COUGAR Member Diary

Cougar 1

In the five years we’ve been Southside CSA members, we’ve frequently planned a fall dinner party in order to share some of our haul and try out some more ambitious dishes to share in our blog post. This year we did have a party, but one of an entirely different sort. Since we welcomed Elias, our seven month old, into our family, our meals need to be fast and ideally sharable with a baby. We still like to entertain, though, so our recipes this week will feature two meals from the beginning of the weak meant to take us through a few days, a few lightning fast meals, baby friendly treats, and some party food from the Halloween bash we threw for Elias’s buddies and their parents.

This week’s share

We pick up bi-weekly, and we have the veggie, orchard, berry, egg, and meat shares. We began the week with several (still fresh!) leftover items from our previous week’s pickup due to some busy schedules, stomach viruses, and time spent out of town with our families. So, some items featured in this week’s meals are from the prior week.

Included in this week’s pickup: Apples, apple cider, red and yellow onions, decorative gourds (‘tis the season), popping corn, Swiss chard, two bunches of spinach, mustard greens, and a head of cabbage.

Beginning of the week meals

We began each of the last two weeks with soups.

Last week, we used up some of our CSA veggies with a corn chowder.

For this chowder we used:

  • Olive Oil
  • 3 strips of bacon
  • 2 onions (CSA)
  • 6 cups of chicken stock (we used a stock made from the scraps of a Northwind Farm chicken, veggie scraps, and some CSA lemongrass for kick)
  • 4 ears of corn, kernels off the cob, and two ears reserved for the soup
  • 3 waxy potatoes (store bought)
  • 2 Cups of Cream
  • Salt and Pepper
  1. We cooked the bacon in a bit of olive oil, then took it out of the pan.
  2. Then, we sautéed up a few small onions
  3. When those were soft, we added the stock and the corn. We threw in the cobs for extra flavor
  4. Then we added the potatoes. When everything was cooked through, we added cream and salt and pepper to taste.

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This lasted us through three dinners! Continue reading

Cougar Member Diary Week #15

pic by george kottas

Here’s a picture of this week’s** pick up! We have almost all of the shares, we are only missing the chicken share. Included this week are:

  • Veggie share: cucumbers, potatoes, cabbage, red onions, radishes, corn, parsley, kale, zucchini, and garlic heads
  • Berry share: Blueberries and blackberries
  • Orchard share: three kinds of plums
  • Egg share (1 dozen)
  • Meat share: A chicken, chicken wings, filet steaks, and a choice of beef cut

(**This post is from Aug 5th share. Due to vacation & life craziness of blog editor it didnt get posted till now….)

pic by melissa duphiney

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BOTZ-GREEN Member Diary

pic by corrine botz
We are new to the Southside CSA and enjoying it immensely. We are trying to eat especially healthy as I’m expecting our first baby in October. Here are two recipes we made from our produce this week.
pic by corrine botz

151 Kent Member Diary Week #13

Basil Our share feeds three in our household: one chef who works at Parish Hall, one expert baker and me, a girl whose cooking skills plateau at stir-fry. We typically plan dinner once a week, where we use the majority of our produce share (half-berry, half-orchard, full veggie). The amount of produce we get in a week is sometimes more than we can manage to eat. Making one meal large enough for leftovers is a convenient way to use it up. This week we received a plethora of blessed veggies: corn, onions, kale, leeks, squash, beets, carrots, and basil along with a bucket of blueberries. We store the veggies in the refrigerator and the basil in a glass of water.

blueberries

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Ricker Family Member Diary Week #13

We’ve been members of Southside CSA since its founding (6 years?) but this is our first Member Diary! We are a family of three and we pick up a veggie share every week with meat and eggs every other week. This week we were super excited to see corn cobs at The Woods for the first time this season.

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I like to use the corn right away so the first thing I did was make a corn salsa that I could quickly throw on top of dishes throughout the week- it ended up in quesadillas, on pizza and in salads and I still have enough left over that it will probably last another week or two.

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Along the same lines, I also made a veggie pickle slaw early in the week inspired by this Smitten Kitchen recipe to throw into dishes throughout the week. Our version used up carrots, cucumbers and celery. It’s great to bring to bbq’s!

Munching on a roasted carrot stick

Munching on a roasted carrot stick

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Jacob-Hurwitz Member Diary for Week #8

pick up
I am a brand new member of the Southside CSA this season! After participating in CSAs in other neighborhoods with my boyfriend, we were delighted to find a CSA close to our new home on the south side. We’ve been picking up a half share of berries, vegetables, and soon fruit and we are also getting chicken. We’ve been making lots of delicious recipes from our haul including strawberry shortcake and salmon with asparagus in parchment.
pic by jacob-hurwitz

Member Diary- Katerina’s September 3rd Share

This is our fourth year as CSA members. We have a Full Monty share. Each year it gets easier. By now we pretty much know what to do with everything and rarely get surprised by new vegetables. We cook mainly vegan at home (no meat, fish or dairy), but love the “happy” eggs we get from the farm.

We usually make a couple of big dishes each week that can then be eaten for lunch or dinner on days we don’t have time to cook. We try to come up with ideas for what to do with our fruit and veggies on Monday evening, then drop by the grocery store for extra recipe ingredients on Tuesday after work, and spend a couple of hours Tuesday or Wednesday cooking. We’re both competent cooks, so together it only takes us a few hours to turn most of our share into food for the week.

This week’s share included Eggs, Peaches, Apples, Acorn Squash, Kale, Japanese Eggplant, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Radishes, Mint and Rosemary (traded half our mint for half my sister’s rosemary, so got some of both).

Member Diary: Max’s July 30th Share

This is my third year in the Southside CSA and it’s always a highlight of my summer. This year I have a half veggie, half orchard, half eggs, and half (shared) berry. Officially, this share is mine alone, but I tend to cook for my roommate, my boyfriend, friends or coworkers often. The vegetables make up most of my lunches and dinners for the first week with a few things saved for the next (off) week. To keep from getting overwhelmed, I set up my berry share on the opposite week of my vegetable/fruit/egg share.

What a haul this week! Cilantro, basil, carrots, kale, leeks, beets, green peppers, zucchini, purple potatoes, corn, a dozen eggs, and two kinds of plums.

 

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Member Diary: Meeshka’s July 16th share

Our Half Monty share of veggies, eggs, orchard, and berries is split between three
roommates: Mo, Michele, and myself, Teresa. Last month, Michele moved into her
own place, and I leave New York in just a week for the West Coast, so it’s with a heavy
heart that I cooked up this week’s share. I’ve always enjoyed cooking, and farmshare
has provided me with a welcome challenge to incorporate new items into my repertoire,
and for that I – and my palate – are forever grateful! So consider this member diary my
departing love letter to Southside CSA.

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Member Diary #15– Samantha & Evan

Southside CSA Diary for the week of 9/20

One important thing to note about our share is that my boyfriend does not eat vegetables, only lettuces, potatoes, and raw carrots. But he loves fruits, berries, eggs, and meat of all sorts. This means I have to really make the most of the veggie share all on my own, especially as I hate to waste good food.


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