Produce Subscription (Week 41)

A majority of fall veggies in your boxes this week, with the standard tomato/pepper holdouts! Use caution when lifting— topping 26lbs!

Kohlrabi Just a snack; they need another week or two. Either a purple or a green one for each box. Just trim, peel and munch.
Melon, honeydew A couple small ones, last of the season. Hoping they held out well.
Celeriac Same ugly fella, same wonderful taste addition to many things. Had a great potato, celeriac, onion creamed soup this week with diced red pepper confetti for added pizzazz!

Radish, Daikon/winter These incredible winter radishes are sizing up nicely! Holy cow. Get your vitamin C while it lasts!
Greens, Daikon radish Couldn’t let their greens go to waste. Crisp and slightly mustard-y. Sauté them up as a side with garlic and ginger, pop one or two in a smoothie, chop and add to a savory lentil stew.

Kale (Lacinato) The “lacy” kale; sorry, but the little green caterpillars have been feasting. Soak well in cold water and scan the back side of the leaves, just to be sure they didn’t follow you home.

Rutabaga The rutabaga pulled a bait-n-switch. We were monitoring one bed while the other one sized up huge! You have just got to make pasties.
Potatoes, Kennebec Well, just potatoes.

Squash, winter (Pie pumpkin) Make up some puree and freeze for your Thankgiving pie feast.
Tomato, slicer/heirloom and paste variety Wow, energizer bunnies of the tomato world…

Sweet pepper specialty variety A multitude of specialty peppers; use them on the grill, in your cold salads/slaws, as a pick-me-up for a routine sandwich, or just dipped in some fresh dill dip!
Peppers, Sweet Italia
Peppers, sweet (Jimmy Nardello)
Peppers, Sweet Cayenne
Pepper, sweet lunchbox

Carrots Well, we will never make it to Paris on our carrot-growing skills! Try these mongo carrots sliced in thin disks, soaked in ice water overnight, and then eat like chips, plain or with dip. Served like that at a farming conference we attended; easier than carrot sticks.

Dill Dill with carrots, dill with potatoes, dill with dip-n-veggies, dill with everything!!
Thyme Perfect all-around herb for some great vegetable stews with all of these roots!
Parsley Fresh and bold to give some zing to your tomato salads.

Recipes for your consideration

Make your own pumpkin puree for the Fall season. Click here to open a PDF document walking you thru the steps.

Pumpkin Spice Hot Chocolate

2 1/2 cups non-dairy milk
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
3/4 – 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
stevia or other sweetener to taste

Combine all ingredients except sweetener in blender. Blend at medium speed until smooth. Check sweetness and add sweetener to taste; blend once more.

Pour into a saucepan or microwaveable container and heat, stirring at regular intervals, until steaming. Pour into two mugs and serve.

You can easily take this from a beverage to a dessert by making it into pudding. Add 2 1/2 tablespoons of cornstarch to the mixture in the blender and blend well. Heat on the stove or in the microwave, stirring constantly (or once every minute in the microwave), until it boils and thickens. Pour into 4 dessert bowls and refrigerate until set.

From: Weblog— Fat-free Vegan Kitchen: Sinlessly Delicious

Sweetened only with dates and maple syrup, these nutty, fruit-topped cakes do double duty as both a decadent breakfast and a healthy dessert. Both the cakes and compote can be made ahead and reheated before serving.
Pumpkin Oatmeal Cakes

2 cups water
1/2 cup chopped dates (about 3 ounces)
3/4 cups pumpkin puree
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
1 1/2 cups steel-cut oats
1 1/4 cup plain coconut milk (the drinking kind, not canned) or other non-dairy milk
non-stick spray

Place the water and dates in a blender and blend until dates are finely chopped. Add the pumpkin, spices, salt, and flaxseed and blend until well-combined.
Heat a large saucepan and toast the oats, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, 1-2 minutes. Carefully add the pumpkin mixture, standing back in case it spatters, and then the coconut milk. Stir well, reduce heat to low, and cook, stirring frequently, for about 30 minutes or until thick and chewy.
Line a 11×7-inch baking dish with parchment paper or spray with non-stick spray. Spread the oats in the dish, smoothing the top. Cool on the counter for an hour and then refrigerate until completely chilled, at least an hour. Turn out onto a cutting board and cut into 16 triangles or rectangles.
Spray a large non-stick frying pan with a light coating of cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat. Add half of the oatmeal cakes and cook on each side until lightly browned, 2-3 minutes per side. Remove to a warm oven and repeat with remaining cakes. Keep warm until ready to serve.
Place two cakes on each dessert plate. Top with warm Apple-Pecan Compote, below.
Apple-Pecan Compote

4 apples
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Peel, core, and dice the apples and toss with the lemon juice.

Heat a large saucepan. Add the pecans and toast them, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients and cook on medium-high heat until apples are tender and much of the water has cooked off, about 15 minutes.

From: Weblog— Fat-free Vegan Kitchen: Sinlessly Delicious

These baked pies have a long and varied history, with versions in so many ethnic kitchens. This version with rutabaga, hails from England, Finland and the Iron Range. A bit of a fuss to make, but make a bunch! Freeze for quick winter meals.

Pasties (pronounced like “past-time”, not “paste”)

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup shortening (EarthBalance margarine sticks work great.)
1 1/4 cups ice water

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup carrots, small dice
2 cups rutabaga, peeled and diced
2 cups potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 pound mushrooms, chopped
½ lb wheat meat/seitan (optional)
2 tablespoons water
½-1 cube vegetable bouillon
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon thyme
salt and pepper to taste

In a large bowl, mix together all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, and salt. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs (Work 2 butter knives in opposite hands, slicing across themselves, over and over). Stir in water until mixture forms a ball. Divide dough into 8 pieces, and shape into balls. Cover, and set aside in refrigerator.

Combine olive oil, onion, garlic carrot, rutabaga, potatoes, mushrooms, seitan, vinegar, thyme, salt and pepper. Dissolve bouillon in water to make a paste. Add and stir and fold well to mix all ingredients.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Roll each pastry ball into a circle, 6 to 8 inches in diameter. Place about 1 cup of filling on one half of each circle. Fold pastry over filling, and pinch edges to seal. Place on baking sheet.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Or freeze “raw” and bake later. Or freeze “baked” and microwave for a quick meal.

For Your Reading Pleasure

We may have highlighted this website before, but here it is (again). Now is the time for fall plantings and you might just find some wonderful additions to your landscape amoungst these pollinator-friendly options .

Farm News

Rog and his rutabaga.

As the fall descends, keep us in mind if you bag your fallen leaves. If you want to send them to a good home, drop us a line
and we can see if the pick-up logistics make sense. They make wonderful winter compost right on the beds; the worms start working them right away and then again in early spring.

You have all been wonderful eaters this 2013 season! We appreciate your business, your feedback, your patience and your humorous participation at times.

We will update you later this week about Fall box options, and The Market will stay open for a while longer too for individual items.

Please bring all boxes back by next week. Reduce – Reuse – Recycle (thanks!)

Have a wonderful week, and enjoy the vegetables.

Roger and Lara