The “Tell”- Springdell Summer CSA Pickup #11 2

 in Springdell Show and Tell  tagged Tell by (updated 1529 days ago)

Hi everyone, Jess here to talk about some farm goodies!  Apologies for any formatting errors that may ensue, I’m sitting in a soggy tent with spotty wi-fi as I type this. More on that later, it’s time for this week’s “Tell” of the Springdell Show and Tell!  Let’s recap this week’s yummies, shall we?


  • Johnny Putt Farm Microgreens (mild mix and ruby radish)
    • Tossed with Massaged Purple Kale and a Nama Shoyu Sauce
    • Ricotta Salad
  • Eggs

  • 1 bunch of zinnias

Picked up from the farm stand, we have:

  • 1 box Tomatoes 
  • 1 Box Peaches
    • Canned Peaches in Ultra-Light Syrup (using a recipe from Ball Preserving cookbook)
    • Peach Tomatillo Salsa

What a week! Lots to get to so without dilly dally, I’m not even sure I can fit it all into one post, let’s see what we’ve been up to!

With the presence of all these salsa-friendly ingredients, we’ve been having Mexican inspired dishes this week. Meatless Monday we found ourselves enjoying meatless “Mexican Crumbles” (from a vegan company in Western, MA), and CSA box goodies on flour tortillas.

On Tuesday I took half of a Springdell kielbasa and recreated a meal that I grew up with, Nan’s “boiled dinner”.  

Basically, you boil your kielbasa and during different moments in the process, you throw in cabbage quarters, onion, potatoes and carrots, and the kielbasa flavors everything. I have always found this meal to be bland, but put enough butter, mustard and kraut on it and it transforms into something quite yummy.  Plus, Nan loved that I made her recipe.

On Wednesday I worked with the other half of the kielbasa to make Caldo Verde (from Williams-Sonoma), a Portuguese inspired soup with ribbons of collard greens and potatoes. Instead of broth, I had saved Tuesday’s kielbasa water to substitute the chicken broth in the recipe.   

Speaking of broth, over the course of a couple of days, my stove was simmering beef bone broth from Springdell Beef Bones. It looked quite messy and delicious by the end.

Here is the stock settling so I can skim the oil off the top before freezing it up. A gallon of this stuff would cost you almost 20 dollars in the market, yet I was able to make it all for 2 dollars, plus I’d argue it’s more nutritious, flavorful and ethical!

On Thursday, I tried a Lazy Chiles Rellenos recipe from the Pioneer Woman (using fresh roasted poblanos instead of the canned). I must say, it seemed to be just as much work to me as non-lazy Chile Rellenos, and not nearly as satisfying. I’ll stick with my original recipe.  Meanwhile, fellow Springdellian Alissa W. tested and approved this recipe from Mario Batali, (using less cheese and extra peppers) which looks and sounds divine!  I’ll definitely be trying this one the next time that poblanos roll around!

Thursday night was admittedly an all-nighter, preserving everything that was left on my counter before our final camping trip of the season. I made a giant batch of peach tomatillo salsa to freeze. This stuff is another welcome sight in the winter. I realized I don’t have a specific recipe for this as I work mostly to taste depending on the peaches, but I’ll get to work on posting the rough ratios.  

After the weather had negatively effected the peach crops these last couple of years, I was so grateful to have preserved so many.  I replenished the pantry and freezer this week with this year’s bumper crop, you know, just in case.

The 25 pound box of tomatoes found it’s way into the mason jars one by one.  

Peeling each of them is actually a cinch if you plunge them from boiling water into cold water to loosen the skin. It will slip right off easily! This works with peaches too (though the skin slipped off the ripe peaches easy so I didn’t bother with this method for the peaches this time around.

Peach Bellinis helped to keep the canning party going through the wee hours.  Each batch of tomatoes takes 85 minutes to process when you raw-pack them (hence the all-nighter), so I kept myself busy in between.

Tomato Jam is a new thing I tried this year with all my cherry tomatoes!  I love it because you need not peel the tomatoes (could you imagine the nightmare of peeling cherry tomatoes?) I went with this no-pectin recipe, and the flavors are truly lovely, like a piccalilli or red relish!  I’ll sub this for ketchup here and there this coming year.

I had some purple kale and microgreens left so I decided to bring them camping. I mixed up a Nama Shoyu sauce (with ginger, tahini, soy and garlic) into a little container.  I put the greens into a ziplock bag, and when it was time to eat, I tossed the sauce into the ziploc with the greens, sealed up the bag and shook it to distribute the dressing evenly. Instant salad!  I was able to eat this while my kids enjoyed their PB&Js, and all was right in the world.

This annual family camping trip is one I take with La Leche League on LLLabor Day weekend, its become a tradition and this marked our fifth year of attendance. Though most of the 20-ish families that attend are well beyond their nursing years (this year marks the 40th year of this tradition, and many of the founding members still attend), it’s an eclectic group of families whose company we enjoy greatly.  While the kids frolic and reconnect, the LLL mothers sit around the communal picnic table and catch up. While some knitted, I chopped my remaining pile of CSA ingredients into a ziploc bag.  I shook it all up with a squeeze of lime and set it aside.

At dinnertime, I browned some Springdell ground beef with cumin and chili powder and made some “rustic” corn tortillas (aka no tortilla press) with masa. Topping it with some cheddar and the impromptu salsa made for another delicious meal!  The kids enjoyed the CSA honeydew in lieu of the salsa, which was ok because my other half and I were totally shoveling it.

Lots of good ideas have been coming in from the farm family which is always great!  Let me mention a few.

In lieu of the traditional tomato mozzarella basil balsamic Caprese Salad, I tried to substitute the tomatoes for peaches. This was on the suggestion of a fellow Springdellian, and I am blanking on who I was chatting with about it. If it was you, please let me know so I can give you proper credit, as I just spent the better part of a half hour searching cyberspace and can’t figure out when or with whom this conversation took place. It must be the canning sleep deprivation kicking in…  Anyhow I put the peaches and mozzarella under a broiler to melt the cheese and flavor the peach, and it was uniquely scrumptious, so thank you!

Meanwhile in Pennsylvania, Sarah sent me this beauty to share!  She took one ripe juicy summer peach, mixed it with a ripe avocado and sprinkled it with kosher salt before serving with cinnamon sugar pita chips!  Sounds simply yummy, thanks for checking in ,Sarah!

Fellow Springdellian Caite C. shared a yummy looking dressing that uses garlic basil and parsley from the shares.  Check it out!

My internet is getting pretty spotty, so I’ll sign off for now.  Thank you for the ideas, and for allowing me to share mine as well! Hope you have a great night, and I’ll see you back here tomorrow for the 12th “Show” of the Springdell Show and Tell!

 

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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