Finally…a CSA Update!

I haven’t had a chance to post pictures of my CSA boxes lately, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t been awesome! I’ve been loving the fall produce that comes every Tuesday in my box. I’m seriously going to miss getting my CSA box every week when the seasons ends in November!

Here are a few pictures of some of my recent boxes along with any interesting things I might have made with the produce. I’m going from oldest to newest, although I am not sure about the exact dates since it’s been awhile!

Above you can see one of my late summer boxes. I used many of the tomatoes to make this amazing roasted tomato puree, which I will post soon. The jalapeños found their way into my corn chowder, and I also froze some to make some hot pepper jelly.

Here is a similar box, with some summer squash and cucumber. I actually tried making zucchini “noodles” with some of the squash and it worked pretty well!!

I could tell fall was coming with this box came! The spaghetti squash was a very welcome addition. I roasted it and ate it with some tomato & meat sauce! Spaghetti squash is so amazing…I know that even if I don’t get any more from my CSA I will be buying it from the grocery store again soon.

This box was from about 2 weeks ago. I was jumping for joy when I saw the butternut squash! It’s one of my favorites!! AND it was perfect that I got leeks with it, because my favorite butternut squash soup recipe calls for leeks. (And apples!!) Of course I took pictures as I made it, and you’ll see it here on the blog soon!

This is last week’s box! I was totally intrigued by the purple carrots in the front. Apparently they are quite similar to regular carrots. I’m going to cook them soon, maybe with some marmalade and butter. I was excited for the pears because I haven’t had any yet this fall. They have been tasty! I also am excited to use the beets. The acorn squash is intriguing…still not sure what I’m going to do with it! Any ideas?

Corn has become a bit of a running joke with my boyfriend and I because I keep getting it in the boxes and it just piles up and I don’t know how to use it all! I froze a bunch of it but my freezer is full…lately I’ve just been giving it away! I’m still grateful to be getting such wonderful sweet corn this fall.

I hope you enjoyed my pictures of all the CSA boxes! I promise from now until the end of the season I will post them more often. What’s your favorite fall produce?

CSA Updates

You may or may not know that I’m a teacher by day (and food blogger by night!) So now that we’re back into the school year, I haven’t been able to find time to post. I’m hoping to get back into a routine and make time to write. I’m starting to feel like I’m really getting back into the swing of things at work, which is great. The thing about teaching is every school year it can feel like you’re starting over, which is both a good and a bad thing!

Over the past few weeks I’ve been receiving more great CSA boxes! I haven’t picked mine up yet for this week, but here are pictures from the past couple weeks.

Highlights from two weeks ago:

• I got a watermelon! I cut it up into manageable chunks and gave some away. I still have some in my fridge, and I’m planning to experiment with a watermelon & feta salad soon.
• eggplant: I ended up making eggplant pizzas with this, which were great! If you follow me on Instagram (see the link at the right), you already saw pictures of this. I’m planning to write it up into a blog post soon.
• more green beans, tomatoes, and fruit!

Last week:

Last week’s box was great. As you can see, I got:

• corn (gave some away and made some corn salsa!)
• potatoes
• nectarines (Love them raw!)
• cherry bomb peppers (stuffed these with ricotta and goat cheese, then baked them. Yum)
• cherry tomatoes (made a great pasta dish from Cooking Light)
• 2 random peppers (Hungarian Hot and Anaheim) (froze some for jelly, plus used some in the corn salsa)
• red bell pepper (froze this for jelly or anything else)
• 2 apples
• a red onion (used in the corn salsa)
• 2 heads of broccoli

It’s been fun seeing the new things I’ve been getting as the summer produce ends and fall begins!

CSA Update!

I picked up my latest CSA box on Tuesday. Last week, while I was away on vacation, Andrew’s mom picked it up. She froze the blueberries and the peppers for me and enjoyed using the rest of the contents. I’m so glad that it got used even though I was out of town. It’s great that you can have someone else pick up your box if you go away.

This week I got a great box although nothing really new or very exciting. Kind of more of the same things I’ve been getting. But that’s okay because I know everything will be delicious!

I got:

• lettuce (will be great for salad!)
• scallions (some of these will go into some corn fritters soon!)
• peaches (mmmm…)
• grape tomatoes (I’m planning to use these in salads)
• radishes (I guess salads???)
• 1 onion (these always come in handy!)
• beans (these are a really interesting very dark color. I’m going to try making a warm salad with them)
• corn (going to try some corn fritters!)
• blueberries (I love having these with yogurt and granola)

 

CSA Update

First I just have to say a big thank you to my friend Natasha for letting me borrow her DSLR camera! The quality of photos here on the blog should be drastically improving soon!

Today I picked up another CSA box. It’s such a fun day for me because I love seeing everything that Stony Hill Farms puts in the boxes! Of course then it’s always a struggle finding room for everything in my fridge…

Before I show you the beautiful produce that came today, I’ll include an update on what I did with last week’s produce.

Last week’s box included:

• Hungarian hot peppers: I put some of these in some corn chowder (picture on Instagram) and some in the fritto misto I made last night! I will be posting that recipe in a separate post.
• peaches: ate these raw and in a quinoa breakfast bowl (picture on Instagram!)
• beans: some were used in the fritto misto, some are still in my fridge
• beets: Well I finally got around to making some beet chips with the old beets from a different box…so these are still in my fridge. Thank goodness they last awhile!
• lettuce: Made some great salads!
• blueberries: Raw in my yogurt with granola!
• eggplant: Made a delicious eggplant rollatini…separate post coming soon!
• corn: Used some in the corn chowder which I mentioned last week
• Kirby cucumbers: I turned these into pickles using my spice blend from Crate & Barrel:
  

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Here’s the photo of the box that I picked up today.

This box was full of wonderful goodies:

• peaches
• cayenne peppers (So crazy! I’ve never seen these whole/raw)
• tomatoes
• basil
• bell peppers
• blueberries
• beans
• cabbage
• corn
• cucumbers

I am going away for vacation on Saturday, so I’m planning to freeze a good bit of this produce. I’m doing some research into the best methods for doing so. I’ll post an update on what I discover.

CSA update!

It’s been awhile since I posted a CSA update! On July 15, my CSA box went to my boyfriend Andrew because I was away in Cape Cod. He enjoyed using the fruits and veggies that week. Then last week I got a great box of goodies:

 

As you can see, this box included:

• green beans (which are still in my fridge!)
• lettuce (made great salad!)
• corn (gave some away and used some in a pasta dish, which will be in a future post!)
• peaches (soooo delicious raw!)
• zucchini (used this in the pasta dish as mentioned above)
• cucumber (gave this away)
• blueberries (these were some of the BEST blueberries I’ve ever had!!)
• kale (used this for kale chips…post coming soon!)
• scallions (these are HUGE scallions! They are still in my fridge.)

Since I was heading out for the weekend, I tried to give away some things from this box. And I’m hoping that the items still in my fridge will last for a bit. I really need to figure out what to do with the green beans!

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This past Tuesday, the 29th, I picked up another great box!

This box has:

• Hungarian hot peppers
• peaches
• beans
• beets
• lettuce
• blueberries
• eggplant
• corn
• Kirby cucumbers

I’ve already used the corn and some of the peppers in a really delicious corn chowder. I’ve been enjoying the blueberries and peaches raw, although I’m thinking of possibly making some kind of baked dessert with some of the peaches. I’m planning to make beet chips soon with the beets. The lettuce has been great in salads. For the cucumbers, I will probably make some pickles…I want to try making spears since last time I did slices. Finally, I will probably end up making eggplant rollatini with the eggplant! Mmmm!

 

I haven’t gotten to post as often as I’d like to, because I started a summer job (although it’s part time). Hopefully as I get more settled in I’ll be able to post more often! And I have been posting quite a few pictures lately on my Instagram. There’s a link to it in the sidebar at the right.

Thanks for visiting!

 

3rd CSA Update

Last Tuesday, I picked up my 3rd CSA box. It was a little tough using some of these items, especially because I went to Cape Cod for the long weekend. But I didn’t have to throw anything out so I’m pleased! Here’s what I got:

– strawberries & blueberries: these were great raw, and I also made some muffins with some of the strawberries!
– sugar snap peas: I sauteed these with olive oil, salt and pepper. YUM!
– scallions: These are still in my fridge but they last a little while! I’m planning a pork dish in the crock pot that uses some of these.
– chives: frozen them chopped up and placed in a glass jar.
– beets: sauteed the greens (post coming soon!) and the beets are still doing great in the fridge.
– lettuce: salad!
– cucumber: gave it to my mom! 🙂

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Today I picked up my 4th CSA box! These fruits and veggies seem like they will be really fun and easy to use.

You’ll see in the above picture:

– zucchini
– blueberries
– cherries
– carrots: so cute!!!
– garlic scapes: the farm had extras of these so they threw some in. I’m going to try a different pesto recipe that has basil in it. (The one I tried with my last scapes didn’t have any basil in it.)
– tomatoes: 2 beautiful ones!
– broccoli: will probably roast this!
– lettuce: already ate some of this in a salad.
– cilantro: planning to use some of this for enchiladas soon!

I have several more posts planned for this week! Thanks for visiting!

CSA Update

I had a lot of fun (and some stress) using the fruits and veggies from my first CSA box! I was a little worried about using it up before it all went bad, but it turned out fine! Here’s what I did with the goodies:

– spinach & lettuce: used both of these for salad! Yum.

– baby bok choy: I used this in a wonton soup…I found the recipe online and modified it pretty significantly, I might post it later!

– strawberries: ate these raw…they were delicious!!!

– fresh mint: I waited awhile before doing anything with this. Then I realized it was starting to go brown and decided to freeze the rest. I used the ice cube tray method, which worked great.

– asparagus: I roasted these with a little olive oil, salt and pepper at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes. It turned out delicious!!

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Last Tuesday I picked up my second box! This one contained:

– parsley, which I froze in logs based on a method I found online.

– strawberries, which I ate raw (again!)

– asparagus, which I roasted (again!)

– cabbage, which I used in a recipe from Cooking Light and will definitely be posting soon!

– arugula, which I used to make pesto along with the…

– garlic scapes! My first time trying them. They were crazy looking but I’m excited to try them in the pesto!

– kale, which I cooked as kale chips. I love doing this with kale and I’ll post my method soon.

– Kirby cucumbers. I pickled these using the garlic dill pickling spice from this pickling spice set from Crate and Barrel. This set is great. I received it as a birthday present from my boyfriend Andrew’s sister Adrienne! Thanks A!

Chopping the garlic scapes for the pesto!

 

Cucumbers and the pickling spice

Turning the cucumbers and a few asparagus into pickles!

Beautiful pickles

My first CSA box!

Tuesday I picked up my first CSA box. It’s from a farm in Chester, NJ called Stony Hill Farm. I was so excited to get all the fresh produce and plan out some recipes to use them! In my box I received:
– spinach
– lettuce
– baby bok choy
– strawberries
– fresh mint
– asparagus

I’m so excited to try out some new recipes with all of this great produce!