn't get used as well).

It certainly is challenging to come up with inventive ways to use all the veggies that I get before they go bad.  Of course soup is always an easy option.

CSA Today! 6-5-14

Once again, my weekly delivery of veggies is here!

Doesn't it look scrumptious?!

From the farm:
Kohlrabi, spinach, cucumbers, strawberries, cilantro

From Wholesale: blueberries, pears, apples, cucumbers, green peppers, carrots

I've never used kohlrabi before, so this will be an adventure!

More kale! I'm going to be so healthy!  Salads, salads, salads.  What's even better, throw some goat cheese and berries on top and its extra good. :)

I'm so happy the spinach came in, I was out of spinach since my last delivery.  I prefer spinach mixed into my kale salad.

Hosta flower just for some decoration :)

Using up all these veggies in inventive ways is a challenge.  For instance, there's only so many ways I can envision using bell peppers.  And I had so many of them, they are quietly going bad in my refrigerator.  I couldn't even give them away fast enough.  One such recipe was some sweet potato, cherry tomatoes, chicken and quinoa I threw together into a casserole weeks ago.  I didn't write about it ( I don't think), because I didn't think it was that good. Just another food experiment.  Well today I pulled it out of the freezer for a super fast dinner... and wow, did it hit the spot!  I guess it just needed to sit.  So you never know how it will turn out, just give it a try and save the extras for later for a cheap and fast meal!  This is why I invested in a standing freezer.  I don't know where I'd put it all if it weren't' for that.

First harvest from the garden!

I've posted in the past about my small little garden.  With food prices being as unbelievable as they are, every little thing you can do at home to make your own food really helps.

So today we harvested some of the garden!!!

Radishes and Strawberries!

Of course these were quickly devoured.

Asparagus lightly steamed -just slightly underdone so they retain some crunchiness.  Added a touch of butter.

Then placed the raw radishes on top.  

I'd say it was a success.  Although this boy also eats asparagus raw if given the chance.  

I just thought the spaghetti method of eating it was so cute!

The asparagus was from my CSA (community supported agriculture) delivery from Thursday!

Tomorrow will be kale and strawberry salads all day.  I have so much kale to go through!!!