October 3, 2013

In Your Share

·         Onions

·         Peppers – Green/Red and Jalapenos

·         Tomatoes- Amish Paste Roma and Rose

·         Eggplant

·         Apples

·         Pears

·         Spaghetti Squash

·         Sweet Potatoes

·         Kale

·         Sage

·         Kohlrabi

I think!?

Recipe

          Roasted Sage Sweet Potatoes

½ c Crown Royal Maple Finished Whiskey (optional)                        ¼ tsp. crushed red chile flakes

3 Tbsp. olive oil                                                                     3 large sweet potatoes, cut into 1 inch rounds

2 Tbsp. maple syrup                                                            Kosher salt and black pepper

2 Tbsp. thinly sliced fresh sage leaves                           2 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto (or bacon)

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped                                           1 ounce parmesan cheese, shaved

Preheat oven to 425 F. 

In a large bowl, stir the Crown Royal whiskey, oil, maple syrup, sage, garlic, and chile.  Add the sweet potatoes and toss until evenly coated.  Arrange the sweet potatoes in an even layer on a half sheet pan and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.

Roast, carefully turning the sweet potatoes once, until they are browned and tender (about 40 minutes). 

Transfer the sweet potatoes to a serving platter.  Top with the prosciutto, parmesan and sage leaves.

8 servings

Spaghetti Squash

If you are wondering what the yellowish oval squash is…a spaghetti squash.  I use this in place of spaghetti with a robust tomato sauce, but there are many other recipes for it. 

Slice the squash in half, set cut side down in a glass pan with a little bit of water and bake at 350 until soft.  When the squash is cooked, you should be able to take a fork and scrape out the “spaghetti” onto plates.  It’s good as a side dish as well, with a little salt, pepper and parmesan cheese.

What’s Happening on the Farm

The heavy rainfall we received a few weeks ago, split a lot of the tomatoes and so the plants are finally slowing down a little.  The germination of fall plantings haven’t gone very well.  The hot weather seems to have an effect on germination rates.  Add to that the rabbits and deer haven’t had much to eat (before these last rain showers) and kept nibbling off the baby lettuce.  The peppers and eggplant in the greenhouse are loving life and will thrive until we have some really hard frosts.  

September 11, 2013

In Your Share

·         Melon

·         Yellow and Red Onions

·         Peppers – Green/Red and Jalapenos

·         Tomatoes- Amish Paste Roma and Rose

·         Eggplant

·         Zucchini

·         Apples

·         Pears

·         Kale

·         Basil

·         Kohlrabi

·         Parsley – whoops, we forgot the parsley, so save this recipe for next week!

Recipe

          Messy Guiseppe – Italian style Sloppy Joes (from Rachel Ray)

2 tbsp. olive oil                                                                                               ¾ c beef stock

½ tsp. red pepper flakes                                                                           3 Roma tomatoes, chopped

1 lb. ground sirloin                                                                                        ¼ c fresh parsley, chopped

1 green bell pepper                                                                                      6 tbsp. butter, super soft

1 small onion                                                                                                    1 c. fresh basil

5 large garlic cloves, chopped                                                               4 individual ciabatta rolls

¼ tsp. nutmeg, coarse salt and black pepper                                ½ c  grated parmesan cheese

1 medium portobello mushroom cap                                                   1 ball fresh mozzarella, slices

½ c. red wine

To make the meat sauce,  heat a deep skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the oil, red pepper, and ground beef, breaking up the meat.  Add the green pepper, onions, ¾ of the garlic, the nutmeg and a little salt and pepper to the beef and cook together.  Add the mushrooms, and cook for 5 min. more.  Add the wine and cook for 1 min.  then add the beef stock and tomatoes.  Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium low and gently simmer for 10 min.  Finish it by stirring in the chopped parsley.

While the meat is simmering, combine the remaining garlic, with the soft butter and chopped basil, and a little salt and pepper.  Split the rolls in half without separating.  Press open, flattening them a little.  Slather the insides with the garlic butter and toast until golden brown under the broiler.

Top one side of the toasted roll with a heap of meat, sprinkle each pile with some grated parmesan, and top that with 2 slices of mozzarella.  Transfer them to the broiler to melt the cheese. 

4 servings

What’s Happening on the Farm

Watering is still a daily activity.  The tomatoes are going crazy with this warm weather, as well as the peppers and eggplants.  The gardeners on the other hand are getting mighty tired of it!  I was able to get in the greenhouses on one of those cooler days and plant some carrots and lettuce.  The carrots have come up quite well, but the lettuce, not so well.  Could be the warm soil temperatures.  It is time to plant greenhouse spinach to winter over, but with such high temperatures the “sauna” is no fun to work in.  There will come a time when the greenhouses are a warm and cozy place to work (in the dead of winter), but right now that time is hard to imagine.

The broccoli and cabbages are finished for the season.  They are cool weather crops and can’t handle this heat anymore.  The first crop of beans are drying up and done, but we have watered the second crop and it is still flowering. 

This is the best time of the year to freeze or can some of the best tasting tomatoes.  Let us know if you would like a larger quantity – my pantry is full!

August 28, 2013

In Your Share

·         Green Beans

·         Yellow and Red Onions

·         Peppers – Green and Jalapenos

·         Broccoli

·         Tomatoes- Amish Paste Roma and Rose

·         Eggplant

·         Cucumbers

·         Zucchini

·         Melon

·         Basil

Recipe

This one of my favorite recipes, but unfortunately it is like a casserole that bakes, so I find it hard to prepare and eat on these really hot summer days!  But, it is really good.  I don’t really measure the ingredients so bear with me.  It’s basically chicken stuffed with herbed cream cheese, wrapped in bacon baked over the top of a sliced onion, two zucchini and three roma tomatoes.

Chicken breasts (as many as you want/need)  I usually use 4.  I try to flatten them and thin them by pounding as much as I can.  Set these aside.

Bring to room temperature as much cream cheese as you’ll need to stuff the chicken (about 1 ½ tablespoons for each breast).  Chop up the basil and garlic and mix in the cream cheese.

Spoon the herbed cream cheese onto the chicken pieces and roll the chicken up.  Wrap with a piece of bacon.

Meanwhile, in a greased casserole dish, slice the onion, zucchini and tomatoes.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.  Place the chicken rolls on top.  Bake at 350 until chicken is cooked and vegetables are tender (about an hour).

What’s Happening on the Farm

Hot and dry, what else do I need to say?  We have been watering the outdoor new lettuce plants, tomatoes and soon to water is the green beans.  Everything is getting dry.  The spinach seeds have yet to sprout – too hot for germination?  There is some lettuce sprouting in the greenhouses as well.  Most of the zucchini plants have dried up – no bumper crop this year, but the tomatoes, eggplants and peppers are loving this heat!  I’m waiting for the jalapenos to cool off a bit – I think this year they are the hottest they have ever been.  I’m not sure if it is the temperature, sun or precipitation that are causing them to be so hot

August 21, 2013

In Your Share

·         Green Beans

·         Yellow and Red Onions

·         Kale

·         Carrots

·         Peppers – Green and Jalapenos

·         Broccoli

·         Red Cabbage

·         Tomatoes- Amish Paste Roma and Rose

·         Eggplant

·         Potatoes

·         Celery

·         Garlic

·         Cucumbers

·         Basil

Recipe

How about a homemade pasta sauce with chunked eggplant, peppers, onion, garlic, a little bit of celery, tomatoes and fresh basil sprinkled on right before serving.  And of course some parmesan cheese (if only I could produce that myself!)

What’s Happening on the Farm

The potatoes and garlic have all been dug and set to cure.  Unfortunately the summer weather has lessened the yield so they won’t be keeping us stocked throughout the winter.  The tomatoes are finally loaded and ripening quickly!  Time for salsa making!  The second crop of beans are coming along as well as the first crop, flowering after the last rain. 

A fall crop of lettuce has been transplanted outside, spinach seeds have been planted outside as well as lettuce inside the greenhouse for a late fall harvest.