CSA Wednesday, Week 7

Oh yes, my readers, I knew week seven would bring us some CSA luck! Strawberries, carrots, and Bibaine bread, oh my! But the two things I was clicking my heels together for were Bibaine's bread, and cilantro. We got both, yes!

This week's share includes...
2 baskets strawberries
1 basket baby plums
1 bunch basil, dill, or cilantro
1 bunch carrots
1 bunch kale, bok choi, or chard
1 head cheddar cauliflower
1 head red butter lettuce
1 lb summer squash (I sorta cheated and grabbed the biggest Magda they had. Came in at 1.4 lbs, teehee)
rosemary focaccia bread sprinkled with salt & pepper

I was really glad to see Bibaine Bakery's bread on the menu today. And still warm at pick up time, mmmm. This is the second time for this style of loaf, so I now it's going to melt in our mouths at dinner tonight. That's right. I've managed not to tear off a chunk by now. LOL I had the chance to talk with Mr. CSA Farmer about how we felt about the two bakeries we've been receiving the bread from, so that's officially off my chest.

When I was setting up the food for pictures, I realized I grabbed bok choi instead of chard, so I guess we'll be having an Asian dish this week. A good opportunity to try some of my Siam Queen basil!

Challenges: I don't anticipate any challenges this week, surprisingly... With the exception of the cauliflower, everything looks like pretty standard fare here.

I only say cauliflower because I've made it once before. That one time was waaay back "in the day" when I knew how to steam broccoli, and cook three kinds of chicken; Shake n' Bake, BBQ, or lemon pepper chicken (premixed seasoning). I've come a long way since then, so I'm sure the cauliflower will turn out a lot better than the nasty roasted cauli I attempted to make.

Now on to last week's CSA meal highlights...
I make a lot of dinner salads, so the arugula and speckled lettuce were at home in my kitchen this past week. The first salad I made included the beets, which I roasted.
Beets before roasting...

And after...

This roasted beet salad with raspberry vinaigrette also included CSA radishes and greens.

I made a steak fajita salad which used up the cilantro, gypsy peppers, squash, onion (from another week), and the salad greens. You can read more about this divine salad with cilantro dressing here.

Last night's dinner was one I've been wanting to make for a few months, but thought I'd have to wait until I grew my own arugula this fall to try it... White Pizza with Arugula, by Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa). I used my own pizza crust which has Italian seasoning, and also added mushrooms and caramelized onions. The original recipe would probably be bland, but with these changes, it was everything I'd hoped it would be...

Sometime last week I made a Stone Fruit and Loquat Crisp to use up last week's stone fruits, our plums and loquats. It was good, and the oatmeal crisp topping rocked, but DH and I both decided we just don't really like fruit in our desserts.

I made up for it with butterscotch blondies, LOL.

July Garden Tour by Way of Videos

I've been wanting to give y'all a video tour for a few months now, but wanted to wait until all the plants were up and growing...

These were the first takes, so I have to apologize in advance for them being so shaky and for the blurry "close-ups." Let me know if you have trouble viewing them or with this post loading. I didn't realize the video file size would be so large.

Video 1 is of the containers...

Video 2 is of the "square foot garden" raised beds and salad table...

Video 3 is of the raised beds along the deck and the rest of the yard...

Hope you enjoyed! On Friday I'll share a few picture updates with you as well.

Harvest Monday

Each week Daphne over at Daphne's Dandelions hosts Harvest Monday. Check out her page to see what other's have been munchin' and crunchin' on this week.

This morning I pulled a small handful of yellow beans (and one green), and in case you missed my last post, I pulled this 2.6 ounce beaut.

I'm saving it for the tomato on the left to ripen. What will I make with these two dense tomatoes? I have not a clue.

Yep. That's it for my piddly little harvest this round. I was originally planning on finishing up the plum harvest last week, but we've had so many stone fruits around here that we couldn't get to the remaining plums before the wind and naughty squirrels knocked them off the tree. Hate to say it, but good riddance. I probably picked up another 11 pounds off the ground this morning. Ok, I doubt it was that much, but it felt like it...

I didn't have the chance to post last week about my harvest, so here it is.

Two ounces of beans, which I threw in a glass bowl with a smidgen of water, covered and steamed in the microwave as a lunch side for the boys. They liked popping the seeds out to eat first then eating the rest.

I also harvested just over 3 ounces of basil. I used a little in a pesto, took a cup's worth, whirled it around in the blender with a drizzle of olive oil, and the rest of the leaves were laid out on parchment paper to freeze, then put in a ziploc. It all went into the freezer for later use.

It's going to be slow for another week or so until the Burgundy beans and tomato plants really get going. I should also have my first cucumber this week too.

Here She Is...

Ms. Tomatoca...

Taadaaa!

And the crowd goes wild!

Picky Pollinators

It was some time last week when the little bees began stopping by...

Being a stay-at-home-mom has afforded me the luxury of standing in one spot for several minutes throughout the day, and watching all the different varieties of bees busily buzzing around (say that ten times fast). What I've noticed is that this particular variety of bee are very picky about the plants they collect from. Even though I now have these...

...these...

...these...

...and this...

This tiny variety of bee only goes into the flowers on my melon plants.

Having most of my plants by windows has turned out to be a great (and safe lol) way to watch the activity. It's also where I got the "action" shots. We're both too skittish to sit still long enough for me to get close enough to snap a pic...

It's fun watching them zip around until they finally find the perfect flower to land on. Once pollen is collected, they zip around some more a cozy spot is located where they can clean their pollen coated noses with their legs. They also seem to be selfish bees. If a fellow bee tries landing on a melon flower, they are instantly buzzing at each other.

Oh! Not to leave another garden critter out of the mix, I found this little guy hanging out in the water reservoir of a SWP. Isn't he cute?

CSA Wednesday, Week 6

Six weeks down, sixteen more to go! I'm not really counting down, waiting for the end... I looked at the calendar... hehe...

This week's share includes...
1 (large) bag of arugula
1 bunch of radishes
1 bunch beets
1 bunch cilantro
1 head of speckled lettuce
1 lb summer squash
3 Gypsy peppers
1.25 lbs yellow peaches
1.25 lbs white nectarines
2 seeded cheese sticks

When I received the weekly email stating what will be in our share, I was really excited to see arugula on the list. I recently borrowed Barefoot Contessa's Back to Basics book where she features arugula in several delicious looking recipes, and can't wait to work with it.

What I wasn't very pleased about seeing were the breadsticks... We took my mom-in-law (MIL) to our farmer's market this past Saturday, and the bakery that shared the bread sticks with us was there... I actually commented on these bread sticks, saying they "Look like something Big Bird would eat." They weren't half bad, but I wouldn't put it past the bakery to give us the farmer's market leftovers because the bread was tough--like several days old, tough (I worked in restaurants long enough to know how leftovers work). So far this bakery has 3 out of 3 thumbs down from us. The first week they participated in our CSA was the single cookie and brownie, and last week was a Double Olive Bread that was too dense and too, well, olive-y for our tastes--and we like our olives. We all enjoyed the simplicity and larger quantity of bread the original bakery, Bibiane Bakery offered.

Challenges: As was the challenge for last week, it is once again to avoid spoilage! I've eaten canned beets, which were ok, but never cooked with them. I have no idea how they'll go over with the family.

Speaking of last week...
As Mrs. CSA Farmer suggested, I lightly coated the Magda squash in olive oil, salt and pepper, and grilled with some zucchini. Oh, Lordy, it was good! I par-boiled some new potatoes we picked up at the farmer's market, and threw them into a pan to saute with the rest of my homegrown onion and some garlic, and thickly sliced Zypher squash from last week's share. Mmmmm, nom!

Last week's CSA basil was made into another round of pesto. This time I replaced the pine nuts with toasted almonds. I also threw in a few of my own basil to bring the amount up to the correct quantity. I froze all of this in 1 Tbs portions for later use.

I finally used up the rest of the baby and sweet & sour plums with loquats in a Crumble (recipe on my food blog, here).

After feeling crummy, and having a very looong day yesterday, comfort food was in order. I made this quick and easy Broccoli Cheddar Soup, and served with fresh and crusty White-Whole Wheat French Bread.

Peek-A-Boo (CSA Wednesday coming tomorrow)

Hey there, fellow bloggers. We had a wonderful visit from my mom-in-law, who left last night. I know today is my "CSA Wednesday" posting day, but I think I'm going to need to put it off until tomorrow. The LO has a head cold, and I think I may be getting it. Add in the normal "post visitor blahs," and I'm feeling crummy today.

Here's one thing that did perk me up during today's garden walk... Someone's being shy about turning colors!

I'm going to take a little nap while the LO sleeps, and Boy Wonder plays video games.

PS Here's a good one of me & my men...

CSA Wednesday, Week 5

Things are really starting to produce at the farm, and it feels like I'm bringing home more and more each week. I think I may need to freeze some things this weekend.

I could smell the basil as soon as I walked up to the farm stand, and my mouth started watering. I don't know what it is about me and basil. And onions! Happy about having more of them too. I can't seem to get enough of the two these days...

This week's share includes...
1 bunch broccoli
1 head red leafed lettuce
1 bunch greens (I took the chard, I did!)
2 lbs summer squash (the yellow squash with green ends are "Zephyr," the pale green squash is "Magda")
1.5 lbs mixed onions; Yellow Walla Walla, Super Sweet Stockton Reds, and Torpedo
2 zucchini or Gypsy peppers (heck yeah, I took the first peppers of the season!)
1 bunch basil
1.25 lbs plouts
1.25 lbs white peaches (nom!)
1 loaf Double Olive Bread

It's hard to tell in the picture, but the head of lettuce is huge (at least to me), and I had to weigh it. It came in at 12 ounces...

One of Boy Wonder's friends came over yesterday, and the first thing out of my mouth to the dad was, " Hi. Do you like plums?" He started to explain that he liked them but the rest of the--I cut him off, dragged him inside, and gave him a quart sized bag of 'em. LOL. I would've given him more, but didn't want to look overly desperate about trying to offload them. So, with about 8 lbs of plums in the fridge, more on the tree, and those silly loquats, I'm less than enthused to see the plouts in this week's share.

Challenges: The one challenge this week is to avoid spoilage. LOL I don't know where the time has gone, or why I have so much left from last week, but I have a fridge full of produce right now.

Speaking of last week...
My second go at making zucchini bread went a lot better. I shredded the zucchini, and put in cheese cloth and squeezed out a lot of the moisture...

I used the rest of the zucchini in in a farro Side dish, which I showed you on Monday. You can find the recipe on my cooking blog, here.

I used the kale in this recipe intended for Chard, and served with cheese tortellini to make a vegetarian meal. I loved the combination of Kalamata olives and caramelized onions, but didn't care for the capers. DH loved the capers, and didn't like the olives. LOL

I purchased some endive and raddichio to make the lettuce from last week's share go further, and combined three recipes to make one awesome salad. I had this Mixed Green, Pecan Chicken, and Goat Cheese Salad (with and without the chicken) three times last week, and for dinner tonight. My Mom-in-Law is here, so I'll have to share the recipe with you when I have a moment.

Come on Already!

I'm starting to see red about not seeing red...

I wonder how many more tomatoes my Viva Italia can squeeze out without having any of them turn red. Is this because it's a determinate tomato?

The second largest tomato is 2.5 inches long. I couldn't get into the middle of the plant to measure the larger (and first) tomato.

It's an absolute jungle in there, and all three tomato plants are fighting for space. The Viva, which is in the middle front, has managed to sprawl out and is climbing up against the window behind it. Perhaps I should've done more pruning of suckers?

The plants are about four feet tall...

The two Pearson's that were planted to the left and right behind the Viva Italia are finally starting to push out their fruits.

Finally, all three Tumbling Tom's have pea to cherry sized fruits on them. The plants themselves are looking pretty scraggly, but I'm sure it won't take long for them to fill in...

Harvest Monday

It has finally reach a level of hotness that feels like summer here... You know, the kind of days that start and end with sweat? I'm not complaining, really, I'm not. Because I was just complaining about it not being hot, and not feeling like summer. Har!

Right after breakfast yesterday morning, I pulled everyone outside to help harvest plums before the sun cooked us. I'm pretty sure our tree is a Santa Rosa variety... We're right on time with last year's harvest at the end of June.

From Gardening For You:

"The Santa Rosa plum is probably one of the most popular plums in Arizona and California. Whilst the Santa Rosa plum tree is partly  self  fertile, hardy and upright,  the plums need no pollenizer, (but the plum  crop would increase with a pollenizer close by). Santa Rosa plum trees  produce medium-large plums that have a crimson reddish skin which is slightly freckled yet the flesh of the plum is amber with a tinge of red, this  is a firm plum that is aromatic, sweet and juicy, but near the pit it is quite acid."

We should've gotten out there a few days sooner, but just didn't have the time...

Since our harvesting method from last year worked so well, we used it again. With two of us holding a bed sheet under the tree, and the third shaking the branches with our limb cutter (which DH showed me that it does extend... Grrrr--I could've reached all those cherries that needed to be harvested earlier this month!), we harvested 11.5 pounds! There are a lot more plums that are ripening, so we'll get one more round off the tree later this week.

I took the boys to a friend's house this morning to play in the pool, and traded two pounds of plums for 4 pounds of loquats. I have absolutely no idea what I'll do with them, but it was neat exchanging fruit. Did you know that loquat seeds contain cyanide?

I also harvested 4 ounces of green and yellow beans. I steamed them with CSA broccoli and sea salt, and threw them into farro with torpedo onions and zucchini (both from CSA) I had leftover from the previous night.

It's going to be pretty busy around here this coming week, so I may only post again with my CSA update. I'm off to clean for the next 48 hours, and then my mother-in-law arrives for a week-long visit. I can't wait! I get along exceptionally well with her, and haven't seen her since our visit home in October...

Each week Daphne over at Daphne's Dandelions hosts Harvest Monday. Check out her page to see what other's have been munchin' and crunchin' on this week.

CSA Wednesday, Week 4

Oh, goodness, today couldn't come fast enough! I've been scrounging around for veggies in the fridge for meals for two days now, and that's after buying a bag of carrots and a couple cucumbers--but more on the cukes later.

This week's share includes...
1 (huge) head of green leaf lettuce
1 bunch broccoli
1 bunch kale or chard (I chose kale again)
1.5 pounds summer squash (I took all zucchini)
1 bunch mint or parsley (there wasn't mint when I was there)
1 head of garlic
2 baskets of strawberries
1 basket baby plums
1 brownie and 1 chocolate walnut cookie, courtesy of Feel Good Bakery

I'm going to start with my complaint to get it out of the way, and then onto the good stuff... One cookie and one brownie? What am I supposed to do with these? We're touchy about our chocolate here (sweets in general, really, since I don't make/buy them too often anymore), so how are we supposed to split this between three and a half people? I wonder how the mother of three boys who came in as I was leaving dealt with the chocolate rations... I don't like walnuts either, so there should be an interesting discussion happening at the dinner table tonight...

Alright. Got that off my chest... I'm happy to see more lettuce on the "menu," and have a yummy salad dressing from the How to Cook Everything Vegetarian book involving my new food fascination, caramelized onions. I wanted to try it last week but couldn't since we didn't get lettuce. I can't wait to make it. I'm also really happy to have broccoli for the first time through our CSA, and in over 5 weeks! It's a staple veggie here, and it's been missed. Those heads should supply us with two dinner sides. I also found a couple recipes for kale so I picked it up instead of chard. If there's chard next week I'll get that just to say I tried it, hehe.

There were several kinds of summer squash like smooth and bumpy crooknecks, scallop, and zucchini. I went with all zucchini to try remaking zucchini bread. See, I made zucchini bread with that very large zucchini I picked out last week which, shredded, gave me 2.5 cups worth. My recipe called for 2 cups, but I thought, "What the heck," and threw it all in. Ooops! I ended up with two dense loaves of bread with squishy bottoms. The top halves tasted great LOL. So, I'm trying the recipe again because I know I can make it work!

Challenges: There are a lot of greens this week, but I think I can manage to use it all. Garlic. Boy, the garlic is starting to add up. I need to either come up with a way to use a lot of it in a recipe, or a way to preserve it. Is there such a thing as garlic pie? Pies always use a lot of filling... We're still trying to finish up the sweet & sour plums from last week, so finishing the ones we picked up this week may take some time.


Speaking of last week...
What's left:
1/2 a basket of sweet & sour plums
1 Torpedo onion
2 apriums
a little thyme

What I made:
I had a lot of fun with food last week. As I noted above, I made zucchini bread, which I've never made before. It tastes a lot like banana bread, minus the banana flavor. Boy Wonder didn't like it, but I can't blame him this time since the bread was so extremely moist--it was fully cooked, just overly moist. I also used the huge onion along with the red onion I picked up the first week to make caramelized onions. I think I mentioned it before, but I'm in love with caramelized onions. I found this great tutorial on how to make them correctly.

Here's some on a pita chip with Boxer Cheddar. Forget the pita chip! I liked it better with only the cheese!

The basil I shared with you as a part of my Harvest Monday, along with a couple apriums went into an Apricot Basil Dressing that I found here. This was... different... Not a bad dressing, but I think it needed to be paired with a more bitter green than the lettuce I served it with. Adding Boxer Cheddar to the salad helped.

I used thyme throughout the week in meals, but my favorite was this roasted chicken dish.

I also used some thyme to make my first ever batch of chicken broth. I used the carcass from the above chicken, and another two from the freezer. This was so easy to make, and I hope I never have to buy store-bought broth again.

Now for the pride of my experiments... Refrigerator pickles. I used the little pickling cucumbers, and a torpedo onion in this recipe. I also bought extra cucumbers so I could use up all of the brine (Is that what it's called? Pickle juice?). There are a million and one pickle recipes out there, but I decided to go with this one mainly because I had all the spices on hand.

These taste really really good. I've only tasted the store-bought cucumbers because the cucumbers from the CSA are really wrinkly, and I don't know if they're ok to eat like this, or if the pickles were too old by the time I got to them...

Alright. I'm off to the store to pick up a few items for this week's meals. Cheers!