Produce Subscription (Week 41)

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

Consider bringing a bag or box of your own to transfer box contents so you can leave the market box behind. Saves everyone a little gasoline and time, and prevents a wayward box from cluttering your winter home!

Your boxes will be in their respective drop site locations by 9am Wednesday. (Dropsite Location Details) Find the box with your name and have at it!

If you have any questions, please call Roger on his delivery phone 626 488 5437 (if before 10a) and the farm phone 715 426 7582 (if after 10am).

Summer and Fall are represented in your boxes this week. HEAVY, 25#…lift from below.

Winter Squash, Hooligan & Sweet Dumpling These little tea-cup squash made it thru the early Fall. They are perfect for stuffing or roasting whole, or used as a bowl for baked squash soup. The skin is thin like a Delicata (those didn’t make it, sorry), so likely could be eaten if cubed and used in soups/stews (i.e no need to peel the stubborn things!) They are quite firm and difficult to cut…be forewarned. I find that the seeds are closest to the bottom, so cutting off the bottom (instead of the top) to scoop out seeds for a bowl, makes prep easier.

Lettuce, variety Just one small one, rescued from the deer and the frost.

Cabbage, green Warm Cabbage and White Bean soup. Perfect for the cool evenings we are having. Served next to some rustic, crusty bread. Oh, I am getting hungry again…

Mesclun Another dose of tangy mustard greens/arugula for salad or quick wilting/braising.

Boc choi, green and red Beautiful Fall boc choi…no flea beetles to impart the lacy texture! We just sautéed this up with garlic and topped with wild plum sweet-n-sour BBQ tofu for lunch. Farm to table! Try using a sweet/tangy accompaniment to the boc choi when serving braised. It works quite well.

Potato, Kennebec We had a bumper crop of this variety…amazing. And just 5 beds down, zilch on the German Butterball. How does that happen?

Tomato, cherry variety Just a handful to round-out the season.

Tomato, paste The last of fresh pasta sauce…

Tomato, slicer variety Slice thin, sprinkle w/ chopped garlic chives, olive oil, sea salt and pepper for a last-of-the-season tomato salad.

Pepper, sweet Another variety pack of sweets.

Pepper, sweet lunchbox (red/yellow/orange/green) A little snack bundle of these little crispy treats. Dip away!

Pepper, hot (Jalapeno and Pepperoncini) A final punch of heat from the summer, mince and use as directed. (Note: The jalapeno are dark green and torpedo-like in shape; the pepperoncini are wrinkled and lighter green…(vs. the lunchbox sweets) don’t mix them up!)

Pepper, Sweet Habanero A couple of these odd little peppers. How’d ya like them last time? A repeater?

Radish, red We tried to eek out some radish before the season ended…deer seem to like these…digging thru the row covers…seeking and destroying. Well, a few bites of radish-zing for you anyway.

Kohlrabi One final snack crunch. Or baked kohlrabi fries, maybe.

Chives, garlic How about some Chedda and Chive Biscuits to go with a nice tomato soup this week?

Leeks Another produce item that is the bane of my existence. They needed 100+ days and 2-3 transplantings to get where they are today. So long little twirps!

Onions, white and red Useful where ever you like them.

Shallots How about some of the Maple Mustard Salad Dressing for your lettuce salad?

Recipes for your consideration

I just can’t get past this name. Eating can be fun! Not sure where it comes from; the recipe is an amalgamation of mine; but concept is British or thereabouts. It’s pretty simple; tastes great; and fills up the belly quite nicely.¬

Bubbles and Squeak

1 head cabbage, sliced/chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1-2 lbs potatoes, cubed and boiled until just soft
1 Tbsp fresh parsley (or maybe some garlic chives this week)
1 Tbsp margarine
2 Tbsp soy milk
2-4 Tofurky-brand beer brats, diced and sautéed (optional)
1 sweet pepper, diced and sautéed with sausages (optional)

Sauté cabbage, onions in olive oil. Add salt and pepper.

When cabbage is soft but not limp, add potatoes, parsley, margarine and soy milk. Stir to combine and mash potatoes slightly.

Add sausages, if using. Serve warm.

Here’s an easy way to use up those peppers. Some wonderful flavors and a nice way to serve in its own dish. Use up those herbs you saved all season!¬

Creole Stuffed Peppers

4 bell peppers (or more as you like)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped finely
1-2 jalapenos, sliced finely
1 cup carrots, diced finely
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
2 tsp paprika
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 tsp salt
4-5 paste tomatoes, diced (or 1 can diced tomatoes)
2 cans black-eyed peas (or other small bean) or soak and cook your own, ~4 cups
1 cup cooked wheat berries
¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
Daiya cheeze, cheddar-style for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350F and grease casserole dish with a little olive oil. Bring large pot of water to boil.

Cut peppers lengthwise thru stem end. Remove seeds and membranes. Submerge peppers in boiling water and cover. Boil 5min and then drain and rinse with cold water immediately to stop the cooking.

Meanwhile heat oil in skillet and saute onions, jalapenos and carrots about 10min. Aim for browning the veggies; adjust heat higher to achieve. Add garlic 5 minutes into cooking process.

Add bay leaves and other herbs and salt; saute for 1 more minute. Add tomatoes, beans and wheat berries, stir and cover for 10minutes. If too liquidy, remove cover to reduce liquid. Mix in parsley.

Remove bay leaves and thyme sprigs.

Spoon mixture into pepper halves. Sprinkle with Daiya cheddar and place in casserole dish. Bake 20-25min.

Adapted from: Veganomicon

The Brown Rice Tortillas (Food for Life, at the co-op type stores) are actually better than flour tortillas for these wraps. The spicy mesclun (that’s salad mix to you and me) is perfect for this sandwich—heartier than just lettuce.¬

Mesclun sandwich wraps

Brown rice tortilla (Food for Life brand)
Mozzarella-style Daiya cheeze
Garlic powder
Mesclun (i.e. salad mix, spring greens, etc.)
Salad dressing

Preheat oven 400F. Place tortilla on baking sheet, sprinkle single layer of Daiya shredded cheeze and then lightly sprinkle with garlic powder. Bake 8-10min. (This is key; I have tried microwave too and it is a complete failure. Baking it is.)

Remove from oven, pile a huge pile of mesclun on the tortilla, drizzle with salad dressing, fold over and hang on! (The more mesclun you can cram in the better, but you won’t be able to put it down or everything will fall apart!)

Everyone feel free to add your favorite recipes to the website.

Farm News

The 2014 Season has come to a close. Thank you all for returning each week to haul your veggies home and ponder on meals for the week. We have learned a lot, some thru hard knocks, some thru exciting break-throughs. With winter breathing down our necks, we are switching now to processing all of the left-over “farmer quality” produce to feed ourselves thru the winter and tucking all of the fields in for the cold weather coming soon. The tunnel will be moved to its new position to overwinter some hearty greens. And the seed stock of potatoes will find their way into our make-shift root cellars.

We welcome any feedback you have.

Farmers Where Life is Good 2014

Thank you all for your patronage and support. Have a wonderful week, and enjoy the vegetables.

Roger and Lara