This is our last week of the 2008 season and we wanted to thank everyone for all the support and positive feedback we have received.  David and I (and the kids) are looking forward to a slow and quite winter and hope you all have one too.  This week we will be offering more fall products such as kale, chard, cabbage, winter squashes, arugula, lettuce, turnips, beets, carrots, leeks, etc.  Here is a nice recipe for the kale.

Kale and Bean Soup

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

4-5 Cloves garlic crushed

1 Medium onion chopped

4 Cups Kale chopped

4 Cups chicken or vegetable stock

2- 15 oz Cans white beans undrained

4 Plum or Roma tomatoes chopped

2 Teaspoons of dried herbs (basil, oregano, thyme, etc…)

Salt and Pepper to taste

In a large pot heat oil and saute onion and garlic until soft.  Add kale cook until wilted (3 min) add 3 cups of the broth, 2 cups of the beans, tomatoes, herbs, salt and pepper.  Simmer 5 mins. Meanwhile, in a food processor, blend the remaining broth and beans until smooth.  Stir into soup to thicken, simmer 20 - 30 mins more and serve.  This soup is very good with corn bread.

Thanks again

Jill Bell

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Hello, I am sorry I did not have time to blog last week but I decided my time was better spent in the field trying to bring things in before the frost/snow.  This week we will be offering many different fall items such as pie pumpkins, popcorn, garlic, butternut squash, root crops, kale, chard, cabbage, etc…Regarding the popcorn it will be coming to you on the cob with the husk pulled back.  This corn will need to sit in a dry location for at least 7-10 days before you pop it or it will not be dry enough an you will just get a white starchy mess.  The easiest way to pop it is to completely remove the husk and place the entire cob in a paper bag, seal the bag by folding it over a few times.  Place bag in the microwave and cook on high for approx. 1 min and you have popcorn.  You can also remove the kernels from the cob and pop as you would on the stove.  Regarding the butternut squash, if you choose this item you will need to let it sit on your counter for 7-10 as well, do to the cold nights we had to pull these a week before I would have liked but they will ripen/finish just fine on your counter top and be ready for you in a week or two.  Here is a recipe I like for the cabbage we will have this week and next. 

1/2-1 cup slivered almonds

1/2 cup oil (I use sesame)

1/4 cup rice vinegar

4 Tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

1-2 Tablespoons fresh grated ginger

1 head cabbage (approx 6-8 cups) shredded

4 green onions chopped

4 carrots shredded

1/2 cup of parsley or cilantro

Salt and pepper to taste

Toast almonds in a 350 degree oven for 5 mins.  In a large bowl combine cabbage, onion, carrot, and parsley/cilantro.  Make dressing with other ingredients and toss with cabbage, salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with almonds.  I actually added a peeled, chopped kohlorabi bulb to this as well because I had one.

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17 down and 3 to go.  David and I have really enjoyed doing this project this year and have meet some wonderful people.  Thank you all so much for the support and friendship.  We did hear from our rancher this week that the beef will be arriving at our house on October 9th so those of you with a beef share please get your freezers ready.  We will be distributing the beef to the Draper share holders on Monday Oct 13th and the Salt Lake City people Wednesday Oct 15th.  Please bring boxes and bags to take your meat home in and please bring the other half of the money you owe.  If you have questions call me at 571-7288.

 Easy Chicken, Summer Veggie, and Tortellini Soup

2 quarts chicken broth

1 quart water

1 store bought roasted chicken

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 onions chopped

3 carrots chopped

2 stalks celery

1 tsp dried thyme

1 9oz package refrigerated cheese tortellini

2 cups chopped tomatoes

2 medium zucchini/summer squash

1 tablespoon fresh basil

1/2 cup fresh chopped parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

If you have a bunch or kale or chard you should add it to this soup but it is not necessary.  Also, many people use eggpant as a soup thickener if you have one or two small ones you should chop and throw them in.

De-bone chicken.  Bring broth and water to a boil, add chicken bones and skin, boil 20 mins until bones release flavor/marrow.  Drain broth and set aside.  Cook all veggies except tomatoes in hot oil for 8-10 mins.  Add chicken broth, meat, and tortellini, tomatoes, and all herbs but parsley.  Simmer 15-20 mins until you like what you see.  Remove from heat stir in parsley.  Salt and pepper to taste.

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Hello, our neighbor with the peach orchard cleaned off their trees last night and have about 100 lbs of peaches available for 1.50 lb is you want to can or freeze or just eat a lot of peaches.  Please send me an email or call if you are interested.  Thanks

Jill

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Hello Again, We will begin handing out Priority Enrollment forms for those of you who wish to ensure your spot in the CSA for next year.  The reason we will be doing this is due to the fact that our website will be updated for the year on Oct. 20th and part of that update is that we will be accepting applications and payment online for 2009.  And, due to the fact that we receive several inquires a week (sometime a day) from people who want to sign up for next year we want to make sure that our current members are offered some of our new and limited program features first.  We have made some changes and additions to the program based on the experience and feedback we have received this year.  Here is the general outline of what we will be offering for 2009:

2 Person Share -$400.00 (same as this years half, we are just renaming it to avoid confusion on how much food it is)

4 Person Share -$800.00 (same as a whole share, we are just renaming it to avoid confusion on how much food it is)

6 Person Share -$1200.00

Local Organic Free Range Egg Share $100.00 (only 50 spots available) - We will be offering these eggs from Clifford Farms in Provo.  They have already build the coop and purchased the chicks so they will be ready in the spring for us.  You will receive 1 dozen a week through the CSA season.

Cheese Share $100.00 (75 spots available) 4-8 oz of cheese a week through the CSA season.  All cheese will be made with local dairy by local cheese artisans.

Local Fruit Share $100.00(50 spots available) -Apricots, plums, berries, grapes, peaches, apples, apple cider, melons and other season fruits.   David and I have realized that we are vegetable farmers only, but we are happy to use the combined buying power of the CSA to bring in freshest, season fruits of Utah from other farmer/growers/gardeners that we know and trust.  8-10 weeks beginning end of July or early August depending on the spring growing season.

Storage Share $300.00 (20 spots available) -For those of you who wish to can/freeze and store local produce for your family.  It is our goal to provide you with plenty of the following:  Potatoes, garlic, winter squash, beets, corn, herbs, onions, tomatoes, carrots, beans.  Also, if there are other items you wish to put up you can request at least two.  Again, we will be using other local growers we know and trust for some of these things.

Priority enrollment with end Oct 19th and we will not be able to guarantee that any of the above will be available after that.  Thanks, please feel free to email or call me with questions.

Jill Bell

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Hello Everyone,

David and I both feel that after this week we will have one more good week of summer produce such as summer squash, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, basil, etc and then we will begin to transition to our fall crops we hope you enjoy the last taste of summer. . .This weeks cheese will be goat cheese feta from the Drake Family Farm in South Jordan.  I am going to try this recipe tonight.

Summer Vegetable Pasta Toss with Feta

1 8oz package bow tie pasta

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup chopped peppers- sweet or anaheim

1 cup chopped tomatoes

1 cup chopped summer squash

2 cups chopped kale, chard, or raab

3 cloves garlic- chopped

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

1 pinch ground cayenne pepper

salt and pepper to taste

8oz feta cheese

more fresh basil and chopped kalamata olives or capers as a garnish

Cook pasta according to directions and drain.  Heat olive oil in a large pan cook garlic and veggies except leafy greens for 5 mins.  Add greens and basil, cook 5 mins more.  Season with cayenne pepper, salt and pepper.  In a large bowl toss veggies and pasta, top with feta, olives/capers, and basil.  David likes meat so I will probably serve this with grilled bratwurst, or grilled chicken, or a med-rare steak cut into strips and placed on top (I will have to look in the freezer and see what I have).

For those of you who do not have the cheese share, I made this over the weekend and my family loved it.

Chicken and Vegetable Tetrazzini

1 8oz package spaghetti broken in half

1lb chicken breast chopping into bit size pieces

3-4 cups chopped veggies from your CSA (I used eggplant, peppers, summer squash, and chard but anything will do).

1 cup chopped tomato

1 clove garlic

1/4 cup butter plus 2 tablespoons for cooking chicken and veggies

1/4 cup flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons dry white wine

1/2 -3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease a 9×13 inch baking dish.  Cook pasta according to package, drain.  In a very large pan, melt 2 tablespoons butter and cook chicken, veggies, tomato, and garlic approx 10 mins or until chicken is no longer pink, remove from pan and set aside.  For sauce, melt 1/4 cup butter in same pan, stir in flour, salt, and pepper and mix until smooth, gradually stir in chicken broth, wine and milk.  Return to boil and cook 1 min.  Mix pasta and veggies with sauce until well coated and pour all into baking dish.  Sprinkle with Parmesan and bake for 30 mins.

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Hello, I needed a week off the blog.  I believe the technical term is early on-set of September Farmer Burn Out.  But, I am already looking forward to trying some new recipes I picked out for Week 16 and expect a hike in Big Cottonwood Canyon this weekend should be all that is needed for a quick and speedy recovery.  Thanks

Jill

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Hello Everyone, here are some recipes from this weeks produce boxes.

Steak with Sweet Pepper, Eggplant, and Tomato Sauce

1 medium sweet pepper or 2 Anaheim peppers- cut into thin strips

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped eggplant

2 cloves garlic - chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound top sirloin cut into thin strips

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup beef broth

1 tablespoon fresh snipped herbs such as basil, oregano, thyme, etc…

1 cup chopped tomatoes

Cooked rice

In a large skillet cook peppers, onion, garlic, and eggplant in hot oil about 5 mins.  Remove veggies from pan with a slotted spoon and set aside on platter.  Season meat with salt and pepper, cook in pan adding more oil if necessary 5 mins.  Transfer meat to platter.  For sauce, add beef broth and herbs to pan, scraping up crusty browned bits on the bottom, boil gently for 2-3 mins or until sauce has reduced to approx 1/4 cup.  Stir in cooked vegetables, meat, and tomatoes.  Heat through and spoon over rice.

Corn Chowder- I have had so much corn around the house that I double this recipe just to burn through some of it.  I served this with homemade biscuits, and topped the soup with grated cheddar, chopped heirloom tomatoes, and crumbled bacon and my kids (and David) loved it.  The leftover chowder was just as good two days later for lunch.

6 ears of fresh corn cut off the cob, approx 3 cups

1/2 cup onion

1/2 cup green pepper, you can use some of the hot peppers to add a little kick if you like.

1 tablespoon cooking oil

1 cup chicken broth

2 cups cubed potato - I don’t both to peel mine

4 teaspoons flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup grated cheddar (optional)

2 tablespoons snipped fresh parsley (optional)

Cut corn from cobs, set aside.  In a large pot cook onion and pepper in hot oil approx 5 mins.  Stir in chicken broth and potato.  Simmer covered for 10 mins.  Stir in corn and cook 10 mins covered.  In a small bowl combine flour, salt, and pepper.  Stir milk into flour mixture, and add to corn mixture.  Cook and stir until slightly thickened approx 3 mins.  Remove from heat stir in cheddar.  Garnish bowl of chowder with parsley.

See you next week,

Jill

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Hello Again, this week will be like last week with boxes filled with different assortments of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and eggplant.  We will be replacing the basil and arugula with other greens and root crop choices.  Since it was a little bit cooler and wet last night I made chicken and dumplings for dinner with the corn, beet greens, and carrots here is the recipe:

Chicken & Dumplings

2 1/2 -3 lb whole chicken (halved or cut into pieces)- I always grab the whole organic chickens and have the butcher butterfly them for me.

3 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1 medium onion

1 cup chopped celery

1 Tablespoon fresh chopped herbs (whatever you have from the CSA that you like, I used thyme and oregano)

1 bunch of baby carrots-cut in half lengthwise

1-2 ears of corn cut off the cob raw

2 cups chopped beet greens

1/4 cup flour

Salt and pepper to taste

For Dumplings:

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup milk

 In a very large pan or Dutch oven with tight fitting lid combine chicken, stock, onion, celery, herbs, salt, pepper, and carrots (I actually added a little olive oil as well but this is not necessary).  Bring to a boil and simmer covered for 25 mins.  Add beet greens and corn and simmer 10 mins more.  Prepare dumplings by combining flour, baking powder, and salt.  Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Add milk and stir until just moistened (do this just before you are ready to add to pot, once the baking powder is wet it will start to activate and rise the batter).  Spoon batter into 6 mounds on top of the chicken pieces (not in the liquid).  Cover and simmer for 12-15 mins, do not lift the lid while simmering.  Remove dumplings and chicken from pot.  Combine flour with 1 cup of liquid from pot and whisk until smooth.  Return flour mixture to pot and boil for 1-2 mins until thick and bubbly.  Serve in bowls.

Raw Corn and Heirloom Tomato Salad -Made this for dinner this week, David and our 13 year old ate it so fast I had to refill the plate a 2nd time so the rest of us could have some.

2-3 heirloom tomatoes, sliced

2 ears of corn- kernels cut off the cob raw

2-3 basil leaves -shredded

balsamic vinegar, olive, and salt to taste

Arrange tomato slices on a plate, sprinkle with corn kernels, basil, and salt.  Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Serve (I bet this would be really good with blue cheese crumbles or any other cheese and french bread).

 Have a great week!

Jill Bell

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Hello, we will be doing something a little different this week.  You will be getting a pre-packed box of produce with 6 items in it and then you will be able to pick 2 more items for a total of 8 things this week (this is for a half share, a full share will be double).  The boxes will all have heirloom tomatoes, a large bag of basil, a bag of arugula, and summer squash in them along with two other items such as eggplant, peppers, cucumber or beans.  We are doing this because heirloom tomatoes are quit soft and delicate and this is the easiest way for us to ensure they make it to you in good condition.  We hope that everyone will bring their boxes back with them from week to week so they can be reused or recycled.  The next 4 weeks are our heaviest producing weeks and we will really be pouring it on to make up for any weeks that may have been light in the spring.  Please make sure that you use this next month to get your moneys worth as now is the time.  We really hope that between now and the time that we take a frost and the line up lightens up a bit again you will have had so many fresh veggies from us that you will welcome the change that October brings.  If you feel that you are not getting enough produce from us now is the time to let us know because it is really easy for us to fix that for you now but more difficult in October or when the season is over.  Here are some more recipes.

With pepper season starting, we will have several varieties available for you from bell to Anaheim but my favorite is the jalapeno and other than roasting them under the broiler in my oven this is my favorite way to use them.  This recipe freezes really well so I always make the full amount and put half in the freezer for a busy day later.

Shredded pork with pinto beans and jalapenos(if you like this recipe but don’t like hot peppers use our bell peppers or Anaheim as a replacement)

2- 15 oz cans pinto beans- drained ( you can use black beans if you like them better)

2-3 lbs boneless pork loin

3-4 jalapenos- chopped (don’t rub you eye after you do this)

1 large onion- chopped

1/3 cup chili powder

1/2 cup chicken broth

Place meat in a roasting pan.  In a bowl combine jalapenos, onion, chili powder, and beans (you could add a chopped tomato or two if you want to use them up).  Spoon bean mixture over meat, cover and bake at 325 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.  Stir in broth and continue to bake 45 mins or until meat shreds easily.  Remove meat from pan, shred with two forks, mash bean mixture and stir pork into mashed bean mixture.  You can use this however you like, it is great with Mexican rice or stuffed in taco shells/tortillas.  I would make the grilled corn recipe below and also grill some of your summer squash for a great dinner.

Grilled Corn -We will be increasing the corn portion this week to 6 ears for a half and 12 for a full share so you may want to give this a try.

6 ears of corn

butter and salt to taste

Soak corn in a tub of water for at least one hour, turn them occasionally.  Heat grill to med-high, place corn on grill and turn ever 5 mins for 30-45 mins until tender.  Do not worry about removing the silks before cooking once it is done you just grab it from the top and it all (or most) comes out in one piece.  This recipe is nice because the corn is steamed from the inside due to the soaking and it gives the corn a smokey grilled flavor.  Be careful not to burn your hand when husking.  Salt and butter to taste.

Have a great week

Jill Bell

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