Week 11 Maple Creek Farm CSA 2009 - August 26, 2009

Here is what we got this week and how I intend to use it:

Spinach - Will make this recipe from Whole Foods. It is fantastic and worthy of any high-end restaurant. You won't believe you made it yourself!

Lettuce - Had my parents over and made a salad to go with our pasta.

Tomatoes - Salad and ???

Pepper - Not quite sure, maybe a salad

Onions - Store for cooking

Green Onions - blanch and freeze with the ones from last week.

Squash - Dessert for when my parents come over.

Zucchini - Zucchini bread or soup.

Corn - Make as a side dish for dinner

Potatoes - Store for cooking.

Cabbage - We have a going away party and I will make & bring a coleslaw.

Week 10 Summary and Review

Here is what we got week 10 and how I have used it:

Lettuce - Made a salad

Tomatoes - Used them to make a tomato salad

Green Pepper - Still in the fridge

Onions - used for cooking, still have some left.

Squash - My BBQ broke, so I used my cast iron skillet to slice them and fry them in some olive oil. Then I cut them up and put in the broccoli pasta salad.

Corn on the Cob - Had it for dinner Wednesday & Friday nights.

Potatoes - Save for cooking use.

Green Beans - blached and froze them. Green Beans aren't my favorite, but they'll come in handy during winter when I can pull them out of the freezer.

Broccoli - Made a pasta salad out of it.

Week 10 Maple Creek Farm CSA

Here is what we got this week:

Lettuce - will make a salad

Tomatoes - Used them to make a tomato salad already

Green Pepper - haven't decided yet.

Onions - storing for cooking. They really look yummy!

Squash - probably BBQ them.

Corn on the Cob - Had it for dinner Wednesday & Friday nights.

Potatoes - Save for cooking use.

Green Beans - Having with some baked chicken tomorrow.

Broccoli - Will make a pasta salad out of it.

Kale Chips

One thing I can't seem to get enough of at the farmer's market this year, is Kale. I've been trying it in this and that all summer. Last time I was at the Nature's Pace booth, the farmer gave me a recipe for Kale chips. They sounded pretty good so I gave them a whirl last weekend. My son and husband thought they were good, but didn't eat a lot. my daughter, mom, dad, and I thought they were excellent and ate them all in a manner of minutes.

Here is the recipe for Kale Chips:

1. Wash and dry the leaves removing thick stems, placing them on a cookie sheet.

2. Drizzle olive oil on top. Salt and pepper to your liking.

3. Rip the big leaves into small chip-size pieces.

4. Bake for 350F for 10-20 minutes. When leaves begin to brown at edges turn off the oven and leave the chips in there so the extra moisture drys. Take them out and enjoy!

UPDATE (9/29/09): I tried making these with mustard greens. If Kale worked, why not mustard greens I wondered? They were bad. The mustard greens were pretty bitter and had just a slightly off taste.

Week 9 Summary and Review

Here is how I used last week's share:

Onions - used for cooking (put some on the BBQ with our turkey burgers, they turned out nice)

Tomatoes - Cut them up for the salad.

Zucchini - Made Soup and we ate it all, I had been hoping to have some to freeze.

Cucumbers - made a salad and used through the week to make one of my FAVORITE sandwiches, Brie with sliced cucumbers.

Green Peppers - Made 2 tomato salads last week.

Basil - made a quick no pine nut (didn't have them) pesto.

Lettuce - Salad with the family

Radishes - despite some good suggestions from friends on facebook, I gave them to our babysitter who likes them.

Potatoes - Make the zucchini soup, have some left for cooking use in the future.

Green Beans - Have a few left, but used most of them when we had salmon.

Week 9 Maple Creek Farm Share

This week we got:

Onions - Will use for cooking

Tomatoes - I made a tomato salad out of the with sliced cucumbers (from the share, see below), sliced green peppers (from the share see below) with feta, vinegar, oil, some thinly sliced onion.

Zucchini - Will make some soup to freeze

Cucumbers - made the salad above, and will use through the week to make one of my FAVORITE sandwiches, Brie with sliced cucumbers.

Green Peppers - Used one in tomato salad, not sure how I will use the rest.

Basil - Waiting for inspiration, probably some brushetta or pesto.

Lettuce - Chopped washed, ready for a salad

Radishes - despite some good suggestions from friends on facebook, I gave them to our babysitter who likes them.

Potatoes - Will use to make the zucchini soup

Green Beans - These look great and I will serve with some salmon I have in the freezer.

Whew...I think that is it. Summer is in full produce swing!

Week 8 Summary and Review

Last week we got:

Cabbage (2 white) - Use 1/2 to make a cabbage salad, still have 1 1/2 left.
Onions - Used them all up through weekly cooking
Squash - Yikes! I forgot to BBQ it.
Potatoes - Make a chicken roast and used most of them up that way. I still have a few.
Radishes - They are waiting to be used.

Broccoli - Made the pasta salad pictured above. Got the idea from a Whole Foods recipe, but that had feta in it, and I used mozzarela because it is a little more kid-friendly.
Cucumbers - Sliced it up into matchsticks and gave it to the kids for dinner.

As you can tell, I still have a lot left. I had a lazy cooking week, just didn't feel like doing it. Not sure why, but I guess we all have them.

Week 8 Maple Creek Farm CSA 2009 - August 5, 2009

This week we got:

Cabbage (2 white) - thanks to my friends on Facebook I have more ideas of what to do with cabbage than I have cabbage to use up! At first I was worried about having so much cabbage. Now I am happy :-)
Onions - Store for cooking use
Squash - BBQ it again (I can't seem to get enough of the stuff on the BBQ)
Potatoes - Store for cooking use
Radishes - Not sure. These things are spicy. Need to find some way to use them that cuts down on the spiciness.
Broccoli - Make a pasta salad with broccoli in it.
Cucumbers - Sliced it up into matchsticks and gave it to the kids with dinner last night.

Week 7 Summary & Review

Last week we got:

Lettuce - Made some Salads.
Red Onions - Cooked with them through the week
Summer Squash - BBQ them two times. Brought them once to a BBQ, and did them once at home.
Cucumbers - Brought to a family BBQ for salads.
Cabbages - 1/2 of the white one went in this recipe for Ribollita. Used the other 1/2 and 1/2 of the red for a salad (salt, pepper, chopped almonds, rice vinegar, juice of one lemon, and sesame oil)
Basil - Made a vinegarette to dress a salad of Arugula I got from the farmer's market and the rest in the Ribollita.
Beans - Yikes! Still in my fridge. Hope I didn't loose them. Need to blanch them and throw them in the freezer for use later on.

Week 7 Maple Creek Farm CSA 2009 - July 29, 2009

What we got this week and how I plan to use it:

Lettuce - Salads as usual :-)
Red Onions - Probably will slice and put with the lettuce and some bean salads
Summer Squash - BBQ, yum!
Cucumbers - Put in those salads or cut into sticks for snacks for the kids
Cabbages - Not quite sure yet. They store for awhile, so I might save them.
Basil - In those bean salads
Beans - We're having Salmon tomorrow. I'll use them as a side dish.