Box # 9

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Contents
Broccoli
Carrots
Cucumbers: Oriental
Green Onions/Scallions
Peppers: Italian, Red Zsa Zsa
Sweet Corn
Swiss Chard
Tomatoes: Mixed

Cucumber Tomato Salad with Feta Cheese and Green Onions

Not that summer is over yet, but I will miss the freshness of these veggies! I think the fresher the ingredients the less you really have to do with them. In fact it probably works against the flavor.
This salad is simple and made me happy and I felt like eating something healthy. Cucumbers, Tomatoes, scallions, Feta cheese and of course extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper. No more, no less.

Tuna and Red Pepper Pizza

So there is something missing from Pizza places in the US. There are a couple things I am surprised by in this country, in good and bad ways equally. One of them is tuna missing from pizzas. Maybe I just haven't gotten to the right place? Anyway, made my own. The Pizza dough was made from scratch. There are tons of recipes online. The best pizza dough recipes are made with flour, water, yeast and salt. Part of the water can be replaced with white wine and depending on the toppings a little honey can be added. Pretty easy. If you let the dough rise and than put it in the fridge for a couple hours or even over night, it makes the pizza really chevy and close to restaurant bought crust! This pizza was inspired by a computer game my sister and I played years ago, called Pizza Connection. Obviously you sold Pizzas, but you also created them. Symmetry of ingredients was key to selling more pizzas. This 'Pizza Connection Pizza' was made with red peppers and strips of tuna, cheddar cheese, garlic and sprinkled with fresh scallions.

Box # 8

I didn't take a picture right when I got everything, so this was all that was left. No need to mention that the cantaloupe was the first to go.

Basil
Beets: Red
Cauliflower or Broccoli
Lettuce: Green Leaf and/or Romaine
Peppers: Zsa Zsa and/or Italian
Tomatoes: Mixed
Watermelon or Cantaloupe

Zucchini: Zephyr

Red Cabbage Slaw

 I found this recipe on Food Network I didn't have golden raisins and red onions, I am sure the cabbage won't mind.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons celery seed
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 head red cabbage, cut into roughly 1 1/2-inch chunks
• 2 small carrots, grated
• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 1 cup golden raisins

Directions

In a large bowl, whisk together vinegar and sugar until dissolved. Slowly whisk in oil, celery seed, salt and pepper to taste. Toss in cabbage, carrots, red onion and raisins to coat well. Cover and let sit at least 1 hour.

CSA Box Quiche

Made the crust from scratch with olive oil instead of butter:
Recipe take from buzzle.com

• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 cup olive oil or canola oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup ice water or refrigerated water

Directions for Preparation

In a mixing pan, combine flour and salt by using a spatula. Take another saucepan and whisk together water and olive oil. Pour this into the flour mixture. You can use a fork to blend well the concoction. Roll out dough into a 9 inch pie crust and bake in the oven at 400 °F until done. You can perforate base of the quiche crust to prevent bubbling, while baking. To make a better tasting quiche crust, consider using equal portion of chilled milk instead of water.

4 Eggs and one cup of milk for the filling and any kind of veggie on hand. I sauteed spinach, swiss chard and grated carrots with some garlic and onions salt and pepper and little olive oil. I also covered the bottom of the pie crust with ham and crumbled feta cheese over every thing. Bake in Oven at 375 until golden brown.

SALSA

 My first attempt on making salsa from scratch and without a recipe. It turned out delicious and was easier than I thought it would be. The star of this ensemble was of course the tomato, and that's how it should be. I think often times the store bought stuff just doesn't do this 'fruit' justice. Fresh tomatoes smell and taste like summer. Chop and mix them with green peppers, onions, garlic, salt and pepper and some olive oil and voila happiness in a bowl! 

And because I was on a sweet potato shopping spree, I had sweet potato chips galore in different variations.

Figgy Ham Chroissant with Camembert

Not part of the CSA box, but 'needs to be included' good. 

Unfortunately fresh figs are not available year round, but when they are, this is what I use them for. I slice the figs and put them on a Croissant, with ham and Camembert (though I think Brie is a better choice, but didn't have it on hand)

And here, as promised, is the picture of the monster lettuce. When you let them grow, they get really tall and end up with little yellow flowers...and now we know...  

Some pictures from the Farmers Market:

Sweet delicious carrots

Potatoes, Tomatoes....and Golden Beets 

Garlic and Peppers

Box # 7

Contents

Parsley

Broccoli or Cauliflower

Cabbage:Green and Red

Green Onions

Peppers:  Italian, Bell

Potatoes:  Red

Tomatoes

Zucchini:  Zephyr

I usually cook with what ever I have at hand. Some times I make a list and go out and buy the ingredients for a specific or new recipe. I like doing that, but it certainly doesn't happen for every meal. I think once you know what it should taste like, you can just make changes to recipes. Either because you want to leave or add thing you hate or love, or because that is what you have in your fridge at the time. 

In this recipe I used turkey monterey Jack sausages, a lot less noodles (leftovers) and a lot more of the veggies I had in the fridge. I added a little bit of white wine to the peppers and onions. I like that flavor it reminds me of a good friend of my family who would always add a little white wine to his dishes (dry not sweet). This is the recipe included in the CSA letter by Terry:

Pasta with Peppers and Sausage

Put a large pot of well-salted water on to boil.

In a 10” skillet, put:    2  Tbsp.  olive oil

                                    1  lb.  brats, cut into 1” pieces

-cook the brat pieces over medium heat until they are well browned.  Leaving the fat and juices in the skillet, transfer the brats into a large pasta serving dish or bowl.  Keep warm.

To the skillet, add:       ½  cup  chopped scallions

                                    2  Italian peppers, chopped

                                    2  garlic cloves, chopped

                                    salt & freshly ground pepper

-sauté until the scallions start to turn brown, stirring frequently.  While the green onions and peppers are cooking, chop up:           

            1  lg.  fresh tomato, or several smaller ones

By now, the pasta water should be boiling.  Cook whatever shape you’ve chosen (1 lb.) until it is al dente—still a little hard to bite thru.  Just before the pasta is done, add to the skillet:           

            2  Tbsp.  butter

            the cooked brat pieces & juices

Turn the heat to low, cover the skillet so the butter melts and the meat warms up.  Drain the pasta, return it to the pot and stir in 2-3 Tbsp. olive oil.  (It’s easier to toss the hot pasta and oil in the pot rather than a serving dish.)  Put the dressed pasta into your serving dish, top with the sauce, then the chopped tomatoes.  Serve with plenty of Parmesan, Romano or Asiago cheese.  A sprinkling of chopped parsley or basil on each dish would also be lovely.


These German Heirloom Tomatoes are not from the CSA box. I just wanted to include them this week, because I think they are too interesting not to! This quarter sort of shows how big they are! They are mostly meat and have very few seeds. Little overripe and perfect to make some tomato sauce. Made one batch to tweak the recipe and used the sauce right away for lunch. 

 Here is a guideline for the Tomato Sauce:
I used one garlic clove for every Tomato I used (i guess one garlic clove for two smaller tomatoes would be the same). Some carrots and onions, finely chopped (maybe half a carrot and one small onion).
I sauteed the garlic, onion and carrots in olive oil. Add salt to taste until the onions are opaque. Add tomatoes and cook until they sort of get mushy. Add the basil or, in this case, the pesto. I used my immersion blender to blend all the ingredients and let the whole thing simmer for a good hour or longer.
Again not a 'real' recipe, but I don't think it really needs to be.

Here is the end result. Since the tomato meat was more yellow than red it is kind of hard to see the sauce, but it is there. Super fresh taste. I think no store bought sauce will even come close to this. I used some of the pesto I had frozen, instead of the fresh basil. I have to accept that it is almost the end of August and Basil season is about done. They are getting to be a little too bitter. Sad face. 

These awesome cheese curds are from the West Bend Farmers market. Although I am sure that you can buy them just about anywhere. I had never had them before and I think after 10 years of living in Wisconsin it was long over due to give them a try. Of course I had to get the dill garlic curds. Maybe, since I never had any before, I can eat a little more? 

Box # 6

Contents
Garlic
Cantaloupe
Carrots
Lettuce: Romaine and/or Red Leaf
Sweet Corn
Swiss Chard: Couple Boxes only
Kale: Family Boxes only
Tomatoes: Variety
Zucchini

Kale Chips 

Great recipe. You can't see it on this picture, but these are super crunchy. Better than potato chips and definitely healthier!

Kale Chips
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Cut out the stems & center veins of a large bunch of kale. Chop the kale roughly into 1”-1½” pieces, wash and spin them as dry as you can. (You may have to do that step in batches.)
In a large bowl, stir together:
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Kosher salt or sea salt
freshly ground pepper
Toss the kale pieces in the mixture until all are coated.
Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Spread the kale out on the baking sheet as evenly as possible. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the leaves are very crispy. They will shrink some. Remove from oven, cool for 10 minutes, and enjoy.
Try this with your favorite herb or spice blend, soy sauce, tahini, lemon juice—have fun!

My own harvest of Cherry Tomatoes. They never last long. Sweet like honey. Notice the mutant lettuce in the background. Will post a picture once they flower.

Zucchini Garlic Pizza

No recipe. Just some Zucchini and Garlic getting together

 with a little Swiss Cheese on pizza dough. Very casual meeting at 400F .

It was so good I made it again the next day.

The cantaloupe was gone pretty quick. This time we just cut it up. Usually I like to wrap each slice with prosciutto. Some flavors are just amazing together, and that happens to be one combination that is a 'winner' ;) Arugula and pears are another great and to me surprising combo, and of course mozzarella, tomatoes and basil. For dessert a little champagne poured over lemon sherbet. So refreshing. Of course not for every day, but well worth it for special occasions. 

I am starting to freeze things. I grated the left over zucchini and carrots and froze them for later use. The zucchini will loose all of its water content, and can be drained very easily. Good for  'Tini Cakes' and zucchini bread and of course soups and stews for the very long Wisconsin winter!

Box # 5

Contents
Basil
Beets, Golden & Red
Cabbage
Cucumbers
Kohlrabi
Onions
Snow Peas
Sweet Corn

Here are some of the dishes made this week:

Buttered Curry Chicken, with brown rice and blanched snow peas.

Caramelized Onion Pizza

Full Harvest Farm Coleslaw
Serves 6-8 as a side dish
Dressing:
½ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup Rapadura/Sucanat sugar, or dark brown sugar
2 Tbsp. brown mustard
1 tsp. dill seed
1 tsp. celery seed
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste


-Whisk the dressing ingredients together in a large bowl until combined. Rapadura/sucanat sugar looks like round, brown granules, and has a unique taste. It does not dissolve as easily as other sugars, so you will need to let the dressing sit for awhile so the liquid can be absorbed and break apart the larger granules: 10-15 minutes should be enough. Dark brown sugar will dissolve quicker. Whisk the dressing again before adding the vegetables to be sure there are no more granules of sugar.
Vegetables:
8 cups shredded green and/or red cabbage, carrots, celeriac, kohlrabi, fennel bulb, radish, rutabaga, turnip, etc.
½ cup onion, minced
-Add to dressing and toss until all the vegetables are dressed. Allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes so the flavors meld. Serve.

I didn't end up making this recipe, but made my own version.

 Cabbage, Carrots and Walnuts with a Yoghurt dressing.

Lettuce on my deck. Ready to eat. The next blog will show what happens when you let lettuce grow past the time they should be eaten. :)

Box # 4

Contents
Parsley, Curly, Couple Boxes
Curly or Italian Flat Leaf, Family Boxes
Beets, Red
Broccoli
Lettuce: Red Romaine, Couple Boxes
Green Leaf, Family Boxes
Potatoes, New: Red Norland
Radishes
Snow Peas
Sugar Snap Peas
Sweet Corn
Zucchini

This week has been rather dull when it comes to cooking and new recipes. Too hot and too sick to make anything. All three of us had a cold and weren't up for much. We also left on a mini vacation to Door County. Lots of fun, but part of the reason this blog is late.

I steamed the broccoli and boiled the sweet corn. Most other things were eaten raw or lightly steamed. The potatoes ended up getting a nice coating of olive oil and mustard and were roasted at 400 degrees until golden.  They didn't last long. Very good idea to pair the potatoes and mustard!
Next time I will try the recipe from the CSA news letter:


French Potato Salad
In a large pan, put: 2 lbs. potatoes, washed & cut
into the size you prefer, skins on
1 Tbsp. salt
water to cover by 1”
-Bring the water to a boil, and simmer until the potatoes are just tender, about 10-20 minutes, depending on the size of the pieces.
While the potatoes are cooking, make the dressing.
In a large bowl, whisk together:
¼ cup olive oil
1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 ½ tsp. Kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly ground pepper
¼ cup chopped parsley
¼ cup chopped basil
2 Tbsp. brown mustard
1 tsp. minced garlic
¼ cup onion, minced or chopped into very slender slivers
-When the potatoes are done, drain out the water and put them immediately into the bowl, toss until well coated with dressing. Let sit at room temperature at least 15 minutes to give the potatoes time to absorb the flavors in the dressing. Hot potatoes will absorb much more dressing than cold ones.
I like to add grape tomatoes, kalamata olives, red peppers, fennel, etc. to this salad for variety.

Here is a picture of a caprese salad I made. This is pre dressing. I am still determined to order some rennet and try to make mozzarella myself. 

 Portabella mushroom lasagna with Bechamel sauce and Parmesan. Delicious, but calorie loaded and very filling. 

Box # 3

Contents

Parsley

Cucumbers

Kohlrabi

Lettuce, mixed types

Onions, Young

Sugar Snap Peas

Swiss Chard

Swiss Chard

Swiss Chard tastes very good when sauteed. I add a tablespoon of cane sugar and 2 slices of lemon to neutralize the bitterness. 

Chicken Parmesan noodles with Swiss chard in a white wine reduction.

Veggie Fact of the week: 

• Chard leaves contain at least 13 different polyphenol antioxidants.
• One of them inhibits an enzymes activity to break down carbohydrates and with that the blood sugar levels are kept under control.

Corn on the cob and two kinds of cucumber salad. The one on the right is a yogurt based salad. On the left Panzanella salad. This salad was something I wanted to make for a while. Not sure why it took me so long. It was so good and so simple to make. I caramelized the onions and used toasted bread. I think it was fine. The toasted bread soaked up the olive oil, balsamic vinegar and all the spices. 

This is a similar recipe:

http://italian.food.com/recipe/panzanella-104900

Box # 2

Contents of this week
Basil Plant
Basil, Bunched
Cucumber
Garlic
Kohlrabi
Lettuce: Red Leaf, Green Romaine, Red Boston
Radishes, Bunched
Sugar Snap Peas
Zucchini

It is too hot to cook, but i did manage to make a couple things.

Hot Dogs. Topped it with a cheesy kohlrabi sour cream sauce and some spinach leaves.

I made a pizza, with pesto sauce, yellow tomato, zucchini and feta cheese topping.
I roasted the beet at the same time as the Pizza was hanging out in the oven. Saved energy and avoided an extra heat source.

I made a sandwich with the the sliced beet, some feta cheese and a sunny side up egg. Strange combo, but so good!

The Pesto sauce recipe came from the CSA Newsletter:


Basil Pesto
makes approx. 2 cups pesto
In the bowl of a food processor, put:
2 cups, packed, fresh basil leaves, washed and spun/dried
4 medium cloves garlic, chopped coarsely
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly-ground pepper
1/4 cup almonds, walnuts, pine nuts, etc.
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Process all ingredients just until uniform in size. Add more salt, pepper, etc. to suit your taste. You can also freeze this pesto, altho the flavor and texture are better if you leave out the cheese.

I used half for cooking right away and froze the other half. I used the fresh garlic from the veggie box. What a difference that made! It is milder and sweeter.

One of my favorite things this week had to be the sugar snap peas. So sweet and fresh. They taste like summer. No need to steam or fry these. They are best eaten raw.

Veggie fact of the week:

• Sugar Snaps contain Vitamin K and B6. Both are keeping your bones healthy. 
• They are also very low in calories and kind of fun to eat!

This webpage explains where peas came from and what their nutritious value is:
http://www.holisticbirds.com/pages/peas0601.htm
Who knew peas contain a chemical that interferes with estrogen and testosterone!

 I wanted to share this pea recipe i made last easter and will make again. Found on the food network webpage:

Creamy Spring Peas with Pancetta

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/creamy-spring-peas-with-pancetta-recipe/index.html

Vegetannual

A Vegetannual. Imagine one plant growing all kinds of veggies. This is an average timeline they would be ready to be harvested.

Here is a link to an interactive Vegetannual: http://www.vegetannual.org/

A little Spinach

I think the easiest way to prepare spinach, besides eating it raw in a salad, is sauteed. Chopped up and thrown into a pan with some water and salt and olive oil. Pair it up with caramelized onions and wrapped it in a corn tortilla with chicken sausage and sour cream. Quick dinner and if you line it up right you only dirty one pan.

Zuchini, Zuchini, Zuchini.

Raw, fried, baked. So good for you. My daughter calls them 'Tinis'. So I will call this creation
'Tini Cakes' in honor of her and because I am thankful that she liked them.

Served with a little sour cream and some of the leppard lettuce from Box 1.

Here is the recipe:
1 large Zucchini
1 onion, the ratio to the zucchini is about 1 part onion to 5 parts zucchini
1 garlic clove (or more...depending on what your plans for later are)
Salt      
Grate the zucchini, onion and garlic and mix with salt. Let drain for a good half hour. Put the mix in a towel and squeeze even more water out. Good work out for your arms.

While the zucchini mix drains make the rest of the dough mix
4 eggs
about a cup of flour ( this recipe called for spelled flour. I used whole wheat and it was fine)
I added some spelled flakes, but that is optional
1 cup of cheese grated or cut in small cubes
I also added a little bit of parmesan and about 1/4 cup of milk

Mix the dough together and let sit for 15 min. Add both mixtures together.

Instead of frying I baked the cakes in the oven at 400 degrees until golden. This recipe suggested serving it with a garlic dip. I didn't have yoghurt, but this sounds really good:

about 1 1/2 cups of yoghurt. Drain in a colander lined with a towel for 30 minutes.
2-3 cloves of garlic smushed (thats a word right?)
mixed with the drained yoghurt, add a little salt to taste. Let stand for an hour.

I found this recipe in my Hildegard von Bingen recipe book. For those of you who are not familiar with her: She was a nun in Germany. Lived around 1100 and is known for her visions and healing power.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hildegard_of_Bingen

According to her, zucchinis are much easier to digest than cucumbers. They contain a good amount of folate, potassium and vitamin A and are low in calories. Well, unless you pair them with sour cream and cheese....

Box # 1

I picked up the first box this week. So exciting. Like a little box of treasures. It included:

Parsley Plant

Beets:  Red

Lettuce:  Leopard, Green Romaine, Red Leaf

               Green Leaf,  Winter Density

Onions, Young White & Red

Radishes

Spinach, Bunched

Zucchini

Now, what to do with it? 

I will try to include the recipe given in the CSA newsletter. This week it happens to be one of my favorite things: Roasted beets. 

Roasted Beets

In a medium bowl, put:           

            1  Tbsp.  olive oil

            ½  tsp.  salt

            ¼  tsp.  freshly-ground pepper

Remove stems and leaves from the beets and reserve for another use.  Cut off the root and scrub clean.  Cut beets into largish chunks and put into bowl.  Do NOT peel, as it provides better flavor.  Toss with oil, salt & pepper until all beets are evenly coated.  Put the oiled beets into a pan with sides, and bake in a 400 degree oven for 30-60 minutes, or until they’re done enough for a fork or knife to go in and out easily.  Serve hot, or cool and cut up into salads.  Roasted beets make a great snack.  Use the stems and leaves cut up into salads.

(Thank you Terry)

This is were the roasted beets ended up at. Very happy. Mingling with some goat cheese, walnuts and mixed greens.

Veggie Fact of the week:
Beets are rich in Vitamin C, folic acid and iron.
They may lower blood pressure.
Red Beets have been used as natural dye, even as hair dye (Not a big surprise to anyone who has ever cooked one).

Read up on your beets
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_beet
25 facts about beets (maybe 25 more, than you wanted to know)
http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/25-facts-about-beets.html

Certified Organic

This year I will be getting my vegetables from Full Harvest Farm located just north of Hartford.
Chuck and Terry are the owners and grow certified organic produce. No dull tasting and pesticide covered greens for us this season.

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. You can read up on it, as well as on Full Harvest Farm on the links provided. Basically, the community supports the farmer in advance and in return gets a share of their harvest every week.

The best thing is, that I am getting it by a workers share. What that means is, that I will be working 4 hours every week on the West Bend Farmers market to receive a family size share of CSA.
Twist my arm. The market is beautiful. It is the second biggest farmers market in Wisconsin. When I get there at 7.30 am in the morning the air is so fresh and only enhanced by the produce and the smell of  scones and other goodies baked by a little restaurant close by.

One more thing. This blog is for me to remember what works and what doesn't. I am doing this to be able to look it up next year, but I wanted to share this experience.
I am not entirely sure about the whole concept of the blog yet. I hope it will just unfold itself.
Also, I have never been the best writer. I write like i talk.... just thought I'd mention.

For more information on Full Harvest Farm:
http://www.fullharvestfarm.com/home.html
CSA Information can be found here:
http://www.localharvest.org/csa/