Summer Week Fourteen

Have you ever had one of those weeks when you were so busy it felt like your head was spinning? That was me last week. My head felt like a bad carousel ride that you just couldn’t turn off. I apologize for missing Week 13’s email - I hope you found some great ways to use your farm box.

When I sit down to write these posts each week, I imagine you. Sitting in your favorite chair. Reading my words and getting excited about the things you will eat in the coming week. I see you chopping and sauteing vegetables, plating up at your kitchen counter, and sitting together as a family eating the beautiful food you’ve prepared. I can almost taste your hard work!

The last two weeks’ farm share are an incredible portrayal of the coming of fall. Peaches are gone. Apples have taken their place. Corn and tomatoes are on their way out. The last of the eggplant is shining through. The red peppers, like leaves on the trees, announce cooler days ahead. Our meals are shifting from salads to soups - so let’s get started with some of my favorites!

Summer Week 14: What We Brought Home

apples, broccoli, carrots (with greens), celery (with leaves), corn, eggplant, italian roasting peppers, kale, lettuce, onions, potatoes, red bell peppers, string beans, tomatoes

Meal Ideas for the Week

Lately my favorite meals have been the ones we throw together at the last minute. The sheet pan is your best friend for this kind of thing. Last night I tossed broccoli, potatoes, eggplant, and string beans with some olive oil and salt and pepper and roasted them until crispy. I threw some celery leaves, basil, mint, oregano and carrot greens in the food processor with a garlic clove, a little lemon juice and salt, then added olive oil until it was sauce-like. It was a no-recipe recipe and simply delightful.

This Baked Orzo with Eggplant and Mozzarella is a terrific way to use up end-of-season eggplant and tomatoes, along with fall favorites like celery and carrots.

This week, I’m using lots of veggies to make Roasted Vegetable Stock. Although you can pressure can it, I typically just store it in plastic containers (like these*) and freeze it. It makes a delicious base for soup and stew in the cold winter months.

Speaking of soup, I roasted the last of our garden’s tomatoes yesterday for this Roasted Tomato Soup. We like to serve it with cheddar cheese toast or grilled cheese sandwiches. It really is one of the very best parts of September.

The arrival of celery screams pot pie to me. My kids love chicken pot pie but never eat the chicken, so last week I tried this Veggie Pot Pie instead. We used green beans instead of frozen peas and I cheated and used Pillsbury pie crust instead of making my own. It was a hit and will definitely be something I make again!

We’re heading to New York this coming week so most of our produce this week will be stored for when we get back. One of the great things about Fall produce is it tends to have a little longer shelf life than Summer produce. However, I am very excited to make one more Grilled Pepper Panzanella before we take off!

I’ll be picking up my farm share on Sunday of next week, so you can expect Week 15 sometime Monday or Tuesday.

If you’re still with me after 20 weeks of CSA goodness, thank you! I hope I’ve given you lots of yummy ideas. This week I’d love to hear from you. Comment below and tell me ….

What are your favorite easy meals for fall?

*External links may be affiliate links, which means if you choose to buy something I get a tiny (very tiny) commission. I’d love to tell you that it helps support my writing and cooking habits but the truth is it’s so small it barely even feels like money. But, I have to share the disclaimer.

Summer Week Twelve

It’s September and fall is making her presence known here in New England. We’re sleeping with the windows open and enjoying what we know will be some of the last hot sunny days before Jack Frost comes once again.

This week’s farm pickup included all the best things about late summer food: mounds of cauliflower, eggplant, red peppers and peaches. This week I’m embracing the final days of summer with every meal we eat.

Summer Week 12: What We Brought Home

basil, carrots (with greens), cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, green bell peppers, kale, okra, onions, peaches, red bell peppers, red lettuce, tomatillos, watermelon, zucchini

Meal Ideas for the Week

For breakfast, the Kale and Egg Taco will make its return every day this week. The cooler mornings make me appreciate the heartiness of kale and this meal always gives me the energy I need to push through the homeschool morning. I’m also making a batch of Pumpkin Zucchini muffins because the girls like to eat as soon as they wake up and I can’t think about food that early in the morning.

Our week is full of homeschool lessons, the return of afternoon activities, a new writing class, church meetings, and a new job for my husband so I am looking at fast and easy meals. Lunches will largely be grab and go sandwiches, snack plates or leftovers.

We returned home from vacation on farm pickup day, so I threw together a riff on these Cauliflower Quesadillas. I roasted cauliflower, red pepper and onion for 20 minutes or so at 450, then stuck it in a tortilla with some cheese and toasted it. I served them with peach salsa I canned a few weeks ago and it was a terrific welcome home meal.

Labor Day makes me want one final cookout for the year. I think I’m going to make Lamb & Veggie Kebabs using eggplant, zucchini, and onions with Grilled Flatbread to go with it. I may also make this Grilled Pepper Panzanella because it is my absolute favorite way to eat in the late summer.

Speaking of Panzanellas, this is a great week for this Late Summer Panzanella. Or if you want a chop and go option, this Summer’s Last Hurrah is also fantastic.

I want to make Red Beans & Rice this week with Fresh Corn Cornbread to go with it. It’s an easy meal that uses green peppers and onions and everyone likes the leftovers for lunch, so it’s a cook once eat twice kind of meal.

This sheet pan gnocchi and tomatoes looks incredible, as well as fast and easy. And the ultimate easy meal for this week is this Eggplant Puree with Pasta. Sneak that eggplant where you can for one more week before it disappears until next summer!

I’m just about done with canning for the year, but I’m hoping to make a batch of this Peach Jalapeno Jam with some of this week’s peaches. I think it will be delightful on toast in the cold winter months - or even on a sandwich riff off the monte cristo.

I hope you have a wonderful final few days of summer filled with the very best foods that late summer has to offer. Happy eating my friends.

Summer Week Ten

I had plans to get this posted yesterday, but just as I finished compiling all of the recipes, the server crashed and all my work was lost. There’s something great about technology when it works … but when it fails, it can be so frustrating, yes? Anyhow, this is shorter than usual because the produce in my kitchen is growing eyes and staring at me, just begging to be put away.

Earlier this month Farmer Jamie said “if we can survive the demand of August, we can survive anything.” She was referring to the constant demand of chores on the farm in August, but it pretty much sums up the way I feel about CSA season too. August shares are so huge and so bountiful that I get to store at least half of each week’s share for winter. This week I’m canning more tomatoes, salsa (multiple types), some peaches, and finally getting around to making this year’s stash of pickles.

It’s no secret that August is the best time to eat vegetarian in New England. I was thrilled to see eggplant back in the share this week and am excited to combine it with the best of the season’s tomatoes. You’ll see lots of eggplant recipes below - don’t be intimidated. Eggplant is one of the best surprises of the season!

Summer Week 10: What We Brought Home

apples, basil, cherry tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, green bell peppers, tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, kale, okra, pattypan squash, peaches, red bell peppers, red lettuce, swiss chard, tomatoes, yellow wax beans, yellow squash, yellow zucchini

Meal Ideas for the Week

Tomatoes are really at their best right now so I’m eating them fresh and raw as much as possible. If you are like me and prefer savory breakfasts, I highly recommend making Tomato Toast. It’s what I’m eating every morning these days.

This Roasted Eggplant Soup is a terrific (and easy) lunch. I like to add some cooked white beans to the bowl before pouring in the soup. And speaking of eggplant, I am eyeing these Eggplant Parmesan Melts

Whenever we don’t know what to make for dinner in August (usually on CSA pickup night) we turn the grill on and throw a bunch of vegetables on top. This week we grilled pattypan squash, yellow wax beans, and corn on the cob. I also made this Grilled Pepper Panzanella and sliced a tomato and a cucumber. It was a perfect (and easy) summer dinner.

We made sheet pan fajitas last night with our beautiful red and green bell peppers, yellow squash, onions, and mushrooms. We used steak tips instead of chicken because it’s what we had in the freezer. I made a batch of Roasted Corn Salsa yesterday and it was the perfect accompaniment, as well as some Mexican Slaw.

Tonight I’m making a no-recipe recipe that I read about in a NY Times Cooking newsletter last week. Chop 2-5 tomatoes, depending on how big they are, and put them in a bowl with some salt and pepper. Let them sit for half an hour or half a day. Add some olive oil - maybe 1/3 cup or so. Boil some pasta and when it’s done, strain it and toss with a little olive oil before mixing it with the tomato sauce. Top with sliced basil and some good cheese. It’s fast, it’s easy, and you can make the sauce at lunch and forget about dinner until everyone is ready to eat.

I was talking to my mom yesterday and she reminded me of the Chicken Cacciatore she used to make when I was a kid. As a child, I hated Cacciatore night, but now that I’m an adult living far away from my mom, I’m craving the comfort of her old meals. She doesn’t have a recipe, but this one looks a lot like how I remember it.

I made this Baked Farro with Summer Vegetables last week and it was so much better than I expected. It is a great way to use all those CSA veggies in their heyday right now - zucchini (you could also use summer squash), corn, tomatoes, and basil. I made it in its entirety last Sunday and reheated it on Tuesday after a long day at IKEA. Even the kids loved it - and begged for the leftovers for lunch the next day.

Have I told you about this Leek, Corn and Chard flatbread? It’s one of my favorite summer pizzas and I can’t wait for pizza night later this week.

There won’t be a post next week. We’re heading to the mountains for a week of vacation and I’m gifting myself the gift of rest. But don’t fret - you’ll see a new post just in time for Labor Day!

Happy eating my friends.

Summer Week Nine (And My Favorite Recipes for Canning Tomatoes)

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If you thought I was excited when I found okra at the farmstand two weeks ago, you should have been around to see me do the happy dance when I picked up my share today. Just seeing “okra” on the board made my heart go aflutter. There’s something about getting locally grown okra that makes Massachusetts finally feel like a forever home.

When I started working on this week’s newsletter, I planned around eggplant and was surprised to see none in the share this week (but also a teensy bit relieved, as I still have 7 eggplants at home to deal with from the last two weeks). So I’ve saved all those eggplant ideas for later and this week I’m sending you all the tomato, peach, and corn recipes.

When I started this weekly newsletter back in May, I had no idea how much fun it would be to sit down and plan meals for you each week. Are you enjoying reading them? Are there ingredients you aren’t sure what to do with? I’d love to hear from you!

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Summer Week 8: What We Brought Home

basil, cabbage, carrots (with greens) cherry tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, green bell peppers, heirloom tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, green lettuce, okra, peaches, poblano peppers, string beans, tomatoes, zucchini

Meal Ideas for the Week

Breakfasts

We try to make one fancy breakfast a week, and this week it will be these Peach Pancakes. This is one of those recipes to indulge in in the summer months because you really need the very best quality fresh peach.

We made these Charred Corn Crepes a few weeks ago and the kids have asked for them several times since, so we’re doubling the batch this time and sticking them in the freezer. You can buy frozen crepes, so why not freeze homemade ones?

In my search for things to do with corn, I came across this recipe for Corn Buttermilk Chive Popovers. I think it sounds like an excellent breakfast with a side of bacon and eggs.

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Lunches

I made these Cabbage Mushroom Hand Pies last week and stuck them in my freezer. They are going to be my favorite lunch now until forever. I think I’ll make a second batch with this week’s cabbage. I cheated and used a store bought crust, but next time I’ll make the one from the recipe instead.

The tomatoes this week are the most gorgeous heirlooms I’ve ever seen. When they look like art, I like to slice them, add salt and pepper, and eat as is. I also can’t resist a good tomato sandwich. This Tomato and Fried Provolone is quite possibly the best thing about August.

I’m going to make this Heirloom Tomato Tart for lunch one day this week. I made pesto with the carrot greens and basil I brought home and will use it in place of the spread she uses in the recipe. I have no idea if anyone else will eat it, but that won’t stop me from indulging in it for myself. I’ll just consider it self-care.

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Dinners

I love to pick out the smaller tomatoes and make these Roasted Tomatoes and Onions with White Beans. I couldn’t find Cipollini onions this week so I just used small boiling onions instead.

Sometimes the best meals have no recipes to go with them. Last week we grilled pork chops, pattypan squash, and potatoes and I made an herb sauce to go on top. It may have been my favorite meal of the week. We seasoned the pork chops with Penzey’s Bavarian Seasoning. I sliced the pattypan squash into 1/4 inch slices and seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper. For the potatoes, I cubed them and boiled them in leftover lemon whey from making ricotta until they were soft. Then we tossed them on the grill to crisp them up. For the herb sauce, I threw parsley, cilantro, mint, and oregano into the food processor and added some worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, salt, and olive oil. We drizzled it over everything. It was sublime.

This Burst Tomato Galette with Corn and Zucchini is on our menu for early in the week so I can eat the leftovers for lunch. I always make my kids try it, but they don’t really like it, so I make sure to serve it with a salad and some fresh fruit.

This Pesto Peach Chicken looks amazing and is a great way to combine the best flavors of summer. Serve over rice and with a side of roasted green beans.

When I’m craving Asian Takeout, I usually make this Beef & Cabbage Stirfry and Veggie Lo Mein. For the lo mein, I use whatever veggies we have on hand and leave out the tofu, so this week it’ll be carrots, green beans, and zucchini. I also use rice noodles instead of spaghetti. These are my favorite. I’m also eyeing this Yakisoba recipe, so we may have lots of choices for takeout night.

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Snacks, Treats, & Drinks

It’s Bruschetta season! I like to eat bruschetta for lunch, but it’s also a great snack or appetizer to put out in the afternoon when everyone has been playing all day and comes in hangry.

I have never before Grilled peaches, but it is definitely on my list for Sunday afternoon. I may even top it with the peach ice cream I made last week.

I have an unbearably big mint plant in my front yard so I’m putting it to work and making Fresh Mint Iced Tea like crazy. I add a bit of sugar, because I’m from the South and sweet tea is what we do.

Confession: some days it’s 3pm and I want nothing more than to sit back and relax with a good cocktail in my hand. This Cucumber and Tonic mocktail rises to the occasion and it doesn’t leave me feeling fuzzy headed like a Gin and Tonic might.

And while we’re talking about drinks, I need to have a party just so I can make these Peach Rose’ Slushies.

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Preserving Notes: Tomatoes

I brought home two boxes of tomatoes this week and am excited to spend the weekend with my good friend The Waterbath Canner. Spending an afternoon (or two) in the kitchen Canning tomatoes is a relatively simple process and is, quite possibly, the best gift you can give yourself in August. I also like to make a few things to make life just a little easier for winter. Here are some of my favorites.

Marisa McClellan is one of my favorite resources for canning. The Pizza Sauce recipe in Preserving by the Pint is my favorite homemade pizza trick. I especially love that it’s written for a small batch, so I can easily do a batch a week through summer.

I have tried various salsa recipes over the years and haven’t been able to find one I really love, but my mom swears by this one.

Mrs. Wheelbarrow’s Practical Pantry is another of my favorite canning resources. She has a super simple Roasted Tomato Puree that I almost love more than canned tomatoes. Roast quartered tomatoes for 2 hours at 325, puree in the blender, boil for 5 minutes, and then can in sterilized jars for 35 minutes. Make sure you add 1 Tbsp lemon juice to each jar before closing it up.

This Roasted Tomato Soup is a favorite in the winter. I roast the tomatoes and garlic now, then freeze in quarter-size bags for when we want Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese. The recipe calls for Plum Tomatoes, but I find any good tomato will do.

Tomato Jam is a treat I make just for me. No one else in the family likes it, but I use it all winter in place of ketchup on burgers, with scrambled eggs, with bacon on toast, or as part of a cheese tray.

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The best part about a CSA is how it encourages you to be creative with what’s in your fridge. What are you creating in your kitchen this week? I’d love for you to hit reply and let me know!

Summer Week Eight

It’s 8:00pm on Saturday night. I spent most of my morning roasting tomatoes and making a list of meals I want to cook this week. We have more produce than we can eat this week, and I have so many things I want to put in my freezer for winter, and I just need a few more hours every day this week. I cleaned it all up and took the family to the pool this afternoon and decided I’d tackle the rest of the food prep later this week.

As I was driving home from the farm yesterday, I listened to this podcast and couldn’t help but think about how summer shows up in the foods that we eat. Here it is August already, and here in New England, it’s the month that we really get a good taste of summer. The tomatoes and peppers are rolling in—and they are just gorgeous. We got four huge heirloom tomatoes this week and I can’t wait to eat them. I turned one into salsa tonight and it was divine.

The best thing about summer produce is you can pretty much just grab anything and eat it raw and call it a meal. You’ll see a good bit of that here this week.

Summer Week 8: What We Brought Home

apples, basil, beets (with beautiful greens), blueberries, cabbage, cherry tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, green bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, parsley, pattypan squash, peaches, poblano peppers, red lettuce, tomatoes, zucchini

Meal Ideas for the Week

Breakfasts

My new favorite thing to eat for breakfast is fancy toast. Throw some ricotta cheese in the food processor until it’s smooth. Spread it on toast and add a sliced tomato and some basil. You can add balsamic vinegar if you’d like. Or top your ricotta toast with sliced radishes, or the zucchini butter that you made last week.

I’m also making a lot of these Zucchini Muffins lately. As long as there is zucchini in the house, we might as well bake with it, #amIright? I love muffins for breakfast because they double as a quick snack when my kids have activities later in the day.

Lunches

August is a month when I want to have as many picnics as possible, because I know Winter will be here before we know it. I simply adore Kale Salad for lunch on the hot days of summer. It’s great for picnics because it travels so much better than a lettuce salad. My favorite kale salad is curly kale, cherry tomatoes, boiled eggs, shaved parmesan cheese, and croutons with a champagne vinaigrette. Chop your kale into small pieces and massage it with a little salad dressing before adding your toppings.

Gazpacho is another picnic-friendly lunch and it uses all those veggies in the crisper drawer. Throw some tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper (I use green), and onion in a blender with some olive oil and seasonings and you really can’t go wrong. It’s like a savory smoothie. We like to serve it at room temperature and top it with grilled shrimp.

Dinners

This Stuffed Eggplant Parmesan feels like a lot of work, but it’s much easier than regular Eggplant Parmesan and it’s even more delicious. I’m going to triple this recipe this week to use all those eggplants I brought home last week and stick them in the freezer for the dark days of winter.

When the first of the poblano peppers come home, I immediately plan to make these Poblano Peppers Stuffed with Corn Risotto. I think you could stuff green bell peppers with corn risotto and it would be delicious as well. Instead of using chicken broth, I make corn stock and use it instead.

When you need a fast meal, this Pasta with Baked Cherry Tomato Sauce is a fantastic choice. This is one of those meals that is a real summer treat because the cherry tomatoes are plentiful and as sweet as candy. I’m always amazed what a pound of cherry tomatoes and some bread crumbs will do for a bag of pasta.

This Angel Hair Pasta with Raw Tomato Sauce is my favorite way to use those beautiful big heirloom tomatoes that show up in my farm share. It’s excellent with a side salad and maybe some garlic bread.

I want to be adventurous sometime this week and attempt to make grilled vegetable ravioli. I can’t find a recipe, but I saw some in Costco a few weeks ago and was instantly intrigued. I’m going to try to grill eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, and cherry tomatoes, chop them really tiny and put them in sheets of homemade beet pasta. Stay tuned - it will either be a huge hit or a total flop.

I made these Halloumi Veggie Kebabs last week with Zucchini, Eggplant, Mushrooms, and Green Pepper and they were incredible. We served them with corn on the cob and grilled flatbread.

Snacks & Treats

This recipe for Jalapeno Poppers is so delicious we made it twice last week. I’m considering freezing a batch or two, but I’m not sure they’ll ever make it to the freezer!

Nothing says summer quite like Peach Ice Cream. I told the girls this recipe always trips me up because there’s sour cream in it, and I don’t like sour cream. I make it every year, and every year I think it will be weird. But when it’s done and you take that first bite, it’s nothing short of sublime.

Preserving Notes: Tomatoes

Next week I’ll share my favorite canning recipes for tomatoes, but it’s late on Saturday night, so this week I’m all about the lazy preserving.

I wrote a poem about my asparagus plant this week if you want something fun to read. I also have several volunteer tomato plants that are doing better than any tomatoes have ever done in my yard. It seems giving up on gardening was the key to my success.

Hope you have a wonderful week my friends!

Summer Week Seven: My Best Day at Springdell

Just four days ago I wrote about how much I miss okra and how impossible it is to find in New England. You can imagine my delight when I walked around the farmstand at yesterday’s pickup and saw a basket of the most beautiful okra I’ve ever seen. With a huge smile on my face, I filled a bag with almost all of it before my children said “But Mama, if you take it all, no one else can try it!” So I took a little more than a pound and a half and. left some in the basket. I’m hoping that one of you took it and made something delicious with it. No okra should ever be left behind.

I had no idea if Farmer Jamie grew it or sourced it from somewhere down south, but I secretly hoped she thought about me when putting it in the stand. After sending her a message yesterday afternoon I learned it was indeed grown at Springdell. Farmer Jamie, if you’re reading this, thank you. I just adore you. And your crew. But you knew that already.

If you see it at the stand, buy a little. Try it out. It is, hands down, my favorite thing about summer. And I really want Farmer Jamie to keep growing it, so let’s increase the demand! My youngest can eat an entire pound of roasted okra in one sitting. Last night we fried it, and had caprese salad over lettuce, hush puppies, and corn on the cob. It was a true taste of summer.

In addition to the okra, we also came home with so many eggplants, most of which came from the swap box. It makes me so sad to see so many people leave their eggplant at the farm. I used to be afraid of eggplant too, but it has become a favorite summer veggie in recent years. My children were ecstatic to see so many eggplants on the counter. I know it can be scary, but I challenge you to be adventurous this week. If you need some inspiration, here is a list of my favorite ways to eat eggplant.

Summer Week 7: What We Brought Home

basil, carrots, cherry tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, eggplant (two varieties), green lettuce, green bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, okra!, peaches, romaine lettuce, squash bombs, sugar plums, tomatoes, yellow squash, zucchini

Meal Ideas for the Week

Breakfasts

Weekend breakfasts are for pancakes. Lately, I’m experimenting with putting all the vegetables in breakfast. We had Zucchini Bread Pancakes for breakfast this morning and felt like we went out for fancy brunch. In our pajamas. The next time we make them, I’ll add some chopped pecans to a little of the batter. These carrot cake pancakes also look delicious and may be on the horizon for later this week, being as I have 4 bunches of carrots hanging out in my fridge.

I got sucked in by this video by Vaughn Vreeland last night and am intrigued by his leftover salad scramble (starting at 5:16 in the video). With lots of lettuce to use, I’m definitely going to try it.

With the first of the tomatoes coming in, this feels like the perfect week to indulge in BLTs. For breakfast. Or lunch. Or dinner. If you don’t have any bread, just chop it up and put it on a bed of greens. Talk about a breakfast of champions!

Lunches

When fresh produce hits, I trade lunch sandwiches for galettes. They are easy to make at the beginning of the week, then store in your fridge for lunch. This Zucchini and Ricotta Galette and this Burst Tomato Galette with Corn & Zucchini are two that I will definitely put on the menu this week. Sometimes I make them for dinner, serve them with a side salad, and eat the leftovers for lunch the next day. Although some galettes freeze well, I haven’t had luck freezing these - I think because of the water content in the vegetables. It makes them an extra delicious summer treat.

Tomatoes, cucumber and basil scream for a twist on Caprese’ Salad (see picture below). I slice cucumbers super thin, use cherry tomatoes, and small balls of mozzarella. I like to serve it over a bed of greens, because there’s no shortage of lettuce these days. This recipe is a good base - I use cucumbers instead of avocado because it’s local and delicious.

The weather looks beautiful this week (finally!) so I’m hoping for a picnic or two. This Grilled Zucchini with White Beans is an excellent addition to your summer picnic. She recommends you eat it warm or at room temp, but I’m here to tell you it’s just as delicious cold.

Corn and black bean salad is another terrific picnic meal. I use a recipe from my Rancho Gordo cookbook, but this one looks like it’s worth trying.

Dinners

Doesn’t that plate look like the perfect taste of summer? I suggest it for lunch up above, but last night we paired it with a bed of lettuce, fried okra, and corn on the cob for a delightfully easy and delicious dinner.

I’m always so excited for the first of the season’s cherry tomatoes because it means I can make this Fried Rice with Zucchini & Tomatoes. It’s not every day that I can get my kids to eat zucchini, but they devour this.

We got some beautiful Porterhouse steaks in our last meat share, so I’m going to make this Zucchini Rice Gratin to go alongside them one day this week. I’ll make some corn on the cob, slice a tomato and sprinkle some basil on top and it will be a perfect summer meal.

This Eggplant & Zucchini Parmesan is, hands down, my favorite meal to stash in the freezer. It takes a lot of time and is a lot of work, so I typically make a few at once, but it is simply amazing.

A good hamburger fresh off the grill is one of my favorite things about summer. I am so excited about Romaine Lettuce this week. For a fun twist on lettuce, cut your head of romaine in half, rinse it really well, drizzle it with olive oil and lemon juice, sprinkle some salt, and put it on the grill. Grilled lettuce might sound weird, but romaine is hearty and stands up well to the heat. It’s delightful on its own, or you can put it on top of your burger with some caramelized onions. Pour a glass of wine, take your plate to your patio and pretend you’re eating at the best burger joint in town.

Green bell peppers are not a favorite in our house, so I’m always looking for a way to sneak them in to recipes. Red Beans & Rice is one of our favorite meals and is a great way to use up a pepper. Leftovers also work beautifully for breakfast or lunch. For you vegans, here’s a great vegan version. Peppers are also super easy to freeze - no blanching required - so I’ll often chop them up and freeze them to use in winter soups and stews.

And I have to put in one more plug for eggplant this week. Those long skinny Italian Eggplants are so great to slice, roast and put on pizza or in a calzone. You can even roast and freeze them for winter pizza nights.

Snacks & Treats

I linked to this Smoky Eggplant Dip last week, but I neglected to tell you that you can prepare the eggplant by charring and baking it, scrape it from it’s skin, then freeze it. In March, when you have no idea what to eat, you’ll be able to dig it out from your freezer and have an instant party.

We’re having dinner at a friend’s house tomorrow night and I’m tasked with bringing dessert. I searched for a dessert that would use cabbage (there are three heads staring me in my fridge), but I was unsuccessful. I figured no one really wants to eat cabbage for dessert anyway, so I’m going to make a Peach & Blueberry Galette instead.

Preserving Notes

Don’t forget to freeze some corn! Corn is my favorite thing to pull out of the freezer in the dark winter months. Shuck it, blanch it on the cob for 3 minutes, put in an ice bath for 3 minutes, then cut the kernals off the cob. Save the cobs for broth later, and measure your corn into freezer baggies. Your winter self will thank you.

Cherry tomatoes come in faster than you can eat them, especially if you - like me - have several volunteer plants popping up in your yard. These slow-roasted tomatoes are my favorite trick. I end up with jars of them in the freezer every year, and they are a wonderful addition to just about anything. I love pairing them with Zucchini Butter on toast or in a crepe.

The choices for amazing food are endless this time of year. I’d love to hear what you’re making this week!

Summer Week Five

The last several weeks have been full of fun activities and lots of visitors. When I went to the farm yesterday to pick up my share, I allowed myself to sit in an old worn adirondack chair in the backyard and just soak in the sunshine and the scenery. As cars flew by on the road just in front of the farmstand, a field sparrow landed right next to my feet and I was filled with an overwhelming sense of peace and gratitude for this space. In a world that feels hectic, this farm is a piece of home for us here, and I’m forever grateful.

It’s typically around the end of July that I find myself in the kitchen nonstop, full of joy in my heart and flour on my butt. We had family visiting last week, so we ate out more than usual and I have a good chunk of last week’s share still hanging out in my fridge. We have a new fridge coming on Thursday, so my challenge for this week is to clear as much out as possible before then. This morning I’ve already tackled Blueberry Sourdough Muffins, Charred Corn Crepes, and Chocolate Zucchini Cake.

You’ll notice I didn’t include any preserving notes this week. I’ll include a big section on preserving next week, to help you store all that squash and cucumber that I know is beginning to roll in. For now, I hope you’ll spend the week enjoying the food on your counters. I know I am!

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Summer Week 5: What’s in Season

carrots (with greens), zucchini, yellow squash, pattypan squash, kale, lettuce, pickling cucumbers, salad cucumbers, cauliflower, corn, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, beets

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Meal Ideas for the Week

Breakfasts

I’m going to try out these Lemon squash muffins this week. I think they’d be a great quick breakfast or a snack to go.

I used some blueberries and some throwaway sourdough starter to make these Blueberry Sourdough Muffins this morning. I love the addition of cornmeal and these will be great to pop into kiddo lunchboxes.

We also made these Charred Corn Crepes this morning and I have to say they are my new favorite crepe recipe. I may have them every Saturday between now and the end of corn season. I filled one with zucchini butter and leftover charred corn from last night’s tacos. David put eggs and cheese in his. The girls had nutella in theirs. You really can’t go wrong with anything in a crepe.

Lunches

We ate out entirely too much last week so the lettuce in my fridge is multiplying. It’s basically going to be nothing but salad for lunch this week. And considering we got 26 cucumbers in yesterday’s pickup, there won’t be a meal without a cucumber on the side this week. Maybe I’ll make some tiny cucumber sandwiches and throw a tea party!

I do want to make this Corn Bacon Hash for Sunday brunch after church tomorrow while we still have a few ears of fresh corn in the fridge.

Dinners

I made very few of the meals I had planned for last week, which made my meal planning super easy for this week. Tonight we’re having this Grilled Chicken Salad with Tarragon. I made the dressing and pesto weeks ago when I had fresh tarragon and parsley and threw it in the freezer. I’m so excited to finally eat it tonight.

Tomorrow we have vegetarian friends coming over, so I’m going to make Buffalo Cauliflower and Carrot Fries. The likelihood of the kids eating that is very small, so I’m going to make these zucchini fritters too.

Our week is busy with kid activities, so I’m trying to plan fast and easy meals. This Spaghetti with Zucchini Butter looks fantastic, and super easy to throw together quickly. I’ll spend some time tomorrow making pasta with my carrot greens.

Sheet pan meals have become one of my favorite things, so I think I’ll try this Sheet Pan Chicken with Cauliflower and Carrots.

Pattypan squash is perfect for stuffing. These Chicken Enchilada Squash look so good. And since I haven’t made this Herb-Squash Pasta Bake yet, I’ll put it on the plan for later in the week.

Snacks & Treats

I made a double batch of this Zucchini Chocolate Cake. One to eat now, and one to put in the freezer for winter. It is a favorite, and I don’t think I can ever have too much of it.

I want to try this Carrot Hummus this week and see if my kids will eat it the way they eat store-bought hummus. I have tried hummus recipes before but so far, they only like what we buy at the store.

This radish dip is one of my favorite snacks of all time. I half the amount of garlic and add some basil. We have some friends coming this afternoon and will put it out with a veggie plate and some crackers.

Happy summer eating my friends!

Summer Week Four

Last weekend we celebrated the Fourth of July inside as a family because we had buckets and buckets of rain. To make things a little fun and celebratory, I made this cute little flag cake. This week we got some white raspberries and I was tempted to make it again just to use them for it, but then somehow they disappeared ten minutes after I brought them home. Fresh berries don’t last long around here. Ha!

This has been the rainiest July on record for as long as we’ve lived in Massachusetts (and probably longer than that). On the one hand, I’m missing sunny beach days and picnics; but on the other, I’m enjoying the excuse to stay home, read books, and eat comfort food. There isn’t much sun in the forecast for this week either, and my meal planning shows it.

Summer Week 4: What’s in Season

carrots (with greens), spring onions, zucchini, yellow squash, zucchini bombs, swiss chard, lettuce, pickling cucumbers, collard greens, cauliflower, radishes, savoy cabbage, blueberries, raspberries (of all colors), cherries

Meal Ideas for the Week

Breakfasts

Zucchini Butter with Thyme is a great way to use up whatever zucchini or squash you don’t know what to do with. It makes an excellent spread for toast in the morning.

I love a piece of sourdough toast topped with ricotta cheese, sliced radishes, and some sliced basil. Last year I learned how to make homemade ricotta cheese. It’s surprisingly easy, and it tastes so much better than what you can buy at the store. Our farmstand has excellent local ricotta too, so sometimes I use that instead.

Lunches

I’m going to use my collard greens for sandwich wraps. Once you have blanched your greens, you can use them like any tortilla. I especially love a Mediterranean Wrap (I’ll sub some lettuce for the spinach).

And of course, we’ll have lots of salad for lunch, especially early in the week when our lettuce is freshest. I’m learning that good salad dressings are really the trick to not getting bored with salad. My favorite salads are the ones where I don’t follow a recipe, I just pull out stuff from my fridge and throw it all together. When we get such a variety of food each week, it’s easy to have a different salad every day. I use all my sourdough scraps to make homemade croutons.

Dinners

Since it’s going to be another week full of dreary weather, I’m going to make comfort food all week. This Chard & White Bean Stew is one of my ultimate feel-good meals. I use the chard stems instead of celery, my spring onions instead of the shallots, and I still have some garlic scapes so I’ll throw those in instead of garlic. I have been known to eat leftovers for breakfast.

This Herb-Roasted Whole Cauliflower looks like a delightful alternative for Roast Chicken. If you live in a place where tomatoes are in season, you could make this recipe for Greens & Tomatoes to go along with it. Or zucchini and yellow squash sauteed in a little olive oil, with salt and pepper. Sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top and call it a meal.

When cleaning out my fridge this week I found some Frank’s Wing Sauce, so it seems like a good week to try this recipe for Buffalo Cauliflower. To continue the theme of comfort food with a healthy twist, I think I’ll pair it with Carrot fries and Zucchini fries.

This Herb Squash Pasta Bake is probably my favorite summer meal of all time. I also like to make a couple and freeze them. They are great meals in the winter, and they also serve as fantastic meals to share with a friend when someone has a new baby or an emergency in the family.

We made Italian Stuffed Cabbage last weekend and it was a huge hit even with the kiddos. This week I want to try the Mujadara-stuffed Cabbage Rolls from Smitten Kitchen Everyday.

I love to make Pot Pie with fresh veggies, so I think I’ll do that this week too. The best part about pot pie is you can use any veggies you have on hand and you can use meat or not. I’ll use carrots, peas (from last week’s share), and potatoes I picked up from the misfit shelf and maybe throw in some kale or broccoli, depending on what’s left in my produce drawer at the end of the week.

Snacks & Treats

Last summer I learned that you can use yellow squash in baking just like you do with zucchini. This Summer Squash Bread is so good and freezes well. I like to turn it into muffins and add a little cream cheese frosting for an extra treat.

My favorite afternoon snack in the summer is a plate full of raw veggies with some hummus or ranch dip on the side. I pull out cucumber, carrot, and broccoli (or cauliflower), chop them into pieces, and put them on a large wooden cutting board. Then I surround it with some cashews and some fruit (this week it will be blueberries and cherries) and it looks like a fancy snack that no kid will turn down.

These Refrigerator Pickles are a great way to use cucumbers and they don’t require any special canning equipment. We love to snack on them.

Preserving Notes

I’m thankful that there’s not a lot of preserving to do this week, after the last two weeks full of berries and peas. I have some writing to catch up on and need a break from the kitchen. Corn and tomatoes will come in soon, which means lots of fun times in the kitchen!

I am going to make a batch of carrot greens pesto for the freezer. And I’ll dry the other bunch of carrot greens to use instead of dried parsley later in the year.

What fun are you having in the kitchen this week? I’d love to hear from you!

Summer Week Three

Last week we had extreme heat. This weekend we’re looking at record lows, followed by a warm and rainy week. As I write this, my girls are sitting at the kitchen counter shelling peas to be blanched and frozen for winter. It’s an excellent rainy day activity.

While warm weather encourages us to use the grill or eat raw veggies, cool summer weather brings an opportunity to try some recipes that we might not otherwise. It gives us a chance to turn on the oven, eat some soup, do some slow cooking, and just enjoy being with one another in the kitchen.

Starting this week, I’ll be sharing less of the specifics of my own share and more about what’s in season. I realized this week that my share is going to be huge—and quite overwhelming—and I don’t want it to scare you away. I’ll continue sharing recipes, but instead of making a list of ingredients, I’ll include meal ideas to help you use several ingredients in one meal.

If you’re getting something in your share that you don’t see listed here, always feel free to send me a note and ask for ideas. I will read and respond to them all; I love helping people use their stuff!

Alright, let’s get started with week three.

Summer Week 3: What’s in Season

Broccoli, swiss chard, kale, lettuce, beets, peas, savoy cabbage, summer squash & zucchini, radishes, blueberries, cherries

Meal Ideas for the Week

Breakfasts

I am eating this kale and egg taco on repeat. I know I told you about it last week, but it’s the only breakfast I’m eating these days. It’s that good.

We discovered a new Smoothie place this weekend and now I’m thinking about turning all my CSA goods into drinks. I’m eyeing this Blueberry Kale smoothie for this week. I may make a double batch and freeze the leftovers in popsicle molds for when the hot weather returns.

This Kale Lentil Breakfast Bowl is another favorite go-to for breakfast. If you’ve used all of your kale, or want to try something different, it would be good with swiss chard subbed in for the kale. I like to top it with raw radishes, sliced very thin.

Lunches

Salad is what’s for lunch around here. Yesterday I made a lunch salad with lettuce, blueberries, chopped snap peas, sliced radishes, toasted pecans, feta cheese and a white balsamic vinaigrette (equal parts white balsamic and olive oil, salt & pepper). It was as delightful as something you might order at a restaurant. Perhaps even more so.

I adore this Zucchini Grilled Cheese and am so excited to make it this weekend. Every year I make it, David says, “That sounds so weird, but once I take the first bite I remember how delicious it is.” Let the zucchini drain as long as possible. You want it really dry. You can use yellow squash or zucchini—both work equally well.

With the cooler weather, the girls are excited for today’s lunch of Broccoli Cheese Soup. It’s one of their favorite meals. I am partial to this Broccoli Slaw.

Dinners

I love homemade pizza nights. Grab a bag or two of pre-made dough (Trader Joe’s has my favorite dough) or make your own the night before. Turn some kale or beet greens into pesto (I added some basil because I had some) and use it instead of tomato-based sauce. Top it with some mozzarella cheese, local sausage (make sure to cook it first), pepperoni or salami, or whatever fresh veggies you like.

The cooler temperatures this week are perfect for Cabbage Rolls. This is a great recipe to double and stick in the freezer. I like to chop my swiss chard stems really small, saute’ them in a little olive oil, and sneak them in the meatballs..

One night this week we’re going to have a vegetable smorgasbord. I’m going to make Squash & Potato Torte, Roasted Chard with Feta, Broccoli Fritters, and Zucchini Coins. All-vegetable meals feel like a lot of work, but they are some of my favorite meals. Plus, they remind me of my childhood days at Cracker Barrel, when I could order a veggie plate and get all of my favorite vegetables, instead of having to choose just one side.

Once the weather warms back up, I’m looking forward to this Grilled Chicken Salad with Radishes and Tarragon Pesto. I grabbed a cucumber at the farm stand, but you can substitute raw zucchini for the cucumber.

This Simple Zucchini Parmesan Pasta is an incredibly easy, fast weeknight meal. It’s one of my summer favorites when the kids have activities until dinnertime and I have an evening meeting.

I love the look of this Black Pepper Beef & Cabbage Stirfry. I’m thinking of serving it with some Quick Roasted Broccoli (we got a lot of broccoli this week) and these Squick Sesame Snow Peas.

We got the cutest Zucchini bombs in our share this week and I can’t wait to turn them into Stuffed Zucchini.

Snacks & Treats

I’m making this Flag Cake today in celebration of July 4. Since it’s just the four of us, I halved the recipe and put it in the smallest rectangle pan I have. I grabbed some raspberries at the farm, but I think you could totally make this with halved cherries instead.

This Zucchini Chocolate Cake is one of my favorite recipes of all time. One summer I tried three different recipes. This one was the clear winner. It also freezes well, so you can make chocolate cake, drop it in your freezer, and indulge when the weather is cold and snowy.

If you still have greens that you don’t know what to do with, I suggest this Kale-dusted Popcorn. It’s another one of those recipes that sounds so strange, but is so incredibly delicious. It’s perfect for your next movie night.

I also really love these beet chips (and so do my kids!) I’m a huge fan of any recipe that convinces my kids to eat beets.

Preserving Notes

I made Twice Baked Potatoes and beet greens pesto for the freezer this week. Pesto is a great thing to make when you have greens that you don’t know what to do with. I like tossing it in meatballs in the. winter or burgers to grill in the summer.

We’re freezing a half bushel of English peas this week. To freeze, shell them (or hire your children to do it), throw in boiling water for 90 seconds, put directly into ice water for 2 minutes, then lay on a towel to dry. I freeze them on a cookie sheet in a single layer before weighing and packaging them into 8-ounce portions. I use this FoodSaver for all of our frozen produce, but you can also use freezer bags.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday weekend, no matter what the weather is like wherever you are. I’m looking forward to spending some time reading, how about you?

Roasted Curried Chicken Salad

This is one of those recipes that I had no idea we would like, but a friend recommended it so I thought I’d give it a whirl. It’s a fun way to use some of the first broccoli of the season—or some of the last. The original recipe came from the Healthyish cookbook, but I never seem to have grapes or curry seasoning, so I’ve edited it to use what we typically have. One of these days I’ll update this post with a picture, but for now, here’s the recipe.

Ingredients

1 lb boneless chicken breasts or tenderloins (if breasts, cut into smaller pieces for quicker cooking)
6 ounces. small. broccoli florets
1 cups sweet cherries, pitted and cut in half
1 tsp Penzey’s Revolution seasoning, or curry seasoning of your choice
1 1/2 Tbsp canola oil
salt and pepper
1 1/2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 head Bibb lettuce
1/4 cup cilantro leaves
1/4 cup roasted cashews
2 Tbsp toasted coconut flakes

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 400. Toss the chicken strips, cherries, and broccoli in a bowl with the seasonings and 1/2 Tbsp oil. Pour onto a sheet pan in a single layer and roast until the chicken is cooked through. It will take 15-20 minutes, depending on how big your chicken pieces are. I like to mix it all on the pan a bit about 8 minutes through cooking. When the chicken is done, remove the sheet pan from the oven and let sit for just a minute.

While the chicken rests, chop your lettuce into bite-size pieces. Whisk 1 Tbsp oil with the lime juice and salt and pepper to taste. Toss with the lettuce and divide among plates. We find this recipe to be enough to serve at least 3. Top each plate with the chicken, broccoli, cherry mixture. Then sprinkle cilantro, cashews, and coconut on top. Season with salt and pepper before eating every single bite.

Summer Week Two

Summer has arrived in New England and the heat is here to stay for a while. I must have finally adapted to New England weather because the daily temperatures we’ve been seeing in the 90s feel oppressively hot. By the end of next week, we’ll have already reached our average number of 90-days for the summer—and summer has only gotten started. I’m giving thanks for the little backyard pool we splurged on earlier in the year, and a house with air conditioning to keep us cool. And I know colder temperatures always come before I’m ready for them, so I’m grateful for the summer crops that are here to keep us company for a while.

I donned my Grandma’s apron this week and dug the canner out of the basement. We’ve reached that time of year when there are not many days that go by without needing to can something or blanch and freeze. It is so much work, but it is one of my favorite parts of summer. I canned Strawberry Syrup, Pickled Golden Beets, and Rhubarb Chutney. I made pasta from beet greens and pesto from kale stems and called it “Compost Dinner.” I made Cheesy Kale Scones. I blanched peas, beet greens, broccoli and garlic scapes. On the horizon for this week is a small batch of Strawberry Jam.

It must be CSA season!

Summer Week 2

3 quarts strawberries
3 heads lettuce
1 bunch rainbow swiss chard
1 bunch Golden Sugar Beets (with their greens)
1 bunch Red Sugar Beets (with their greens)
1 bunch curly kale
2 bags snow peas
2 bags sugar snap peas
4 broccoli crowns
1 bunch garlic scapes (plus a few more sad unloved ones from the swap table)
3 yellow squash (from the swap table)
2 zucchini (from the swap table)

From the Farmstand

1 small yellow onion
2 sweet onions
2 Spanish onions
4 misfit broccoli crowns
1 bunch of misfit celery
2 small zucchini
1 head of lettuce (I know what you’re thinking … “because 3 isn’t enough?”)
2 tomatoes

Recipes to Try

Strawberries

This was an abysmal year for strawberries in New England. Between last year’s drought and this year’s heat, strawberry crops really struggled. We are thankful for the 12 quarts of strawberries we’ve gotten over the last three weeks, and have put them to good use. Here are my favorite ways to use strawberries, if you are lucky enough to find a flat or two.

Lettuce

I have been saving this recipe for the week that Bibb lettuce and broccoli appeared at the same time. David has declared it to be his favorite salad, and that, my friends, is high praise. Maybe he will turn into a salad lover after all.

Last night we had friends over for a Taco salad Buffet. I turned my counter into a salad bar and put out lettuce, shredded taco chicken, black beans, roasted beets, sautéed squash with garlic scapes, salsa, guacamole, cotija cheese, Monterrey Jack cheese, pickled jalapeños, tortilla chips, and street taco shells. It was so fun, and the salads turned out amazing. 

Last week I made a bacon egg and cheese salad for breakfast. It was better than a bacon egg and cheese sandwich, and I love a good breakfast sandwich. One day I’ll create a recipe, but it’s basically as easy as it sounds. Start with a bed of lettuce, topped with cooked bacon, some shredded cheddar cheese, and a fried egg (cooked however you like). I used a bit of honey mustard dressing. David used his runny egg yolk as dressing. 

Swiss Chard

The first Chard of the year always means Green Treats on the menu! These are so good and they are so filling you don’t need much else for dinner. Except for a small salad of course, because there’s too much lettuce to not have a salad every day.

Beets

I think I’ve told you before that I hate beets. I’ve tried so many ways to like them, but have never been able to get past the dirt taste they leave in my mouth. But y’all. I made these Easy Roasted Beets last night for my Taco buffet, and they were incredible. They tasted like candy. I don’t know if it’s how I cooked them or where they’re grown—Farmer Jamie seriously had the best produce I’ve ever tasted—but I am now a beet lover. Or at least a Farmer Jamie’s beet lover.

I may get really brave and try something like this Raw Beet Salad this week. Or this one, with lettuce instead of arugula. 

My favorite way to use beets is to juice them. We found a juicer at a thrift store a couple of years ago and it has been an excellent addition to our kitchen. I haven’t learned how to use it, so I pile all the things I don’t want to eat in a bowl and make David juice it for me. My favorite is beet, kale greens, apple, and ginger. It’s a true breakfast of champions!

And here’s your weekly reminder to not compost the greens! Blanch them in boiling water for 3 minutes, put them immediately in ice water for 3 minutes, then squeeze out as much water as possible before freezing. You’ll be so grateful for their presence come Winter.

Curly Kale

Curly kale is my favorite type of kale. I love to make a Massaged Kale Salad. It feels heartier than a lettuce salad and holds up really well for picnics.

If you’ve been reading my Monthly Newsletter for a while, you know how much I love Smitten Kitchen’s Flipped Crispy Egg Taco with Singed Greens. This is my favorite breakfast of all time and I’m thrilled to have curly kale in the house once again. (Shameless plug - June’s newsletter will go out early next week, so take a minute to signup so you don’t miss it!)

These Cheesy Kale Scones are another fun breakfast. It is a huge recipe and makes very big scones as written. I made much smaller scones this time around, making 4 small balls of dough and cutting them each into 8 triangles. We ate 6 of them, I brought 4 to a friend, and the rest went into the freezer. I think scones taste best freshly baked, so I freeze them before baking. I put them on a parchment-lined sheet pan and freeze them overnight, then I put them in a ziplock freezer baggie and return them to the freezer. It’s super easy to grab a few and bake when I’m ready for them.

Dare I say Kale is my favorite breakfast food?

Snow peas/Sugar Snap Peas

Fresh peas get eaten incredibly fast in my house. They are my kids’ favorite snack in early summer. I often don’t get to cook them or save any for winter, so I immediately blanched an entire bag of snow peas when I brought them home. They are a wonderful addition to Stir-Fry or Mongolian Beef, and I wanted a few hiding away for winter meals.

I want to make these Sesame Snow Peas this week. Maybe I’ll make Beef & Broccoli to go with them.

Garlic scapes

Garlic scapes are such a fun sign of summer. The garlic scape is the stem and flower bud of the hardneck garlic plant. Farmers harvest them not only because they are great to eat, but also because it helps the garlic bulb grow bigger. When the scape isn’t harvested, the plant sends all its energy into creating the flower and seeds and the bulb doesn’t grow as much. Garlic is one of those incredible plants that feeds us twice—once with the scape and twice with the bulb itself. This list of how to use them is pretty helpful. I love to grill them with romaine lettuce and top it with grilled shrimp or fish. This week I blanched half of ours for just 30 seconds and froze them to use instead of green beans in pot pie later in the year. Garlic scape compound butter is another fun way to save them for later.

Broccoli

I adore broccoli season and can never get enough broccoli. I’m always sad when I hear people say they don’t like it. It’s the first vegetable we run out of in our freezer stash each year, so I always blanch and freeze as much as I can. These Broccoli Fritters are a huge hit in our house and can be made with fresh or frozen broccoli. Just thaw and drain the frozen broccoli first.

This Charred Broccoli Salad is one of my favorite ways to use fresh broccoli. I like to eat it warm, but I think it would save well for a cold lunch too.

And when I have provolone cheese hiding in my fridge and an old loaf of bread needing to be used, I make these Broccoli Melts.

Yellow Squash/Zucchini

These were not in my regular Super Share this week, but there were some less than perfect ones in the Swap Box, so I grabbed them. I sauteed the Yellow squash at super high heat with some barely blanched garlic scapes and an onion leftover from cooking beans earlier in the week. I sprinkled some salt and pepper and Arizona Dreaming on top and it was an incredible addition to the Taco Buffet.

Squash and Zucchini make a very big appearance in Summer, so there’s lots of time to share my favorite recipes with you. I’ve been craving these Zucchini Taco Boats, so that’s how I’ll use zucchini this week. I use ground beef because we get it in our Meat Share.

Now—who’s ready to eat after reading all that?! What will you make this week?

I Went Strawberry Picking ... Now What?!

You’ve loaded up the kids (including the neighbors), you’ve gone to the strawberry farm, you’ve braved the extreme heat, and now you’re home with a gazillion quarts of strawberries that need to be eaten RIGHT NOW! Don’t worry, I have you covered!

There is no better sign of the beginning of summer than that juicy ripe red strawberry freshly picked off the vine. Strawberries mark the beginning of the Summer growing season here in Massachusetts and it’s fun to start the CSA season with such a treat. We are only two weeks into Strawberry Season and we’ve eaten 10 quarts of berries. It’s my favorite fruit to eat right out of the container and it’s also really fun to make all kinds of treats with them.

It can be a lot of work to use all the strawberries we pick (or buy), but I never regret it come winter. In the dark days of winter, I can make strawberry something and it reminds me that Summer always comes. I’ve put together my favorite ways to use this delightful little gift from nature. Which ones do you want to try?

Strawberries & Cream—This makes a terrific afternoon snack or an easy and light dessert. Pour some heavy cream in a bowl, add a little powdered sugar (you don’t need much at all), and mix with a handheld mixer until soft peaks form. Dip your strawberries in it and watch them disappear.

Make jam—Strawberry jam is the one jam in our house that always gets eaten before Winter is over. It’s everyone’s favorite and for good reason. I’ve made pectin-free, sugar-free jam before, but my favorite is the traditional Ball recipe. It takes a few hours and makes a huge mess, but it’s so worth it.

Strawberry Galette - I’m not a huge fan of pie, but I can always go for a good galette. The Any-Kind-of-Fruit Galette is a great way to use strawberries. I also love mixing late-season strawberries with early-season peaches to make this galette.

Strawberry sauce—It’s good on waffles, yogurt, and just about anything else you could want. There’s no recipe for this, I just puree some strawberries and add a little maple syrup or honey. It’s delicious on top of yogurt, or you can heat it up and drizzle over pancakes or waffles. You really can’t go wrong with pureed strawberries.

Strawberry Syrup—Strawberry Syrup is a fantastic addition to your favorite cocktail. You can mix it with Sparkling Water to make Strawberry Sodas. You can add a little to plain water - because why not? This is a super easy canning recipe and is a great thing to start with if you’re new to canning. I love to pull it out in February and make pink everything. Pink milk, pink lemonade, pink water … you get the picture.

Strawberry milk— Remember when we could request strawberry milk for lunch in Elementary School? I’m sure it was made with terrible artificial flavoring, but it was always delicious. To treat my kids to the same fun experience, I use strawberries to make Strawberry Milk once a year. In the words of my husband, “Restaurants should sell this stuff … ‘Seasonal strawberry milk!” Because it doesn’t have sugar, and only a small amount of honey, it’s a fantastic breakfast treat. And much healthier than the Strawberry Carnation Instant Breakfast I used to drink as a kid.

Strawberry ice cream—During the summer, it seems our ice cream machine is always working. I usually stick to vanilla, but this year I’m vowing to expand our horizons. This recipe requires no cooking – and I can’t wait to taste the final product!

Strawberry Popsicles—Like the ice cream maker, our popsicle molds are never empty for very long. These pops are so easy and so delicious – they’ll be gone before you know it!

Strawberry Lemonade—Once upon a time I canned Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate, but I can’t remember the recipe I used. This Pink Lemonade recipe is great for an afternoon picnic. Pour it in a mason jar and bring it to your next beach outing and everyone will be happy!

Strawberry Summer Cake—It’s not Summer without a Strawberry Summer Cake. This is my favorite easy dessert. I always mean to make extra and freeze them, but it seems they always get eaten before they can be stored.

Pink Lady Cake—The Pink Lady Cake is one of my favorite cakes for Valentine’s Day. I know what you’re thinking. “But wait, Crystal, Valentine’s Day is 8 months away!” There are two ways to save your fresh strawberries for Pink Lady Cake. You can make the cake now. Wrap it in Saran Wrap (I double wrap it) and freeze it until February. Or you can measure the strawberries, cut off the tops and freeze them in a Ziplock baggie. You’re going to puree them eventually anyway, so it doesn’t matter if they stick together. Make sure you label it “for Pink Lady Cake” so you don’t forget which bag it is. Come February, pull the bag out of the freezer, let it thaw, and then proceed with the recipe as written.

Red & Black—A spicy twist on a Strawberry Margarita, this is my absolute favorite summer cocktail.

Eat them—Simple, right?? It’s funny how often we overlook the simple. They are only fresh in spring – so eat them up … and savor every bite!

Strawberry Top Infused Water—I try my hardest not to waste any part of our CSA share. It would be easy to compost those strawberry tops, but I love to throw them in a half gallon mason jar, add a few sprigs of mint, and maybe a slice or two of lime, and cover it with water. Infuse it for 6-12 hours, strain it, and you have the most beautiful pink water. It’s refreshing, and it’s fun. And you’ve used every single part of your berry!

Freeze them—Berries are one of the easiest fruits to prepare for freezing. You simply wash them, cut the greens off, and pop them in the freezer. It’s best if you freeze them in a single layer on a cookie sheet for 30 minutes or an hour before putting them in a freezer bag. Then – just use them as you would store-bought frozen strawberries. When I’m short on time (or feeling super lazy), this is how I make sure my strawberry bounty doesn’t go bad. Then I make jam or other goodies later in the year when I’m feeling inspired.

Do you have any other favorite strawberry recipes?

Summer Week One

We went on a field trip yesterday to Old Sturbridge Village. It’s one of my favorite places to take the girls because we always learn something new. As a family who enjoys historic handicrafts, we really enjoy talking to the costumed historians who illustrate what life was like two hundred years ago. Yesterday was their final Homeschool Day for the school year and the girls had a great time painting a plate and making artwork out of things they found in nature.

We took a detour on the way home to pick up our Farm Share. When I opened the trunk to pull out my baskets—and my phone to take a picture—I discovered my phone was not in my backpack like I thought. There was a small panic in my mind about who might find my phone and hack into it to discover all my photos and terrible writing drafts. Then I realized the Village was closed for the day and hoped other homeschoolers were as honest as we are. When we got home, we used Find My Phone to search for it, and sure enough it was still in the bathroom where it must have fallen out.

The smell of coffee woke me at 6am this morning. Finding my bed empty, I trudged down the stairs to find an empty French Press and a note. “Phone GPS says it’s in the parking lot, not the bathroom. I’ll be back soon.” Anytime he leaves me a note, no matter what it says, my heart goes aflutter. He’s on the road, rescuing my lost phone, and I am here. Making my own coffee and meal planning. He is a true Hero.

And I’m going to need another cup of coffee.

This is the first week of our Summer Share at Springdell and Farmer Jamie does not ever disappoint. We have a Super Share this year plus extra fruit and eggs each week. We are getting a LOT of food, and while it can feel overwhelming during the peak harvest months, I never regret it come Winter. I’ll share tips and tricks with you on storing food, and if you stick with me through Winter, I’ll help you use it along the way. If this is your first year with a CSA, or if you’re considering a CSA for the first time, I do not recommend beginning with a Super Share. Get your feet wet first, THEN dive all the way in. Early summer means a lot of greens, and this week is all about the salad.

Summer Week 1

4 heads lettuce
2 heads cabbage
1 bunch Russian Red Kale
1 pint strawberry honey
1 bunch rhubarb
1 bunch golden beets (with their greens)
7 quarts strawberries

From the Farmstand

2 greenhouse cucumbers
1 half pint cherry tomatoes
4 small yellow onions
1 sweet onion
2 misfit broccoli crowns

Strawberries & Rhubarb

I have a post coming later this week about all the many things you can do with strawberries. Today I’d like to talk about the perfect pairing of strawberries and rhubarb. When I was a kid, my Aunt would make Strawberry Rhubarb pie for every Thanksgiving. I would never touch it. Rhubarb sounded weird, and I didn’t want to eat anything weird. I now know I was being ridiculous, because strawberry rhubarb is now one of my favorite combinations.

I adore this Strawberry Rhubarb Pecan Loaf so much that I make 2-4 of them every year and stick them in my freezer. Come January, when all the fresh fruit is long gone, I pull it out and enjoy it for breakfast with a cup of coffee. You can turn it into muffins too, which makes for even easier winter enjoyment.

I made a variation of this Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp last week. I used equal parts strawberry & rhubarb (1 lb), cut the sugar to 1 cup, and used arrowroot powder instead of cornstarch. I also always use old fashioned oats instead of quick-cooking, because it’s what I usually have in the pantry. It was delightful with ice cream for dessert, and with yogurt for breakfast the next day.

This Strawberry Rhubarb Syrup is an excellent way to use up rhubarb. Many years I take time to can the syrup so I have it later. It’s great to use in making lemonade, or a great addition to Gin & Tonics, or even just a dash in a glass of sparkling water makes a fun treat. And I always save the fruit to put on top of yogurt. No wasting deliciousness!

Lettuce

We grabbed pizza on our way home last night, but with 4 heads of lettuce in the share, I made everyone wait to eat until I had made a side salad. Farmer Jamie’s lettuce is seriously the best lettuce I’ve ever had. The fact that not even my tiniest (who hates lettuce) complained about having to eat a salad with pizza is a huge testament to the deliciousness of her greens. We topped it with cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and strawberries (of course).

This Bon Appetit Article made me want Steak Salad for dinner every night for the next week, so I was thrilled with David requested Steak Salad for Father’s Day.

I got a great variety of Red & Green Leaf Lettuce as well as one head of Bibb lettuce this week so I’m excited to mix and match them all. Lettuce Wraps are perhaps my favorite way to use Bibb lettuce. This recipe takes me back to my high school days, when P.F. Changs felt like the fanciest joint around.

If you’re starting out with a CSA for the first time this year, I hope you’re not hit with 4 heads of lettuce like I am. Unless you really love lettuce. It’s taken us a very long time to get used to using 4 heads of lettuce in one week, and I’m always so proud of us when it’s gone before the week is over. The trick is to eat lettuce every single day. Even for breakfast.

When the weather forecast is sunny and beach-worthy, I’m grateful for the ability to pack a quick lunch salad to go. Lunch Salads need no recipe, just creativity. I usually open my fridge and start pulling out leftovers and soon a lunch salad is born. Don’t forget to pack salad dressing. And a fork. A seashell will work as a fork in a pinch, but it’s not ideal. Trust me.

Cabbage

Anytime I get cabbage in my share I instantly think of this Crispy Oven Pork with Cole Slaw. This is a great recipe if you’re feeding a crowd (which I am THRILLED to be able to do once again this year).

Last week I used unloved cabbage from the misfit shelf to make this Asian-Inspired Salad. I made this Sesame Dressing because I’m not a fan of Peanut Butter in my salad dressing. It kept well in my fridge all week, and was an excellent salad to take to the beach.

This Beef and Cabbage Stirfry is one of my favorite recipes for Cabbage. I wish I could figure out a way to freeze cabbage so that I can make this in the Winter. If you know any tricks about freezing shredded cabbage, send them my way!

Russian Red Kale

Russian Red Kale is terrific for salads, and this one uses Golden Beets too! It feels like a huge win when I can combine ingredients to make meals. This White Bean & Kale Panzanella also looks delightful and would be a good way to use up that stale bread in my bread box.

If you need an easy appetizer or snack, Kale Chips are always a win around here.

With as much lettuce as we have this week, I’ll likely blanch and freeze our kale this week because it stores well and is easy to use in soups in Winter. Or maybe I’ll use some of the misfit potatoes from last week and make these Twice Baked Potatoes with Kale. They also freeze well and are a treat in the dark days of Winter.

As for the Kale stems, I try not to compost them. They juice well, or they can be thrown in a blender with some fruit for a fun twist on Green Smoothies. Don’t forget the honey in your smoothie. It will give the smoothie a sweetness that your kids (or you) can’t resist. You can also turn them into Pesto, which will freeze well and will be so welcome in Winter.

Golden Beets (with their greens)

Most people adore simple roasted beets as a side dish or on top of a salad. I have been trying to love beets as long as we’ve had a CSA, and I just don’t. I do like some varieties better than others, but all-in-all, beets are not my favorite thing. I do love a good pickled beet, especially in Winter or very early Spring. This recipe is similar to the one I typically use, but I’m intrigued by this Pickled Beet with Grapefruit and Chili. Maybe I’ll try something new this year.

Surprisingly, I find beet greens to be incredibly easy to use. My kids are huge fans of these Green Treats and I will sometimes substitute beet greens for the chard. Did you know beets and swiss chard come from the same family? Most often I blanch and freeze the greens and use them later when I want fresh pasta. I hardly ever make pasta without some kind of greens sneaking their way in.

Strawberry Honey

I don’t really need to tell you how to use fresh honey, do I? This is the most delicious honey I’ve ever had. With a faint taste of strawberries, we’ve been sticking spoons in and eating it by itself. I’ve long heard that eating local raw honey may help with seasonal allergies. Although there’s no science to back that up, I figure a small taste of honey every day can’t hurt. At the very least, it brings a smile to our faces.

I drizzle a spoonful over plain yogurt for the girls, put it in my coffee and tea, put it in smoothies, and occasionally drizzle some on top of a piece of toast covered in peanut or almond butter. A pint of honey doesn’t last long around here.

Alright friends, that’s a lot of recipes for you to dig through this week. It will only get bigger as the summer goes on. If at any time you feel overwhelmed, please don’t hesitate to comment below and ask for ideas specific to your share. I truly do love helping people learn how to love their farm shares!

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