CSA for Thursday, July 26th

Surprise! Evelyn and Menno brought beautiful tomatoes!

A drizzly start to the morning: not the best start to a CSA harvest day!  Wet raspberries are a recipe for mush and mold, we weren't sure what we'd be able to harvest when it dried up sufficiently.  We felt okay about it because Thursday's CSAers are getting a special treat today!  Menno and Evelyn are bringing their fabulous organically-grown, greenhouse tomatoes!  A little mucky harvesting through the morning: highly recommend you get everything out of the plastic bags or cartons, including the raspberries!

The summer squash are coming along nicely!  You may have a chance to try some varieties you're not familiar with; love the comments when people try new things!  Of course, the zucchini will keep coming and coming and coming!  We're always looking for interesting things to do with zucchini: love this recipe Tuesday CSAer Amy tweeted for stuffed zucchini - looks fabulous!  You could easily adjust the size of the slice for either a side dish or an entree!  Of course, the best reason to grow zucchini to larger sizes is chocolate zucchini cake!  Here's a fairly simple recipe and here's a recipe that's a bit healthier; love her cream cheese frosting, too!  Of course there is zucchini muffins and bread with two versions of loaves, one with the added zing of pineapple.  Everyone gets some smaller, gourmet sizes in their boxes and a monster zucchini or two is extra free choice!  Deliveries, we're just putting the extras in so email me if you're getting a little over-loaded!

We love it when we hear of CSA families still eating their share in the winter!  It's quite easy to freeze zucchini for stir fries, sautes and casseroles all winter.  Here's some simple instructions from 'Pick Your Own.org', a great site to bookmark 'cause it is all about harvesting, eating and preserving seasonal food!  I must admit when I'm freezing shredded zucchini for winter muffins, I never blanch it: I just shred, pack into freezer bags in the one cup or two cup portions needed for our fav recipes and freeze!

Part Shares are getting kale today - if you're not familiar with it, it is a nutritional powerhouse.  Raw, it's great in salads, but cut it fine because it's got a flavor and texture that's distinct.  You can treat it like beet greens or chard, our favorite way to eat it is in a stir fry with summer squash (and edible pod peas, too)!  Here's a great kale link here, including making kale chips for snacking!  Everyone is getting my, ummm, second favorite bean: Golden French Filet!  The true filet beans are skinny, tender, creamy, yummy little beans - enjoy!

Another wee pick on the peas.  The Full Shares are getting a snack of shelling peas, the Part Shares are getting a small bag of edible pod peas.  As we mentioned in Tuesday's blog post, we like our edible pod peas with some pea in them...great crunch raw, a bit more substantial in a stir fry.  Some of them are quite huge, so you can treat them like a shelling pea, but keep the pods for stir fries or salads!

Mostly with the 'surprise' in mind, we took our first big cut of basil.  It will be a few weeks before it bounces back!  Are you familiar with a Caprese Salad?  Pesto?  We've done pesto with almonds or walnuts, since we're more likely to have those than pine nuts.  We also do a simple pasta, tossing the cooked pasta with olive oil, chopped basil and Parmesan (or any grated cheese would work).

So, for the FULL SHARES:  3 lbs. Warba potatoes, bunch of Chard, shelling peas, 1 lb. of yellow filet beans, 1 lbs. Menno and Evelyn's lovely tomatoes, bunch of basil, pint of Boyne raspberries, a black zucchini, 'gold Rush' zucchini, Papaya Pear, and an heirloom Romanesque summer squash.

For the PART SHARES: 2 lbs. of Warba potatoes, bunch of Kale, edible pod peas, 1/2 lb. mixed yellow filet and purple beans, 1/2 lb. green beans, 1 lb. tomatoes, basil, pint of Mammoth raspberries, small black zucchini, Gold Rush' zucchini and a Romanesque summer squash.

For the SINGLE SHARES:  1.5 lbs. Warba potatoes, 1/2 lb. tomatoes, basil, pint Boyne raspberries, 1/2 lb. yellow filet beans, small black zucchini, small Patty Pan and a Romanesque squash.