The Great Utah CSA Experiment 2009 - Weeks 10 & 11!

Week 10 brought some new things - cabbage and peppers! Yay for sweet peppers, I'm going to have to make stuffed peppers soon!

CSA Week 10:

CSA SHARE					Price	Value
0.88 lb zucchini (3)					1.29/lb	$1.13
2.25 lb cucumbers (3)					2/$1.00	$1.50
0.25 lb green onions					2.36/lb	$0.59
0.50 lb green peppers (2)					2/$1.00	$1.00
2.31 lb red potatoes					3.99/lb	$9.23
2.00 lb corn (4 ears)					5/$1.00	$0.80
3.75 lb cabbage					0.69/lb	$2.59

The cabbage was a funny squat shape, but it's still cabbage, it'll do just fine for potstickers (or as I've decided, spring rolls; as potstickers are just too time consuming). 4 ears of corn is a lot more manageable than the 7! I got last time. All in all, it was a nice mixture of storable goods and reasonable portion sizes of perishables.

CSA Week 11 brought cantaloupe! You know it's getting on in the summer when you get melons.

CSA Week 11:

CSA SHARE					Price	Value
1.21 lb yellow zucchini (3)					1.29/lb	$1.56
2.00 lb cucumbers (2)					2/$1.00	$1.00
0.63 lb green onions					2.36/lb	$1.48
1.0 lb green peppers (2)					2/$1.00	$1.00
1.88 lb red potatoes					3.99/lb	$7.50
2.25 lb corn (4 ears)					5/$1.00	$0.80
4.00 lb cantaloupe					0.39/lb	$1.56

So this time I remembered to tell you it was a special zucchini variety - yellow zucchini! It's just like regular zucchini, only um - yellow. Earlier this year I got a large yellow zucchini from my neighbor, but I passed it along to my sister (story follows) so I didn't get any myself.

So the story goes: my brother in law claims to not like zucchini but love yellow squash. They pretty much taste the same to me and my sister, so I provided some yellow zucchini and she submitted him to a blind tasting of yellow zucchini under conditions where he thought he was getting summer squash. He thought it tasted great, but when the trick was revealed he just exclaimed, "I guess I only like yellow zucchini!" Whatever that means.

By this time I'm up to my ears in green onions, and the stalks are not holding up under prolonged refrigerator storage. I was able to use a bit for a family potato salad, but I've started slicing and freezing them - we'll see how well they hold up.

The Great Utah CSA Experiment 2009 - Weeks 8 & 9!

Well this year has not been as smooth as last, and I fear that East Farms has not had fair treatment from me in terms of consistent reporting. Not only did I have estimate numbers for week 6 instead of an exact analysis, but I completely lost the listing for week 8 and haven't been able to find it anywhere! I keep putting off posting, hoping it will turn up, but now after several thorough house-cleanings I think I'm out of luck. The weekly newsletter indicates that I probably got green beans, beets, green onions and corn, and I think there were potatoes as well. If I find it later I will come back and post it , but other than that all I can say is I know it was good food because it disappeared quickly.

Not only have I been lax in keeping track of my shares, but I've also struggled to pick them up. When I registered, I was working Monday and Wednesday evenings, so I thought a Tuesday pickup would be trivial. Of course, when the pickups started so did my schedule - to Tuesday Thursday evenings! I have had to pick up three of my shares a day late - on Wednesday morning, and twice I've been lax in processing them, leaving them on the counter for days! (This has changed though, so we're good for the rest of the season).

I know it's bad treatment for fresh produce but I've been overwhelmed - if it isn't work, it's home remodeling (mine or my sister's) to be done, or it's food processing for preservation (how else am I going to survive another winter?) or it's family obligations. In some cases, even when I did post, I forgot to add pertinent information, for instance: that the zucchini was a special variety (globe-shaped, with grayish green skin) instead of the standard green tubes. Probably due to the poor treatment, some of the food has started to spoil earlier - the cucumbers particularly, though I've had some bad potatoes (how that happend I can't say, except that apparently I did a bad thing by storing them next to onions). The point being, if East Farms looks bad this year, it's my fault, not theirs.

Anyways, enough with the excuses. I do actually have numbers here for the rest of it, so here we go! Numbers are from the local Dick's Market, and they were taken the same week the produce arrived.

CSA Week 9:

CSA SHARE					Price	Value
1.81 lb cucumbers (5!)					0.79/ea	$3.95
1 lb carrots					0.79/lb	$0.79
0.69 lb green onions					2.36/lb	$1.63
1.88 lb large beets					1.29/lb	$2.43
1.75 lb golden potatoes					5.32/lb (red)	$9.31
5 lbs corn (7 ears)					3/$1.00	$2.33

5 Cucumbers! I've taken to slicing them up and putting them in a vinegar/water bath in the refrigerator, then I can snack on them at my leisure. I did have a few go bad, but I've been slow to get to them. The beets were amazing. I finally nailed a cool evening where I didn't feel bad running the gas oven and roasted them - only to find a surprise in my large beets - they were Chioggias! They have a gorgeous candy-striped center. You can see from the picture how they compare to the intense color of the little ones, and the yellow from the potatoes. The corn I've been sharing, and grilling for personal use. Because I have a hard time justifying running the grill for 2 ears, I do 4 at a time then save the rest for leftovers. They're great!

The Great Utah CSA Experiment 2009 - Weeks 6 & 7!

Okay, so I had all the amounts for week 6 and prices to boot, and the day I sat down to write the blog I couldn't find it. Anywhere. So I gave myself extra time and cleaned the house from top to bottom and apparently it ran away. So now I'm late and I still don't have solid numbers, I apologize but I'll estimate the best I can. Week 6 brought larger, mature carrots, more squash, and two new additions to the season - green beans and green onions! Prices again from the local Dick's Market.

CSA SHARE					Price	Value
~1 lb medium carrots (with tops)					0.79/lb	$0.79
~0.5 lb green onions (1 bunch)					4.72/lb	$2.36
~1 lb zucchini (2)					1.29/lb	$1.29
~1 lb summer squash (2)					1.29/lb	$1.29
0.75 lb pattypan squash (1)					*1.49/lb	$1.12
~1 lb green beans					1.29/lb	$1.29

I was super excited for our first glazed green beans and tomatoes dish of the season - seriously it's a big family favorite. Of course, the summer squash and zucchini were sauteed with green onions for flavor and served straight. I have been making regular smoothies with a little bit of carrot tops in them, it imparts a nice carroty flavor. The pattypan has stumped me, but I don't know why - I can treat it just like a summer squash. Something about its cute little magic box shape makes me want to do something special with it.

When pricing out the green onions, I thought my little bunch wouldn't be worth much. Then I realized those little bunches that the store sells for $0.50 weigh less than 2 oz! Or maybe, they cut the bunches in half when they put them on sale. Either way, I was happy with the CSA bunch =)

I wasn't going to be home to pick up week 7 share so I asked my sister to do it for me. Since we both live in the Bountiful area it was convenient, and she was happy to do it. She only took one bag of green beans from the share for her troubles so I had to estimate that portion (I can't complain, that's what I would have taken too). Week 7 brought more squash (including some very small baby zucchini and baby summer squash), larger beets, and red potatoes!

CSA SHARE					Price	Value
2.75 lb zucchini (5)					1.29/lb	$3.55
0.56 lb baby summer squash (2)					1.29/lb	$0.72
0.25 lb green onions					4.72/lb	$1.18
0.75 lb medium beets					1.29/lb	$0.97
1.31 lb red potatoes					3.99/lb	$5.23
~ 1 lb green beans					1.29/lb	$1.29

I've been practicing my steady demands for more local food at Dick's market. Every time I go in there, I ask what's local. Apparently they've had local green onions, but they were having a special ad price on them this week and thus 'had to get them from the warehouse'. Turns out all they had as local was zucchini and summer squash. (Still no apricots. Seriously.) I thought about it for a minute, and then went over and grabbed 1-2 of each squash.

It's not that I don't have some zucchini and summer squash that I can use, but I figured what's the point in asking if I'm not going to act? I'm glad I did, because on my way out I saw the produce guy spying on me. Certainly, my requests for more local food won't be taken seriously if I don't even buy the stuff they have. Still, some irrational part of me whines "How come you don't have any local blueberries? Why not apples?" The inner child may never learn.

It was a good thing I did pick up the extra produce though, because I was asked to prepare a vegetable dish for a large family gathering. How convenient, since I had extra squash! So that's what I made, and it was great.

The Great Utah CSA Experiment 2009 - Week 5!

Is it already week 5? While last year I felt I was drowning in greens and afraid of the next pickup, this year I feel like there isn't sufficient and I'm afraid the next one won't come fast enough. That's not to say I'm eating everything, I'm storing a lot of it. But I don't know if it will be enough to sustain me when greens season is over. Case in point: we received no salad greens this week, and only one bunch of chard.

Prices listed this week are again from the local Dick's Market, and non-organic. I received:

CSA SHARE					Price	Value
0.75 lb rainbow chard					2.62/lb	$1.96
0.75 lb peas					3.49/lb	$2.62
1.63 lb zucchini					1.29/lb	$2.10
1.25 lb summer squash					1.29/lb	$1.61
0.56 lb baby purple carrots (tops attached)					*0.79/lb	$0.44
2.38 lb bing cherries					1.99/lb	$4.73

*Price based on loose normal carrots, the closest equivalent.

Cherries!! This is the first share (including all of last year) that I have received fruit from East Farms. They were really good. I ate them by handfuls, I shared with my family at get-togethers (where they received rave reviews), and my nephew happily polished off the last bit of them at a picnic. Yay for fruit!

And purple carrots (see photo at right). They taste like normal carrots to me, except that the outer 3 mm diameter is a deep purple color. Very pretty. My nephew (the same one who polished off the cherries) happily tried one, proudly showed it off to his family, and took a bag home with him afterward. This is the same family who thinks vegetable hash (sauteed zucchini and summer squash in butter and spices) qualifies as a dessert. That's okay, I have plenty to share!

Speaking of carrots, they have been piling up in my refrigerator (this is the 3rd week in a row for carrots). I like the flavor, and use them steamed and in smoothies, but I have a hard time eating them raw (my poor jaw!) And they keep coming with stems attached. A quick google search told me the stems were indeed edible and very nutritious, but it's hard to get past the flavor and texture. They make a good substitute for parsley, but I don't have a lot of recipes which use parsley by the cupful.

I experimented around a bit and found I could put up to 1/2 to 1 cup of rinsed carrot greens into my blender with the other smoothie staples (fruit, ice, juice concentrate, occasional yogurt) and have a nice drink without having the greens be too overwhelming. (Note: don't do 3 cups. Just take it from me.)

The Great Utah CSA Experiment 2009 - Week 4!

Gosh are we already on week 4? This season seems to be slipping by much faster than last. And we're still ahead of last year's schedule, with summer squash and zucchini coming in looking very nice. Here are the goods, with non-organic prices from Dick's supermarket:

CSA SHARE					Price	Value
1.09 lb red & green leaf lettuce					1.38/lb	$1.50
0.63 lb spinach					3.18/lb	$2.01
1.19 lb beets					1.29/lb	$1.54
0.75 lb baby carrots (with tops)					0.79/lb	$0.59
1.56 lb summer squash (2)					1.29/lb	$2.01
0.63 lb zucchini (2)					1.29/lb	$0.81

That's it! We're looking forward to more vegetable hash, a salad or two, and some oven roasted vegetables. Unfortunately, with the added heat coming on this time of year, we're also looking for more recipes that don't require a stove. Though I've steamed carrots in the microwave before, I'm not sure about beets. We might have to experiment - I can't keep using my oven at this rate. Suggestions, anyone?

The Great Utah CSA Experiment 2009 - Week 3!

We got the food from weeks 1&2 used or stored just in time for the week 3 pickup. The peas all went to snacking, the spinach was stored in the freezer with the beet tops and half the chard. The other half of the chard was shared with neighbors (along with two bags of lettuce greens) and we had lots and lots of salads. I would probably be tired of salads right now if I weren't coming out of 5 months of fresh food deprivation. As it is, I'm excited to have leafy greens for breakfast lunch and dinner. And as for the rest, oven-roasted beets (recipe) have now become a real favorite of mine. Hurray for beets! (I don't think I could ever have pictured myself saying that a year ago.)

I'm also happy to report that I've gotten quite a few great recommendations on how to use leafy greens creatively. Head on over to my friend Sarah's recipe blog for some good recipes with arugula. However, because of my recent deprivation, and because last season I ran out of stored greens at the end of August, I am quite happy to store those that I can. In fact I may purchase extra before the end of the leafy greens season with the express purpose of storing them. Sadly, lettuce greens like romaine, red leaf, and green leaf cannot be frozen for later use and as a result we get a bit more tired of them. If anybody has any non-salad based recommendations for romaine - I'm all ears.

This week in the box I received the following. Prices for this week are for non-organic fare from the local Dick's supermarket:

CSA SHARE					Price	Value
1.19 lb romaine					0.84/lb	$1.00
0.63 lb red & green leaf lettuce					1.19/lb	$0.75
0.63 lb spinach					3.54/lb	$2.23
1.00 lb beets					1.29/lb	$1.29
1.00 lb rainbow chard					2.50/lb	$2.50
1.06 lb baby carrots (with tops)					*0.75/lb	$0.79
1.75 lb zucchini (3)					1.29/lb	$2.26

*Price based on 2-lb bag carrots, the closest equivalent.

The season seems to be moving along a bit earlier this year than last, as this week's share included several young zucchini (not available until week 5 last year!) Also new are the carrots, which I didn't receive last year. These are real baby carrots, none of them thicker than my fingers, and most of them shorter. The picture at right shows them next to the storebought whittled down snacking "baby" carrots for comparison.

The spinach was used in a chicken cannelloni dish (one day, when I perfect the recipe, I'll post it). The leaf lettuces have surprisingly been devoured already, thanks again to my wonderful brother. The zucchini went into vegetable stir-fry (see picture, at left) and the beets and carrots have a date with the oven tomorrow. After all that, and a little more blanching/freezing beet greens and the rainbow chard, I'll be ready for the next CSA pickup!

The Great Utah CSA Experiment 2009 - Weeks 1 & 2!

It's that time of year again! Weekly produce and weekly posts about my adventures with East Farms CSA. I've been anticipating this ever since they ended last October, but I've really felt it the last few months. Every time I buy produce at the grocery store I regret it: it really tastes awful. Even the stuff from Whole Foods was just okay. (I mean, it was better than the alternative, but I had no appetite for it).

After being fooled by the system 5 times over the past winter - I decided not to bother at all. (Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me five times. . .) A whole winter subsisting on bread, milk, occasional protein has convinced me to store as much of the great produce I get during the season as possible. I don't think I could make it through another winter like that again! I'll probably need buy an upright freezer sometime this summer to help me store food, but it'll be well worth it.

Unfortunately, after all the anticipation for the CSA pickup, I'm a week late getting started! I missed the first week because I didn't get my pickup letter in time. (It was sent in time, but it took an extra week to navigate the change-of-address process via post). Luckily the good people at East Farms decided I could pick up a full share this week to offset the loss. Here's the goods for a full share (two half shares) delivered Tuesday the 16th. Prices are based on organic fare from Sunflower Farmer's Market:

CSA SHARE-A	CSA SHARE-B					Price (organic)	Value
0.94 lb romaine	1.0 lb romaine					1.90/lb	$3.69
1.25 lb red & green leaf lettuce	0.94 lb red & green leaf lettuce					3.00/lb	$6.57
0.81 lb spinach	0.81 lb spinach					5.99/lb	$9.73
1.06 lb beets	1.25 lb beets					1.59/lb	$3.68
1.31 lb rainbow chard	0.19 lb rainbow chard					2.89/lb	$3.90
0.69 lb english peas	0.81 lb english peas					*2.99/lb	$4.49

*Price based on non-organic sugar snap & snow peas, the closest equivalent.

Compared to week 2 from last year, there is a little more variety. I was really surprised to find beets so early! The peas, chard, spinach, and beets (pictured at right) are great: I can eat them now or freeze for later use; but the lettuce is again a problem for me to put away quickly enough (it doesn't help that my father has been supplying me with as much lettuce as I can consume for the last few weeks from his garden.)

With a glut of fresh locally grown vegetables I'm eating as much as possible to make up for my winter starvation. The first thing I did was eat an entire bowl of peas. I can't begrudge the shucking, they were really great. Next night I prepared a simple salad and roasted root vegetables with the beets (pictured at left). Thankfully, my brother joined us for dinner - the one that can down a large horse. He personally cleared 5 plates of leafy greens! (THANK YOU!) Even with that, I'm going to have to eat as fast as possible so I have room in my refrigerator again!

This year I'm not going to be as picky about including recipe posts - that will allow me to put up the 'what I got' pretty quickly, and the recipe tweaking won't delay the posting: I can post them individually later. Besides, it helps me solicit help from readers in deciding what to do with all my produce!

Having said that, here's my recipe for yesterday's Simple Salad:

3 c. salad greens, torn
3/4 c. chicken tenders or popcorn chicken (optional)
honey dijon salad dressing

I first had a salad like this at my cousin's house - just lettuce and ranch. I was floored by the audacity of the dish. What, no tomatoes? No cucumbers or cheese or olives or peppers? No onions or spices? No nothing? It sounds pretty plain but it was great, and now I don't feel bad serving simple salad. (Besides, let's admit it: the rest of that stuff isn't seasonal at the same time leafy greens are. And what busy cook can resist simplicity in mealmaking?) I should clarify: Craig likes it with the chicken, but my brother liked it just as well without. Nothing is really required beyond the greens and some dressing you love.

The Great Utah CSA Experiment - Winter Squash Update!

I promised it would come, but I'm sure you didn't think it would take me this long to start tackling my store of CSA winter squash! It's a good thing it stores so well. I once had a pumpkin I dressed up for president's day - this year I wasn't going to wait quite that long. Over the past few weeks I've been experimenting with pumpkins and acorn squash, and I have to say they are easy to prepare and delicious to boot - but finding enough recipes to use up a whole pumpkin's worth of purée is not a simple task!

Luckily, my cousin loves to cook and use pumpkin and has a few great recipes to share. She helped me determine the best way to cook (and store) a 30 lb monstrosity, and was the source of two of the recipes included. So for the curious, here is a play by play of Me vs. The Pumpkin.

The first job was to wash the pumpkin of the little remaining dirt and collected dust. This wasn't a simple task, as the pumpkin didn't actually fit inside the kitchen sink (see above). We make do with what we have. I rinsed one side, then turned the pumpkin and repeated, and we were off to the races!

After washing the pumpkin, I carved out the top with the handle, just as if I were preparing for a Halloween pre-jack-o-lantern lobotomy. After I could get my knife inside, I began slicing the pumpkin up into 2-3" wedges and dug out the insides. Of course, I saved the guts so I could cook the seeds later.

All in all, I obtained 11 massive wedges - now the difficulty was how to cook them. There was no way I was going to boil them: I wasn't interested in standing over a hot stove all day nor was I interested in losing any flavor to the water. I found my microwave could cook 1 cut-up wedge in 20 minutes, and it retained a bright orange color. I could also fit up to three wedges on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour at 300 F, that resulted in a darker color. After cooking a grand total of 4 wedges with these methods I called up my cousin. "Buy a plastic turkey bag" she said. I was able to crowd the remaining 7 wedges inside the turkey bag, balance it precariously on the small cooking tray, then forget about it while they all cooked at 300 F for 1.5 hours. I should have done that at the start!

After cooking, the flesh was soft enough for me to dig it out with a spoon - and in some cases, peel the skin right off. I then proceeded to puree the pumpkin with my handy immersion blender. (One day I will write an article on how much I love my immersion blender). It made quick work of the very soft pumpkin and I was soon scrambling to find containers in which to fit 25 cups of pumpkin purée.

The obvious solution was to use as much as possible by cooking as quickly as possible. So I immediately used 2 cups to make pumpkin muffins. But it turns out 2 cups makes > 3 dozen muffins - and I really didn't think my family of two could eat 450 muffins before they spoiled. Good thing I could give some away! These were delicious, and everybody I shared them with loved them. I am counting on making many more with the remaining pumpkin purée stored in my freezer.

My next bright idea was to experiment with cream of pumpkin soup for dinner. I used up 2 cups making a variant with a can of evaporated milk and bullion, and it wasn't bad, but needs a bit more work before I publish the recipe. Craig wouldn't even taste it though - which leads me to believe that it doesn't matter what I do with the recipe, he's decided he doesn't want anything to do with pumpkin soup. Guess that leaves us with more muffins!

After that, I made a pumpkin dessert roll - pumpkin cake rolled up in cream cheese frosting: cant' go wrong! It was delicious and evaporated at a family party; but it only used up 3/4 cup pumpkin.

Finally, I rinsed and roasted the pumpkin seeds. Nearly 2 cups of raw seeds baked up nicely, and since Craig won't eat them, it meant more for me. Hurray!

After a full day of cooking, not even 20% of my pumpkin was used. I put the remainder in the freezer, and started brainstorming on who I could share it with. So far, I've pawned 2.5 cups off on my sister and 5 cups on my cousin (who took the first pumpkin and gave me the help. I hope she'll continue to do so!)

As for the remaining squash in our storage, we've made it through one acorn squash and three spaghetti squash. Again, the spaghetti squash were all used for quick and dirty meals on nights when I was too tired to think of anything else - they are very practical and easy to prepare if you have jars of spaghetti sauce. The acorn squash was nearly as easy - much easier than the pumpkin to prepare, certainly - but that's likely because it was 15x smaller. This one Craig and I ate right out of the shell, loaded with butter and sugar. It was delicious!

All that remains to be experimented with are several buttercup and carnival squash. Expect that update soon!

Recipes for Winter Squash Update:

-----Fabulous Pumpkin Muffins-----

1 c. butter	4 c. flour
2 c. sugar	1 t. cloves
2 eggs	2 t. allspice
1 T. vanilla	1 T. cinnamon
2 c. finely pumpkin purée	2 t. baking soda

Mix together the first five (wet) ingredients, and blend well. In a separate bowl, mix together the remaining (dry) ingredients. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, and mix until just moistened. Distribute the batter in muffin cups and bake at 400 F for 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Makes ~ 3.5 dozen.

-----Pumpkin Cake Roll-----

Rather than copying and pasting content, I'll just direct you to two of the best recipes on Allrecipes.com, which is where I was told to find them. Don't let the multi-step process fool you into thinking this is a difficult dessert to make - on the contrary it was VERY easy and relatively quick.

Pumpkin Roll II
Libby's Pumpkin Roll with Cream Cheese Filling

-----Roasted Pumpkin Seeds-----

2 c. raw pumpkin seeds, rinsed thoroughly
2 T. butter
2 t. Worcestershire sauce
1 t. salt
1/2 t. garlic salt

Mix together butter, sauce, salt, and garlic salt in a small bowl. Microwave on medium until the butter is completely melted. Whisk the ingredients together, then add the pumpkin seeds and coat liberally. Scoop the seeds onto a cookie sheet and spread out until you have one layer, then cook at 250 F for 1 hour.

-----Sweet Acorn Squash-----

1 acorn squash, cut in half and de-seeded
4 T. butter
6 T. maple syrup*

Microwave the squash on high for 12 minutes, turning several times to ensure even cooking. Remove the squash, and put 2 T. butter and 3 T maple syrup in each half. Place the halves in the oven on 'broil' (~ 6" under the elements) for 2 minutes until the butter melts and the syrup begins to caramelize. Remove and serve hot.

*You may substitute brown sugar, apricot jam, or any other appropriate sugar laden flavorful sweetener you desire. Brown sugar appears to be commonly used, but I liked mine with apricot-cranberry jam, and Craig enjoyed his with maple syrup.

The Great Utah CSA Experiment - Week 18!

This share came with the very sad news that it would be the last of the season for the East Farms CSA. This was just as well - this week also brought the first big snowfall of the season! Not much more was going to be growing after that. In fact, the produce in the share was all hardy root vegetables or winter squash - the only things that could have survived intact for delivery. This was by far the heaviest load of the year, at over 20 lb of total food:

CSA SHARE		Price (Organic)				Price ('Normal')	Value
8.81 lb Butternut Squash (2)						0.99/lb (asst. squash)	$8.72
2.20 lb Buttercup Squash						0.99/lb (asst. squash)	$2.18
3.75 lb Carnival Squash (2)						0.99/lb (asst. squash)	$3.71
3.71 lb Spaghetti Squash						0.99/lb (asst. squash)	$3.67
1.73 lb Yellow Potatoes						1.49/lb	$2.58

It's a good thing this share was full of winter squash, because my refrigerator is still overflowing with more perishable produce. In fact, despite my best efforts, I am ashamed to admit I've already lost 1 cucumber, 2 eggplants, and 5 roma tomatoes to time. I should have given them away faster! Or frozen them. Oh, well.

Because I'm still struggling to eat the other produce, I'm going to have to add an addendum or two as I eat the winter squash over the next few months. We'll see how it goes! Included at right is a photo of one of the new squash varieties I received with this share: a carnival squash. At bottom is a recipe for butternut squash fries, as inspired by my local bakery's sweet potato fries. Unfortunately I don't have a picture - they were all eaten before I could buy a new set of batteries for my camera!

This share came with a newsletter announcing not only the end of the season, but also including an invitation to visit the East Farms pumpkin patch on Saturday and pick up one pumpkin per family member. We were excited about the prospect of pumpkin patching, and since the farm is close to the Borski Farms produce stand we figured we'd visit both over the weekend. We hopped in the car early Saturday morning for our field trip and easily found both the farm and the stand.

The pumpkin patch was full of both pumpkins and pickers, as well as Andrew, the manager of the East Farms program. He was kind enough to talk with us for a bit about the program in general and the year specifically - East Farms was hoping to add some fruit to its shares from a family orchard, but the fruit was mealy and lacked flavor, even though it looked good. This was likely the result of our unusually cool spring and early summer, and possibly some frost damage; but I was impressed that they didn't go on and include it anyways - I sure know the grocery chains don't think twice about selling mealy and flavorless produce!

Andrew also directed us to the back of the patch where the really big pumpkins were. He kindly agreed to let us take two extra pumpkins for our neighbors, which we did. Our four pumpkins were almost perfectly round, very handsome, and together weighed in at over 90 lbs! (Individual weights were 29.75 lb, 23.5 lb, 19.75 lb, 17.6 lb.)


At the grocery store price of .19/lb each, they all added up to a $17.21 value. But mostly I was proud of the size and regularity of the squash (pictured below). I did indeed deliver one each to both of my immediate neighbors, and another one was given to my cousin. Since I haven't actually used mine yet (it will meet the same fate as the other winter squash in my cold storage - eventually) I can't post what I did with it, but I will when I cook it!

We stopped by the Borski stand on the way out, and found that it's actually a cooperative stand run by a few farms in the area. As a result the produce may or may not be organic, and it may or may not be completely local - though the stand operator at the time could tell us which was which. They had a great selection of winter squash, potatoes, onions, garlic, and even boxes of peaches (in mid-October!!), all at fair value.

Since I have more food than I know what to do with spoiling, I couldn't justify purchasing more. Regardless, it was nice to see the location and what produce was available. As the year has worn on, I've found that I've really craved produce from weeks prior - but the grocery store versions are so flavorless. I have had extra produce I could have stored, but to make food storage worth my while I feel I need to work with more than just two weekly shares. Now I know where to go to grab the produce I want to store in bulk so I can put it up for the rest of the year and not crave it for months without relief (ahh arugula, how I miss thee!)

Overall, I found this share provided a great variety of vegetables, the share distribution was flexible, the pickup times worked very well for my schedule (both when I was working and when I wasn't), and the location was very convenient. It also provided the best value overall value: for the total spread of 18 weeks, the conservative estimated value adds up to $334.64. That is of course treating most of the produce as non-organic grocery store fare. Even so, I paid a price of 205.00 for this share on April 23rd (the late price - earlier comers paid slightly less), and I've been exceptionally pleased with the results. I would highly recommend this CSA to anybody who doesn't mind a glut of vegetables every week.

Looking back, the biggest highlight of the East Farms season for me was learning how to use the overabundance of vegetables in ways I've never done before, including bitter mediterranean greens - which I have been craving for the past month - eggplant, beets, peas, kohl rabi, green beans, and summer squash. Mostly this was all new because I've never had to cook these vegetables on this scale before - I can manage to use one package of green beans a year but several pounds in two months meant searching out good recipes and learning new cooking and/or storing techniques. Additionally, I found it incredibly fun to give extra produce to neighbors, friends, and some acquaintances (which made more friends!) I am grateful that everybody was so excited to help me with my project and to learn more about it - or at least, they were tolerant of my eccentricities and if they thought I was really weird, they didn't let it show.

Overall, I have very much enjoyed both of the CSAs, and would be hard pressed to say which I would pick, if I had to pick just one. Craig says we should just get both again - and I'm tempted to do so!

An additional perk of the project that I hadn't really anticipated was our near independence from grocery stores. We rarely needed to shop for anything other than milk and bread, and some meats and cheeses. Our grocery store runs were quick and to the point - and included very little side-spending on things we normally would have purchased while 'browsing' the aisles. Though it may or may not have helped our overall costs, I feel it helped us cut back on unnecessary spending and it certainly saved me a lot of time shopping. Exact numbers follow!

Quicken reports to me that for the 18 week duration of the experiment, including the costs of both shares, Craig and I spent $55.54/week on groceries - this is our bill for all grocery items, food and nonfood (like toilet paper and toothpaste) but not household (like linens and clothing). If we had only opted for one share (the recommended amount, meaning we would have given away less food) our bill would have been $44.15/week. I'll be honest in saying that's a little bit more than our usual grocery bill, which was for the 7 months prior to the project an average of $150/month; but it's difficult to tell whether the increase came from the CSA, or from several other changes in buying habits I've made in recent months, including buying eggs from cage-free hens and raw milk (more on that subject another time.)

Recipe for week 18:

-----Oven-Roasted Butternut Squash Fries-----

1 whole Butternut Squash
1/2 t. salt
3 T. butter

Peel the squash with a knife or a vegetable peeler, cut and deseed. Cut the flesh into slices - thin if you like shoestring fries, and thick if you like potato wedges. Melt butter and salt, and coat the squash fries. Bake at 425 F until done, ~20 minutes for shoestrings and up to 1 hour for wedges. Be sure to turn them occasionally!

The Great Utah CSA Experiment - Week 17!

Week 17 was bittersweet - our first week in months with only one CSA share, but again with less produce we would have a chance to get caught up on what our refrigerator was overflowing with. Unfortunately I was very sick this week, and spent most of the time (when I wasn't working) either sleeping or drugged up so I would be well enough to work. As a result, fixing food wasn't exactly on top of my priority list. Luckily, the East Farms share again included a lot of produce that stores well!

CSA SHARE		Price (Organic)				Price ('Normal')	Value
0.51 lb Yellow Onions (2)						0.99/lb	$0.80
1.69 lb Roma Tomatoes						1.99/lb	$3.36
4.55 lb Buttercup Squash						0.99/lb (asst. squash)	$4.50
2.5 lb Acorn Squash						0.99/lb (asst. squash)	$2.48
4.27 lb Spaghetti Squash (2)						0.99/lb (asst. squash)	$4.23
1.67 lb Red Potatoes						0.69/lb	$1.15
1.52 lb Zucchini (2)						1.29/lb	$1.96

The total comes out to nearly 17 lbs of food - the squash takes us a long way! The potatoes and onions and winter squashes will all store very well. This week came with yet again a new kind of squash: Buttercup. This looks nothing like a buttercup in my opinion - we can start with the fact that it is green, not yellow; and warty, not soft. But I didn't make the rules, so we'll call it a buttercup.

Only the Zucchini and the Tomatoes will spoil in the next month, if I don't get to them all, and that includes the stash of tomatoes I've been putting off for the past few weeks. I'm sure you are wondering at this point why I was so excited for tomatoes earlier in the season, if at this point I can't figure out what to do with them.

The problem with the tomatoes is two-fold:

1 - Most tomato recipes I am familiar with use vegetables out-of-season. Picture that delicious salad with shaved carrots, garden tomatoes, and green-leaf lettuce. Oh, wait. Lettuce season is over. Hrm, what about the classic BLT? Bacon on wheat toast with sliced tomatoes and lettuce - oh wait, lettuce season is still over. I could do glazed green beans with tomatoes, except I haven't received any green beans in my share recently!

2 - By and large, I have recived a disproportionately large amount of Roma tomatoes compared with those that I typically use. At least the round tomatoes I can slice up and eat straight with salt and pepper, but Romas don't have quite the flavor, and tend to be better in sauces and baked goods, since they are more fleshy. So they have to wait until I use a recipe for them. Luckily, they store a little bit better than the others (so that's probably a good thing).

So I was out shopping at one of my favorite grocery stores, and found they had a really fantastic deal on green beans - $1.00/2 lb California grown green beans. Now, I realize they aren't Utah green beans but I was pretty sure I wasn' t going to find Utah green beans, and I thought at the time that these would help me use up my tomato supply. They looked healthy, so I bought a package and made a batch of glazed green beans with (extra) tomatoes with dinner.

I probably should have seen this coming but, they tasted awful. No - not awful, they just tasted like nothing (which is awful for green beans). I think straw would have had more flavor. This was the first time I can ever remember throwing out perfectly 'good' food (they really were completely healthy looking, no defects at all) but neither Craig nor I could bring ourselves to eat them - even with the really good sugary tomato glaze.

What happened? Have storebought green beans always tasted this way, I just never noticed because I was used to it? Did I notice it now because I'm used to food with flavor? Or was this batch of green beans just no good? I don't have any answers, but I am disturbed. I feel even more leery of purchasing grocery-store fare now than I was before! I suppose time will tell (as I am forced to buy more grocery-store produce over the winter) whether or not this was an isolated incident or a horrifying revelation of actual flavor that I always thought was 'normal'.

In the end, I used up quite a few (~10) romas in a Red Chili dish. (Think the White Chili recipe from last week, but use red kidney beans and black beans in place of the white ones, beef steak chunks instead of the shredded chicken, and lots of added pureed and chopped tomatoes) Note to self: pureed roma tomatoes still don't approach the thickness of tomato sauce, much less tomato paste. The chili was all right - not great enough to justify posting the whole recipe, and the White Chili was better but Craig ate it and that was good. I would have a picture but I'm blaming drugged-up brain fogginess for the lack thereof. Please forgive me!

The Great Utah CSA Experiment - Week 16!

Week 16 came with more surprises, beginning with yet another variety of winter squash. The East Farms CSA brought in quite a haul by itself, valued at nearly $17 at non-organic prices.

CSA SHARE		Price(Organic)				Price ('Normal')	Value
0.70 lb Green Peppers (2)						1.29/lb	$0.90
0.80 lb Onion						0.99/lb	$0.79
1.77 lb Roma Tomatoes						1.99/lb	$3.52
2.02 lb Eggplant (2)						1.60/lb	$3.23
1.71 lb Gold Potatoes						1.49/lb	$2.55
2.00 lb Acorn Squash						0.99/lb (asst. squash)	$1.98
4.03 lb Spaghetti Squash						0.99/lb (asst. squash)	$3.99

The onions and potatoes and squash go into cold storage for use as I need them. I have so much perishable produce in my refrigerator and on my counters that I can't possible think of using the nonperishable ones anytime in the immediate future. But it was nice to see a new squash, the acorn squash pictured at right, with the share.

These peppers I used for another batch of white chili, but I've still got quite a few. I've started freezing them all so they don't go bad, but there are far too many spicy ones. By spicy I mean each time I cut up a batch for the freezer I must refrain from touching my nose or eyes for 48 hours (OW). In the future, I'm using latex gloves.

The eggplant and tomatoes went into the refrigerator for later use. I still can't get to the eggplant fast enough, and the tomatoes are backing up as well. If this keeps up I'm going to have to start freezing them.

Speaking of freezing, this week also marked the first snowfall of the season! I had to clean off 6" of snow from my car at 9:00 am Sunday before I could go to church. By 1:00 pm when I came out, it was all melted. It came and went quickly, but I'm pretty sure that any life remaining in my little basil and parsley plants was snuffed out. =(

The second share here is the last share of the year for the Borski Farms CSA program. It is a very sad prospect, but on the other hand it has begun to be very difficult to make it with my work schedule as well as Craig's new school schedule. Again, I got the share with only 5 minutes to spare on the 6:00 pm pickup time.

CSA SHARE		Price(Organic)				Price ('Normal')	Value
1.10 lb Green Peppers (2)						1.29/lb	$1.42
0.48 lb Peach (1)						1.99/lb	$0.96
0.93 lb Apples (Golden Delicious, 3)						1.49/lb	$1.39
0.82 lb Yellow Onions						0.99/lb	$0.81
0.67 lb Red Onions (2)						0.99/lb	$0.66
1.48 lb Blue Potatoes						1.49/lb (Gold)	$2.21

Again, the onions and potatoes went into cold storage. The apples I used in the dessert recipe provided (below), and the peach sat on my counter: a lonely reminder that there would be no more. The peppers went into my refrigerator for later use.

The share also came with a newsletter thanking us for participating and informing us of the Borski Farms produce stand in Kaysville on 315 N Main (open through Oct 31). Information on registration for the 2009 season will be available on their website in January. In addition, the newsletter came with a recipe for a baked apple dessert, which I have included below.

Overall, I found this CSA provided good variety of quality produce. The value was reasonable, the share distribution was flexible, and for the most part the pickup times worked well. For the total spread of 15 weeks, the conservative estimated value adds up to $193.05. That is of course treating most of the produce as non-organic grocery store fare, and often including the only available price substitutes on some produce I couldn't find anywhere (blue potatoes, for instance) which most likely would have gone for more. Even so, I paid a price of 190.00 for this share on April 23rd (the late price - earlier comers paid slightly less), and I've been extremely pleased with the results. I would highly recommend this CSA to anybody for whom the pickup location, days and times work - which was my only issue.

Looking back, the biggest highlights of the Borski season for me included finding completely unexpected produce: anasazi beans, local cheese, blue potatoes, and delicata squash. The herb starts at the beginning of the season were also unexpected, and I used the fresh basil and parsley throughout the season in many dishes. In addition to the surprises, I loved the outstanding flavor of the produce - for instance, the potent garlic which overwhelmed the whole shopping bag. Finally, I cannot close without mentioning again how happy I was for the regular shares of (really good) peaches for weeks on end.

Recipe for week 16:

-----Baked Apple Dessert-----

1 t. ground cinnamon
1/4 t. ground nutmeg
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 T. butter, split into 6 pieces (1 t. each)
6 apples

Heat the oven to 325 F. Combine cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar and set aside. Core the apples without puncturing the bottom. Fill each cavity the cinnamon mixture, then top off with 1 t. butter each. Cover with aluminum foil and bake 45 minutes-1 hour.

The Great Utah CSA Experiment - Week 15!

This week began with the Chinese party I'd been looking forward to for weeks. I took all my potsticker ingredients, the M-M-M-Monster Cabbage, and my pastry wraps looking for some fun. As it was the party went great! But we had too much food (including some already pre-prepared potstickers) and we ended up useing nothing that I had brought. So instead, Craig and I sat down and made a very large batch of potstickers we were able to freeze for future use.

To freeze potstickers, prepare them but do not cook them. Place them on paper plates or a wax paper lined pan in so they are not touching; then place the plate or the pan in the freezer until the potstickers are frozen solid. At that point, you can transfer them all to a big freezer bag and seal for long term freezer storage. Cooking the frozen potstickers is the same as cooking the fresh ones - heat 2 T. oil in a non-stick skillet, then add just as many potstickers as can cover the bottom of the pan (they will stick together if you layer them on top of one another.) Cook 2-3 minutes until the undersides are lightly brown. Add 1/2 cup water, then cover and let cook until all the water is absorbed. Remove when potstickers are again crispy and golden brown on the bottom.

The East Farms CSA share came with the most variety in items I've seen so far this season, including lots of summer standards and one new winter squash. Here's the lowdown:

CSA SHARE		Price (Organic)				Price ('Normal')	Value
0.62 lb Green Peppers (2)		1.99/lb				1.29/lb	$1.23
0.79 lb Onion		1.99/lb				0.99/lb	$1.57
1.83 lb Tomatoes (slicing)						1.99/lb	$3.64
0.80 lb Chili Peppers (6)						1.99/lb	$1.59
1.00 lb Eggplant (1)		1.99/lb				1.59/lb	$1.99
1.68 lb Red Potatoes						0.69/lb	$1.16
1.86 lb Spaghetti Squash						0.99/lb (asst. squash)	$1.84
0.45 lb Zucchini (1)						1.29/lb	$0.58

I have to admit, at this point I'm having a very hard time figuring out what to do with eggplant that is new and delicious. Despite all my attempts to dress it up, Craig is still not a fan (it's the texture, not the flavor). This eggplant I used to make a Cashew-Eggplant Casserole I found on allrecipes.com (one of my favorite recipe sites), but sadly it didn't turn out quite the way I had hoped. The onion went into my cold storage with the potatoes, the zucchini and peppers went into my fridge (more on the peppers later), and the tomatoes sat on my counter for snacking (and as a reminder that I needed to use them.) Tomatoes tend to lose their flavor in the refrigerator, so I'll only put them there if I know I won't get to them in time to use them.

The Spaghetti Squash is the only winter squash I have experience using. Unlike the delicata I received last week, I grew up on spaghetti squash (in season) although I can't admit it was ever my favorite in my childhood. I think it's because it was clearly a vegetable trying to pose as something it wasn't - pasta. But once I reached my late teens I discovered something amazing about this vegetable - it's *really* tasty. It has a sweet flavor, one that is regrettably masked by the heavy flavors in the spaghetti sauce the vegetable is often served with. For this reason I recommend first trying spaghetti squash cooked with just a little butter and salt and pepper, to augment the already sweet and delicious flavor, before experimenting around using it in other recipes like soups or stews.

Probably the biggest reason it is often served with spaghetti sauce (aside from the fact that the vegetable produces thin tendril-like fibers, which resemble the pasta), is the sheer ease of preparation. Making spaghetti squash with sauce is probably the easiest dinner dish ever, so long as you know what to do with a squash! (Most people don't.) So here's the lowdown on how to cook a squash, complete with a picture guide (it's the same for all squashes):

1 - Cut the squash lengthwise into two halves. 2 - Scoop out the interior seeds with a spoon, and discard. 3 - Place both halves flat-side down onto a baking sheet.

4 - Bake at 350 F for 1 hour or until the flesh is tender. 5 - Remove the flesh from the shell. 6 - Serve with marinara sauce or butter and salt/pepper. Enjoy!

The only difference between spaghetti squash and other squashes for cooking is that smaller squashes (like the delicata) will require shorter cooking times, where larger squashes (like banana or pumpkin) will require chopping up into more than 2 pieces (cook those pieces skin side down) and possibly a longer cooking time.

Bonus: save the seeds when you remove them from the squash for a yummy snack. Salt and bake in a single layer until golden brown - the same way you'd cook pumpkin seeds!

I made this particular dish for a neighbor who had just had a baby. It was simple, easy for me to do, made a ton, delivered like a casserole, and was simple to pair with vegetables and garlic bread. What with my increased work schedule recently on top of my other obligations, a simple and easy dish like this is exactly what I needed.

Speaking of work schedule, this week was the first that I had a conflict with my Borski CSA pickup. I'm surprised I didn't have a conflict earlier, seeing as how the pickup times are a firm "between 12:00 and 6:00 pm" which doesn't always sit well with many working schedules. In this case, I had to work late (well, late for me); and Craig had to have the car by 5:30 for a school appointment at 6:00 as well.

In the end I left work in Provo at 4:45 and flew home as fast as possible. Instead of passing the car off to Craig I picked him up, flew him down to the school, then zoomed up to the pickup location with 5 minutes to spare. Then of course I had to head back to the school and wait patiently for Craig to finish his appointment, but it didn't take that long. Still, it was a close call (and I am lucky I didn't get a ticket).

All that zooming around, and what should I find in my Borski CSA share? As with last week, not a peach to be seen! What a gyp! The nectarine and apple are not a suitable substitute, that's all I have to say. At least there was a great variety of produce!

CSA SHARE		Price (Organic)			Price ('Normal')	Value
0.94 lb Mixed Peppers		1.99/lb			1.29/lb	$1.87
0.75 lb Onions (2 sm. yellow)		1.99/lb			0.99/lb	$1.49
0.44 lb Onions (2 sm. red)					0.99/lb	$0.44
0.25 lb Garlic (2 heads)					1.99/lb	$0.50
1.06 lb Nectarine (1)					1.99/lb	$2.11
0.44 lb Apple (1 Red Delicious)					0.99/lb	$0.44
2.38 lb Golden Potatoes					1.49/lb	$3.55
1.31 lb Corn (2 ears)					3/1.00	$0.67

The onions are getting smaller, and now some red ones! They all go into my pantry anyhow (and I use them regularly) but it was interesting to see how as the season goes on the size and type of vegetables will change. The apple and nectarine went on my counters for snacking (and as a constant mournful reminder that fresh peaches will nevermore to be seen for a whole year). Corn went into the refrigerator, potatoes to cold storage, and the peppers. . . .

We've received a lot of peppers in the last few weeks from both CSAs. Sometimes they come in a big bag of 'mixed' peppers, where I must admit I am not entirely sure what is which variety. Other times it's just green peppers, which I do have recipes for - but I still can't use them fast enough. For some reason most of the recipes I can think of with peppers also use tomatoes, which we haven't been getting. So I keep putting peppers in my refrigerator, thinking that I'll be able to use them soon. But then the tomatoes have been slow in coming and sparse, and then I remember how much time it takes to prepare something like soft tacos what with the cutting up each individual vegetable for toppings, etc.

So I decided to give away some peppers, but that meant I had to actually take stock of what I had. This was easier said than done. The picture on the right shows a small sampling of the bunches of peppers I've been receiving lately. As you can see, starting from the left there are bell peppers, some kind of chiles that look like Anaheims, a darker set of peppers, a few little jalapenos, and a reddish-orange looking pepper.

I knew what to expect from the bell peppers and the jalapenos, but I am new to the Anaheim peppers and the rest. It turns out the dark green peppers are extremely spicy, but the lone orange pepper was very mild (go figure.) The Anaheims I was told were also mild, but I had mixed results. So when preparing a meal that needed peppers (usually mild) I would grab a few Anaheim peppers, open them up, and taste a sliver. 50% of the time they were perfectly mild and easy to use, the other 50% of the time they were AHH MY TONGUE IS BURNING hot. But they all looked the same so I couldn't tell in advance. My solution was to chop up the spicy ones and freeze them for later use before pulling out another pepper for experimental spice determination in the hopes I'd find one suitable for the dish I was preparing. Using this method I was able to go through peppers twice as fast as I expected - because I was storing half of them in my freezer.

My pepper dish this week was a great white chili (recipe follows). I made it for a family get together and Craig insisted we had to bring half of it home so he could have it for lunches. Of course, there was none left to bring home (in part because my father snitched a bowlful for his lunch!) so I had to make it again.

Recipe for Week 15:

-----White Chili-----

1 lb white beans, cooked
2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium sweet or mild peppers, diced (hot peppers may be used as desired)
1 T. cumin
1 t. oregano
1 t. black pepper
1 T. lime juice
3 c. chicken broth
1 c. medium salsa
grated cheddar
sour cream

Saute onions and garlic in 2 T oil until cooked through and starting to brown. Combine onions, chicken, beans, peppers, cumin, oregano, pepper, lime, salsa, and broth in a large saucepan. Heat until boiling, then simmer 30 minutes. Serve with grated cheddar and sour cream.