Category Archives: Friends and Farms

The Friends and Farms “Basket”

Posted on July 12, 2014 by AnnieRie

An individual basket with a few add ons. Just the right size for two people with a garden. Or a single person. Or a couple who eats out a couple of nights a week.

This week our proteins were chuck roast and sockeye salmon. Since the salmon was an 8 ounce individual filet, I could email or call or register on line to order another portion or two.

This week’s cheese was mozzarella.

Perfect for the two tomatoes in the basket, and my basil from the garden. Or with all those supersweet 100s I am getting from the garden.

We got a large onion. A couple of yellow squash (like I need squash). Actually, putting them away to make ratatouille next week when we are supposed to get eggplant.

Blueberries. Yes, there will be frozen berries. And lemon blueberry zucchini bread. There were two ears of very sweet corn. It is gone already. I did ask for additional and will be billed for three more.

Dinner Thursday night was sockeye salmon and corn on the cob. Nothing else. Well, there was wine.

The last things in the basket were the large bag of mostly baby spinach. Which makes perfect salads. With that smoked bacon from last week.

I wasn’t in the mood for the fresh bread choices this week so I got one of these.

A parbaked ciabatta. Sitting in the freezer waiting for me to need it.

Upcoming meals will include a caprese salad, obviously. A spinach, blueberry and walnut salad one night. That ratatouille next week. Chuck roast is in the freezer waiting for cooler weather.

#hocofood

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Lancaster Farm Fresh

Posted on July 10, 2014 by AnnieRie

Today I picked up my CSA. Like I do every Thursday. I decided to concentrate today on the CSA. And talk tomorrow about the other major source of food into our home.

Since 2011, I have been a member of this cooperative. They provide me with fresh organic vegetables, and now, chicken, fruit and cheese. The cooperative has 3000 members across a six state area. Around 80 Amish farmers belong to the coop. With the assistance of a transportation and management effort that connects them to the “plugged in” world.

As for what we got today. In my “half” share, costing me $19 a week. Seven to ten items, usually.

We got:

Red Leaf Lettuce
White Onions
New Red Potatoes
Red Beets
Eight Ball Zucchini
Royal Burgundy Beans
Dill
Fennel (we actually got cabbage, I swapped for this)

I really like the variety. And the just enough amount.

I added a chicken share.

Today I got a pound of boneless skinless chicken breasts. Destined to become chicken salad tomorrow. And two pounds of wings. There will be Buffalo wings Sunday.

I have a fruit share. Today:

Two pints of organic blueberries. And, the first of the fresh peaches.

The berries. A mix. Some will become the basis for a lemon blueberry zucchini bread (hey, gotta use those zucchini). The rest. Flash frozen on a cookie sheet. And saved for the dark of winter.

We also have a monthly cheese share. Which gave us great stuff a few weeks ago. Still loving that raw milk cheddar.

Between this, my garden, and Friends and Farms, we don’t need grocery stores except for staples.

Loving that local regional sourced food.

#hocofood

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Posted in CSA, Food, Friends and Farms, LFFC, Locavore, Real Food and tagged CSA, Food, foodie, gardening, Howard County, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

In A Pickle

Posted on July 4, 2014 by AnnieRie

And Beyond.

With all the pickling cukes around here, I decided to make refrigerator pickles. Easy to do. Mix the spices. Dill, peppercorns, garlic scapes, salt. Three to one ratio of water to vinegar. I made spears, thick and thin slices. Four pints.

These weren’t hot water processed. They will keep in the fridge for about two months.

CSA this week brought me more cukes.

We had pickling cukes and a slicing cuke. A pound of snow peas. Broccoli. A large sweet onion. Carrots. Golden beets. A pound of green beans. I have fava beans, because I swapped the three zucchini (like I need more zucchini around here). Nine items in a half share. More than enough to keep us veggie heavy in the house.

The fruit share. Two pints of blueberries and a pint of sweet cherries. The blueberries are already being processed for the future.

I flash froze them and put them away in little containers. Well, except for those that became the aperitif tonight.

As for the Friends and Farms basket.

A cuke. Basil. Spring mix. Peaches. A cabbage. Another sweet onion. More green beans. Sweet potatoes. Eggs and plain yogurt. As for protein. Spare ribs and ground turkey. I found a recipe for larb “kai”, which I will be making with turkey instead of chicken.

Oh, and I forgot about my Lancaster Farm Fresh chicken.

A four pound free range bird.

So far, in two days. Beans are gone, in two salads. Onions are gone. Roasted. Beets are gone. Roasted. Tomorrow there will be cole slaw on the menu. Using those carrots and a cabbage.

Really good veggies coming in. And the quality of the meat is awesome.

Here’s to eating locally. And well.

#hocofood

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Lock Those Car Doors!

Posted on June 26, 2014 by AnnieRie

It’s zucchini season.

You must act now to keep gardeners from leaving zucchini in the back seat of your car! I swear you can watch them grow.

We got zucchini today from three sources. In the CSA. In the Friends and Farms basket. And from my garden. Bread is in the future. Chocolate zucchini bread, that is.

A quick look at what we got from our local and regional sources for food.

Friends and Farms gave us heirloom zucchini, tomatoes, a cucumber, white potatoes, green bell peppers, leaf lettuce and scallions. The fruit was a pint of blueberries. I picked white bread this week. Eggs. Swordfish. Beef kabob cubes. This is an individual basket. Just the right size for a couple who have a garden, and a CSA subscription.

The greens are already gone. They were in tonight’s salad.

As for Lancaster Farm Fresh and our half share CSA.

Eight items in the vegetable share. Two pints of organic blueberries in the fruit share. Three lovely cheeses. Chicken share a mix of boneless skinless breast meat and whole legs.

The veggie share. Eight ball zucchini. Green cabbage. Peas in the shell. Green beans. Pickling cukes. One large slicing cucumber. New red potatoes. And heirloom spinach (which was supposed to be kale, but I swapped).

Gouda, cheddar and bleu cheese. Every month a threesome of interesting fresh, mostly raw milk cheeses.

I don’t need grocery stores. I have it all in our “grand slam”. CSA. Friends and Farms. Our garden. Jenny’s market. Where today I picked up oranges to make my fennel salad. A few grapes and plums for my husband’s fruit fix.

Here’s to eating what is freshest and from small local sources. And, that garden thing.

Zucchini anyone? I can deliver.

hocofood@@@

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Viva La Difference!

Posted on June 20, 2014 by AnnieRie

Five weeks in. Two different sources of local and regional food. They have their strengths and a couple of weaknesses. But, all in all, they are a good fit for how I cook.

How is a CSA different from the regional buying service? I think I am getting there at understanding it all.

Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative. Seventy five farms in Amish country. Almost all of them organic. Lots of options, but you pay for the whole season up front.

This year I picked a half share. Since I have a garden. And my Friends and Farms subscription.

That means I get 4-7 organic items weekly. This week we got six items.

The spring heavy veggies, as PA is slightly behind us in MD, season wise.

A large Napa cabbage on the right. A robust head of romaine. Enough garlic scapes to make more pesto. A healthy amount of snow peas. Three kohlrabi. And a bunch of asparagus.

This year I added on a couple of extras. Like a fruit share.

This week, strawberries and rhubarb. Perfect to make a crisp or crumble.

The chicken share. Every week, 3-4 pounds of chicken. This week.

A whole heritage bird. I really enjoy grilling or roasting these chickens, and making stock from the skin, bones and innards.

As for my other major food source, Friends and Farms. We are signed up for an individual share this summer. A thirteen week commitment. We have also done a small share when it isn’t CSA or gardening season.

I like getting the mix of veggies, fruit, protein, dairy and bread.

This week. The protein.

Andouille sausage. Bacon. Chicken breasts. The Andouille was dinner tonight. With a side of braised cabbage. The chicken. Will be a stir fry Sunday. This week we also got a dozen eggs. And, these veggies and a fruit.

An onion. Garlic. Kohlrabi. A yellow squash. Tomatoes. Radishes. Kale. Blueberries.

My add ons this week. A way to get more without going to a store.

Yogurt, to make tzatziki and a few dressings. Butter, not pictured.

As for the ice cream. Given as a credit because some of the mussels last week were cracked or dead. As usual, the company comes through if the products aren’t up to their standards.

Between these two sources, we get a huge majority of our food. One requires a season paid in advance, and not a large amount of substitution. But the quality is excellent. As is the variety.

The other. Excellent flexibility and customization options.

Who needs Giant Food? Or the new Whole Paycheck coming to Columbia? Not those of us who know we get great food at better pricing than Whole Paycheck, and better quality than Giant.

@@@hocofood

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Kohlrabi Squared

Posted on June 19, 2014 by AnnieRie

Yep, both weekly sources of local, regional food gave us kohlrabi this week.

Six of the little “sputniks”. One of the stranger vegetables we see. But, what flavor. I like it as a slaw ingredient. I like it sliced thinly and eaten raw.

I really like my Indian inspired recipe. Yum, garam masala and apple. What could be better?

Tomorrow I will do the post about what we got this week, but right now, I want to talk about challenging ourselves. Cooking outside our comfort zone.

Keeping that kohlrabi out of the swap box.

To me, the real joy of community supported agriculture and regional food buying “cooperatives”, somewhat like our Friends and Farms subscription, is the surprise factor. The impetus to try something new.

Now, in my fourth summer, nothing much really surprises us. We are veterans of the “Say What?” club. And, we have expanded our cooking skills in directions we never imagined.

As for these kohlrabi, I will make a slaw. I will grill some. I might braise one or two.

#hocofood

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To Honor Our Dads

Posted on June 15, 2014 by AnnieRie

Both of our dads loved to cook. I remember watching my father in law at the stove, frying up something special. And my dad, with his favorite foods. That he made the way he liked them.

Our dads are no longer with us. My FIL, 33 years ago. My dad, 11 years ago.

We still have memories. Pictures. Favorite moments.

Tonight we honored them by cooking things from their birthplaces, and using techniques they loved.

Like pan frying.

These are baby bella mushrooms from PA. My husband’s home state. The hanger steak. Also from PA.

I pan fried a hanger steak with red wine mushroom sauce.

I also made one of my dad’s specialties.

Cole slaw. A simple one. Cabbage. Carrots. A simple slaw dressing (I cheated and mine was from a bottle). My dad made his own.

The food tonight came from Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative, in PA. And, Friends and Farms, mostly sourcing items from PA and MD these days.

The salad. Baywater Greens. Strawberries from the community garden. Cheese from MD. A simple lemon vinaigrette.

The wine. Not local, but our dads were beer drinkers, and this steak begged for wine. My dad, Natty Boh. My FIL. Yuengling.

For us, though, a toast using a ten year old cabernet reserve from California.

Here’s to memories. Here’s to dad.

#hocofood

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A Triple Play

Posted on June 13, 2014 by AnnieRie

Putting together the garden, the CSA and the Friends and Farms foods.

Slow cooker short ribs with kale over polenta.

What came from where?

My garden:
Defrosted tomato sauce from last year’s harvest
Baby leeks
Scallions
Garlic Scapes

Lancaster Farm Fresh CSA:
Curly kale

Friends and Farms:
Short Ribs
Garlic (roasted first)
Polenta (from a long time ago)
Trickling Springs butter

First, I browned the short ribs.

I like cutting them into individual portions and browning them in olive oil.

In the crockpot:

All of that gorgeous kale. Three baby leeks. Two scallions. One pint of my basic tomato sauce made last September and frozen. Four cloves roasted garlic. Salt and pepper. The ribs were then placed on top with their pan sauces.

Cooked for eight hours on low. Falling apart ribs. Tangy kale.

I then made a quick polenta. 1 cup polenta whisked into three cups of water, that had 1/2 tablespoon of salt added. Whisk until creamy, then add two tablespoons unsalted butter.

Put the polenta on the plate. Cover in kale and short ribs. Open a good local red wine and you have a locavore meal.

#hocofood

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Posted in CSA, Food, Friends and Farms, Gardening, LFFC, Locavore, Real Food, Wine and tagged cooking, crock pot cooking, CSA, Food, foodie, gardening, Locavore, real food, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Berry, Berry Good

Posted on June 12, 2014 by AnnieRie

Both my food sources delivered strawberries today. There will be some creative cooking going on.

Today Lancaster Farm Fresh began the fruit shares for those of us who opted for this add on. We got a jar of their incredibly rich “just apples” applesauce. Too bad we didn’t sign up for a meat share. They got boneless pork chops.

As for our chicken share:

Breasts, thighs and legs. 4.5 pounds of chicken. I have been so impressed with what we get, as always.

We get an email in the morning telling us what was selected. We do get advanced notice on Tuesdays, of the expected crop picking. But, it does change slightly.

There were nine items in the half share today. I did swap the cilantro, as I grow it, for that lovely fennel. There will be fennel, orange and red onion salad soon. I am impressed with the size of the leaf lettuce, and the romaine.

The bonus. Those radish greens, which are edible and quite tasty, albeit a bit peppery.

The CSA pickup was this afternoon. This morning I also got our Friends and Farms basket.

OK, I was brave and took the mussels, even though I don’t eat them. My husband was thrilled with them. They are gone already. Tonight’s dinner. White wine. Mussels. Butter. Shallots. Garlic scapes. A teaspoon of flour. Classic mussel dish. Served with the baguette from The Breadery.

The rest of this week’s protein and dairy. Short ribs and Ewe crème cheese. We also got baby bok choy, zucchini, baby bellas, broccoli, asparagus, spring mix, and those strawberries.

There will be stir fry on the menu this week. And, lots of salads.

Tomorrow night, slow cooked short ribs over greens.

For the Saturday night movie at the Wine Bin. Mushroom pate. The rest of the baguette. Chicken salad. Strawberry salsa.

Having fun with the fresh foods.

#hocofood

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Posted in Community, CSA, Food, Friends and Farms, LFFC, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food and tagged community, cooking, crock pot cooking, CSA, Food, foodie, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Fresh Food Overload

Posted on June 5, 2014 by AnnieRie

As in too many sources of what came into the house today.

Friends and Farms. Lancaster Farm Fresh. Foraged asparagus. Harvested spring garlic and garlic scapes.

Is it any wonder I get overwhelmed. At least I didn’t pick veggies at Larriland today.

Scapes and spring garlic. Let’s start with the back yard. I have 18 plants out there. Two, I found to be waterlogged and a loss. Four I harvested today. They were too small to become heads of garlic. Hence, spring garlic. With a couple of scapes in the mix.

Asparagus. A couple more spears of my wild asparagus. There are two more ready to be harvested in a day or two. Not bad, but this year much less than previous years.

Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative CSA. This is week three of the spring/summer CSA. I have a half share. Today eight items plus my weekly chicken share.

We got:

Salanova lettuce
Kale
Garlic Scapes
Frisee
Strawberries
Scallions
Red leaf lettuce
Yellow chard

A whole chicken this week. A Freedom Ranger heritage chicken.

The chard already made it into tonight’s frittata.

As for Friends and Farms.

This week was my eggs and yogurt week in the rotation. Proteins included chicken breast and a pork chop (destined to become an Asian element of a stir fry).

Green cabbage and carrots. There will be cole slaw.