Category Archives: Locavore

Summer CSA Wrap Up Week

Posted on October 31, 2013 by AnnieRie

The end of the 24 week CSA today. Fall season starts next Thursday. Appropriate for Halloween, my box included the escarole that ate New York.

It has to be one of the largest ones I have seen at any market. It looks like tomorrow I will be making escarole and white bean soup.

As for the rest, here is what our email said we were getting.

Leeks
Eggplant
Purple Viking Potatoes
Cylindra Beets
Escarole
Green Romaine
Mixed Sweet Potatoes
Bok Choy (it was bigger than the escarole, I swapped it)
Purple Mizuna (swapped as I bought some yesterday)
Garlic
Butternut Squash
Red Cabbage

We never got mizuna before today, so yesterday I bought some from Love Dove Farms at the Miller Library Market, since he didn’t have arugula. It figures we would get it once I bought some.

As for doing a wrap up, I am putting my collated list together to see what we got over the course of the 24 weeks. What we got most. What the total number will be for uniquely different items.

And, as for what I will be making. There will be hummus, from the squash and sweet potatoes. Eggplant caponata sounds good.

And, speaking of wrap ups, Larriland closes this weekend. Sunday is the last day the farm is open, until strawberry season begins in May. Pink Lady apples are ripe and only available Friday through Sunday.

I may have to go there just to buy a few quarts of cider. Their newsletter tells us that cider freezes well. Maybe I will try it as their cider is so good.

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Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Farms, Food, Local Businesses, Locavore and tagged cooking, CSA, farmer's markets, farms, Food, local businesses, Locavore, value of CSA. Bookmark the permalink.

Personal Pan Pizza

Posted on October 30, 2013 by AnnieRie

My Way.

On one of those days that the foodie and the locavore collide. It all started with sending my husband to the store to get oranges and grapeseed oil. Oranges to use with the CSA fennel for a salad. A neutral oil so I can bake butternut squash to make hummus. He comes home with figs, which he decided would be perfect in a pizza.

The first fig, prosciutto, arugula and goat cheese pizza we ever had was in Napa Valley about five years ago. We have been attempting to duplicate it since then.

This time I went with grilling them.

Served with a local wine, using local goat cheese, arugula, scallions and garlic, I got a decent crispy thin pizza.

Early Mountain 2011 Petit Manseng, a very crisp version of a lesser grown grape. Early Mountain is north of Charlottesville VA. A fairly new winery that we visited on our weekend trip. We picked up a mix of their current wines. A young winery, under this ownership, we expect to see real growth in their offerings as their vines mature.

This dinner was really simple to put together. Spread some garlic and oil on crust from COSTCO. Add a few figs, some goat cheese, some prosciutto, some scallions. Drizzle some lemon infused olive oil over it. Put it on a screaming hot grill for a few minutes (500 degrees). Turn off the end burners (or use indirect placement over charcoal). Let it crisp up, and let the cheese melt. Some pepper ground over it. Arugula put on after removal from the grill.

Excellent meal on a very pleasant evening. We took it outside on the patio to enjoy the view. Leaves are getting close to peak around here.

Great al fresco dinner.

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Posted in CSA, Food, Locavore, Weather, Wine and tagged cooking, CSA, fall foliage, Food, foodie, grilling, Locavore, VA wine, weather, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Beans and Greens

Posted on October 28, 2013 by AnnieRie

Until we joined a CSA three seasons ago, I would not have considered greens with beans and some sort of broth, with a little pork, to be the basis of so many meals.

I wandered back into my archives and found at least a half dozen versions of the beans and greens themes in them. Like this one.

The Tuscan soup version, with kale.

And, one of my first attempts from the freezer.

Much like this one I made today, but with tomatoes.

Today’s was a lighter variation.

I don’t even use recipes anymore. I just wing it. This one used all the mustard greens we got last week. The rest of the bok choy from a week ago. The turnip greens. I started it in the crock pot with carrots, celery, onion and the thicker white parts of the bok choy. A half pint of my chicken stock. A wee bit of bacon grease. I fried up a pound of bacon that I got at England Acres. It has been in three meals and there is still some in the fridge.

I added the greens, some bacon, two cans of butter beans, and two cups of almond milk, making this a non-dairy soup.

What you see in the finished soup are some Great Harvest croutons. As for flavor, I added salt, pepper, parsley, garlic powder, paprika and ground ginger. I also cut up and added an apple to give a hint of sweetness.

Just before serving, I ladled out about half of it, avoiding the bacon pieces, and blended it to give it that creaminess.

A very hearty soup. Served with a “competition” of Sauvignon Blancs. Linden versus Glen Manor. The 2011’s. We decided the Glen Manor complemented the soup better, although Linden was a much bigger bodied SB.

Here’s to the last week of our summer CSA. Looking forward to fall veggies. Glad that my experience motivated me to cook more with hearty greens.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Food, Locavore, Wine and tagged cooking, crock pot cooking, crockpot soups, CSA, Food, foodie, Linden Vineyards, Locavore, VA wine, value of CSA, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Sweatshirt Weather

Posted on October 26, 2013 by AnnieRie

That’s what my husband calls it. The first frost of the season. Although it will warm up again, and today was lovely. It was cold overnight.

Today we headed out on errands, and a picture taking mission. I needed to get rid of some old pain meds at the county take back prescription drug program, at the site of our Saturday market. Unfortunately, TLV was out of eggs, but I knew if I was lucky I could get them at England Acres.

My husband wanted farm scenery pictures to use for his postcard design that highlights living in farm country in Maryland. The “QSL” card is what is exchanged by radio amateurs to confirm contacts. He wants one that highlights farmland, so we have been taking pictures, like these.

The fields that are part of the farm west of Mt. Airy. The farm where I love to get meat, dairy, eggs, and love to see the new animals.

Like their guinea hens who were checking out their reflections in the hub caps of our truck. Interesting animals.

We came home to see our newly resident black squirrel checking out the bird bath. The heating element is in. Getting ready for winter.

Finally, in the end of a busy day, I did manage to make a frittata using techniques learned from Marcella Hazan, to participate in a web based tribute, where bloggers and others cooked Marcella’s recipes and either tweeted or blogged about it.

Hashtag — #dinnerwithmarcella

Spaghetti frittata with parm and pepper.

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Posted in Birds, Farms, Food, Local Businesses, Locavore, Nature, Weather, West HoCo and tagged amateur radio, cooking, farms, Food, foodie, local businesses, Locavore, nature, photography, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

Hey, Hey, Do You CSA?

Posted on October 25, 2013 by AnnieRie

I have been meaning to write this post for a while now, but finally got around to it. Lots happening in the Howard County CSA world. New sites. New CSAs.

First, I should talk about a conversation I had yesterday at our pick up site. I met someone I hadn’t seen before, new this year, with a full share gift from a relative.

They loved the amount and quality of the veggies they got, for what they considered a great deal. $30 a week. The 60% share is only $19 a week. By the way, this couple travels from Anne Arundel county to our pick up site near Robinson Nature Center. She said they had few options in their area.

I blogged a few weeks ago, about the sign up period for the seven week extension of our CSA, from November 7th through December 19th.

It’s a short term commitment for someone interested in seeing what we get from a cooperative of farmers. How much is in a full share or a half share. Hanging around the pick up site, you can see what is in each box.

Sandy Spring Fall CSA Week 3 of 2012

Typical full share from last November is pictured above.

I do know that we are dropping from 60+ shares for our summer CSA, into about half that number for fall.

Some people didn’t re-enlist 😉

We heard reasons at the site. Not liking squash. Too many potatoes. For us, though, squash is an excuse to make hummus. Potatoes in a brown bag, hanging in the laundry room, will last for months.

OK, enough about the Sandy Spring Fall CSA.

Let’s talk about next year in the county. We are indeed lucky to have so many CSAs in Howard County. Next year, add another. TLV Tree Farm.

And, another new pick up site for Breezy Willow. They will offer pick up at Wegmans. Cheers to Wegmans for supporting local farms.

Just like MOM’s supports One Straw Farm, with pick ups at their Jessup store.

All told, I believe we now have Sandy Spring, Breezy Willow, Gorman Farm, Love Dove Farm, TLV Tree Farm, Zahradka Farm and One Straw Farm. Amazing the options available with potential to have fresh veggies all year round.

CSA’s. Try them. You might get hooked like we did.

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Posted in CSA, Farms, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore and tagged CSA, farms, Food, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore. Bookmark the permalink.

A CSA For All Seasons

Posted on October 24, 2013 by AnnieRie

Today we got a little bit of every season in the CSA Box. We even got a bonus of two bags of broccoli.

This is what we got, and items I swapped.

2 bags broccoli florets
1 bag mixed green and purple peppers
1 bag mixed hot peppers (I swapped my cubanelles to get those habaneros)
1 butternut squash
1 bunch mustard greens
3 ears popping corn (I swapped green tomatoes to get this)
1 bok choy
1 baby bok choy
1 bunch tatsoi
1 fennel bulb
2 leeks
1 container micromixed greens
1 bunch scarlet turnips

The reason I say this box spanned seasons is the fact that there are peppers, a summer item. Greens, usually spring and fall. Squash from fall. Broccoli and popping corn, late fall. Fennel, spring and fall. Leeks, late fall and early winter. Turnips a winter staple.

I love getting popping corn. Drop an ear in a paper bag, and microwave for two to three minutes and you have incredibly fresh pop corn. Drizzle a little butter, add some seasonings, and you just created one amazingly tasty bowl of “movie” food.

We have one week left of our summer CSA, and then we transition to fall. For the fall share, we will get seven weeks of good food, to celebrate holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas.

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Posted in CSA, Food, Locavore, Real Food and tagged cooking, CSA, Food, foodie, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

So Worth It

Posted on October 23, 2013 by AnnieRie

One of the things I like most about being part of the hocoblogs community is the encouragement (and the inspiration) to try new things.

Like canning. Between HowChowBlog, LisaBMrsS, and The Soffrito, I am working my way up and now have conquered tomato sauce.

Before processing in the hot water bath, two quarts of sauce. This took about 20 of the heavy beefy tomatoes from our Larriland visit. I roasted them, after halving them and scooping out the seeds. Pulled off the skins once they cooled a bit. Put them in a pot with gently “sweated” onions, shallots, garlic and olive oil. Added some Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Cooked for about 30 minutes. Ladled into the jars, with lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Processed for 45 minutes.

Until I was encouraged by my fellow bloggers, to take that step from freezing to canning, I wouldn’t have done this. HowChow got us interested in picking at Larriland. Lisa encouraged me once I did my first jars of jelly. Victoria at The Soffrito back in our food challenge days showed me meals made from her canned items.

All told, I have made three pints of oven roasted tomatoes, four bags of whole peeled blanched tomatoes and two quarts of tomato sauce. I have enough tomatoes left to make two more quarts of sauce once the last 20 tomatoes get ripe enough.

I figure that if I bought organic sauce, canned tomatoes and roasted tomatoes, it would have cost us at least $40. We got these 24 pounds of tomatoes at Larriland for $16.

I think that’s worth the price. Don’t you?

Didn’t get to pick apples today, but we are heading out there tomorrow. Canned applesauce coming soon to the kitchen near me!

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Farms, Food, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food and tagged cooking, farms, Food, foodie, local businesses, Locavore, real food, tomatoes. Bookmark the permalink.

One Busy Week Ahead

Posted on October 19, 2013 by AnnieRie

As we wind down on Saturday night, after friends just left, I realized two things.

1. We had a totally locavore dinner.
2. Next week is going to be crazy busy.

Yes, these things aren’t related, or even close. But, as I recover from excessive eating, and look to the week ahead, I know I need to pace myself.

As for tonight, no pictures. Our friends would think we were crazy to take pictures of dinner. The food. England Acres lamb, on the grill. CSA potatoes, broccoli, lettuce and Breezy Willow cauliflower.

Appetizer. My habanero jelly and my ajvar. Jelly over some goat cheese. Ajvar over some Harris Teeter pita chips.

As for next week, tomorrow there will be mowing and leaf blowing.

Monday I have the social media class for bloggers.

Tuesday another visit to Larriland to do apples, without the crowds. Thursday, a field trip at the Conservancy.

Friday, a trip maybe to Black Ankle.

I’ve said before, that going back to work would be less active than all we do now that we are retired.

Oh yeah, somewhere in here I need to process the tomatoes and the beets from Larriland. And watch the Ravens tomorrow afternoon.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Farms, Food, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food and tagged cooking, CSA, farms, Food, howard county conservancy, Locavore, real food, retirement. Bookmark the permalink.

Larriland …

Posted on October 18, 2013 by AnnieRie

… not the best decision on a school holiday, but still good to find amazing produce at a fraction of the cost of stores.

They were really busy today. Like, out of control busy. We still managed to find parking and spend time in the tomato fields, and in the beet field.

Forget getting anywhere near the apple orchards, or the pumpkin patches.

My husband wants me to pickle beets. So, we picked 24 pounds of beets.

I want to make one last large vat of tomato sauce to freeze, and I want to oven roast some more tomatoes. We picked 25 pounds of beautiful paste tomatoes.

I ended up with a couple of pounds of beet greens. Some frozen. Some cleaned for salads, and some wrapped up to use in borscht, which I want to make next week.

You really need to find a pick your own farm, and support them as much as you can.

Tomatoes cost me 65 cents a pound, and beets, 99 cents a pound. The prices are phenomenal.

We will go back and pick apples, probably next week in the middle of the week while school is in session.

Such a beautiful farm.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Farms, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, West HoCo and tagged farms, Food, foodie, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food, tomatoes, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Weekly Meal Planning

Posted on October 13, 2013 by AnnieRie

Like so many others who belong to Community Supported Agriculture, I try and do a weekly meal planning on Fridays, the day after I receive my CSA box of veggies.

If I have to defrost items, or hit a market or make a store run, I do most of that on Saturdays. It is the best way to ensure I use up everything that comes in the weekly drop off.

Yesterday, I was going to go to Glenwood after my volunteering at the Conservancy, but the program and clean up didn’t finish until noon.

Thankfully, I knew I could get to Breezy Willow since they keep the farm store open from 10-2.

My meal planning required eggs, which I had completely used, and a loaf of bread, as I planned to have chili after the football game, and a spaghetti omelet using what I made in the crockpot Friday.

I didn’t plan on buying any veggies there, just eggs, bread, apples, cheese and butter. Oh, and some sausage so I can make meat loaf later this week.

I got sidetracked by this.

One amazing looking purple cauliflower. I will be adjusting the cooking schedule in order to roast this huge fresh vegetable. I love to dry roast them, with just a covering of melted butter and some garam masala. Looks like my meatless Monday will feature it.

As for what was planned and already executed, Friday did include a crock pot lamb “stew”. I saved the broth and some of the veggies, as this stew turned out to be a little thin. Using some noodles in the broth after removing the lamb, carrots, potatoes and some onions, I kept the crock pot on for just enough time to get a bowl of “spaghetti”.

Half of that mixture, stirred with four eggs, pecorino, salt, pepper and poured into a pan.

My husband told me his mom made spaghetti omelets often. I never had one, and this was one very nice simple dinner. After cooking the bottom, I put it in the oven, on broil, and browned the top. On the plate, it looked like this.

Served up with a side salad, using the rest of the beets from an earlier CSA delivery.

Dinners and lunches both highlight the CSA veggies. I now use a small notebook to determine the combinations I can make, to vary our meals and not waste any of the food.

I just need to keep from being tempted by those impulse purchases, like that cauliflower, but it is so good. That beauty will not go to waste.

Tonight we finished the venison chili. Tomorrow, the cauliflower, with baked potatoes and the pesto I made Thursday with the CSA basil.

Tuesday, I will be making those mini meat loaves and putting a few away for the future.

I still need to work the collards into the rotation, but they may be the side dish with the meat loaf.

By doing this planning, and remembering to defrost things in advance, I have really been good at using up my CSA.

hocofood@@@

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