peacefrog's lilypad

Week 20

• 2 Delicata Squash
• 2 Butternut Squash
• 4 lbs Parsnips
• 4 lbs Purple Top Turnips
• 10 lbs Red Gold Potatoes
• 4 roots Celeriac
• 8 Mutsu Apples
  = 38? lbs (I can't remember if I actually weighed it)

+ Bread share: Flax Montague (whatever that is, bit damn, it was good!)

Bonus veggies from neighbors:
+ Several stalks Brussels Sprouts
+ 2 Daikon
+ 1 large Kohlrabi

I made the awesome celeriac soup. Because awesome. I might have to get more celeriac. I always say that. Also made assorted other soups, shredded salad, etc. And plenty of roasted brussels sprouts. Nom nom.

• 2 Acorn Squash
• 2 Butternut Squash
• 2 bunches Chard
• 8 Cucumbers
• 2 bunches Cilantro
• 10 Beets
• 2 lbs Green Beans
• 8 Apples
  = 32 lbs

+ Bread share: Multigrain Loaf

+ 1 bunch Rainbow Chard
+ 1 big Tomato
+ 6 heads Garlic

I made what may have been my last batch of bruschetta for the season. Hard to say, though, because some of the local farms could still have greenhouse tomatoes for some weeks yet. Big piles of greens went into a Greens Peanut Stew. Cilantro went to a neighbor. The cukes were of pickling kind and are currently sitting in brine. I'm thinking I may pickle (in the vinegar sense) the beets and can them. Those were ten huge beets.

It's also pizza season, so we had some with my homemade dough, homemade roasted tomato sauce, homemade pesto, and homemade cheez! It was damn good, especially with the pesto, which always feels so special. I wonder if I will regret not making even more of it. I think I can still do another batch with the final harvest from my gardens.

• 8 Cortland Apples
• 4 lbs Kennebec potatoes
• 6 Heirloom (Ailsa Craig) Spanish Onions
• 2 bunches Swiss Chard
• 4 Zucchini
• 2 Buttercup Squash
• 6 lbs Tomatoes
• 2 bunches Cilantro (except DD forgot to get this)
  = 38 lbs

+ And our bread from the bread share

And from neighbors who couldn't use their whole farm shares:
+ 3 Asian Eggplant
+ 1 giant Zucchini
+ A sizable bag of Carrots
+ 1 bunch Parsley
+ 4 Sweet Potatoes

This week, I made some of the best bruschetta ever. I don't know why it was so good -- my process was the same as always -- but maybe the tomatoes were extra great? I'd also had them in the fridge for a few days (now that Kenji has convinced me that's okay, and it does keep them good longer) and I don't know if that somehow improved the flavor? Who knows. But dayum, that was good. DD even did a quick run with the jogging stroller out to get more bread just so we'd be able to have more of it right away.

I promise that after school starts, I will post at least twice a week aside from the farm share updates.

Week 11

• 8 ears Corn
• 8 lbs Tomatoes
• 2 lbs Green Beans
• 2 bunches Radishes
• 4 Eggplant
• 6 loose Onions
• 2 boxes Cherry Tomatoes (once again Sungold)
• 10 Peaches
  = ~30 lbs

+ a loaf of sourdough in the bread share
+ ~2 lbs tomatoes from Sun Moon

Another Indian feast yesterday used up all the green beans and eggplant as well as some of the tomatoes. We managed to eat all the bread before making any bruschetta so now I need more bread. And I think it’s time to get going on some tomato sauce…

Unfortunately, I forgot to give [Bad username or site: “beowabbit” @ livejournal.com] the radishes I’d put aside for him last night. Would anyone like some radishes?

• 2 bunches Fennel (+voluminous tops)
• 2 bunches Red Onions
• 2 bunches Celery
• 4 Italian Eggplant
• 4 lbs Red Gold Potatoes
• 2 pts Sungold Cherry Tomatoes
• 2 heads Green Cabbage
• 16 Peaches
  = 34 lbs

And also, from Sun Moon Farm, either directly or via neighbors:
+big jar of cukes
+1 bunch bok choy
+2 bunches chard
+a few radishes

And an amazing loaf of Italian Paisano bread.

We had been falling behind on the veggies so this week, I decided I had to step it up, and so far, progress has been pretty good. Among other things, I started yet another round of sour dill pickles (as well as a smaller batch of spicy ones), made a big batch of my Greens & Peanut Stew to use up all the remaining cooking greens I had (rabe, beet greens, kale, arugula, there was a lot) except the chard, since I was to make that linguine dish again. The tomatoes went into fresh bruschetta. Then I started a big batch of kimchi, using two heads of cabbage, onions, and the rest of the baby carrots, turnips, and radishes. For lunch today, I made kimchi pancakes with the last batch. Tonight I made a Thai curry that took care of the bok choy, all the remaining carrots, some potatoes, and squash. I also roasted the eggplant on the grill and made some amazing babaghanoush. Phew.

Oh, and did I mention my new online Cooking Club? I’m sure I haven’t as it’s new since my last post. The idea is that every week, a member presents a recipe, then the rest of the group makes it and posts about it. It’s a small, curated group of people and I was honored to be asked to join. This week’s recipe is a naan, which works out well since I was going to make more aloo masala and bund gobi & mater anyway.

In the past couple of weeks, I also started canning for the season: I canned 7 pints and a half-pint of dill relish (plus an extra pint and half-pint into the fridge) using the large slicing cukes, and 6 jars (mostly half-pints) of plum jam using fruit from a friend's tree. Yesterday, Tadpole and I harvested a few quarts of blackberries at someone's house and I suspect a bunch of that will turn into something for Baitcon.

Non-food-related things are also happening in my life, but I’m not as committed to posting about them, I guess. Maybe after Tadpole starts school, I will see about trying to do daily posts for some period of time at least.

So much! I made a big batch of squash-potato latkes. Arugula pesto. A lot of basil pesto, because all that basil I got added up to a pound of leaves after trimming. Whoa. Also been using the grilled garlic scapes in hummus, mostly eaten with cucumber spears. Giant batch of marinated kale because that all was a lot of kale. I now have a crapton of onions so I think a big batch of caramelized onions to freeze is in order. (The pestos and leftover latkes are already frozen. The hummus doesn’t last long enough to freeze.)

Week 6

• 2 lbs Fava Beans
• 4 lbs Yukon Gold Potatoes
• 6 large Onions
• 6 assorted Summer Squash (Zucchini, Cousa, and Yellow)
• 6 Cucumbers
• 2 bunches Harukei Turnips (+greens)
• 2 bunches Kale
• 2 bunches Rabe
  = 29 lbs

Plus…

• 1 lb assorted color string beans (yellow, green, purple)
• 6oz snow peas
• 8oz sugar snap peas
• Bag mixed salad greens (including edible flowers)
• 6oz Basil leaves
• 1 bunch Rainbow Chard
• 1 bunch mixed Kale
• 1 bunch Green Onions
• 1 bunch Mexican Tarragon
• 1 bunch Dill
• 1 bunch Radishes
• 1 Cucumber
• 3 Squash (1 Zucchini, 1 Cousa, 1 Costata Romanesco)
  = 8 lbs

AND

So Wednesday, I made a big (had to borrow one of the ginormous bowls from the CH to fit it all) slaw-salad with shredded cabbage, carrots, last week's kohlrabi and harukei turnips, with a dijon balsamic vinaigrette. All leafy greens were sauteed with garlic. I marinated tofu, garlic scapes (does everyone know how amazing grilled garlic scapes are??), sliced zucchini, and walla walla onions, then grilled them all, and we had that over brown rice along with a sauce I made via reduction of the remaining marinade. Nom nom.

Thursday was a special treat: a Vietnamese family visiting the States who had stayed at a neighbor's house earlier in July came over to show us all how to make Vietnamese fried spring rolls (both meat and veg) and fresh spring rolls (shrimp or tofu) and also made (meat) pho while that was all going on. So that was a lovely dinner, even without the soup, though that was probably the best pho anyone here had ever had. I also had enough fresh rolls to provide breakfast on Friday. (And I could have made dozens more later Friday except we had to come out to the Berkshires for family stuff.)

Week 4

• 2 heads green Cabbages
• 2 bunches Walla Walla Onions (+tops)
• 2 bunches Carrots (tops removed)
• 2 bunches Beets (+greens)
• 2 heads Broccoli
• 2 heads Cauliflower
• 10 Summer Squash (Zucchini and Cousa)
• 2 lbs Fava Beans
  = 29 lbs

Minimal bonus veggies this week because everyone picked up their shares in-house and there also wasn't much in the way of general extras, but I was given two bunches of green onions. Between those, the turnips I kept, the remaining cabbage, and the carrots, there will be a new batch of kimchi started when I get back home.

( Week 1 )

We've been eating lots of salad. Much of the peas were munched raw -- Tadpole was very excited to see them. One evening, a friend came over to cook dinner (ftr, I totally welcome more friends like that :) and I was supposed to have planned a veggie but completely forgot. As luck would have it, she was sautéing marinated shitake, so when those came out, I tossed the sugar snap peas in and cooked them every so briefly in the super-hot cast iron pan. Oh wowowow. I am psyched that we have extra marinade because I know what I want to do with the new batch now.

( Week 2 )

In addition to all of that, neighbors gave us spares from their farm shares, which included a head of purple lettuce, a bunch of rainbow chard, a bunch of kale, some fresh mint, two kohlrabi with greens, 2 bunches garlic scapes, and a few stalks of rhubarb. Getting everything into the fridge was a challenge -- we really have to cook tomorrow!

Among other things, I am planning for zucchini (cousa being close enough) basil soup, since my basil is doing well, too. And salad. I need to make up a batch of the awesome Caesars dressing and just keep it in a jar in the fridge. And my salad/slaw.

Meanwhile, we still have some leftovers lentils from Sunday, when we cooked the community dinner. The menu was Caesar Salad (except just romaine, no kale), Snobby Joes, and six varieties of homemade popsicles (three boozy, three not). In addition, we did a bonus veggie using all the cooking green from Week 1 as well as additional greens neighbors gave us to add in. It was a yummy, well-received meal.