Category Archives: Food & Wine

Beautiful colors this week! (As always, really). We got 2 heads of lettuce, 3 leeks, 3.5 lbs. tomatoes, 3 lbs. (I think…) of red potatoes, 2 lbs. or so of onions, 2 zucchini, 1 winter squash, 3 peppers, 1 bunch of turnips, 1 cuke, 1 head of garlic, 1 eggplant. I skipped on the greens this week (didn’t see us fitting them in, honestly) as well as the PYO stuff (because it was all wet and muddy in the fields).

I don’t have grand plans for anything, really. Some roasting. Some sauteeing. Some salads. Etc. I spent last Saturday morning peeling, slicing, and making pickled vegetables (zucchini, carrots, and peppers). I had grand plans to lactoferment some cucumbers into pickles, but I wanted to use whey (a la Nourishing Traditions) instead of salt. I only had two small cups of plain yogurt in the fridge, and draining them even until Monday didn’t result in enough whey to make a jar, so I’m putting that project back on the shelf for another time. I will probably give sauerkraut a try soon, as I know we’ll be getting cabbage in the next couple weeks. I’m looking forward to that!

It’s Thursday, isn’t it? Wow… what a crazy week it’s been! Saturday we picked up the boys from my parents. Sunday Drew’s mom and aunt visited. And Monday and Tuesday we were in the Adirondacks on a spur-of-the-moment vacation. Yesterday I was trying to do laundry, fill out paperwork, make a lunch and snacks, and get everything ready for Jake’s first day of school (today!).

At any rate, in this week’s share we have carrots, lettuce, leeks, arugula, peppers, tomatoes (6 pounds!), zucchini, squash, onions, garlic, and cukes, plus PYO cherry tomatoes, herbs, and flowers. I ate horribly over the weekend, and I am really looking forward to some healthy veggies! Next week Drew and I are starting South Beach again, too. For me it’s better than any diet pill because it gets me back on track with healthy eating. But I have a couple more days to indulge a little so today I plan on making carrot cake cookies from a recipe I got at Woodloch back in February. Plus, I thought that would be a nice treat for Jake when he gets home 🙂

Well, clearly the summer’s harvest is rocking and rolling. Check out last night’s haul! OMG, look at all those tomatoes! And our farm has actually had an animal (or several) that has been eating them up, so just imagine what we’d be getting otherwise. Here is the breakdown:

6 lbs. of tomatoes
2 green peppers
1 red pepper
2 cukes
3 leeks
2 zucchini
carrots (I don’t remember how much)
3 squash
3 lbs (I think) of potatoes
2 lbs onions
3 heads lettuce
1 melon (we picked a cantaloupe – last of the season)

PLUS, PYO cherry tomatoes, basil, dill, cilantro, parsely, scallions, beans (didn’t pick any this week), and flowers.

Jake apparently ate more cherry tomatoes than he picked. Man, I never met a kid who likes tomatoes as much as him, especially considering that neither Drew nor I particularly love them. But I tried one and even I think they’re tasty! The heirlooms are delicious. We had them in a salad at lunch (of course we had a salad in prepration for fair food tonight, LOL!). In other good news, the eggplant curse is broken!!! Note the absolutely lack of eggplant this week. I have to say that I am rather relieved.

As for plans for the veggies… I think I’m going to try a recipe for potato and leek gratin that was in this week’s CSA newsletter. Maybe some tomato-zucchini soup? Minestrone? Maybe I’ll blanch and freeze the squash? Or make chocolate and zucchini bread? I really don’t have anything set in stone, so we’ll just see what I feel like 🙂

Wow, I can’t believe we’re three months into our CSA with Sisters Hill Farm! Harvest season is clearly upon us and yesterday’s haul was, I think, the prettiest yet. I was also relieved that the eggplant situation was much more managable this week. Our distribution included 2 watermelons, 1 cantaloupe, 1 zucchini, 1 squash, 1 cucumber, 2 peppers (I picked one red, one green), 2 eggplant (Whew! Thank goodness it wasn’t 5 again.), 2 heads of lettuce and 3 leeks. Then I had to measure out various pounds of: swiss chard, tomatoes, beets, onions, carrots, garlic, and beans. Plus PYO scallions, dill, basil, cilantro, and 20 stems of flowers as usual.

A friend on Twitter was suprised that you can grow cantaloupe in New York. I was suprised that anyone would think you can’t! You can grow it right up to Zone 4, which extends well into northern Maine. Granted, you have to plant it well after the danger of frost has subsided, but sure — melon is a great summer crop and my uncle grew it in WMass when we were kids!

I haven’t really thought too hard about how I’ll use everything up. Assuming I can find tahini (where does Stop & Shop keep it? They have to stock it, I mean it’s a little hippie up here), I’m going to make baba ganoush for the party this weekend. Drew plans on making a sauce. Maybe I’ll do another jar of pickled beans and carrots. I think I’m going to figure out the best way to freeze the beets for beet cake another time. The rest I’ll figure out as I go along.

Guess how much eggplant we were supposed to take this week? Five! Five eggplants! Is that crazy or what? I guess this year the eggplant harvest is a wee bit out of control, LOL. Though I only took three. I supposed I could have taken two more for my neighbor. (She always has the neighborhood gossip on everything from foreclosures to speeding tickets.) At any rate, here’s the rundown:

1 head of lettuce
3 leeks
1 lb. carrots
2 cucumbers
2 lbs. onions
5 cherry tomatoes
2 tomatoes
1 zucchini
1 squash
3 eggplants (though our share was 5 — FIVE!)
2 green peppers
1 garlic clove
1 watermelon
1 cantalope
dill, basil, cilantro
20 stems of flowers

I accidentally picked a couple sunflowers and was promptly scolded by some mean old lady down the row. There was a very sweet old lady near me who made me laugh because she waved her hand at Mrs. Meanie and told me just to cover them up, LOL…

I still have last week’s leeks so I think tomorrow I’m going to make a double batch of potato-leek soup and freeze it. (Next month is September after all.) Drew’s going to make a sauce using the garlic, onion, and basil. Eggplant… sigh, I’ll figure out something. Fennel… I’ve never, ever cooked with it before, so I have to look up some recipes. Otherwise, it’s straightforward salad veggies, really. We’ll see what I come up with.