Tag Archives: CSA

Fall CSA Week Five

Posted on December 1, 2011 by AnnieRie

Really lovely things in the box this week.

Some really interesting specialty radishes, heads of green cabbage, broccoli, red romaine and cauliflower, a bag of onions, a bag of yellow fin potatoes, a bunch of cilantro, turnip greens and collard greens.

This should make my dark days dinner this coming Sunday night very interesting, as I am considering my favorite of making greens in butter and olive oil, with potatoes and topped with beef short ribs. If I get it all together, it should be a great meal.

I made sauerkraut with cabbage from two weeks ago, which I am cooking tonight with chicken sausages and apples. Now that I know the sauerkraut is a hit, and very easy to make, I will be doing it again with this cabbage.

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Fall CSA Week Four

Posted on November 23, 2011 by AnnieRie

Surrounded by all the holiday traffic and chaos I picked up this week’s CSA and then went off to a local market to get my pre-ordered fresh turkey and homemade sausage for my Dark Days Challenge, and our Thanksgiving dinner scheduled for Sunday night.

We go to visit family on Thanksgiving in Annapolis, so our turkey is made Sunday.

The CSA haul was again beautiful.

“Log Grown” Shiitake mushrooms, tatsoi, purple top turnips, baby peppers, Jerusalem artichokes, baby leaf lettuces, garnet sweet potatoes, green cabbage, spinach, cauliflower and a leek. All organic.

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Dark Days Preparation

Posted on November 19, 2011 by AnnieRie

I am getting ready for the dark days challenge. I have inventoried the farmer’s market and neighbor’s contributions of meats in the freezer and looking at what stocks and veggies are also in there.

I have my peppers drying.

I also have the dried sage hanging in the garage, and thankfully the rosemary is still going strong.

Garlic and jellies around, and some gifts from friends who traveled, like blueberry chutney. Honey from the bee hives where I volunteer.

Local wines in the cellar, and a few six packs of locally brewed beer. Apple cider still coming in from a local farm

The CSA and the Amish markets should help me make it through the winter. Fifteen weeks is a long time, and there may be some omelets and soups more than I usually make, but at least I am doing a small part to work on reducing my carbon footprint.

Baby steps, we call them, but worth it to me.

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Roasting Beets

Posted on November 17, 2011 by AnnieRie

So, last night I roasted the specialty beets from the CSA and peeled them to use in a salad tomorrow night.

I roast beets dry, unpeeled, over a bed of kosher salt to pull out some of the moisture and allow them to concentrate their flavor.

I put them in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for about an hour, then let them cool and peel them. Off to the refrigerator to wait for my salad tomorrow evening. I will update this post with the salad picture when I make dinner tomorrow evening.

The Update with the finished product:

This salad was made using CSA box red romaine, white radishes, the specialty beets, and adding local goat cheese, some grapes from the store, some pistachios, and drizzled with Catoctin Mtn Orchards Blackberry Splash Vinaigrette. About 90% local, with only the grapes and pistachios bought at the grocery store.

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Fall CSA Week Two

Posted on November 10, 2011 by AnnieRie

I love Wednesdays. It is CSA day.

We received a large heavy delivery this week. I spent an hour cleaning greens and working on possible recipes. The pictures don’t do it justice as there was so much there.

We got:
1 six pound Queensland Blue Squash
2 sweet onions
2 pounds russet potatoes
2 large leeks
1 head white cauliflower
2 heads red leaf lettuce
1 bunch cilantro (which I swapped)
1 bag baby arugula
1 bag red and green mustard greens
1 bag red and green butterhead lettuce
1 Napa cabbage
1 bag baby tatsoi

This CSA is amazing in variety and quality. Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative supplies all the veggies to our CSA, which is managed locally. Lancaster manages a vast majority of the participants, but we have a more local management structure.

All in all, more than 70 organic farms are part of the cooperative, and there are more than 2000 members in the CSA locations in MD, NY, PA, and DC, (and NJ I believe).

I can’t believe how lucky we are that we found this CSA as it is a perfect fit for us.

And last night’s cauliflower was perfect, spiced and roasted in the oven.