Hi everyone, Jess here. Hope you are having a great summer! If you have kids, you’re probably starting to feel your summer winding down. From a CSA perspective, we’re just about half-way through! 
Lots of good looking colors in this pickup!
- butter and sugar corn
- corn on/off the cob
- yellow onion
- grilled veggies
- heirloom okra
- classic peaches
- enjoyed as-is
- salad cucumbers
- sliced and enjoyed as-is and in simple salads
- sungold tomatoes
- roasted with panko & okra
- in simple salads
- beefsteak tomatoes
- sliced and enjoyed as-is
- hot peppers
- one finely chopped to enjoy with okra, others stored
- amethyst basil
- basil chiffonade, sprinkled on veggies before grilling, in salads, even with peaches
- kale
- big plans for kale pancakes, but into the freezer for smoothies instead
- classic carrots
- blanched, and enjoyed as-is
- watermelon
- sliced and enjoyed as-is
- watermelon popsicles
- peaches
- sliced and enjoyed as-is
rainbow chard
- blanched and enjoyed with salt and butter
- head lettuce
- simple salad
eggs
- enjoyed with a ham steak
Gladiolas! (pictured from this week AND last week) still beautiful!!!
Doesn’t this table just scream “summer”?
We started out the week with heirloom okra, a crop that Farmer Jonathan is overseeing in the high tunnels. If you’ve never worked with okra (I haven’t), cooking it different ways produces very different reactions. A common ingredient in gumbo and stews, okra can emit a slime (mucilage) that folks use to thicken their dishes. An option You can sear it with some sort of acid involved (wine, tomatoes) to keep it from sliming up.
I opted to roast the okra with the CSA cherry tomatoes. The flavor of the okra was yummy, kind of a cross between eggplant and green beans. I added one of the hot peppers to my dish to spice it up.
A couple of Fellow Springdellians had some other delicious looking suggestions, Sharon M. shared an okra and tomatoes recipe that her mother enjoys, AND involves bacon! I don’t even have this veggie in Veggiescope yet, so I’ll get on it as soon as I can!
The rest of the week was pretty simple reruns. Blanched corn and carrots made a simple side for Jordan Brother’s baked cod.
I had a plan to have beautiful green kale pancakes in this picture, but alas when I went to pull the milk out of the fridge, I realized the container had only one sip left. Apparently, I live with those boys, and have some corrective parenting to do… Anyway, the ham steak and eggs were still delicious by themselves! Breakfast for dinner is always a hit!
This week I picked a big sunflower from the Community Garden plot, we had our open house Thursday and the kids all had fun picking at the seeds. We left it on the table and as it dries, it is slowly disappearing, along with the tomatoes and cukes.
I had a bunch of peppers, also from our Community Garden plot, and I mixed them with one of the onions, some ribbons of purple basil, oil and salt. Foil packets make for a quick and easy grilling.
Jordan Brothers salmon, marinated beef tips, and the veggies made for a simple and delicious cookout plate.
We were enjoying the watermelon as-is, but to mix it up we pureed some and made a few popsicles. Summer 2.0!
A lot of times my chard ends up in this recipe, as my mother loves it. This week, Nan and I enjoyed it boiled with salt and butter, and it tasted like the better parts of my childhood.
That’s about it this week! I’m keeping it short and sweet, using some of the extra time to enter some new recipes and Veggiescope info. Meanwhile, thank you for reading, see you back here shortly for the 9th “Show” of the summer’s Springdell Show and Tell!