It has bargaining power!

We're more than half way through the winter CSA and I'm happy to say that we've only let one item go to waste! There is a bundle of kale in the crisper right now - and let's just say it's beyond the saving powers of any crisper. Even the crisper of all crispers. Aside from that, everything else has been put to use in our bellies, which also means whole lot of meals not eaten out. I might have actually stayed within my "restaurant" budget over the past few months.

We recently overcame a challenge that we didn't foresee at the time we signed up for the CSA. After a last minute decision to take a week-long ski vacation to Colorado, we realized that meant having 1 week's produce going to waste. Though Grasshopper makes arrangements to donate all unclaimed shares to those in need, I wondered if we could possibly expose some friends to the program by letting them have a week's worth of goods in exchange to a ride to the airport.

Being that all of my friends are so sweet and generous, the first friend I asked was more than willing to  give us a lift to and from the airport even without the share - that was just an added bonus. At the end of the week she reported back to me that they absolutely loved the experience of working with new ingredients. So much so that they're considering participating next season! How wonderful!

Sorry I don't have specifics about the past few week - but one thing I can say is that there has been PLENTY of sweet potatoes (more on that in a moment). As I had been informed prior to committing to the winter share, we were likely to eventually receive some preserved goods once winter got into full swing. Over the past two weeks, we have accumulated these goodies:

No plans just yet of how or when we will use these, but I will keep you posted once it happens. Or, if you have suggestions for any of these items, I'd LOVE to hear.  BTW - you can't see in this picture, but the tomato relish is HOT (spicy).

So back to the sweet potatoes... I noticed today that they were beginning to pile up (like 6 of 'em!). I knew some were approaching the 2 week mark and needed to be used. Realizing that I wasn't in the mood for the typical sweet potato casserole avec le marshmallows, a few google searches led me to this delicious recipe from Rachael Ray for bacon and sweet potato hash . Definitely going to be keeping this recipe around. It. was. yum. Rob thought so, too! To be honest, i put in much more bacon than the recipe called for (nearly a whole pack) and omitted the scallions... and the allspice (cause i didn't have any). So my version was modified, to say the least. I suggest giving it a whirl if you're looking for a non-trad SP dish.

Thanks for reading. Until next time - happy eating!

Weeks 2-4: Brussel sprouts revisited

The holidays got the best of me and my hopes of keeping a weekly log. Better late than never though, right? Here are some highlights of the past few weeks.

WEEK 2:
I stuck to my guns and planned out the week's menu. Below is a delicious hamburger made from local beef (smothered in cheese - mmmm), and sweet potato fries. The mac and cheese is from a box, but we sauteed swiss chard and added it to the mix, which is what the Grasshoppers newsletter suggested to do. This is a new vegetable to me that I would have never pick up at the store, but would be will to do so in the future (now that I have a clue how to use it).

A second experimental vegetable we received during week 2 is daikon radishes - a root vegetable that looks like an frumpy albino potato. So - I used i like a potato and roasted it in the oven with carrots as well as local red potatoes. It had a distinct flavor and was a bit more crisp than a potato after roasting. Here's the roast in action:

Again, more broccoli this week along with a head of lettuce, cabbage and butternut squash. I found a deeeelicious recipe for butternut squash with orzo pasta on weightwatchers.com. It was so creamy and yummy. Perfect comfort food for a chilly winter evening. This picture does not do it justice, but take my word.

WEEK 3:
This has been my favorite week so far! Here's a group shot:

No, that's not corn on the cob - it's popcorn!!! It was a totally unexpected surprise and tons of fun to cook up on the stove top. One husk filled up a 3 quart pot! Plus, we could season it ourselves - so Rob could have his movie-theatre butter and I could have my salt and pepper. Yum!

Nothing else totally out of the ordinary this week. Pork chops were yummy - I seasoned them with salt, pepper and chili power and cooked in the over for 50 mins. Below is a picture of some beef ribs we made in the slow cooker. Despite my high hopes for these babies, I was a tad disappointed - they were mostly fat! Very little meat.

WEEK 4: Two days prior to Christmas

Rob and I had plans to leave town Thursday morning, so we made arrangements to pick up our share early in the day. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures for this week, but here's a run down:

• Brussel sprouts
• Sweet potatoes
• Cabbage
• Hydroponic bib lettuce
• Butternut squash
• Turnips
• 3 lb. roast 
• Savory Pumpkin soup

After picking up our goods, we hit to road to spend the holiday weekend with family. We were able to incorporate the spouts and turnips into our Christmas eve meal. I really wish i had a picture of these things - they were still on the stalk and were a sight to see! I never imagined they grew in such a fashion. I never quite took to this vegetable as a child (I couldn't possibly be the only one!), but these were quite very enjoyable in our Christmas eve meal. I must have acquired my grown-up taste buds.  

Later in the week, Rob and I made the roast in the crock pot (easy dinner!) We still have the sweet taters and squash to use. I see some more squash with orzo in my future!! There won't be a delivery this Thursday. I keep hearing that the shares are about to turn to mostly preserved goods from the summer harvest since winter is in full swing and not conducive to growing, so I'm eager to see what the next few weeks will bring. 

I'll leave you with this picture of a local bratwurst we received during week 2. The flavor of this brat was the best I have ever tasted (though I haven't had many brats). It was so fresh and flavorful! Pictured also is the daikon radish roast mixture and sweet & sour cabbage. 

Week 1: That's a Lot of Broccoli

Thanks to a co-worker and fellow CSA participant, I realized our first pick up was only days away. When Thursday arrived, Rob and I grabbed some grocery totes, bundled up and headed to our pick up location. This week's share consisted of:

• Sweet potatoes
• Red Russian Kale
• Totsoi (an asian green)
• Head of butter lettuce
• 2 pounds of broccoli
• Topped turnips
• A whole chicken!
• French bread baguette
• Dozen eggs

Due to some confusion, we did not receive our soup the first week (which was fine since we ended up making some, as you'll see later). Instead, we got goat cheese, YUM! Here's the picture again of all the goods:

That night we were in a rush, so we simply steamed some broccoli, but it was the greenest broccoli I had ever seen! It was delish!

The week's newsletter contained a recipe for "Winter Greens Soup," which made use of both the Kale and the Totsoi - but not all of it. With the remaining greens, we made a stir-fry on a later night. Another odd-ball item that we hadn't experimented with before was turnips. Thankfully, Google came through and Rob was able to locate a recipe for "Caramelized Turnips" and boy were they yummy!

Those of you with meat-phobia may want to be careful with these next pictures. The first picture features the sweet potato fries that I conjured up one evening. Normally I have trouble chopping raw potatos, but these were small and easy to slice. The other items on this plate (stuffed pork chop and mushroom) were purchased from the grocery.




Looks like we need to work on presentation... On an evening where we had a bit more time (actually, we just stayed up really late), we cooked the whole chicken in the oven - beer can style. It turned out so moist and tender!



I left the carving to Rob. That isn't really my style. Of course there were a few more nights of steamed broccoli (with having received 2 lbs, and all). Throughout the week we used the lettuce in sandwiches, finished off the soup, and had some omelets with the eggs. We were both very pleased with the share, as well as our ability to put the items to use. This did, however, take some planning and willpower to not say "Get the door, it's Domino's." Next week I'm hoping to plan a little better upon receiving the share - i.e. scouting out recipes and hitting the grocery. Overall, we're quite pleased and Thursdays are my new favorite day of the week!

Where do sweet potatoes come from?

Two summers have passed since I was first introduced to the idea of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). For various reason, I hesitated to participate in the program - the upfront cost; uncertainty of my ability to incorporate the lesser-known produce items into meals; commitment to utilizing all of the goods before they go bad (i.e. fewer evenings dining out just because I'm not in the mood to cook).

I recognized that the idea behind CSA - ensuring local farmers have buyers for their harvest, and that customers have locally grown produce -  is a positive thing for my community and is an easily accessible change I can make to help our environment. So, when I came across the opportunity to participate in a winter CSA with Grasshoppers Distribution, I knew that the time to hesitate was through!

After conferring with Rob, my boyfriend, we gauged our food needs as well as our typical weekly grocery expenses. Grasshoppers offers a wide array of local item in addition to produce - from milk and butter, to meat and eggs. We settled on the following:

• One produce share (3-4 fresh produce items)
• One loaf of locally baked bread
• Mixed meat (appx. 3 lbs. of local meat, rotating variety each week)
• Dozen eggs, biweekly
• Quart of soup with local ingredients

For 13 weeks we will pick up our share on Thursdays at a church one block from our home. In choosing our items, we knew that this alone will not feed us for the entire week. However, based on what we normally spend at the grocery, we still have money left over to supplement our bellies with a small weekly trip to Whole Foods. 

Much to my relief, Grasshoppers provides a weekly newsletter with a recipe that incorporate the not-so-common produce items! Also included in this newsletter is the name of the farm from where each item came. Below is a shot of week #1. Description and detailed account of how we used each item to follow.

Oh, and btw, my sweet potatoes came from Prospect, Kentucky.