Falling Behind

I took a two week class to learn how to teach Earth Science using inquiry methods.  It was 6 hours each day, plus the 2 hours of driving my boys to my parents' for childcare.  Of course, there was homework, as well.  Taking the class put me behind in several ways.

One of my major goals this summer, in regards to the CSA was to throw away less food. So far, I've only thrown away some arugula and some basil, so I've done fairly well in this regard.  My class made it extra challenging to get through all the veggies. 

One of my strategies for using everything up before it went bad was to eat a veggie-rich lunch each day.  That didn't happen while I was in class, which was paid for by a grant with a daily lunch and breakfast included in the deal.  Very posh for someone who is used to cooking all day long!  Being out of the house is not conducive to working one's way through a box a vegetables.

Although I cooked every night, I rarely had the time or energy to write about it.  It was a hasty, necessary act of nourishment and tastiness, but not a celebration of creativity.  I'm behind on my blog, now, too. 

I'm trying not to get out of sorts, because life happens.  Right?  I won't be able to "catch up".  Flylady says to jump in right where you are.  And so, I will jump in and write about the pictures I've taken.  Things will be out of order, some entries will be outdated, and some entries are likely to stink.  Like this one.

I'll end with a photo of my vegetables from a recent week:

Chinese Cabbage

Chinese Cabbage arrived before our 10-day trip out west. Fortunately, the newsletter indicated the cabbage would last 2 weeks in the fridge. They were correct.

The cabbage itself was daunting. About the size of a large football, it appeared that there would be no way for our family to eat it all. Once again, I fell into the trap of being fooled by greens that shrink to nothing when cooked. I used 6 cups of shredded cabbage as suggested by the following recipe, but I could have used the whole head.

 I had chicken breasts in the freezer, but no pork. No one minded the substitution.



Yummy dish. The only leftovers were not quite enough for my lunch tomorrow. I'll have to supplement with a salad.

CSA Week 3

When you go away for vacation, you need to decide what to do with your CSA share.  Fort Hill Farm will allow you to donate it to the local food bank, which is a very kind and generous thing to do.  My mother, however was interested in driving the 40 minutes or so to the drop site so she could have the fun of receiving a box of produce. 

She had a good week, apparently.

She got strawberries (the best ever! according to her reports), snap peas (one of my favorites), lettuces, broccoli and Swiss chard. 

My mother brought the chard to my grandmother, who was thrilled.  She sauteed it up in no time and ate it on the spot.  Mom also shared some of her take with her infirm neighbor. 

I know there are many needy folks who could have used those veggies, but I am glad that my mom and grandma had the opportunity to see why I get so excited each week when my box arrives.  Nice!

The Kohlrabi Challenge!

I don't often use my mandoline.  The truth is that it frightens me.  I imagine my hand slipping, or the food slipping, or the whole contraption slipping, resulting in me losing my fingertips on that ridiculously sharp blade.

Mandoline: Scary





                                                               Mandolin: Not Scary









But I was dealing with the dilemma of kohlrabi.

Last year was the first time I had ever seen or eaten kohlrabi. I wrote about it here. According to last summer's report, kohlrabi was a rather inconclusive victory, although I recall it as a failure. Everyone ate the roasted kohlrabi that night, but there was a lot left over, and , if I recall correctly, I eventually threw the leftovers away.
This year the Fort Hill Farm newsletter had a recipe for kohlrabi potato gratin, and it seemed a better bet. Hence, the mandoline came out.
 

Potato and Kohlrabi Gratin
Recipe by Eberhard Muller


3 oz. Sliced bacon, sliced crosswise                    2 cups heavy cream
into thin strips                                                     2 TBSP crème fraiche or sour cream
½ garlic clove, minced                                        ½ tsp minced thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper                 4 large Yukon Gold potatoes
2 med. kohlrabi, peeled


Preheat oven to 300. Butter a 9 x 13 baking dish.
In a small skillet, cook the bacon over moderate heat, stirring, until barely crisp, about 4 minutes. Drain on paper towels, then transfer to a large bowl. Stir in the heavy cream, crème fraiche, garlic and thyme. Season the cream generously with salt and pepper.
Using a mandoline, thinly slice the potatoes and kohlrabi, then add to the cream and toss to mix. Spread the potatoes, kohlrabi, and cream in an even layer in the prepared baking dish and bake for 15 minutes. Increase the oven temperature to 325 and bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes longer, or until the potatoes are tender and the top is browned. Let the gratin stand for 10 minutes before serving.

The mandoline is wonderful for making perfectly thin, uniform slices of potato and kohlrabi.  It is fast and efficient, and I still have all 10 fingertips. 

The casserole itself was also a success.  Everyone (except Zach) ate it heartily.  I served it with baked chicken drumsticks, crusty bread and some broccoli, also from the farm. 

The moral of the story:  When in doubt, add bacon and cream to the questionable veg.

CSA Week 2

Garlic scapes are in, as are the kohlrabi. Farmer Paul says he tries not to introduce 2 strange crops in one box, but I guess it's unavoidable sometimes.  That's eating in season.  Neither of these crops is new or strange for me this year.  I had experience with both last year.

Garlic scapes are the green tops of garlic bulbs which grow underground.  If left to their own devices, they bloom into little flowers similar to those of onions, and the garlic bulbs don't grow as large as we would like.  Fortunately, these garlic tops are edible and tasty. 

If you chop garlic scapes into small pieces and saute them in some olive oil, you have a mild garlic substitute.  Garlic scapes were one of the crops that went into the compost heap last summer.  This summer, I'm doing better.  I have no garlic in the house, so my only option is to use them as a substitute for mature garlic.  That said, there are a lot of scapes in my crisper.  Fortunately, they keep for awhile.  Two days after this box arrived, my family went on a 10-day vacation to Yellowstone.  I sent many of the vegetables to my mom, but I kept the kohlrabi, most of the scapes and the Chinese cabbage.  All of those would survive in the fridge until our return.

Finally!

On June 9th we received our first boxed share for the season from Fort Hill Farm.  There had been some debate over the winter as to whether or not we should be continuing to buy a share.   To be more specific, Rich was discouraging it.  As the subtitle of this blog implies, my family is somewhat lukewarm about vegetables, especially my darling husband.  I put my foot down and insisted that we continue our CSA for the next summer.

This is not to say that I didn't have my own doubts about the use of our money.  The share itself is a big chunk of cash up front.  Last year I was not terribly effective at using all of the produce we received, either.  It isn't easy to get a gigantic box of vegetables, some unfamiliar, some unpopular, and come up with appetizing uses of all of them before they turn bad or before the next shipment arrives.  Many times, I found myself sneaking slimy arugula or moldy zucchinis out to the compost pile.  This year, I resolved to do better.

I learned some valuable lessons in 2009.  For starters, greens always look like an awful lot when they are raw.  Once you cook them, there's barely anything there.  This year, if I have a bunch of escarole, kale, chard, whatever, I will wash and cook all of it right off the bat.  That should help a lot.  Secondly, I need to make a commitment to prepare a veggie lunch for myself on a daily basis.  That lunch should revolve around the less popular veggies.  Arugula is a "less popular" veg in my family.  Finally, never underestimate the power of hiding vegetables in popular foods.  Last year, the chocolate zucchini cake was a hit.  Broccoli raab can be successfully hidden in sausage and peppers. 

Here is a peek at my first box:

As you can see it is heavy in lettuces and greens.  The strawberries were delicious (and gone in minutes), and the radishes were sharp.  My favorite, aside from the strawberries, of course, was the baby bok choy.  I could eat that every day. 

I used the entire contents in a week, even though I was still working.  So far, so good!

CSA 2010

In less than a month, I expect to receive my first box of vegetables for the new season.  Last summer I was taken by surprise by the quantity of produce we had to deal with in the course of one week.  I didn't even have room in the fridge to store it all.  This summer, I'll be prepared.  I am already keeping minimal amounts of food in the fridge to avoid throwing food away and to make sufficient room for the coming influx.   

I am imagining the cool weather crops that will start us out: arugula and other greens, bok choy and snap peas...Can't wait!

Late Spring Holding Pattern

The days are getting long.  I can run very early before work or very late after work.  It has to be time for my vegetables, soon.

Next week my final CSA payment is due.  I am gettin weary of the average store-bought varieties.  Please, June, hurry up and get here!

Waiting for June

The payment is sent; I'm officially on the CSA list for 2010.  Another payment will be due to Fort Hill Farm in May (I think) for 400-something dollars. 

My husband gets a little frustrated with the cost.  I've tried to explain to him that while we may be spending more on vegetables than usual, we are also eating more vegetables than usual.  Once I've paid for something, I use it.  That's why I pre-pay my Pilates and yoga classes.  I'm way too cheap...I should say 'frugal'...to simply spend money and not use it.

There are good reasons for eating more vegetables, too.  I'm now 40.  My family has a terrible heart disease history.  If I don't exercise and watch my diet, I'm destined to wear the "zipper" of open heart surgery like so many of my relatives.  No way.  I'm terrified of anesthesia.  I've been frightened into a healthy lifestyle. 

The grocery store continues to disappoint.  I have a true aversion to buying things packaged in foam and plastic.  Everything, now, it seems, is packaged in airtight little tombs to preserve freshness over thousands of miles.

I can't wait for June when I can eat my real vegetables.

Midwinter Veggie Withdrawal

I received an e-mail from Fort Hill Farm today.  My next share payment is due.  I need to send roughly $250 to a farmer for vegetables that I won't get to eat until mid-June.  It sounds dubious, I suppose, to those who haven't bought into the idea of a CSA, but after the constant supply of beautiful, organic veggies of last summer contrasted with the supermarket lackluster selection that we've been surviving on lately, I'm ready to gamble again.