The “Tell” – Springdell Summer CSA Pickup #8 2

 in Springdell Show and Tell / Westford Community Gardens  tagged Tell by

Hi everyone! Jess here with a recap of the 8th share box of the season.  What a wonderful week!  It rained, it was warm, it was cool, it was calm, it was busy… A lot like this share box, the week was a total variety!   

What a colorful bounty, and I even forgot to put the zinnias on the table for this pic!  So many lovely flavors ready to go!  Let’s talk about where all this food went.

  • 1 tote “early Mac” apples
    • Little guy is eating these as-is, he’s been eager to get his hands on a local apple for a while now.
  • 1 box “squished” peaches
    • Eaten as-is, a couple ripe ones tossed in smoothies

Remember to bring back those egg containers to the farm stand!

  • zinnias 

Remember that if you’re interested in a 2018 Spring CSA, you have 2 days left to sign up. It’s a 4-6 week commitment in the spring, and a great way to segue into the 2018 summer CSA!  Also, save the date for the upcoming Boston Fermentation Festival!  It’s a simple and healthy way to preserve those veggies for laster use!

It was a fabulous week of breakfast smoothies with kale, peaches and blueberries. A banana, kefir, and a scoop of protein powder were added to the mix. When you’re on the go, drinking a breakfast like this one is a yummy way to say “I love you” to your body. 

I was able to finally get the recipe for the Peach Galette typed up on Monday, hope you like it!

On  Tuesday, we enjoyed a T-Bone with grilled summer squash and peaches.  

The peach and the steak was a tender and flavorful combo!

On Wednesday, this lovely piece of Jordan Brothers fish was ready to be wrapped in foil and headed to the grill.

So tender it fell apart when I tried to transfer it off the foil.

It may not be pretty, but it’s delicious! A quick, easy and mess free dinner!

Penne with meat sauce made from Springdell ground beef and basil. My kids both love this combo (shh, don’t tell them there are green things in it!)

This Summer Veggie Eggy bake recipe was one I made up as I went along.  I sliced 2 small summer squash thinly, laying them in a buttered baking pan. Next I added 1 bunch of wilted chopped chard, (sautéed with 1 chopped onion and a few ribbons of basil). I poured on a whisked mixture of 1 cup cottage cheese, 6 eggs and about 1/2 cup milk or cream and a generous pinch of salt, over the veggies. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes or until set. Turn out carefully into a serving plate (so the squash ends up on top. Sprinkle with shredded cheese (this helps to hide any untoward parts of the bake) and serve! Fellow Springdellian Dena B. tried this, making hers with veggie sausage, and said it was great! 

My family loves these zucchini blueberry muffins adapted from I Am Baker. 3 dozen are in the freezer.

I had enough batter left over to make a cake, and added the lemon buttercream frosting.  You can see from my frosting job that I am not baker.

On Friday I was gearing up to make pizza.  Before thawing the dough, I had the zany idea to use our patty pan squashes as the crust!  It worked out great, except my littlest guy was missing his carbs.  

I’ve been getting a bumper crop of pickling cukes from the Community Garden.  I decided to jar and process them some to keep them a bit longer.  

It’s been so fun enjoying all this pickling goodness.  Tonight’s dinner had pickled zucchini stems and nubs. You can see them in the above pic as they still have spiralizing marks on them.  The red stuff in the middle is that beet and cabbage ferment from a few weeks ago, and below that is some pickled cabbage. Higher up on the plate are the refrigerator pickles, corn on the cob, and a Springdell Sweet Lamb Sausage.  Let’s take a closer look at that thing next to the corn hiding under the bacon.

It’s a grilled jalapeño popper!  I made a few of them different ways, and the bacon wrapped were my faves. Last week, I enjoyed cottage cheese and peaches together, and that inspired me to try cottage cheese and peaches in the popper filling.  A tomatillo from our community garden plot joined in the mix, as well as some sharp cheddar.  

These babies were spicy!If you want to minimize the spicy, be sure to clean out the seeds and ribs before adding the other ingredients AND WEAR GLOVES when working with these or any spicy pepper! I always try to be a hero and skip the gloves, and now my fingers are still burning as I type this. Not into spicy? Try these Tequila Shrimp instead!  This recipe uses the jalapeños in a marinade, and it gives a great and not too spicy flavor!

That’s it for me today. I’ll be working this week to get some of the straggler recipes posted.  Meanwhile, thanks for reading and I hope some of these ideas will inspire you! Please tune in tomorrow when we embark on our 9th Summer CSA voyage!  Until then, sweet and savory dreams!

About Jess

Jess Anderson is the creator of CSA|365 and is passionate about the local food movement. A long time member of Springdell and a busy mother of two, Jess loves keeping her family fed by honest local food.

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