Fourth Bonus Week, Number 24

Well, we made the first pick up on a cold, rainy day, and now we've made the final pick up on a cold, rainy day. I realized I was wearing the same coat both times, trying to stay warm and dry!

BROCCOLI
CELERY
LUFFA GOURD
ARUGULA
BLUE HUBBARD, BUTTERCUP and BUTTERNUT SQUASH
CABBAGE – Napa, green or cone head
CARROTS
BEETS
TOMATOES
COLORED SWEET PEPPERS
PUMPKINS – pick your own, in field

(I am so excited about the luffa. It doesn't take much!)

First Biryani

I've been pestering my friend, Sudha, for Indian recipes. This is the first (and hopefully not last) she's written out for me. She originally saw the recipe on tv in India, where Sanjeev Kapoor (she called him the Emeril of Indian Cooking) was making Chicken Biryani. Sudha modified it a little to be vegetarian, and then Gerry modified it from there to include shrimp. So there's shrimp in the pictures, but this is the basic recipe!

Farm ingredients included: peppers, tomatoes, carrots.

Vegetable Biryani

1 1/2 cups basmati rice

1 small onion, coarsely chopped

1-2 green chillies (depending upon the level of heat required) sliced

1 cup (all together) green peppers and carrots, finely diced, and peas

2 medium tomatoes, coarsely chopped

a few strands of saffron

a couple of drops of rose essence

1/2 tbsp finely chopped mint leaves

2 to 3 tbsp plain yogurt

extremely thin ginger slices (optional)

1/4 cup milk

1 tbsp finely chopped cilantro

spices:

1/4 tsp cinnamon

3-4 cardamoms, peeled and coarsely ground

3-4 cloves

1 bay leaf

1/4 tsp turmeric

1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste

1/2 tbsp garam masala

Cook the basmati rice until almost done, about 6-7 minutes after it comes to boiling (1 1/2 cups of rice require 3 cups of water). Keep aside.

Add oil in a wok on medium high heat, add cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and the bay leaf.

Saute the spices for 1-2 minutes and then add the onion and green chillies. Saute for 4 to 5 minutes.

Add the peppers, carrots, and peas, saute until the veggies are partially cooked. (Pre-cooking the carrots and peas in the microwave makes it faster.)

Add coarsely chopped tomatoes, a pinch of turmeric, and the ginger-garlic paste. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes.

Stir in yogurt, cook for 1-2 minutes and then add milk.

Mix in the rice, add salt, and now arrange the thin ginger slices in a ring on top of the rice.

Add garam masala, saffron, rose essence, cilantro, and mint.

Cover and cook for 15 minutes on medium heat, making sure that it doesn't stick to the bottom.

This is how it looked right before putting the lid on to cook for 15 minutes. Gerry called me at work to tell me how good the house smelled!

Week 23

HONEY – Fall harvest from the hives
BRUSSELS SPROUTS
SWEET POTATOES – Hernandez
CABBAGE – Napa, green or cone head
BUTTERCUP SQUASH
BUTTERNUT SQUASH
SCARLET NANTES or RAINBOW CARROTS
BEETS
WATERMELON – Desert King-seeded orange
PUMPKIN
TOMATOES-paste and peach
COLORED SWEET PEPPERS and HOT PEPPERS

Squashapalooza

I was right! This weird, warty thing is a buttercup squash! When I first saw it, I asked, "Are we supposed to eat that?" but then I found out buttercups are supposed to be a particularly tasty squash. And, like carrots, they are full of vitamin A and beta carotene. Pretty soon we should be able to see in the dark!

So, what do do with it...hmm. I saw a recipe in this month's Cottage Living that looked promising, so Gerry gave it a try.

Cider Roasted Winter Squash

1/4 cup fresh apple cider or unfiltered apple juice

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

about 4 1/2 pounds winter squash, halved, seeded, and cut into 2-inch wedges

4 sprigs fresh sage, chopped

4 sprigs fresh thyme

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Whisk first four ingredients together in a large bowl. Add squash and remaining ingredients and toss to coat. Place in a single layer on a shallow baking pan and roast, turning once, for 50 to 55 minutes or until tender and a light, golden brown around the edges. Serve immediately or at room temperature.

Gerry had his along with some boiled beets and local turkey.

I had mine smushed up with butter. The picture is sort of embarrassing.

In my defense, this is the first time I've eaten squash that wasn't almost completely hidden in bread or a casserole. Gerry told me it would taste kind of like mashed potatoes, and I thought, "Sure, SQUASHY mashed potatoes." He was right, though, it did kind of remind me of mashed potatoes, and it was nowhere near as squashy as I'd feared. Melting some butter on top didn't hurt, either.

Week 22, aka the 2nd Bonus Week!

beets
watermelon
one, lone summer squash
tomatoes
arrowhead cabbage
carrots
parsley
assorted peppers
sweet potatoes
pumpkin
winter squash (buttercup?)

14 Carrots

Ah, carrots. After potatoes, carrots are probably my favorite vegetable. When they started showing up in our shares, I declared, "Mine!" and squirreled them away for myself. (I am spoiled, aren't I?)

We all know that carrots are good for your eyes and filled with antioxidants (called carotenoids) which help protect against cancer and heart disease. But did you know they also come in different colors? Originally, carrots were purple or yellow, and orange carrots didn't show up until the 16th century. Now we're starting to see some of these different colors again--yellow and even purple on occasion. I don't care what color they are...I just love carrots!

Progress

We received our shares for weeks 20 and 21 within 4 days of each other, so we were a little concerned about using everything. That's really been our biggest challenge this summer--using everything. Some weeks it just seemed too hot to cook (or eat for that matter), and other weeks we weren't home much. So we struggled a little, but we've learned some things too. For one thing, we were a little late to the whole freezing idea!

The picture above is week 20. The blue Xs represent things we passed along to my mom. The red and white Xs are things we've eaten ourselves. We weren't in a big hurry to eat the second butternut squash, because we knew it would keep, so it looks like the one thing that really went to waste from this share is the arugula. Sorry, arugula.

Week 21, though. Ugh. We should be shot. The good news is everything is still edible, and Gerry has plans for the zucchini and some of the peppers. He also has all day tomorrow to play around with the other stuff! We'll see what he comes up with.

Week 21--Bonus!

Wow! We're into week 21 of 20 weeks! How cool!

ketchup
scarlet nantes carrots
butternut squash
napa cabbage
red ace beets
watermelon
cantaloupe
pumpkin
tomatoes
summer squash assortment
sweet bell peppers
sweet Italian bull's horn peppers – Carmen
dill
hot peppers and bitter gourd, optional

Neat Beets

Gerry tried a new beet recipe, and he's eating it right now. Not me. Don't even go there. But if you like beets...

Orange Beets, from Too Many Tomatoes, Squash, Beans, and Other Good Things: A Cookbook for When Your Garden Explodes. (Serves 4.)

Layer in buttered casserole:

6 raw medium beets, peeled and sliced

3 tablespoons of bread crumbs

1/4 cup sugar (Gerry left it out.)

Pour over beets:

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 cup orange juice

Cover and bake 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Add a layer of buttered breadcrumbs to the top and run under broiler.

Notice anything missing? In the interest of full disclosure, the way the recipe is printed in the book is sort of confusing. Gerry thought the three tablespoons of breadcrumbs were just for on top, so he didn't layer them in between.

And THEN we got wrapped up playing "Black Magic Woman" on Guitar Hero and let them burn a little. Eek. Nevertheless, this is the first beet recipe that Gerry likes! He says the orange juice gives the beets a nice acidic touch that's almost like pickling, but easier and (in his opinion) tastier. I asked how they'd be with the breadcrumbs layered in between, and he said, "Even better." Well, we have more beets this week, so he can try again!

The Ever-Morphing Pot

This is the story of the tomato sauce that turned into soup. Starting with tomatoes, peppers, and onions from the farm (and some seasonings and mushrooms that were not), Gerry set out to make another batch of sauce.

He cooked the 'maters.

Peeled them. (I helped by running them under cold water first.

Cooked up the garlic, onions, peppers, and herbs in some olive oil. See those smushed tomatoes in the background? I did that.

And then he dumped the tomatoes in and put the lid on the pot to let it all simmer. Oh, and mushrooms. And a can of tomato paste. But don't ask me when they went in--I don't cook.

But then he started thinking. We're sort of under the gun this week, because we just had last week's pick up on Friday, and the next one is Tuesday. Hmm. How about throwing some squash in there and turning it into soup? So he threw in "the round one and the flower-looking one." (Patty pan, I think he means.)

And so it became soup!

D'oh

Why didn't I think of this sooner? This represents what we've used from our share so far. We also have a beet recipe picked out to try--wish us luck. We aren't quite sure what we're going to make with the cabbage or butternut squash yet, so if you have any suggestions, bring 'em on!

Week 20

cabbage
watermelons
various peppers
summer squash
tomatoes
carrots
butternut squash
beets
cucumber
cilantro

This was rushed...sorry! Ger picked it up on his way home from work, then we raced to the gym, then to the grocery store, then home. Too dark to photograph outside! Then, as I was trying to arrange everything nicely, this is what I had to contend with:

Um, Isabella? That's where I want to put the tomatoes.

Shana Tova

If you're wondering what happened to this week's share...pick-ups were rescheduled this week, due to Rosh Hashanah, and we don't pick up until tomorrow. I took a year of Hebrew at college, so I thought I'd show off my awesome skills up there in the title. (That's about as much as I remember, though, so go easy on me.)

I wanted to show you what Gerry did with last week's tomatoes. Although he was initially reluctant to make tomato sauce from scratch, I kept chattering on about how SMART it is, because then he KNOWS what's in it. Not only is it free of HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, but it doesn't even have SUGAR in it! And wouldn't you know, he made it again? (Maybe just to shut me up?)

.

Pasta is out because he's diabetic, so he baked a spaghetti squash, mixed in some turkey sausage from Bolton's, and topped it with his homemade sauce. The bread is not our usual no-knead homemade. No, we filled an entire suitcase with sourdough bread on our trip to California. Yes, we're a little obsessive. But don't you wish you had some?