Week 12! Po-Ta-Toes!

We got some much needed rain this week.  Over 3 inches in total.

New this week:

Potatoes: It's our second year growing potatoes. Last year was difficult, the weeds took over and the harvest was very poor. This year, we experimented with growing potatoes using plastic mulch. Based on what we see so far, it works! Weeds were controlled, hilling was not necessary, yield was up, and the quality looks nice. 

Recipes to try:
Corn and potatoes means its time for Sausage Corn Chowder!

Or corn and peppers in this Mexican Street Corn Salad

Green Bean & Mini Sweet Pepper Salad
1 lb.green beans
1 lb. mini sweet peppers, sliced
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
salt and pepper

Boil green beans for a few minutes,  then chill in cold water immediately.  Place chilled green beans and sliced peppers in a bowl.  Add garlic, apple cider vinegar and olive oil.  Mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

2016 week 10!

New this week:

Cantaloupe- So happy for the arrival of cantaloupe! That first taste is the best.  My favorite fruit salad combination: cantaloupe and blueberry.

Green Bell Pepper- I think I see some stir fried peppers and onions in my future!

Red Onion - A nice mild onion perfect for salsas and salads.

Green Beans -  green beans, string beans, snap beans, which ever you prefer to call them they are so good fresh from the field.

Jalapaño - watch out for this spicy guy, but he will really kick your fresh salsa up a notch.

Beets - I love roasted beets on a salad with goat cheese.

How to Roast Beets

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Coat beets lightly with oil.
3. Wrap beets in aluminum foil, place on a baking sheet, and roast in the oven until cooked through, approximately 45 to 60 minutes.
4. Remove from the oven, let cool for 10 minutes, and then peel and slice into 1/4-inch thick slices.

2015 week 20 // Final Pick Up

Wow! It really is hard to believe that 20 weeks have passed.  Thank you so much to our precious CSA members for your support this season.  Your smiles and words of encouragement are greatly appreciated.

New this week:

Spaghetti squash:  I love this stuff! Here is a link to a tutorial for cooking one.  And here is my favorite spaghetti squash recipe: Spaghetti Squash Pizza Casserole.

KiwiBerries: Kiwi Berries are a small variety of the kiwi fruit with an edible skin. They are best eaten when the skin is wrinkled and they yield to pressure.   Really, the softer the better. As they soften they get more  and more sweet. Leave at room temperature to ripen.

Potatoes: We are so glad to have these beautiful potatoes from Rabbit Hill Farm in Shiloh, NJ.  Many potato growers in the area suffered a poor season due to a disease that came in the seed from Maine. Somehow Abe Baker and his daughter Hillary managed to pull off this beautiful crop.  

Yum, yum corn and potatoes means its time for Sausage Corn Chowder!

2015 week 17

Cantaloupe are back after a painful hiatus.

New this week:

Plums from Circle M Farms in Mannington Twp.

2015 week 9 // Summer Explosion!

Returning produce from previous weeks:
Spring onion
Collard Greens
Carrots
Bell Peppers

New this week!
Parsley - A lovely herb that really brightens flavor.  Here is a link to a chimichurri sauce which delicious served on steak or other meats.  Chimichurri is kind of like pesto, but made with parsley.
Cantaloupe- One of my favorite summer crops! Here is a link to my recipe for grilled cantaloupe. It is one of my most popular blogposts.
Grape Tomatoes- Yum! Sweet, pop 'em in your mouth snack.
Heirloom Tomatoes- It is the beginning of tomato season! Yippy! I hope you really get to know and love all the different varieties we grew this year.
Cauliflower- Many varieties of cauliflower are white only because, farmers bunch the leaves over top of the head blocking the sun. This variety is called Bishop and is a "self-blanching" variety, meaning the leaves naturally tend to cover the head. You may notice these heads are a bit yellow in color. This is because the "self-blanching" isn't quite as sun-proof as bunching the leaves and these cauliflowers have seen the sun a bit.
Red Cabbage-  The flavor for this "Super Red" superior for red cabbage: tender, crisp, and pleasantly peppery. I can't wait to make some fish tacos with red cabbage slaw!

Grilled Cantaloupe. . .Who knew?

Grilled Cantaloupe. Its yummy.

 -Take 1 cantaloupe, slice parallel to the equator.  I got 5 slices from 1 cantaloupe.
-Scoop out the seeds.
-Fire up the grill to medium heat.
-Make sure your grill is super clean, you don't want any meat flavored cantaloupe!
-Grill for 3-5 minutes per side, or until you get nice grill marks.
-When you flip to the 2nd side sprinkle a little brown sugar on the top.  2 Tablespoons of brown sugar is enough for the five slices.  It will melt on the hot lope and oh, baby, yum!

-Remove from grill and place each slice on a separate plate.

-Fill the center with vanilla ice cream!
-Serve as the warm cantaloupe starts to melt the ice cream!

Such a fun new way to enjoy your melon!

2012 CSA Week #16

SugarBaby Watermelon, Cantaloupe, Red Cubanelle Peppers, Green Tomatoes, Red Tomatoes, Yellow Peaches, Sweet Corn, (not pictured PYO flowers, herbs, hot peppers)

Here we are WEEK #16.

We are enjoying this mild August weather! To quote Pop-Pop Buzby, "This is good weather for WORKING!"  To quote Farmer Andy, "Man, it is a beautiful day, I think you all should pay me for letting you work outside today!"  Haha.  Can you tell we love our job!  What a privilege to work out in this wonderful world we live in, the sun, fresh air, dirt.  We wouldn't want it any other way.

We have gotten about 5 inches of rain so far this August.  The corn is loving it, I just hope the pumpkins make it through this wet spell.

This originally came to me as a Jalapeño popper recipe.  Recently we have started filling cubanelles with it.  Both ways are amazing! 

This is what my father-in-law, Farmer Andy has to say about Stuffed Cubanelles, "I could eat about 10 feet of the that!"  

The filling:

One 8 oz block of cream cheese

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup bread crumbs

dash of chili powder

dash of garlic powder.

Mix the above and use to fill all kinds of peppers.  For cubanelles bake at 400 until cheese is melty and the peppers are getting some browned edges, about 20-30 minutes. Feel free to use what ever cheese you have, switch out the cheddar for monetary, YUM!

Farmer Andy prefers this filling in red cubanelle peppers.  I cut them in half length wise and take the seeds out, and then smoosh some filling in.  

I enjoy using the cheese mixture to make my own jalapeño poppers. I bake the jalapeños at  300 for little bit longer, 40-50 minutes.  

It is amazing in any hot pepper!

Enjoy!

CSA 2012 week 11

This weeks share includes: corn, green bell peppers, Sicilian eggplant, onions, heirloom tomatoes, PYO grape tomatoes, blueberries, watermelon and cantaloupe.

You can use Sicilian eggplant just as you would use your black globe eggplant.   Sicilian eggplant is great for eggplant Parmesan and is said to have slightly sweeter taste.
 Here is a link to my all time favorite eggplant recipe.

Tomato harvest is in full swing.  I LOVE it.  Here is my BLT I made for myself tonight.  That is one of the Big Beef tomatoes.  I had tomato juice running down to my elbows. YUM-O!

Also enjoying:

-Grilled Cheese with tomato
-Tomato Bruschetta
-Pico de gallo with our tomato, onion, and jalapeno
-Fried Eggplant with a slice of tomato on top
-Eat a tomato like an apple (Gram is famous for this one)

Enjoy!