The Weekly Share

We had a large share today!  Here’s what we got:

Share 9

• 12 sprigs of basil (that’s right – 12!)
• 2 lbs. of potatoes
• 1 zucchini
• 10 oz. carrots
• 1 cucumber
• 1 cabbage
• 1 tomatillo
• 2 green peppers
• 1 garlic
• 1 hot pepper
• 2 quarts of cherry tomatoes
• 4 lbs. of tomatoes
• okra (I helped myself to 2)

I’ve already hung up 6 sprigs of basil to dry.  The other 6 sprigs will go to a friend who uses fresh basil all the time.  We have been harvesting basil from our garden, too, so I have plenty!  I still have potatoes left over from the last 2 weeks, so I’m gonna have to get creative.  Maybe potato pancakes?  Twice baked potatoes?  Yum!  I’ll let you know…  Tomatoes are definitely in season now, no doubt about it!  I think it’s time I learned to make homemade spaghetti sauce.  We use so much at our house that it will definitely benefit the grocery budget!  I’ll make some fresh salsa, too.  As for the cabbage, I will make this recipe.  It’s got bacon in it so my kids are sure to love it!

Last week, our CSA newsletter contained a recipe for Vegetable Chowder (adapted from the Simply in Season cookbook).  Tonight I fixed a pot of it to accompany our BLT’s.  I used lots of share vegetables and some herbs from our garden.  Here’s how I did it:

BLT & Garden Chowder

Garden Chowder

• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 – 2 carrots, finely chopped
• 1-2 cups green beans, chopped
• 1-2 medium zucchini, chopped
• 2-3 green onions, chopped
• 3 Tbsp fresh herbs, chopped (basil & parsley in original recipe)
• 1/3 cup flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 3 cups water
• 3 bouillon cubes (chicken or vegetable)
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 cups tomatoes, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups evaporated milk (1 – 12oz. can)
• 2 cups corn
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• sugar to taste

In a big pot, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add and saute until tender: carrots, green beans, zucchini, green onions, fresh herbs.  Stir flour, salt, and pepper into vegetables.  Gradually stir in water to make a smooth stock.  Add bouillon and lemon juice.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes.  Add tomatoes, evaporated milk, and corn.  Return to boil; reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes until corn is tender.

Just before serving, add cheddar and Parmesan cheeses.  Stir until melted.  Add a pinch of sugar to taste and garnish with chopped fresh parsley.

I made a few adjustments to the recipe based on what I had or didn’t have on hand.  I used  the following share vegetables: 2 carrots, 1 cup of green beans, 1 zucchini, 1 squash,  and 2 cups of tomatoes.  I added 1 share eggplant.   I used 3 store-bought green onions and 2 cups of frozen corn.  I used fresh basil, parsley and chives from our garden.  I only used 2 bouillon and 1 cup of cheddar cheese because that’s all I had.  Oh, and I topped it with crumbled bacon!  Mmmmm – bacon and cheddar – what could be better? 

Chowder ingredients

chopped tomatoes

The chowder was wonderful!  My kids were skeptical when I set it in front of them.  My youngest decided he didn’t like it just from looking at it!  But then they tasted it…  It got thumbs up from both boys!  What more could I ask for?

It took quite a bit of time to prep all of the ingredients.  I didn’t plan on it taking so long, so we had a late dinner tonight.  Now I know for next time!  And there will be a next time – this recipe’s a keeper!

I missed a week…So here are the pick-up lists for weeks 7 & 8!

Week 7:

Share 7

1 green pepper

1 squash or zucchini

1 cucumber

1 hot pepper

1 garlic bulb

14 oz green beans

1 head lettuce

8 oz carrots

1 box cherry tomatoes

2 1/2 lbs tomatoes

1 tomatillo

2 lbs. Purple Viking potatoes

5 sprigs basil

help yourself to : okra, herbs

Last week I made salsa and guacamole, using the tomatoes, tomatillo, hot pepper, garlic and herbs (cilantro).  We had fresh veggies for lunch and dinner (carrots, green pepper, salad, cherry tomatoes).   I steamed the green beans for 2 meals.  I made pesto with the basil.  I sauteed the squash.  I still have potatoes, tomatoes and okra left over.  I have plans for potatoes and okra this week.  I think I’m gonna have to start canning tomatoes!

Week 8:

Share 8

1 green pepper

1 zucchini

1 summer squash

1 eggplant

1 hot pepper

2 heads of lettuce

5 1/2 oz. green beans

2 1/2 lbs. tomatoes

1 box Sun Gold cherry tomatoes

1 tomatillo

1 head of garlic

8 oz. carrots

2 lbs. Purple Viking Potatoes

7 sprigs of basil

I plan to make Garden Chowder from our CSA newsletter.  It will use carrots, green beans, zucchini/squash, fresh herbs (basil), and tomatoes (I may throw in the eggplant, too).  We always eat lots of fresh vegetables – green pepper, carrots, cherry tomatoes, salads.  That leaves me with potatoes and tomatoes.  I have a chicken and potato recipe to try this week, but I’ll still have more potatoes left.  I plan to bake the big potatoes I picked up this week, I just don’t know when!  And I think it’s time I learn how to make tomato sauce…

Check back this week for recipes.  I have lots of cooking to do!

Fresh Basil, photo by Susan Belsinger

Our share has included basil, cilantro and parsley over the last few weeks.  Our own herb garden is flourishing with basil, parsley and chives.  And I am overwhelmed with herbs! What to do?!  Here are some helpful links for drying, freezing and storing fresh herbs  from www.vegetablegardener.com:

How to Dry Herbs article

How to Dry Herbs video

How to Freeze Herbs video

More Way to Freeze and Store Fresh Herbs video

Cucumber Salad

Our garden is exploding with cucumbers!  We love cucumbers in our house, but we are a bit overwhelmed.  I plan to make pickles when the next round is ready.  I have used our current abundance to make cucumber salad.  It is absolutely delicious, and SO easy!  I made an extra batch to give to my in-laws as a “thanks for watching the kids until Dave got home from work while I was out of town this week” gift.

I was out of town for 4 days this week (was only supposed to be away for 2!), so my in-laws picked up our share on Tuesday (thanks, Mike & Terry!).  I don’t have a picture or weights/amounts this time, but our share consists of the following:

• tomatoes
• cucumber
• zucchini
• green beans
• green onions
• beets
• cabbage
• spring mix
• garlic scapes
• dill
• cilantro
• basil

We’ve got a nice variery of herbs, now.  I think I will make some fresh salsa with the tomatoes, green onions, garlic scapes and cilantro.  I just received my order of a basic canning kit, so I will use the dill, along with cucumbers from our garden to make pickles.  Wish me luck!  Beets, cabbage and dill get me in the mood for borscht.  It’s quite an involved recipe, but it is well worth it.  If I tackle it over the weekend, I will post pictures.  If you’ve never had borscht, you are in for a treat!  It is really amazing!  Our own basil plant really grew while I was gone, so I think I’ll be making and freezing some pesto this weekend.  Our own green beans are florishing, too, so with share and home-grown green beans packing the fridge, I think I need to make ham, green beans and potatoes.  Not sure what I’m doing with the zucchini yet…  OK, I’m off fold laundry load #4!  Good night, all!

Our share seemed a little smaller this week, but that’s the way farming goes.  It actually works out well, though, because I’m going out of town for 2 days, so that’s 2 days of no cooking.  I have less produce to use up before it goes to waste.  Serendipity?  I think so!

Share #5

Our 5th share:

• 1 squash or zucchini
• 1 cucumber
• 1 bunch green onions (5)
• 10 oz. green beans
• 1 head lettuce
• 1/2 oz. cilantro
• 8 sprigs basil
• 6 garlic scapes
• 2 lbs. potatoes
• 1 box tomatoes
• 1 box wineberries OR sugar snap peas OR cherry tomatoes

So far, we have used the cucumber, 2 of the green onions, 2 of the garlic scapes, a few leaves of lettuce, 1 tomato, and the berries.  We’ll have salads at lunch, using the rest of the  lettuce, green onions and tomatoes.  I will bake the potatoes with tonight’s dinner.  We might have green beans, too.  I think I have some creative cooking to do today to use up more of this great food!

Here is how I used the produce from Share #4:

Swiss Chard A La Terry

• fresh cucumber slices for snacking (cucumber)
• steamed sugar snap peas (sugar snap peas)
• Pittsburgh Steak Salad (head of lettuce, cucumber)
• cooked beets (beets)
• Swiss Chard A La Terry (swiss chard, yellow squash, garlic scapes, green onion)
• Laura’s pesto potato salad (new potatoes, basil, cilantro, garlic scapes, green onion)
• Veggie saute (zucchini)\(sugar snap peas)-also use asparagus from market, carrot
• Tacos (tomato)

I still have a little cilantro left over.  I was going to make guacamole, but with avocados costing $5 for 2, I passed.  I’ll have to get meore creative this week!

The HowStuffWorks site has a fun article revealing 10 Quirky Facts of Mass Produced Food.  To be fair it is not all bad.  Using seaweed extract to keep ice cream creamy sounds like an ingeneous idea, the benefits of frozen vs. fresh, and how Worcestershire is made were pretty interesting.  But then you have the sugar in your french fries, 50 chemicals to make something taste like a strawberry, and how they make things red (shudder).

I’ll take my locally harvested fresh strawberries any day.

Swiss Chard A La Terry

Here is a swiss chard recipe from my mother-in-law, Terry.  She made it up as she went along.  I made some modifications to it based on what I had (or didn’t have) in the fridge.

Swiss Chard A La Terry (adapted by Amy – serves 4)

4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (Terry only used 2 slices, but we really like bacon!)

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tbsp butter

2 garlic scapes, chopped (Terry used minced garlic)

2 spring onions, chopped

1 carrot, sliced

5 large swiss chard, stems chopped and leaves torn

1 med. yellow squash, peeled and sliced (Terry used 2 squash, but I only had 1)

I did not have the following ingredients, but Terry used them in her recipe:

chopped red bell pepper

Simply Organic seasoning

chopped hazelnuts

Heat oil and butter in a large skillet.  Add garlic scapes (or minced garlic, as Terry had used), spring onion, carrot, and swiss chard stems.  Saute until fragrant, about 2 minutes.  Add red bell pepper and squash.  Saute another couple of minutes, until squash starts to brown and carrots are crisp-tender.  Add seasoning.  Add swiss chard leaves, stir to wilt, remove pan from heat.  Top with crumbled bacon and hazelnuts.

Dave and I really enjoyed this.  The boys were not so enthusiastic. I think the hazelnuts would have been a really nice accent.  I’ll get some for the next time I make this.  Dave and I ate this as our lunch.  It would also make a good side dish.