The “Tell” Springdell Spring CSA pickup #5 2

Hi everyone, Jess and Sarah here to bring you the almost final spring CSA pickup of the season (one more left!)  It’s always an exciting time ’round these parts.  The veggies will begin to transform from the springy dark greens to lighter greens, then the rainbow burst of peak summer color and abundance of flavors. Finally, we’ll see those warm and comfy reds, oranges and yellows of the autumn season before reaching into the storage crates and chest freezers of winter.  Let’s not rush things, though!  Next week is only the beginning of the summer CSA season, and such an exciting time of year!  

For all of you that are new to the Springdell CSA, hopefully you’ve had your orientation with Farmer Jamie and the Springdell crew.  If you’re new to CSA365, we encourage you to take about 5 minutes to watch the 3 videos on our home page (just click on the 3 circles, one for each video, so that you can familiarize yourself with the different tools that we hope to offer through this blog.  We look forward to experiencing the season with you, and thank you for joining us!  

Meanwhile, let’s chat about our final Spring CSA pickup. It’s relatively small as it’s at the very end of the spring season, but what it lacks in size is made up in taste!

•  Spinach
  • Salads
  • Added to pasta salads
  • Snacked on as-is
  • Spring Shrimp Scampi
• Eggs
  • Morning scramble
  • Poached with asparagus
  • Used to make strawberry muffins
• Asparagus
  • Roasted
  • Steamed and served with poached eggs
  • Some quick blanched and frozen for when those spring veggie cravings kick in 
  • Some quick blanched and tossed in an omelette
  • Spring Shrimp Scampi

Let’s sneak a quick peek into Jess’ kitchen for the week:

Hi there, Jess here! As I prep for the Strawberry Festival happening next week, keeping things simple in the kitchen was a bit of a necessity. I must admit that Meatless Monday was a relatively uninspired no-brainer in my kitchen (nonetheless delicious).  

I quick blanched the 3 bunches of asparagus as soon as I got home and tossed one of the bunches into omelettes with Parmagiano Reggiano.  Sometimes just simple is just fine, especially when working with fresh and delicious stuff!

The other two bunches were bagged and tagged before heading to the chest freezer.  It’s the end of the season and I want to save a springtime souvenir, if you will.

Tuesday I enjoyed my second to last bag of fresh-frozen summertime 2016 tomato sauce.  Mixed with Springdell ground beef, my family craves this dinner.  

Wednesday has officially become seafood day in our house with Jordan Brothers in town!  We had a piece of halibut for Nan and the boys, and Shrimp Scampi with wilted spinach and asparagus for Glen and I.  Unfortunately I only snapped one photo of the fish before it (and the scampi) was devoured.  

Thursday dinner was a lightly floured and pan seared pork chop with the last container of fall applesauce and a simple side salad. The chop takes very little time as Springdell pork is much leaner than what you’d find at the supermarket. In some cases, the lean quality of this honest-to-goodness pork can cut conventional cooking times in half! The shorter cooking time makes it ideal for use in a weeknight meal.  These chops are scrumptious!

I didn’t ration the applesauce very well this season as I didn’t anticipate my younger son’s affinity for it. (He could suck down a pint of the stuff at every meal and go back for more!) Luckily, we still have “Apple Pie in a Jar” left for the eating. Hopefully this will sate us until apple season rolls back around.  

We just got home from dinner and a movie, so no cooking this evening. However, I wanted to share a quick pic of these lovely biscuits from Donelans that I was fortunate enough to taste test this week.  We’ll be covering a bigger version of these biscuits with freshly mashed strawberries and cream at the Strawberry Festival next Saturday!  Weather permitting, Springdell will also have a booth of fresh strawberries at the festival.  Perhaps you can join us (a shameless plug for a good cause), it’s a fun day!  

Here’s a quick look into Sarah’s kitchen this week:

This was a leftover pasta that I added asparagus, spinach and some cheese cubes for a quick lunch.

Some simple asparagus roasted with some sea salt.

Roasted asparagus with poached eggs and Mozzarella, awesome fresh dinner.

We look forward to spending the week with you, see you back here soon!