Welcome back readers!  This week’s share featured some beautiful potatoes that Shana put to use right away:

I have been thinking about this recipe – good for this weird weather – a cool salad, so refreshing, but hearty for those of us who have been actively running around with the start of school and other busy fall activities. It highlights the beautiful purple potatoes, uses arugula, red onion, and apples which are in season now!  Enjoy!

Bob subscribes to a half share and was off this week, but he plans ahead week to week to stretch the CSA goodness:

I knew I would need a quick dinner one night this week so when I was making a stir-fry last week I decided to dice a bell pepper and half an onion for later use.  My plan was to make a western omelet using the CSA veggies and pair it with some of Griggstown Farm’s breakfast sausage.  I cannot recommend their sausage enough – it was so good.  Miles better than anything you can buy in the supermarket.  Paired with a few slices of toast and some of my homemade hot sauce, which was made from homegrown peppers and CSA onion and garlic, it was an easy and quick meal that had some CSA flair even in an off-week!

Serving Suggestions is a recurring article that will be posted weekly during the CSA season featuring photos, tips and recipes.  Content is provided by Jessica, Shana and Bob.  If you would like to submit your own photos or recipes, please email Bob at robertfcowper@gmail.com.  To read through previous Serving Suggestions articles, click here for an archive.  You can also use the handy search feature at the top of the right hand menu bar to search for the name of a particular ingredient you need help using.

Welcome back readers!  Sadly, tomato season has passed us by but hopefully you’re excited for all the great produce in today’s share.

A few weeks back, Shana shared a recipe for a ratatouille.  Bob was inspired and used a recipe he had just seen on an episode of America’s Test Kitchen for their Walkaway Ratatouille:

I was given a Le Creuset as a gift a few months ago and have been trying to find every excuse to use it.  I found this recipe as the perfect way to keep using it during the Summer.  The portions received in today’s CSA pickup are perfect – two eggplants, two squash, a few peppers and plenty of onion.  If you have a big enough pot, don’t by shy and make a double or 1.5 batch – the pot will be super full when you put it in the oven but it’ll cook down.  I have served it a number of ways from fresh, leftover and even frozen: mixed with leftover rice, served over pasta as a chunky sauce or served plain with bread and an over-easy egg.  No matter how you serve it, it’s great.  I have made it with both fresh tomatoes and canned and honestly I would rather use the canned and save any good late tomatoes for another use.  The original recipe is behind the America’s Test Kitchen paywall but a free version is available here.

Do you have hot pepper plants in your backyard or on your porch?  Or maybe you load up on the hot peppers from the extras box and aren’t sure what to do with them all?  Bob has been finding himself in the same spot throughout the Summer:

The answer to my pepper overabundance is obviously hot sauce!  I have so many random bottles in the fridge and thought why not just make my own?  Here’s a simple and ingredient-light recipe from The Pioneer Woman.

Shana’s daughter had a special request this week:

My daughter requested that we get the purple cabbage this week so I had to oblige!  So I tossed it with the arugula, red peppers and salad turnips and made a quick salad as a side to my BLT.  Bacon courtesy of Wrong Direction, lettuce from this weeks romaine share and tomatoes form my garden. It was delicious and easy!

Below are a few awesome recipes from one of my favorite food blogs that incorporate many of the CSA ingredients (jalapeños, cabbage, red peppers, onions, cilantro). Enjoy!

• Coconut Slaw
• Quick Quesadillas
• Mexican Green Salad

Serving Suggestions is a recurring article that will be posted weekly during the CSA season featuring photos, tips and recipes.  Content is provided by Jessica, Shana and Bob.  If you would like to submit your own photos or recipes, please email Bob at robertfcowper@gmail.com.  To read through previous Serving Suggestions articles, click here for an archive.  You can also use the handy search feature at the top of the right hand menu bar to search for the name of a particular ingredient you need help using.

Welcome back readers!  Sorry Serving Suggestions had a brief hiatus this Summer but we are back with some great recipes for you today.

Shana has been pairing her Wrong Direction Farm orders with her CSA veggies:

I’ve been having a lot of fun cooking ground pork (or sausage) from Wrong Direction Farm with onions, cabbage and peppers from our share for a comforting meal that makes great leftovers. The cabbage cooks down a lot, is low- calorie and adds a nice crunch to the meal to oppose the soft ground pork. I even toss in tomatoes sometimes for more acid.

For hotter days (not to be found this summer!) I love a crunchy cabbage salad, but sometimes feel unsatisfied with a typical vinegar dressing. This recipe uses a yummy Thai peanut dressing that nicely compliments the cabbage!

Need a new salad recipe?  Try this one for a Mexican Green Salad with Jalapeno Cilantro Dressing.

Speaking of jalapenos, Bob has been making use of some from the CSA “extras” box as well as a prolific pepper plant on his front porch.  The number of peppers was a bit overwhelming so he decided to try something new:

I have purchased jars of pepper jelly in the past and found it to be a versatile condiment.  It’s good with some cream cheese and crackers as an easy appetizer (and was a hit at a recent family party).  Or for an easy one pot meal, brown some boneless cubed chicken breast, add in some sliced bell pepper near the end, add in a hefty tablespoon of pepper jelly and a heavy squeeze of dijon, stir to combine and let heat through, serve over leftover rice or with a salad.  The recipes I found for pepper jelly varied widely but this one seemed to be the easiest.

Since it’s a cool and rainy Summer night, you might also want to try a soup, here’s a suggestion from Bob:

Whenever I get leeks in my CSA share, I like to cut, clean and freeze them right away.  I slice them in half, keeping the root end on so it’s easier to handle, and cut them into inch wide semi-circles.  Then, I rinse and soak them repeatedly, at least three different changes of the soaking water, and then dry in my salad spinner.  I bag the cut leeks and put in the freezer so I have a quick base for my favorite Potato and Leek Soup. Bonus points if you use CSA potatoes too!

If you’re looking for an interesting way to use your corn, Shana has two ideas:

I’ve been making salad with raw corn since I first started doing CSA’s many years ago. Fresh, organic corn is sweet and has a delicate texture and adds something special to salads. I tossed it this week with kale, tomatoes, peppers and carrots.

I also did a “grill pie” with the corn which came out beautifully. I love using a bechamel garlic sauce on a pizza- it’s different and lighter in flavor so the csa veggies get to shine. Grilled dough has a certain crispness that I don’t find with oven cooked pizza. This weeks’ pie included grilled eggplant, peppers, corn, Wrong Direction’s fuet, and mushrooms- it was yummy!

Serving Suggestions is a recurring article that will be posted weekly during the CSA season featuring photos, tips and recipes.  Content is provided by Jessica, Shana and Bob.  If you would like to submit your own photos or recipes, please email Bob at robertfcowper@gmail.com.  To read through previous Serving Suggestions articles, click here for an archive.  You can also use the handy search feature at the top of the right hand menu bar to search for the name of a particular ingredient you need help using.

Another great mid-Summer share this week with tomatoes and peppers taking center stage.  Shana decided to use some of her peppers on a grilled pizza:

If you haven’t tried it yet, grilling a pizza is the closest I think to real brick oven taste and texture and it takes literally a few minutes to cook (so be careful and on top of it when grilling!!). I used our peppers, onions, garlic and herbs for this pie, but eggplant on pizza is also absolutely delicious (I know it sounds weird but trust me- cook it first- grilled or roasted). Enjoy!

Bob was going away on vacation shortly after the CSA pickup so he decided to do some Tuesday prep work that would pay off after vacation when nobody wants to go grocery shopping:

The tomatoes and lettuce were easy to use up before vacation but I knew the peppers, zucchini and beans would be tough.  Luckily the potatoes, garlic, beets and cabbage would keep just fine until we were home.  I chopped the peppers and zucchini into bite-size pieces and froze them; same with the beans, I snipped off the ends and cut in half.  I plan on using the frozen veggies, some broth from the pantry, tomato paste and leftover pasta to make a quick soup the night after we come home from vacation.  There’s nothing worse than that first day back home when nothing is in the fridge and you don’t want to go grocery shopping – hopefully this solves that problem!

Serving Suggestions is a recurring article that will be posted weekly during the CSA season featuring photos, tips and recipes.  Content is provided by Jessica, Shana and Bob.  If you would like to submit your own photos or recipes, please email Bob at robertfcowper@gmail.com.  To read through previous Serving Suggestions articles, click here for an archive.  You can also use the handy search feature at the top of the right hand menu bar to search for the name of a particular ingredient you need help using.

The tomatoes are here, the tomatoes are here!  Shana decided to use some of hers for a ratatouille:

I’m sure many of you will agree that there’s not much better than the beginning of CSA tomato season! And this week’s tomatoes were delicious. Whenever I get eggplant, peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, and onions, I just have to make ratatouille. There are many different ways to make ratatouille and I think they’re all pretty good but nothing comes close to Julia Child’s ratatouille recipe. Like everything else, she instructs you to have patience and take time to sauté each ingredient separately. Her recipe excels in the way that they stew together at the end so that instead of individual vegetables they all come together into a pot of deliciousness.  Happy cooking!

Bob, whose half share did not have a pick up this week, wasn’t lucky enough to take part in the tomatoes but still put some leftover beets from last week to good use:

I wanted to try something new with beets.  Whenever I am looking for something different, I check the NY Times Cooking section first.  They always seem to have some interesting takes on ingredients and their recipe search feature is very functional (I love being able to filter by cuisine type).  I decided to try this recipe for a Garlicky Beet Spread with Yogurt, Dill and Horseradish.  I modified the recipe by peeling and cutting the beets before roasting to make them easier to handle.  I was able to make it on Sunday when I had time to roast and cool the beets and hold it until midweek to serve aside latkes.  After a few days in the fridge I felt it needed a hit of some extra horseradish, a splash of vinegar and a sprinkle of salt.  It was very earthy and unlike anything I’ve really had before.  A little goes along way so plan to use it with a few meals during the week or you’ll end up wasting some of the leftovers.

Welcome back readers!  Another week and another great share.  If you haven’t checked out the “extras” box when picking up your share, you should!  Both Bob and Shana have suggestions this week for what you can do with those “extras” if you picked any up.  First up, Shana and jalapenos:

Fellow CSA members, your patience has paid off!  This week brings the best share we have had yet with the first appearances of fingerling potatoes, carrots and peppers.  You might already have some standby recipes for your favorites in this week’s box, but if you do need a new idea, Shana is here to help:

Nightshade time!  This may be my favorite CSA time of the year. We are still getting greens, but not in such huge quantities and the nightshade family (my favorite) is making its debut.  Eggplant, peppers and tomatoes (soon to come) abound and the cooking possibilities explode!

I used to watch Jess make a quick dish of sautéed onions, peppers and sausage for her family and that has now become a regular in my household.  I use Wrong Direction’s Sweet Italian sausage, which is incredible, de-case it, brown it and add onions, peppers and this week I even added some of the bitter dandelion greens – yum!

Beets are here!  Both Shana and Bob are excited to put this week’s beets to good use.  Here’s Shana’s take:

Sorry for the late, and short, post this week.  We were a bit thrown off by the holiday this week.  Back to normal next week!

The run of leafy greens continues!  Fear not, those of you who are getting tired of salads for dinner, we’ll have some more veggies joining the mix soon (last year the first July delivery brought fennel, broccoli and cucumbers).  A new addition in this week’s share was frisee which may be less familiar than the other greens.  Shana shares her thoughts on frisee:

For the last several years I’ve avoided this one at the CSA or put it in the back of my fridge hoping to like it better.  Then I started having digestive issues and my nutritionist said – “Eat more bitters!”  They are really good for reducing inflammation and improving gut health.  So, I’ve been chopping them finely and eating them in heapfuls in my salad!  One thing I found to help reduce the “harshness” of bitters, both in flavor and texture, is to add tahini to a salad.  It’s creamy, high in protein and good fats and is a really nice addition.  Happy eating!

To help support the plea from her nutritionist, Shana did some further research and came across the following information about frisee:

Frisee is a salad green in the chicory family, along with Belgian endive, radicchio, and escarole. Also called curly endive, frisee lettuce has long, narrow leaves which are extremely curly. They shroud the more tender whitish stalks and yellow branches. The leaves are usually a pale to bright green, although they can have reddish hues along the edges. Frisee can be described as a bitter salad green, although it also has a slightly nutty taste.

What is the nutritional value of frisee? A green leafy vegetable, frisee is packed with nutrients, and very low in calories. It is an excellent source of folic acid, vitamin A and vitamin C, with approximately one third the daily recommended amount of each, in a single serving. Frisee lettuce is also a good source of vitamin K, and manganese.  Its vitamin A content maintains healthy eyes, moistens the skin, and acts as an antioxidant, neutralizing free radicals in the body that would otherwise damage cells Vitamin C is also a powerful antioxidant. It is necessary for the synthesis of collagen, and immune health. Vitamin K’s primary role is to prevent blood loss by forming blood clots, but it also helps to link calcium to bone. Folic acid is involved with a number of reactions, including energy production, and nerve cell development. It is one of the most essential nutrients for a healthy pregnancy. Manganese as well serves a number of functions, from body metabolism to brain health.

Like Shana, Bob likes to pre-wash and cut his frisee into smaller bite size pieces and add them to each salad he makes throughout the week, rather than trying to eat the frisee on its own.  In fact, Bob decided to use Shana’s tip from last week and washed, cut and bagged all of this week’s greens right away on Tuesday.  It may take extra time on CSA pickup day but you’ll be happy you did all the prep later in the week when you can easily throw together a side salad alongside grilled meat or maybe as an entree with your favorite toppings.

After countless vinaigrette topped dressings this month, Bob decided it was time to try something new:

I stumbled upon a homemade ranch recipe from BarefeeintheKitchen.com.  It was quickly whipped up using things I already had on hand – sour cream, mayo, buttermilk, vinegar, some herbs and spices – and proved to be a nice change of pace.  Sure it’s not the healthiest salad dressing but it was homemade and if it helps use up some of those greens, I say go for it!  The bottom of the blog post for the recipe had a few links to other dressings from the site.  Some are more involved than others, including this fantastic looking Creamy Mango Chipotle Salad Dressing, but plan ahead when grocery shopping this weekend and plan to use it next week with a few meals to make it worth the time, effort and ingredients.

That’s it for this week – thanks for reading and we’ll see you again next week!

Serving Suggestions is a recurring article that will be posted weekly during the CSA season featuring photos, tips and recipes.  Content is provided by Jessica, Shana and Bob.  If you would like to submit your own photos or recipes, please email Bob at robertfcowper@gmail.com.  To read through previous Serving Suggestions articles, click here for an archive.  You can also use the handy search feature at the top of the right hand menu bar to search for the name of a particular ingredient you need help using.