CSA Report - Pickups 5/6,7

I'm not sure if I have my pick-ups correct for this blog....at this point of the CSA season all the pickups roll into one large produce fest...I become inundated w.produce and I freakout (if only momentarily)....I have to say I've been keeping up pretty well w.all the goods....there have been a few sacrificial cucumbers that didn't make it and some lettuce that has gone bad, but otherwise it's all good....now here's what we've (or I've) been eating for the past couple weeks. (Apologies up front about low quality photos....I'm using the iphone b/c my camera is out of commission)...

Here's what the take home was from the 2 farms...From Stillman's....arugula, rainbow chard, blueberries, peaches, raspberries, zukes, cukes, potatoes, cayenne peppers, poblano peppers, tomatoes, apricots, corn, green beans, basil
From Newton Community Farm.....carrots, basil, chard, parsley, onion, tomatoes, eggplant, cukes, corn

Well, right off the bat, I made another batch of pesto with the basil that I received from both farms. It's been great to have the pesto around all season...makes for an easy lunch with the pesto, tomatoes, greens and a grain or pasta...viola, instant lunch....
The blueberries, peaches, raspberries and apricots either got eaten or frozen down. Do you know how to freeze fruit? Simply give the fruit a rinse, cut if necessary and put on a baking sheet w.parchment or foil, then place in the freezer. Allow the fruit to freeze, then place into a freezer safe container or bag. You'll be psyched in the middle of the winter, I guarantee :)
With the carrots from Newton, we had a nice carrot and hummus session....delish.
The potatoes from Stillman's were used to make mashed potatoes w.my son Max, age 9, who is currently into exploring the kitchen.
With all the eggplant, I made a double batch of eggplant parm....the first batch was made using mozzarella cheese and my husband ate it up....the second and smaller batch was made using Daiya vegan mozzarella style shreds, a vegan cheese substitute product. It was my first time using it, and I was surprised at how creamy and flavorful it was.....
I ended up freezing half of that batch because I couldn't get through all of it.

5 ears of corn were turned into a nice vegan corn chowder, made also w.some of the potatoes and fennel from a prior pick-up.....I used So Delicious coconut creamer as the "cream" to make it luscious and it was really velvety with great corn flavor.
The rest of the corn was eaten straight up or grilled and made into my favorite dish of this post, a roasted poblano pepper and corn salad. I simply grilled both the corn and the poblanos. I let the poblanos rest for a bit, then peeled the skin off. I took the corn off the cob and mixed it w.the chopped poblanos, gave the mix a squeeze of lime juice, a small drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and some S+P. It was DELICIOUS. I put it in a burrito that I filled with homemade refried beans and rice, and topped it with homemade guacamole (which I used some of the tomatoes to make).
Refrieds are easy to make....no lard used here...saute some minced garlic and onion in some oil of choice, add in bean of choice (in this case, pinto), some ground cumin and S+P, then get some elbow grease going w.your potato masher... To thin out the beans as you go, you can add a stock of choice or even just some water as needed....You can add other spices as you see fit. I was hoping I could fool the kids into thinking these beans came from our local Mexican joint that we go to, but no go :( I liked them :)
The zucchini were made into Chocolate Zucchini bread. I made 1 full size loaf and 3 mini "cakes" to give to a client as well as to the farmer that grew the zukes ;)...the recipe can be found on FB on my Thyme To Cook page (see banner above)......
I've been going through a little sandwich stint over the past couple of weeks, so the cayenne peppers, and some lettuce and kale from the last pick up were made into some sammies, along w.the sunflower sprouts that I grew.
First off I need to say that the cayenne peppers were HOT, smoking HOT, but with great flavor. They were almost addictive. I wanted, no I needed more, even though my lips were tingling w.heat....so good. They were what made each sandwich really a notch more delicious.
First off a Tofurkey sandwich on toasted Ezekiel bread w.lettuce, sunflower sprouts, cayenne peppers and some veganaise. You could obviously use a meat of your choice.....
Next up, w.no picture unfortunately...the TLT.....a Tempeh, Lettuce and Tomato sandwich with "tempeh bacon", lettuce, sunflower sprouts, cayenne peppers and tomatoes on Ezekiel bread, also with veganaise.
Lastly, a hummus wrap on lavash with a kale, hemp seeds, cayenne peppers and sunflower sprouts.
The green beans, parsley, tomatoes and some chives from my yard made it into a neat little side dish to accompany some grilled sausage and hamburgers, along w.some quinoa. I dressed the salad in a simple red wine vinegar vinaigrette made with red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, extra virgin olive oil, a touch of honey, S+P.
And last but certainly not least, I made an Asian cucumber salad to use up some of the cukes and hot peppers. The dish accompanied some grilled lamb and beef.....all the meats came from Stillman's, The Turkey Farm....
I hope you're inundated with as much awesome, local and seasonal produce as I am!