Hello, everyone! The chilly rains are upon us, Halloween is but moments away, and we’ll be seeing the last share box of the Summer CSA tomorrow. It has been an amazing 20 weeks and we are most grateful to have had the opportunity to share our kitchens with you! Thank you for reading, your loyalty, and the sharing of your own experiences from which we all learn and grow! Let’s take a look at the “tell” of the Springdell Show and Tell, and share how we used the items from the 19th share box of the season:
- apples
- Cranberry Apple Crisp
- Cranberry Apple Hand Pies
- Chicken with Caramel Apple Cranberry Sauce (see below)
- Sweet and enjoyed as-is
- Gluten Free Apple, Pear, and Coconut Crisp
- cranberries
- Wilted Spinach with Honeyed Cranberries and Balsamic Glaze
- Cranberry Apple Crisp
- Cranberry Apple Hand Pies
- Chicken with Caramel Apple Cranberry Sauce (see below)
- Frozen for later use
- acorn squash
- Roasted and Pureed
- Broccoroni and Cheese
- In cold storage
- baby spinach
- green cabbage
- In cold storage
- potatoes
- Oven Fries
- Mashed Tater & Broccoli Ebelskivers (work in progress, will report back once Jess fine-tunes)
- Baked potatoes for lunches
- Chicken and Leek Casserole
- broccoli
- Broccoroni & Cheese
- Steamed with Parmesan (in both Jess and Sarah’s household)
- dumpling squash
- In cold storage
- red cabbage
- In cold storage
- poblanos from the swap box (Jess only)
- In grown-up version of Broccoroni and Cheese
All veggie scraps composted unless otherwise noted.
We look forward to tomorrow’s grand finale share box of the Summer CSA season. In the meantime, here’s a word from Jess.
As I moved through a day full of bus stops, piano lessons, and Halloween parties, I couldn’t stop thinking about dinner. The boys were having leftover Halloween yummies, so I could cook a bit of a grown-up meal for me and my husband tonight. I had 2 Springdell chicken wings thawing in the fridge, and wanted to dress them up somehow. I recalled a caramel apple pork chop dish I had made a few years back…
It was sweet and creamy, but I found it just a tad too sweet for dinnertime. Maybe I could use the tart cranberries somehow in a similar sauce for the chicken? Time was also of the essence, I only had about 30 minutes to pull something off without throwing off schedules.
The nice thing about Springdell chickens is that you can make a hearty meal out of just the chicken wings. Eight minutes in the pressure cooker with salt, pepper, and a bit of chicken stock and they were tender and ready. A quick trip under the broiler before serving would crisp up the chicken.
Meanwhile, I worked on the sauce concoction. I took 2 cups of cleaned cranberries placed them in a single layer in a baking pan. Next I covered it with 1/2 cup packed brown sugar.
On top of that, I layered a few thinly sliced apples and thin slices of butter (about 1 tablespoon worth). Into the oven at 350 for about 20-25 minutes.
Here it was after 10 minutes, I gave it a stir.
Here we are at 20 minutes, looking good!
The final 5 minutes added a nice deep color to this caramel sauce.
It was a lovely dressing for the chicken. The cranberries brought the right amount of tartness, and with the sweet apples I could have even cut back on the sugar a little more, but it was great as it was, too. I love it when a plan comes together!
I took the meat off my chicken wing and dressed it up with the carrots and spinach in a bowl. If you’re a parent, you’re probably well aware of those hurried meals that you scarf down whilst standing at the kitchen counter? I must say that this was the best stand-up meal I’ve had in a while!
I have big ideas for the excess cranberries and apples from tonight’s dinner experiment. It took all my willpower to keep from eating this whole cup for dessert. I might make it into a peanut butter and cran-apple sandwich tomorrow, we’ll see. It’s yummy stuff.
Thanks for tuning in, and see you tomorrow, everyone!