The “Tell” – Springdell Winter CSA Pickup #3 4

 in Friends of Fat Moon / Springdell Show and Tell  tagged Tell by (updated 2997 days ago)

Happy holidays to you! As our second year of CSA365 comes to a close, our gratitude continues as we have a trustworthy bounty of wholesome food at our fingertips.  We need not worry about catchy labels that say “now with real (insert ingredient here)” or “no high fructose corn syrup” or “certified humane”, as we know the story of our food source.  We very much look forward to continuing our quest to let no veggie go unloved, and to explore different ways to feed our collective farm family throughout the year.  Your support of this cause has been tremendous, and really keeps us going.

As it’s been three weeks since our last winter pickup, we have LOTS to talk about, so we’ll get right to it!

Here’s what we’ve been up to:

  • Springdell meat products 
    • Jess used hamburger ends in American Chop Suey
    • Suet used in the bird feeder
    • Winter Holiday Brunch
    • Pan seared pork chops
    • Beef Bone stock
    • Steaks!
    • crumbled bacon
  • Jordan Brothers Fish
    • Oven Baked Haddock “Fish Sticks” (recipe pending)
  • Fat Moon Shiitake Mushrooms
    • Shiitake Mushroom Satay

Check out the latest updates on the veggie scope:

  • Tomatillos
  • Peaches
  • Honeydew Melon
  • Shell Beans

Here’s the whirlwind trip through Jess’ kitchen:

I started the week by stopping at the Jordan Brothers Seafood truck which frequents the Springdell parking lot.  I was fortunate to get there early enough to grab some haddock, and made some “fish sticks”.  Baked in panko and local Four Star Farm Corn Meal, it was a fish stick I could feel good about giving to my kids.  Served with sweet potato fries.  

Here’s a shot of the Slow Cooker Massaman Curry that I’ve fallen in love with. The mild and flavorful spice combo and peanutty flavor is one of my favorite ways to enjoy the winter squash bounty.

Some Fat Moon Shiitake Mushroom Satay made a great appetizer for this Meatless Monday meal.  Crispy and peanutty in all the right places!

Apologies for the shadow in this pic, I was working quickly as the family was chanting for this family favorite, American Chop Suey! It’s Nan’s recipe, simply summer tomatoes, ground beef and your pick of pasta.  Nan throws in a few twists that I’ll share about soon.  

Now that the bears are hibernating, I can put my suet feeder back out! The woodpeckers especially love to frequent this feeder during the winter. Check out this link to learn more about one of my favorite hidden jewels at Springdell!

A hearty dinner of a pan seared Springdell Pork Chop with Mashed Potatoes and Maple touched Hubbard squash.  I made a gravy with the pan drippings but decided to leave it for another meal.

My littlest son loves french fries but hates mashed potatoes. Luckily it doesn’t take much to toss some wholesome fries in the oven!

I played with my spiralizer a bit this week, tossing on some of Sarah’s famous roasted garlic dressing made with one of those beautiful bulbs we got at the last farm pickup. This was a great combo, but it’s really good on just about any veggie.  The rest of my beets were roasted and served with that yummy lettuce and a citrus vinaigrette made with that scrumptious grapefruit on Day 1 of our pickup (apologies that I ate it without taking a picture).

Remember that pork chop from above? A night later, I revived the pork gravy and tossed it with these sautéed onions and mushrooms.

The pork flavor really brought a special flavor to the mushroom onion combo that topped these hamburger ends and potatoes. The mashed Hubbard squash is clearly photobombing here.

One of my Delicata squashes was roasted up and needed some love. I tried a maple cream sauce and some toasted pecans with it. Delicious!

The family doesn’t care if these are pumpkin pies, acorn squash pies, or Hubbard squash pies. If it’s in pie form, they’ll eat it!

Here I am “sneaking” squash puree into this chili-based taco and burrito filling that we enjoyed throughout the week.

Squash adds a welcome sweet creaminess to this filling, which is so versatile that the only thing consistent in it is the spice combo I use (1 part cumin to three parts chili powder). This version contains ground beef, onion, black beans, squash puree chest freezer tomato sauce, and swap box jalapeños. Slap it in a tortilla, sprinkle it with cheese, and no one need be the wiser!

My oldest son has a weak spot for turkey pot pie (using the last of my frozen meat from our fresh Thanksgiving turkey). Though he has been off put by the blue color of the potatoes, he couldn’t resist them in his favorite dish;  It’s wonderful as the blue color packs an additional nutritional punch that I was previously unaware of!

Finally, here was the spread on Christmas morning at our household. It consisted of sweet potato hash, bacon, blueberry french toast and sausage casserole. I love that this meal takes so little prep the night before, but makes it look like I slaved for hours. I broke down how I prepare all four dishes, start-to finish, so that everything is easy to heat and serve with absolutely no fuss!  Check out more on this easy Winter Holiday Brunch!

Time to see what Sarah’s been up to!  Let’s take a peek in her kitchen:

Springdell bacon, Springdell eggs, all made up in a toasted bagel for an amazing start to the day.

I got these roasting on day one of the last pick-up, it made for a great stash to add into whatever these last few weeks.

This is a pic of the Mexican slaw I made for Sunday Night Dinner.

Warm grapefruit “steaks”, I actually made this one twice over the last few weeks.

This pic shows the creamy corn which is absolutely a must make, along side some Springdell steak, Yummy!

More steaks…this will never get old. Seared in a hot pan, toss in a little butter and some Worcester sauce.

Air popped corn with melted Amish roll butter and a sprinkle of salt, perfect for movie night.

Roasted beet tarts with crumbled feta and a balsamic glaze. These were both easy and delicious!

My last spaghetti squash was baked up and served with crumbled Springdell bacon.

Here’s a yummy pic from our own Farmer Jamie, who made stuffed pork chops this week!

See you all tomorrow for the next CSA winter pickup and the “show” post!  There are lots of things going on as we prepare for the new year!  

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4 thoughts on “The “Tell” – Springdell Winter CSA Pickup #3”

  • Reply ↓
    Julie

    Massaman curry was awesome! I found the actual curry at the asian market in Littleton, but you can also find it at Shaw’s in Groton – top shelf, though, look up!

    I think my squashes were bigger than yours because we needed more sauce. But I am learning. Thank you, after years of farmsharing, it’s hard to get excited about squash!

    • Reply ↓
      Jess

      Thanks so much for checking in, and so glad you liked it, Julie! You make a great point about the different squash sizes, in my testing this recipe the amount of squash to the amount of sauce varied greatly, and the squash sucked up the sauce even more in the leftovers.

      Glad you were able to locate the curry paste without issue too! We’ll continue to do our best to keep squash and other veggies exciting with the help of our fellow farm family, present company included! 🙂

  • Reply ↓
    vcrdmls

    Sometimes I can t tell the difference between the misfits and the fresh vegetables- but Jamie is so picky, she won t sell anything unless it s just picked .