Maple Creek Share Weeks 3 & 4

Week #3


Week #4


My mouth couldn't stop watering as I picked up our share today.

The basil smelled so good!  All the things I wanted to use it for went running through my mind all at once when I smelled that sweet smell.  I see bruschetta and caprese salads in our futures!  I am glad I have been researching storage tips over on the Maple Creek blog because I will store that beautiful basil differently now.

I am really looking forward to trying the raw zucchini crudo and my simple cabbage salad that I mentioned on the blog.  Not sure what I will do with the swiss chard yet, but I really like having it for breakfast, so I am leaning toward that.

Slow Cooker Zucchini Bisque

Looking for something to do with all the zucchini showing up in your garden/farmer's market/CSA box?  This is one of my favorite recipes because it is EASY!  Freezes well and tastes amazing!  This recipe is from my favorite slow cooker cookbook, Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook.

Slow Cooker Zucchini Bisque Soup
my notes are in ( )

6 Tablespoons of butter cut into 3 or 4 pieces
1 large onion (2-3 leeks work well too)
1/2 teaspoon of curry powder
1 1/2 pounds of zucchini (I have used up to 2 lbs before)
2 heaping tablespoons of white basmati rice
1 tablespoon fresh chopped basil
3 cups of chicken broth (homemade broth makes this soup extra good)
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup of half-and-half

1. Put the butter, onion, curry powder, and zucchini in the slow cooker, cover, and cook on HIGH for 30 minutes.
2. Add the rice, basil and broth.  Cover, cook on low for 5-6 hours (I have stretched it out longer)
3. Puree soup with an immersion blender.  Season with salt and pepper.  Stir in half-n-half and cover continuing to heat on low until heated through.  Do not boil.

Freezer Notes: If you want to freeze this, omit the half-n-half step.  Freeze without the half-n-half, but add it back in when you defrost the soup to heat it up and eat it.

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Maple Creek Farm Share Weeks 1 & 2

Week #1

Last week we were on vacation, so my friend Jayna picked up my share for me and took the photo.  Thanks Jayna!

Week #2
This week, I was so excited to pick up MY first share and taste some Maple Creek goodness!  I didn't realize how much I missed the routine of picking up my share each week until I was able to do it again today.  To come back to my pick-up location, see what was in my box, break down the box, stick my produce in my bag and bring it back home to store and eat.  Doesn't that look amazing?



Here is what I plan to do with this week's share.  I will lightly saute the swiss chard and have it with eggs & chives in the morning for breakfast (I better do it on Saturday, or my husband will be sad he missed out on such a wonderful breakfast). I will make some zucchini soup with the summer squash.  When I stop at the grocery store I will make sure to pick up some Brie so I can make my favorite cucumber and Brie sandwiches.  The lettuce I will use for our daily lunch salads.  And for those delicious looking peas, well half of one of the bags is already gone because we gobbled it up before dinner tonight and I think I will stir fry the other half with some Bok Choy for a veggie stir fry from the Simple Baby Bok Choy and Snow Peas recipe in the Steamy Kitchen Cookbook.

This is our 4th year having the our share (2006, 2009, 2010, 2011) and over the past week I have been noticing what a healthy impact it has had on our family.  My kids eat things I NEVER ate as a kid and look forward to it.  Picking up in-season food each week has taught us what is in season when and how to recognize truly fresh produce.  And anticipating what will be in our box each week has made us appreciate and look forward to eating foods that were previously unknown to us, and at first we weren't even sure we liked.  Thanks Maple Creek Farm!

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