Valentine's dinner

So I kind of dropped off the face of the earth there. Sorry about that. I'm back now.

So, it's February, which may seem like the absolute worst time for a blog that is supposed to be about our adventures in local farm wares, but our CSA is actually STILL going on. Technically, it's not the same share that we paid for last winter, but the farm that we use decided to attempt a winter share this year, and we were lucky enough to catch the email in time to sign up. The terms changed slightly, we know have pick up only twice a month instead of every week, but the cost was adjusted accordingly, and the veggies are just as yummy. We've been getting a great variety of winter hardy vegetables, such as kale, spinach, winter squash, turnips and carrots. I'm still supplementing somewhat with things from the grocery store, but that's just because we eat so healthily, right? Well, a girl can try to fool herself at least.

Tonight, I wanted to make something somewhat special for my valentines. I mean, how else would they know how much I love them, if i didn't show it on this particular day??

Hallmark guilt aside, we did have a pretty yummy meal, while managing to be at least marginally good for us. My parents had given us some ham (no, they're not now raising swine, they had just found a good sale) and my go to for leftover ham is good old-fashioned homemade macaroni and cheese. Unfortunately, my mommy guilt kicks in when I start to plan meals without vegetation, no matter how delicious, so I decided to add in some greens (and oranges and whites)

Mac and cheese with ham,broccoli, cauliflower, kale and butternut squash

And you know what? It was DELICIOUS! It's not that you can't taste the veggies in there. I'm not really into the idea of hiding veggies so that kids don't know that they're eating them. Of course, I'm lucky enough to have a kid who will eat just about anything, my stance on hiding them may change.

The first of two servings

Of course, it IS a holiday, and I'm not a health tyrant. Gabriella has been wanting to make cupcakes for WEEKS, and we finally got it together today.

I've had some heart shaped cupcake cups for ages, and never broke them out of the packaging until today. This is one of those simple little things that I just love doing with the little Miss. She can definitely be a nudge, and scares the beejezus out of me with sticking her fingers near the mixer while it's running, but it's worth it.

I mean, how can you resist that "cheese" face?

And you may think that the cupcake that is super duper covered in sprinkles was Bella's doing, but you'd be wrong. The massive sugar overload was Peter's doing.

In which I reveal just how impressionable I can be

I work in a retail setting, and although my current store is far to busy to allow me to keep up with celebrity gossip the way some of my former stores did, I do have a clear view of the magazine display at our checkout counter. For the last month, the cover of Martha Stewart Living has been teasing me, especially on the days that I don't get a chance to eat.

That deliciousness is marinated heirloom tomatoes with pasta, and it is damn near perfection for a summer dinner.

We threw this dinner together Tuesday night after I got home from work, so it's a good thing it's a quick and easy meal. It wasn't as garlicky as I thought it would be after reading the recipe, but it had a really great flavor, and it's just so pretty!

We used a mix of heirloom tomatoes from the CSA and our garden. Definitely going into the arsenal of recipes to use up tomatoes without making the typical pasta sauce.

CSA Week 11

So apparently I've skipped a couple of weeks of the CSA. There hasn't been much variety in the pick ups, so while delicious, things have not been overly interesting. Gabriella is fingerpainting at the moment though, so we can chat a bit about yesterday's pick-up.

Lettuce, two huge sweet onions, green beans, potatoes from North Star's potato breeding project, tomatillos, and a couple zucchini and eggplant.
Think it looks a little light for a farm share in the height of the growing season? You're right, it is.

Well, it's August, which means ...

TOMATOES!!

Seven pounds of tomatoes in fact. Did I mention that we have 7 purposely planted and a few volunteer plants of our own and we're swimming in tomatoes. Yeah, there will be some sauce making in the near future.

Here's the actual bounty picture from yesterday

Since last night was the official return of football, even if it was just preseason, we needed an easy to eat in front of the TV meal. Add in 7 pounds of tomatoes, and we opted for pizza again.

One of my favorite things about pizza is just how versatile it is. Start with the same simple dough and you can end up with a ton of different meals. Of course, Peter is a traditionalist, so we made another margherita for him. 

Basil pesto, fresh tomato slices and mozzarella

We piled quite a few things on "my" pizza. Yes, it was a more labor intensive preparation, but I think it was worth it

Whoa, scary hand there.

Roasted eggplant and cherry tomatoes, caramelized onions, green peppers with ricotta and mozzarella

CSA Week 7

Now we're settling into the summer crops and there isn't as much variation in our shares from week to week. I'm still a week behind, so this bounty is actually from last Thursday. We got beans, patty pan squash, lots of beets, eggplant, carrots and a head of lettuce. The big zucchini is not technically from the share, it was on the "seconds" quality table which is take whatever you can use. I grabbed that one planning for a batch of zucchini bread.

Since it was an odd number week, we also got our cheese share, which was tailor made for Peter.

Habanero cheddar and and fresh mozzarella

One of the things we're kind of struggling with when it comes to the cheese CSA is using the goods. Not that they don't get eaten, but we've both kind of got a mental block against eating them in anything but their pure form. For instance, I suggested we use the mozzarella to make pizza since it doesn't have the shelf life to keep around like the aged cheeses have. However, we both kind of hesitated - is it a waste of the "special" cheese to mix it with other ingredients, even if the end result is delicious? On the other hand, isn't it pretty silly to buy crap mozzarella from the grocery store when we've already got good stuff in the fridge?

We got past the hangup about cooking with our cheese

Technically, we compromised with the hangup. We had a few tastes of the pure mozzarella and put the rest of it on a pizza. We made two pizzas actually (in the regular oven, not the woodburning one. That thing is awesome, but a ton of work for just 2 1/2 people). The mozzarella went on one with a basil pesto base and fresh tomatoes for a slight twist on a classic margherita, and the other was spinach and onions with some of the garlic and chive chedder from week 5. The spinach one was good, but the margherita was terrific. I always forget how much I like fresh tomato on pizza until I have it, and then I'm sad that I had forgotten and deprived myself of fresh tomato pizzas for any period of time.

CSA Week 6

Since it has come to my attention that someone other than Peter and Jen is reading this (Hi Gigi!!) I am going to ignore the fact that I stood in one spot for 14 hours today with only 2 quick pee breaks and update on last week's pick up.

Eggplant, red cabbage, tomatoes, sugar snap peas, patty pan squash, a crapload of cucumbers and carrots.

The day of this pick up, Peter suggested I take Lil G out so that he could do some much needed straightening around the house. I am not really one to suggest otherwise when someone else is offering to clean, so we hightailed it out on a Mommy and Me adventure. We hit the Indian Market, the super big branch of the library, and my mecca - Joann's. We also stopped for lunch at my most favorite fast food establishment, Chik-fil-a. One of the side effects of only rarely eating fast food, is that when you do indulge, it kind of sits in your stomach like a rock for a day. Even after a nice visit with my parents after we got our veggies, I still wasn't really hungry, so it became a fend for yourself evening.

I have no clue what Peter ate (probably cereal), but I made myself a hummus and cucumber sandwich and ate it with a handful of peas and nice thick slices of tomato. Light, delicious and just what my spicy chicken filled tummy could handle. 

CSA Week 5

Yes, I realize that today was the pick up for week 6. I never was a) a prolific writer or b) good with deadlines.

So, last week here's what we got at our pick up

It's huge, right? I actually asked Lisa if the signs meant we got one head of lettuce or one head of each kind because holy crap that is a lot of produce. Luckily she confirmed, it was one head of each type. Plus a monster bunch of swiss chard, eggplant, sugar snap peas, carrots, potatoes, beets, summer squash and dill.
This is perhaps a perfect opportunity to mention the costs associated with the CSA. Previously, North Star had offered two different size shares, but this year they simplified things and just made every share the same size and cost. The share cost 500 dollars for 22 weeks of veggies. That works out to just under 23 dollars a week. Now look at that pile above and realize that this farm grows using organic practices, although they are not certified as organic. Anyone want to venture a guess as to what that would have cost at a regular grocery store? Actually, that might be a fun thing for me to do one week.
Peter also pointed out that I have neglected to talk about our cheese CSA. This is merely a consequence of it being a million and five degrees outside and things like cheese going into the refrigerator the second I walk in the door and therefore not being photographed in the moment. We did get a pick up in week 3 and 5.

Week 3

2 weeks out from pick up, so quite a bit has been enjoyed, but here is Citrus Sunrise fresh cheese (my favorite, it tasted like a danish and was amazing on toasted baked goods like blueberry bread), fresh cheese with peppercorn, and a block of colby.

Week 5

A block of garlic and chive chedder and a wedge of Westbrook, which I don't think is a "real" cheese name (at least google doesn't seem to think it is). It's pretty mild, but has a tangy aftertaste, kind of like a not sharp provolone.

Ok there's week 5, will it take me a week to get up week 6?

CSA potluck and the farm

One of the really great things about our CSA (and maybe all, but I only have experience with North Star), is how they try to make the CSA a community instead of just a place you show up to once a week to get vegetables. A prime example was this last weekend.
Every year at the start of the CSA season, they host a potluck dinner for CSA members. Everyone brings a dish and a blanket to sit on and Lisa and Ike provide the drinks, entertainment and a place to put that blanket. It's a lot of fun, and there are always a ton of delicious dishes.

Our contribution - Blueberry cake with lemon glaze

 Ooh, and in case you didn't know, Superfresh has blueberries on sale this week 6 pints for only $6.99. It's a lot, but you can freeze them!

Peter gets artsy with the camera

A father daughter team provide music

Yummy food

After we ate, Lisa convinced Ike to give one last garden tour. We've toured the farm a couple of times already, but this time we had the camera!

Peas

Tomatoes

Parsley being provided with dappled sunlight

The greenhouse where they start plants before setting them out into the real beds. They also have a row of tomatoes and cucumbers going so we got them way before they're usually available in this region

Peter is obsessed with these seed starting blocks

Enough so that he took a picture of the block maker

Squash

Onions

Garlic being allowed to go to flower so they can save the seeds for next year

Onions being saved for seed

Swiss chard

Bolted broccoli

Peaches

Apples

Hug!

CSA Week 4

This week I didn't get to go to the vegetable pickup because I'm a wonderful person who switched shifts with my partner at work so that he could start his Puerto Rican vacation a day early. I have no problem doing this, even though it meant my schedule this weekend was quite draining. I'm starting to feel normal again now though.

Anyhow, Peter and Gabriella got to do our pick-up on their own. Here's what they came home with:

Spicy salad greens, a head of lettuc, basil, summer squash, fresh garlic, kohlrabi, carrots and peas.

I don't get home until nearly 11pm when I work the night shift, so we rarely have an interesting meal before I collapse. Luckily I found never mentioned our dinner from my last day off

.
Grilled steak, roasted kohlrabi and carrots, peas and braised greens.
Did you know that even though they not the main attraction, you can eat the leaves from both broccoli and kohlrabi? We have massively huge broccoli plants in our garden (only 1 tiny little head so far) and they were starting to shade my brussels sprouts, so we cut some of the biggest ones off. They're pretty bitter, but cook them up like kale, and they are quite yummy. To make these, I sauted some garlic in olive oil, then threw in the stems until they started to get soft. Then I added the leaves and let them wilt. Finally, I added a cup of chicken broth (I wanted to use beef to go with the steak, but we were out of my favorite) and simmered the whole thing covered for like 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

CSA Week 3

Yeah, I'm late updating again. Get used to it, I kind of suck.

Onto this week's pick up ...

We're getting out of the spring greens and into the good stuff. A huge head of green leaf lettuce, more shelling peas, kohlrabi, beets, dill, a cucumber, new potatoes and tomatoes!!

We went a little crazy after our pick up on Thursday. We needed to go to Home Depot for the supplies to finally replace our mailbox which hasn't stood up straight for 2 years. Naturally, it's impossible for the  two of us to go to Home Depot and only get what we came for. 

I don't know what the occasion was for the sale (Father's day, I guess) but patio furniture was on sale, and I've been wanting to replace our hand me down table so ...

We did!

A close up

Since we had people coming over for dinner on Friday, we just had to put it together when we got home, so dinner was just a little bit late.

Still yummy though

Here we have pan fried pork chops, peas with butter and herbs, shredded beet salad, and the remainder of last weeks butter crunch lettuce. 

Finally, I just need to show off how stinkin' cute our little helper is

That would be Chuck the Truck hauling some freshly shelled peas around the island. That little girl gives me more joy than I can describe.

Food catch up

Between babysitting on Thursday and the closing shift on Friday, we didn't get to eat any of our CSA goodies until after work on Saturday.
One of my favorite flavors is fresh ginger, and these recipes took full advantage of it.

Soy and ginger glazed tofu, stir-fried bok choy with ginger and garlic and plain old white rice. It was yummy, although I can not figure out how to get a nice crispy crust on tofu without it sticking to the pan. I think I'm not getting enough of the water out before I throw it in.

On Sunday, Peter brought the baby to me at work, because he went in to Collingswood so he and his dad could get an early start on tearing out the Rossi's front porch floor. After a longer than expected shopping trip to the time sucking stores of Target and Home Goods we got home right before Bella should have been in bed. Bad mommy moment, but we whipped up a very quick dinner anyhow.

Oven roasted potatoes (yes, in the toaster oven) and scrambled eggs with swiss chard and feta. OMG these eggs were absolutely delicious, and the entire meal came together in like 20 minutes. I cubed a couple of scrubbed potatoes and roasted them my usual way with the addition of garlic powder to the salt and pepper. While they were in the oven, I sauteed the chard stems in olive oil with minced garlic until they were mostly done, then added the leaves and stirred until wilted. Then I added a little bit of butter and poured some eggs over the entire thing. I was planning on cooking it like a frittata, but it was sticking more than I thought it should, so I just kept stirring it around until the eggs were cooked. Finally, I crumbled some feta over it, turned on the heat and covered it while I got our plates ready. Yum yum yum.

Monday, I decided that since Peter didn't think we should even get them, he wouldn't mind if Bella and I ate the garlic scapes. Last year, I used the scapes in a wine sauce with capers, and while I thought it was good, I didn't really get the excitement that the internets have for scapes. Most of the bloggers extolling their virtues use them in pesto, so I decided to follow the herd this year.

Garlic scape pesto with scallops and tomatoes, and green salad.
Yeah, the scapes are kind of incredible used this way. It's really funny, because they don't have an overwhelming garlic smell, but grind them up and whoa. Suffice it to say, I told Bella that we wouldn't be able to give Daddy any kisses when he got home. It is strong stuff, it was hard not to gobble down all the leftovers, but as much as I talk big, I really did want Peter to have the chance to taste the pesto.