CSA Week Eleven

Well even though I am only now posting about week 11, of 16, we are quickly approaching the end of the season for our CSA. Only one week left!

I am going to be so sad when this is done. I've really enjoyed having the veggies every week.

1 big bag of cut lettuce
A head of Napa Cabbage
A pint of cherry tomatoes or a quart of large heirlooms - mine was a mix, see the beautiful Zebra? It was divinely tasty on my lunch one day.
Onions
Quart of Potatoes
Big Buncha Carrots
Buncha Beets
Garlic
Celery
Radishes (traded for a head of lettuce)
Cucumber
Peppers
hot pepper

CSA Week Nine

No, you aren't seeing double in this picture. There really is two big bunches of carrots.

Our CSA this week didn't come with both bunches, we made use of the trade box instead. For a change I had my oldest son with me for pick up, instead of my little one, and he made a huge, icky face when he picked up the kale. Then he made a nice, but still huge face, when Stephanie, the Roots and Shoots intern who is our pick up contact, pointed out the big bunch of carrots in the trade box.

So this is what we got this week:

Bok Choy
Kale (traded for carrots)
Small bunch of Beets
Loose, sweet Carrots
Red Scallions
Zucchinis
Pepper
Cucumbers
mixed heirloom tomatoes
garlic
potatoes

Menu Plan Monday: I think I'm back

It's been awhile, but back to school and back to a more "normal" work week mean that my sanity could be saved by doing a menu plan again. Even though we still have several weeks left of CSA, which will slightly influence what produce I have to work with, I think I have a pretty good idea of what's coming, and what we will have to eat right away or I can store away for future use. Plus, alot of the produce can be used in lunches as well, so I don't have to use it exclusively in my dinner planning.

Just a note about this weeks' menu. I've been feeling very unimaginative in the kitchen lately, staring a items and going blank with what to do with them, so for this week, aside from a few family favorites, I've relied alot on my Everyday Food App for my iPhone for suggestions.

Sunday: We will be out of town all day, so chance are we will eat on the road.

Monday: Chicken Parmesan with pasta.

Tuesday: Grilled sausages (from Manotick Village Butcher) with Bok Choy, carrot and apple slaw (from Everyday Food App).

Wednesday: Grilled MYO pizza.

Thursday: Pork Tenderloin with orange dressing and potato and leek galette (both from Every Day Food App).

Friday: Spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread.

Saturday: Out with family for dinner.

Well that's it for the week. As soon as I hit publish, I should probably go take some chicken out of the freezer for dinner tonight.

I will be linking this menu plan on Menu Plan Monday, hosted by Laura.

CSA Week Seven and Eight

I'm falling a bit behind on updating my CSA shares, so thought I'd do a two-for-one post.

Here is week seven. This week we received:

carrots
onions
cucumber
zucchini
kale
bunched arugula
a quart of new potatoes
a pint of tomatoes
head lettuce
2 peppers
1 garlic

I don't think I traded anything from this share, but I also don't think I ever ended up doing anything with the kale. However that pint of lovely tomatoes were eaten as is with a bit of salt and pepper, soooooo good!

Here is week eight.

Red Cabbage

Garlic

Cucumber

Onions

Radish

Head Lettuce

New Potatoes

Beets

Tomatoes

1 hotpepper

Pepper

I picked a uniform type of potato, what looked like a russet to me, when I took my potatoes from the bin this week. I baked these on the bbq, tossed in a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, and they were amazing with a bit of sour cream, cheese and some of the greens from my onions.

CSA Week Six

Back from vacation and back to our weekly share. (In case you missed it, we were away for week 5 and shared our veggies with a friend.)

This week we received:

head lettuce
bok Choy (we traded ours in the trade bin for a second bunch of carrots, by the request of my 12 year old, who loves carrots but hates bok Choy)
onions
pint of new potatoes (I turned these into yummy garlic mashed potatoes, with the skin on)
beets
carrots
pint of tomatoes
purple peppers
cucumbers
zucchini
herbs - I chose basil

A lot of the veggies, like the zucchini and peppers and carrots, went straight into my lunch boxes as veggies and dip, while my husband continued to eat a salad with his lunch every day. One thing for sure, we are definitely eating our share!

I sliced up the beats to roast them (blanching and freezing the beet greens for future use), but they were so pretty inside I just had to take a picture.

CSA Week Four

I have to admit, whether I like the vegetable or not, I'm really enjoying taking this picture every week. I like having a visual record of everything we got in our share that week.

Four week four, we received:

Big bag of spicy mix
Head of Lettuce
Big head of Bok Choy
Buch of Radish
Bunch of Turnip
little bag of beans
A greenhouse cucumber
1.5lbs of Zucchini!
A bunch of Carrots
A greenhouse pepper
A bunch of onions
A bulb of garlic
Basil

Now I pick up our share each Wednesday, and have a week to go through it all. For this week, however, I knew we were going away on the following Monday, and I knew we were trying to clear out a bunch of edibles from the house. So my neighbour got my bok choy. My mother-in-law got most of the salad, some peppers and zucchini. And I brought my radishes and turnips with me to give to my dad, who loves raw radishes.

We were away for week 5, gave it to a friend instead, but I hear this is what was in it:

fennel
beets
carrots
onions
garlic
bunched arugula
napa cabbage
cucumbers
zucchinis
Head Lettuce
Red Russian Kale

I was sad to miss the fennel, but bought some next time I went to the market stand.

Next up, a couple of dishes I made with my lovely veggie share.

CSA Week Three

Week Three gave us our first beans of the season, as well as our first carrots. I'd have loved more beans and my children would have loved more carrots.

Here is what we got:

1 head Broccoli
I head Bok Choy
1 bunch Onions

1 bulb Garlic
1 bunch Carrots
1 bunch Hakurei Turnips
1 bunch Radishes
1 bunch Basil
1 Cucumber
1 lb Zucchini
1/3 lb Beans
1 bag Salad Mix

As soon as we got home, I prepped a bunch of the veggies for a veggie platter, which we had for dinner with some dip and other appetizer type munchies, picnic style. Sometimes you just need an indoor carpet picnic with a good tv show (we were watching Tour de France together.)

Despite my picnic and platter, I had lots of zucchini left to deal with, and a couple of reluctant eaters in my children, so I decided to try making zucchini chips with a bit of a crunchy coating on them.

It didn't work, they still didn't like zucchini.

They did, however, really like the lamb sliders I served with the chips.

Zucchini "Chips"

1-2 zucchini, sliced in 1/4 inch coins

1-2 egg whites

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375F.

In a medium bowl, toss the zucchini with the egg whites, being sure to coat everything well.

In a separate bowl, mix the bread crumbs, cheese and pepper. Toss the coated zucchini in the mixture, then spread on a single layer on a baking sheet.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, until golden and crispy.

Best served warm.

CSA Week Two

Week Two of our share from Roots and Shoots, and it includes:

Spring Onions
Lettuce
Kale
Cucumber
Hakurei Turnip
Napa Cabbage
Spicy Mustard Greens
Peas
Zucchini

The peas, some zucchini and turnip immediately went into my lunch box with some hummus. Yummy!

Lettuce and spicy Mustard greens were used throughout the week for salads in his lunch. He's been on a big salad with lunch thing lately and my little flower pot garden has not been able to keep up with him.

Kale, two ways

Week one of our CSA included some purple kale, a vegetable I've actually never used before.

Of course I made chips from them. Kale Chips are probably one of the most popular seasonal recipes around, so it seemed a good place to start.

I didn't take any pictures of those chips, however, as they were mostly overdone (and frankly, they aren't very photogenic.) The recipe I followed said 20-25 minutes in the oven, but after 15 minutes, I felt they were very overdone. If I were to make them again, I'd check them after 10 minutes.

Since I only used half the kale for the chips, I had some left over to use with another meal.

How about on pizza?

After a chop, I gave these a quick saute with some butter and garlic scapes, just enough to soften everything together. A little dough, given a quick prebake on the BBQ, tomato sauce, sausage crumbles, roasted red and yellow peppers, kale and cheese, then back onto the bbq for a few minutes.

This is what my kids though of kale.

Which was actually fine by me - I scooped up this kale and added it to my pizza.

CSA Week One

So we joined a CSA this year (Community Supported Agriculture, for those who don't know).

Big investment, yes, in both money and time (picking up each week then trying to figure out what to make with what we received,) but something we needed to try at least once. If it ends up being worthwhile for us, in both money and time, we will do it again.

And if nothing else, we've made the commitment this year that we are eating local and organic produce, as well as supporting a small, local farm.

For our first time doing a CSA, I chose Roots and Shoots Farm in Manotick. I had purchased from them at the Ottawa Farmer's Market the year before, their share price was comparable to everyone else around here, and they were reasonably nearby.

As part of our CSA, we were invited out for a tour and pot luck dinner at the farm itself, a few weeks before the CSA would be up and running. I didn't take huge amounts of pictures, but did grab a few.

Part of the tour involved showing us the greenhouse and all the various fields, letting us know what is in each field and its approximate growing season. Since a share is for 16 weeks, it is nice to know that when the greens are done, we still have veggies coming.

So here is our share for week one:

Two heads of Lettuce (one red leaf, one green) - these were HUGE!
Small bunch of radishes
Garlic Scapes
Hakurei Turnips (a salad turnip you can eat raw that I took an instant liking to)
Spicy mustard and Kale stirfry mix
Head of Bok Choy
Red Russian Kale
Spring Onions
a bunch of basil

Pretty good.

Now in the first week, we barely managed to go through the lettuce. And that's with my hubby eating a big salad with his lunch each day. I managed to do something with everything else, and took pictures of some of it to post about later.

I hope to take pictures of each of our 16 weeks, with the exception of the week we are away and gifting our share to a friend for that week.