Sunday, October 10, 2010

CSA: September 2010


It seems that this month was all about frantically preserving things for the winter.  The photo above, taken by my awesome sister Haley, is some of our oven roasted tomato sauce - it's amazing.  We freeze it in 2-cup portions in quart-size freezer bags, laying them flat until frozen so they take up less space.

Week 17 (9/2/2010):
- 6 lbs slicing tomatoes
- 2 lbs heirloom tomatoes
- 1/2 lb grape tomatoes
- 1/2 lb chard
- 6 summer squash (yellow)
- 4 peppers (3 purple, 1 red)
- 2 bunches basil
- 6 eggplants
- 2 bunches parsley
- 1 pumpkin
PYO:
- 10 sunflowers
- 1 quart snap beans
- 1 pint mixed cherry tomatoes
- 2 quarts sauce tomatoes
- 2 quarts okra (did not take)
- Cinnamon basil and sweet Thai basil
- Mint
- 1 pint tomatillos
- 12 hot peppers

Friday: I made bruschetta for lunch with heirloom tomatoes and basil from the CSA.  Later, in preparation for a taco dinner, I made a roasted salsa verde using tomatillos, a jalapeno, and cilantro from the CSA, as well as red onion from the market.  I also made a salsa (more like a sauce) with heirloom tomatoes, cilantro and serrano chiles from the CSA and red onion from the market.  I cut up a tomato for use as a taco filler.
Saturday: We grilled pizzas topped with zucchini, red pepper, tomato, and basil from the CSA.  We also grilled some green and yellow zucchini with Montreal steak seasoning (yum).
Sunday: We grilled more pizzas with more zucchini, red pepper, and basil.
Monday: It's a holiday (yay!) so since I'm off today, I made zucchini muffins (my favorite bread recipe in muffin form) using cinnamon basil, mint, and green and yellow zucchini, all from the CSA.  (The mix of green and yellow was much prettier than my all-green zucchini bread has been in the past.)  Later, for our Labor Day BBQ, we made the Pasta with Fresh Corn Pesto using delicious corn from the market and basil from the CSA.  We also had tomatoes with basil and mozzarella, and as a side we had garlic potatoes with scallions from the CSA.
Tuesday: It was a busy day but I managed to get around to eating an apple from the market - took me all day to finish!
Wednesday: I finely chopped an entire bunch of parsley to freeze.  We had plans to go to a friend's house for dinner, so I made a loaf of zucchini bread to bring for dessert using green and yellow zucchini, basil and mint.

Week 18 (9/9/2010):
- 8 lbs heirloom tomatoes
- 8 lbs tomatoes
- 1 lb chard
- 1 lb green beans
- 6 summer squash (2 yellow crook-neck, 4 large lime green pattypan)
- 4 multicolor peppers (to turn red)
- 6 hot peppers (5 jalapeno, 1 little green weird one)
- 2 bunches basil
- 4 eggplant (small dark globe)
- 2 bunches cilantro
- 1 pumpkin
- 2 heads lettuce (forgot!!!)
PYO:
- 2 quarts multicolor/size cherry tomatoes
- 1 pint tomatillos
- 12 hot peppers (mostly serrano and jalapeno)
- cinnamon basil
- mint, chives, oregano, sage, rosemary, thyme
- 12 sunflowers
- 1 pint edamame
- 1 pint (almost) red raspberries
- 1 quart okra (did not take)
- 4 quarts sauce tomatoes

Thursday: I made tomato sauce with last week's sauce tomatoes and an onion from the market, roasted in the oven, and I added fresh basil and oregano when I pureed it.  (Next time it needs more garlic!)
Friday: I snacked on the raspberries, and later Haley and I devoured the edamame (steamed and salted).  For dinner we grilled green and yellow squash and eggplant with a miso glaze.  I started making bruschetta with last week's cherry tomatoes.
Saturday: I froze strips of red and purple peppers.  Ken had some leftovers from my mom's - she made a chicken piccata with summer vegetable pasta, which used some tomatoes, yellow squash, and basil from the CSA.  I also cut up a cantaloupe for snacks during the week.
Sunday: We had a honeycrisp apple from the market as an afternoon snack.  I used sliced zucchini, onion and shallot to make refrigerator zucchini pickles.  I finished the bruschetta I started on Friday, adding more cherry tomatoes as well as some basil.  For dinner I had some zucchini slices grilled with Montreal steak seasoning.  (Note to self: a little goes a long way...)  I also made garlic dill pickles using cucumbers from the market, and to keep them crisp, I added grape leaves from Nonna's backyard.
Tuesday: For dinner, we made Shrimp in Tomatillo and Herb Sauce, which used tomatillos, serrano chiles, basil, and mint from the CSA.  After that, I made chard and pork dumplings using local swiss chard and scallions.
Wednesday: I made myself a quick fried rice for lunch including some yellow zucchini and red pepper.  Later, I made fig jam using the ton of figs in my fridge from my Nonna's backyard.

Apple Pie with Lattice Crust
[Photo (and pie) by Haley]

Week 19 (9/16/2010):
- 2 lbs chard
- 4 eggplants
- 4 bell peppers (to turn red/orange)
- 4 jalapenos
- 2 heads lettuce (red leaf)
- 8 lbs heirloom tomatoes
- 8 lbs red slicing tomatoes
- 1 pumpkin (Galeux d'Eysines, a French heirloom variety)
- 2 bunches basil
- 2 bunches beets
- 2 pieces from beets or bok choy - forgot! :(
PYO:
- 1 quart cherry tomatoes
- 4 quarts sauce tomatoes
- 1/2 pint raspberries
- 20 hot peppers (jalapenos, serranos, others - might be poblano)
- 20 sunflowers
- rosemary, marjoram, sage, mint
- Okra (did not take)


Friday: I snacked on a honeycrisp apple - my favorite.  For dinner, I made a tart with heirloom tomatoes and basil from the CSA, plus our favorite lemon pepper shrimp with broccoli from the market.
Saturday: After I cut a cantaloupe for later in the week, I spent the morning cooking with my mom.  We made tomato sauce with our sauce tomatoes (plus a market onion), seasoned with basil and oregano.  We roasted some yellow heirloom tomatoes to be the base for a later sauce or soup.  We also roasted a pumpkin and froze the puree for future pies - our one pumpkin yielded about 9 cups of puree.  Later, we went apple picking, and Haley made a delicious apple pie - she did the fancy lattice crust herself!
Sunday: I made a Moroccan-style couscous salad that used eggplant and cilantro.  I also toasted the pumpkin seeds from the previous day's pumpkin.  (For 2 cups of seeds, toss with 1 tbsp melted butter, 1 tbsp olive oil, and 2 tsp salt.  Yum!)
Monday: Throughout the day I found myself eating apples from our apple picking trip nonstop - I think I had 3!  (Too bad I don't remember what kind ANY of them are!)  For dinner I made a different eggplant rollatini recipe, which used the last of my eggplant stash, to my relief, and some parsley.
Tuesday: No time to cook, but I did eat more apples!  I wish I remembered what kind they were!
Wednesday: I made salsa in the afternoon in anticipation of taco night (which didn't happen, sadly) using tomato, red onion, serrano peppers, and cilantro.  For dinner we made this warm salad with red onion, corn, tomato, cilantro and a few other non-local ingredients.

Pumpkin pie made from fresh organic pumpkin puree
[Photo by Haley]

Pumpkin Cookies using Organic Pumpkin Puree
(and a little canned pumpkin too)
[Photo by Haley]

Heirloom Tomato and Mozzarella Tart
[Photo by Haley]

Week 20 (9/23/2010):
- 1/2 lb chard
- 1/2 lb grape tomatoes
- 2 eggplants
- 4 zucchini
- 4 peppers (donated 3, kept 1)
- 4 heads lettuce
- 2 bunches basil
- 1 bunch parsley
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 1 Chinese cabbage
- 1 bok choy
- 4 lbs heirloom tomatoes
- 6 lbs slicing tomatoes
PYO
- 1 pint raspberries (didn't fill it, though)
- 1 quart cherry tomatoes
- 2 quarts snap beans
- 6 quarts sauce tomatoes
- 1 pint tomatillos
- 30 hot peppers
- Okra (did not take)
Thursday: Dinner was tacos with the salsa from yesterday, plus I used some lettuce - so glad to have that back!  I also ate an apple, of course.
Saturday: Another marathon cooking session with my mom resulted in pureed pumpkin for the freezer, oven roasted tomato sauce with basil and oregano (also destined for the freezer), pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies, and roasted pumpkin seeds.  We also made dinner for the family, which included grilled yellow crookneck squash and pattypan squash marinated with bay leaves, rosemary and thyme, and the tomato and mozzarella tart - we used a regular red tomato and a yellow heirloom tomato, sprinkled with chopped basil.
Sunday: We cooked down 2 lbs of chard and froze it for later use.
Monday: I snacked on the raspberries, and cut up a tomato and some lettuce to try to finish off the taco leftovers.  Dinner was lemon pepper shrimp with broccoli from the market - I am so happy to see broccoli again :)
Tuesday: We had the Moroccan-style eggplant and couscous salad for dinner again, so I got to use up my eggplant, as well as some cilantro and red onion.  (The cilantro has been keeping really well, I'm using the bunch from the 9th still, and the bunch from the 16th still looks perfect.  It's amazing, the difference in freshness - something shipped from far away and sitting in a store for days just doesn't last when you get it home.)
Wednesday: I made dinner for friends, so I made turkey and couscous meatloaves which contained red onion, shredded zucchini and chopped sage, as well as roasted vegetables with white balsamic and shallot: rainbow radishes, fingerling potatoes, carrots and zucchini.

Grilled Squash Tossed in Herb and Garlic Marinade
[Photo by Haley]

Organic Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
[Photo by Haley]

Week 21 (9/30/2010):
- 3 lbs tomatoes
- 3 lbs heirloom tomatoes
- 8 winter squash (3 kabocha, I think, 2 sweet dumpling, 2 butternut, 1 spaghetti)
- 1 lb (I think) chard
- 4 eggplant
- 4 peppers (still don't know what kind these are!)
- 2 heads broccoli
- 2 heads lettuce
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 3 bunches kale
- 2 heads raddichio
PYO:
- 2 quarts (almost) cherry tomatoes
- 6 quarts sauce tomatoes
- 1 pint tomatillos
- some miscellaneous hot peppers
- Oregano, sage, thyme (and marjoram that mysteriously went missing)
- Okra (did not take)
Friday: Mom roasted the sauce tomatoes to make this week's batch of sauce.
Saturday: I used a butternut squash and some apples to make soup.  For dinner we ate a spaghetti squash with parsley and Gruyere.
Sunday: I had a picnic lunch including my favorite thing to do with arugula - Ottolenghi Red Rice and Quinoa.  I finally had a chance to finish (and freeze) Friday's sauce with some oregano and basil.
Tuesday: Lemon pepper shrimp for dinner, with broccoli from the market AND the CSA - the one tiny head I took home from the CSA just wasn't enough broccoli for me!

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