CSA Week 7

Welcome to another week of CSA food, complete with.... (drumroll please) ....more okra! Luckily I was prepared, and I put up four jars of refrigerator pickles using this recipe from Honest Fare. Slime free okra? I'm in!

Here's the box reveal. As soon as I saw those lovely little eggplants, I immediately started looking up a good eggplant stir fry. We love the eggplant at P.F. Changs, but this Thai Basil Eggplant recipe might be even better!

Make It Yourself

I've been on a huge homemade kick recently. The "urban homesteading" bug has totally bitten me, and while we're a long way from chickens and goats in our backyard, I'm trying to make as many of our daily necessities as possible.

So far, the list of successes includes:

Artisan Bread via Alexandra's Kitchen. I downsized the recipe to make exactly one loaf. This was so good that we ate the loaf basically in one night, and made another not even a week later. We'll probably use this recipe, split into two smaller loaves, to make bread bowls for soup once the weather turns colder!

White Sandwich Bread via The Baker Upstairs. Again, I downsized the recipe for just one loaf. Thank goodness I've got a stand mixer; there's no way I would have had the energy to knead this thing for 10 minutes! This was delicious, and we ate toast every morning for almost a week with a thick slather of butter and some homemade, No-Pectin Peach Jam that I made up from our CSA peaches. (If you've been taking notes, that peach jam recipe is basically a fruit compote that gets cooked all the way down!)

Last but not least, here's a great recipe for Homemade Chocolate Syrup. Chocolate milk is an absolute staple of my diet; I grew up in a house where the refrigerator always contained Hershey's syrup, and I've definitely caught my dad pouring milk into the Hershey's bottle to get out the last little bit of chocolate. I'm so glad I learned how to make this myself, because it is so easy and so, so good! Just definitely heed the warning and make it up in a 3 quart pot; it foams up quite a bit as it boils.

What have you made lately? I'd love to see your creations and add a few more recipes to my repertoire. Comment below with your links!

CSA Week 6

Well, it's finally happened. All summer long I've waited for the day that we open our box to find it -- that green, fuzzy oddity, okra.

I've got to be perfectly honest... I've never eaten okra in my life. Horror stories of mucus-y, slimy dishes have steered me away. When I first considered registering for our CSA I looked at the season calendar, saw the weeks and weeks of okra, and immediately changed my mind. Once we registered I thought we would receive nothing but okra starting immediately, but it took the farmers 6 weeks before they delivered.

Here's the grand box reveal; see how they've hidden the okra down in the bottom? Sneaky!

Well, here goes. I need some help; anyone have any good okra recipes I should try?

CSA Week 5: Seasons Change

Hey everyone! I'm back for another CSA box reveal.

Ready or not, here's the reveal:

This week the weather here in Nashville started to change, and glimpsing into this farm box made me wistful for the coming Fall season. The box this week contained bell peppers, a red onion, an adorable little squash, another white-fleshed watermelon, four (four!) ears of corn, and yet more green beans. Also, tucked underneath it all, is a half-dozen eggs that we were warned we may not receive because the chickens have gone into an early molt at the farm.

Did you know chickens molt twice a year, and that hens won't lay while they're going through the process? I didn't! I'm so glad the man who runs our CSA is dedicated to education; we get a detailed email every week describing conditions on the farm, and he also includes tips and tricks to help us enjoy our bounty. It was an unexpected treat that I've come to look forward to every week!

CSA Week 4: We're Back!

Hey! Sorry for disappearing with no notice: I got to spend the last week in Seattle at a conference! A few years ago I got to spend a whole summer in the Pacific Northwest and I fell head-over-heels in love with Seattle. In case you ever get to go, don't miss out on the Pike Brewing Company, located in the Pike Place Market. Their soft pretzel comes with the most amazing homemade mustard, which I had along with a cup of the clam chowder for lunch one afternoon. Gosh, just writing about it makes me want to go back!

 Anyway, I digress. This week's CSA box reveal will be a short post, because my Mister received and consumed our Week 3 box entirely without me and I have no idea what it contained -- hah!

Here's the birds eye shot of our Week 4 box... so many goodies!

New produce this week: patty pan squash, blueberries, bell peppers, pears and a little watermelon! We've also been blessed by two gorgeous rib-eye steaks. Looks like we'll be eating well this week!

CSA Week 2: Onions and peaches and carrots, oh my!

We made it through our first CSA week and we're on to the second!

Without further ado, here's the contents of box 2:

Looks about the same as last week, with a few minor differences! We received carrots and onions this week, along with an assortment of familiar produce. Instead of a whole chicken, it looks like we'll be cooking pork chops! And sure enough, buried in that box are another half-dozen eggs, safely tucked away.

So, you may be wondering what came of the first box! Well, here's the rundown from Week 1:

The blackberries and one peach became toppings for ice cream following my 5 Minute Fruit Compote recipe.

The chicken was dutifully roasted following the instructions described here.

Summer corn is so sweet that it needs very little more than a five minute blanch in boiling water and a pat of good, salty butter!

We always cook green beans in a manner similar to Outback Steakhouse: an eight minute blanch in boiling water, followed by a toss in a hot pan with butter, cinnamon, a tiny pinch of brown sugar, garlic powder and a healthy dose of white pepper.

The rest of the produce was eaten pretty much out-of-hand. That melon had a wonderful orange interior and sweet flavour similar to a cantaloupe; I'd love to know what variety it was. Luckily we got another one to enjoy this week!

CSA Week 1: What's In The Box?

There's a farmer's market that gathers right on campus every week in the summer, and my Mister and I have loved shopping the local produce. This summer we're going a step further and joining a CSA! 

Community-supported agriculture is something I've never heard about before, but the system is pretty straightforward: you pay in to help support a farming community, and they share of their bounty by providing a weekly food box of delicious, seasonal, local produce!

This is our first box. We registered to receive both produce and meat, and every week we expect about 1/4 bushel of produce, a single portion of meat and half a dozen eggs. This week, as you can see, we made out quite nicely. We've got plenty of fruit in the form of peaches, a melon and blackberries -- yum! Also, we have potatoes, green beans, sweet corn and a variety of tomatoes. We also lucked out on the meat portion and got a whole roasting chicken, woo hoo!

Since this is our first week, I really don't have much more to tell you. But check back next week to find out how we used this box, and to see a sneak-peek of next week's harvest!