Harvest Week #9

August 30, 2011

What’s in your box this week??

apples (check last week’s blog for more info recipe ideas)

spinach or broccoli shoots

red cabbage (check last week’s blog for more info recipe ideas)

green & purple beans

green top onions (you will notice the green tops are starting to die back–the lower stems are still edible and useful as chopped green onion)

‘8-ball’ or ‘piccolo’ summer squash (zucchini)

carrots

green top beets

cucumbers

tomatoes

dandelion & oregano

cilantro

basil

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More new items are showing up in these remaining weeks! This week’s highlights include apples, purple beans, cucumbers, and tomatoes. There are a lot of great websites and online recipe resources—I am including a few that sound great, using many of the items in your box.

With all the new goodies filling the box, I decided to not include kale, chard, or eggs this week. Egg production has actually gone down a bit in the past few weeks, after losing 2 chickens. Grisita died of natural causes/old age a few weeks ago, and one of the red hens went missing last week. This hen must have been a regular egg-layer because we have noticed fewer eggs since she disappeared. We know there are skunks, hawks, eagles, coyotes, and wolves in the immediate area (I have seen the coyotes twice this summer, as they crossed the driveway, making their way through the woods at dusk), so it is surprising that we haven’t lost more of our free-ranging hens.

I hope to include eggs in the CSA box at least once more, before the end of the season. It will depend on egg production as well as how much the boxes fill up with end-of-summer and fall produce.

Has anyone tried the recipe for basil ice cream?? We made it last week and I highly recommend it, if you like ice cream, basil, and have an adventurous palate. We also had store-bought mint chocolate chip in the freezer, so I mixed some of that with the basil ice cream…Basil Mint Chip is even better!!

(If you have fresh mint in your yard, you could try adding it to the basil in the Basil Ice Cream recipe, and add chocolate chips at the end.)

Okay, so knowing that we should be eating something besides dessert, my Mom made the Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage with apples, which was very good. Maybe use a bit less vinegar (or more cabbage)—it served as a sort of chutney-type side dish, and was tasty served warm or cold.

Here are a few recipes to try this week; enjoy the beautiful weather and the holiday weekend!

I included oregano in the box again this week so you could try: Greek Salad recipe using cucumber, garlic, oregano and tomato, from Rachel Ray:
http://www.revolutionhealth.com/recipes/greek-dinner-salad

Try these using the green or purple beans; when the purple beans are heated, they will turn green.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/japanese-style-sesame-green-beans/detail.aspx

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/sweet-and-spicy-green-beans/detail.aspx