Produce Subscription (Week 34)

All of the summer produce is coming on strong. And you will see a rainbow of color in the boxes, just like here on the farm.

Color is showing all around the farm (Zinnia flower)

A pretty Cosmo

Even the cherry tomatoes are showing their color, and a little bit of proliferation too! Hope to keep ramping up the volume as the next 4-5 weeks progress.

Another 20# of vegetables in your boxes this week; use caution!

Cucumber Seedless slicers for your salads

Carrot We have given up on trying to present you with “perfect” carrots. We are going back to school on growing them; in the meanwhile, you get what we have dug up! Grrrrrr.

Celery The savory queen to used minced in salads and spreads or to chop into your soups and risottos for depth and character! Save the end and the leaves for your homemade soup stock.

Chard , rainbow A bunch-full of color. Rough chop in olive oil and toss in garlic and sea salt for a quick side dish.

Tomato, cherry variety They are ripening faster.

Tomato, slicer/heirloom and paste variety Reminder— DO NOT refrigerate. Allow them to red-up at room temp.

Lettuce A green summer crisp variety that braved the heat and the deer

Cauliflower The remainder of folks received their beautiful white heads this week. Someone got one of the mongo-sized ones!

Zucchini Perhaps some zucchini cake this week?

Zephyr squash The old standby…

Sweet pepper variety A rainbow of colors!

Pepper (Anaheim) These are on the mild end of the Scoville heat score; don’t mix them up with the sweet peppers and surprise yourself!
Onions, white and red

Garlic Nothing better than some dense, fresh, potent garlic!

Sage Beautiful herb, beautiful dog.

Thyme Multi-functional herb and really easy to dry and save.
Garlic chives The best of both worlds…

Recipes for your consideration

We spent way too much time down in Rochester one year and became very familiar with an Italian restaurant down there, Victoria’s. Highly recommended. They have a southern Italian pasta that is out of this world— tho can’t remember the name! BUT! It is easy to toss together at home.

Southern Italian Pasta
4 cups dried penne pasta (roughly one box/bag)
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
1-2 onions, chopped in 1" pieces
1-2 peppers, chopped in 1" pieces
½-1 zucchini, chopped in 1" cubes
½-1 summer squash, chopped in 1" cubes
10 button mushrooms, quartered
10-15 Kalamata olives, halved
3-6 tomatoes, rough dice
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
1 tsp fresh oregano, minced
2 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped
½ tsp fresh thyme, strip leaves from stems
½-1 tsp sea salt

Start a large pot of water to boil. Add your pasta and cook according to directions.

Begin to sauté your onions in a large pan/skillet; then they start to turn clear, add peppers, zucchini, squash and mushrooms.

When those veggies start to soften, add olives, tomatoes, garlic, herbs and salt.

Simmer the concoction until tomatoes have softened and fallen apart and all veggies are al dente.

Drain pasta and allow to dry a bit.

Plate your pasta and top with sauce. Enjoy.

Great spice, all carrots! Very moist and dense.

Carrots and Nothing Else Cake

1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup apple sauce
3 Tbsp ground flax seed and or 3 equivalents of Ener-g egg replacer
3 cups shredded carrot
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 Tbsp black strap molasses
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon or pie spice

Mix all of the wet ingredients and the sugar in a bowl until well mixed. Add the carrots and mix.

In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Once both bowls are ready, mix together to form batter.

Pour into a 9 by 13 cake pan. Put into preheated 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes. It is done when a toothpick comes out clean. If you use other sized pans (rounds, for example) be sure to adjust your baking time.
(Adapted from VegWeb.com)

Nothing like a little healthy fiber (and you get to use up that squash too!) Freezes very well for on-the-go breakfasts.

Zucchini Cake

2/3 cup margarine
½ cup sugar
¾ cup maple syrup
Beat.

5 cup grated zucchini (squeeze out excess moisture)
½ cup soymilk
2/3 cup applesauce
4 tsp vanilla
Beat.

1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp cloves
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp allspice
1 ½ tsp salt
Beat.

1 cup bran
1 cup white flour
1 1/3 cup WW pastry flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp baking powder
Beat.

2 cup chopped walnuts
Beat.

Line baking pan w/ parchment (9×13?)
Pour in and spread.
Bake 350ºF x 60min.

For Your Reading Pleasure

Eat Your Vegetables: Bold Recipes for the Single Cook by Joe Yohan

An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler

Both of these cookbooks get at the essence of cooking, such that you can learn without being dependent upon letter-of-the-law-recipes.

Farm News

Everyone is blooming around the farm and the many different bees are a buzzin’!

A flower named Bee’s Friend— with a Bumble proving the point.

We are waiting for a little rain, along with every other grower in the Midwest. Our buckwheat cover crop is just peaking up; it looks like a sea green plateau when viewed at the right angle. (We’ll catch some photos next week when it is more impressive.) In a few weeks, it will be a virtual RIOT of bees when it flowers— everyone preparing for the winter, tucking away their stores.

A creative sunflower

The first main crop of potatoes is on the horizon— we’ll dig a few this week and try them out for you! And more tomatoes and colored peppers. Our eyes are on the watermelons and cantaloupe…fingers are crossed they are near done.

Borage flower— actually smells just like a cucumber!

No “Red Hot Jalapeno” prize claimed from last week. Hope no one was surprised by the heat of the little red fella!

Have a wonderful week, and enjoy the vegetables.

Roger and Lara