Jupiter Creek Farm CSA box – week 5

Up to week 5 of our Jupiter Creek Farm CSA box (more info on the whole CSA thing here). I totally missed posting about last week’s box as life got in the way. I also almost missed out on a box for this week, cue panic. But all ended well and I got a box.

Anyway, what was in the box

• Spinach
• Carrots
• Potatoes
• Parsnips
• Onion
• Spring Onion
• Cauliflower
• Pumpkin
• Celery
• Apples
• Kiwi fruit
• Plums

So how did I use all this amazing produce

The Spinach, well I’ll definitely use it in green smothies, or served as a side dish, as I’m the only one in the house who really fancies it

There were only 2 carrots so I really don’t think I’ll make a meal wound them, but together with the potatoes and parsnip and onion I might do a meal of roasted vegetables, perfect for a winter dinner

The spring onions, well I’ve used them in omelettes, fried rice and maybe just maybe might whip up some cheesy spring onion potatoes

The cauliflower, well I’m roasting some right now with olive oil and cumin seeds. I might do a soup, or make cauliflower with cheese, which really is up there as ultimate winter comfort food.

The pumpkin well, its one of those gorgeous heirloom pumpkins – potimarron. I’m so excited about this as it was amazing last we had it. I’m thinking I’ll make this pumpkin tart and any leftover will go into the roast vegetable party I’ve described above.

There were only 2 sticks of celery and I used one in a fried rice and I’ll snack on the other one.

Apples well, we’ve been chowing down on these as they are so good, but if I can save a couple, I reckon I can see an apple tea cake in our future

Kiwi fruit, daughter loves them, so there are all hers (she’d be most unimpressed if someone else ate them)

Plums well, they were pretty good and have just been eaten by themselves (in fact I ate the last one while typing this post).

For more info on Jupiter Creek Farm see here

 

Part of the In her chucks CSA link up party

Jupiter Creek Farm CSA box week 3

Another post about the produce. This week was the third week of our Jupiter Creek Farm CSA box adventure (see Jupiter Creek Farm CSA box for more info on what a CSA is).

The box was picked up taken home, the lid removed to reveal

• Broccoli
• Potatoes
• Onions
• Pumpkin
• Sweet corn
• Carrots
• Zucchini
• Spinach
• Permissions
• Apples
• Pears
• Oranges

What did we or will we do with the produce

Broccoli, I suspect a stir fry will be on the horizon and broccoli will go perfectly in it. Otherwise I haven’t tried the roasted broccoli and after the success of roast cauliflower this week I’m keen to try it.

Potatoes, well as a potato loving family there are many ways we will use these. I may use them in a frittata or some other creative way or maybe my famous potato bake or just make mashed potato (comfort food).

Onions, well these are the real work horse of the kitchen and I cook nearly every day with them so there is no quesiton that they will be used.

Pumpkin, well I think pumpkin is my favourite vegetable at the moment. I’m full to the brim with recipes and different ways to use it. I’m quite keen to try one of these 2 recipes out Cheesy Pumpkin Tart or Pumpkin Pie.

Sweet corn, well there was only 1 cob, so I’m guessing that will be an accompaniment to a meal during the week.

Carrots were again really flavourful and will be eaten as a snack or as an accompaniment. I’m never quite mastered roasting them so might give that a crack this week, of course if I’m going to be naughty I could always make an awesome carrot cake.

Zucchini, these were quite small and I suspect have a delicate flavour. Sorely tempted to use them in a frittata or may roast them and work that into a meal we are having this week.

Spinach, this is the hardest open to sue as my husband really won’t eat it. I’m thinking some sort of curry (not a fave of husbands either) for work lunches during the week. Of course will definitely use some in green smoothies.

Permissions I’m and not at all familiar with them, only having had them once in one of our boxes. They were quite tasty on their own, but stumbled upon a recipe for permission bread (not sure I have the right type of permissions), I’ve also had a Permission paste recipe dangled in front of me and might have to follow up on that as it would go well with my feta cheese I’m told.

Apples, well they are so delicious, crunchy, sweet & tart that we will jut wast them as is, same for the pears.

Oranges, well eat them as is, or juice them with a pomegranate left over from last week. My inner baker is crying out for an orange cake to be made or I did a baking class where we learnt to make lemon cream cheese cupcakes and think this could be adapted to use oranges.

Part of the In her Chucks CSA Link party

Jupiter Creek Farm CSA box week 2

Another post about the produce. This was the second week of our Jupiter Creek Farm CSA box adventure (see Jupiter Creek Farm CSA box for more info on what a CSA is).

I eagerly picked up our box and rushed home to find out what was in it. We had

• a Leek
• Potatoes
• Carrots
• Broccoli
• Pomegranates
• Cucumbers
• Apples
• Grapes
• Pears
• Sweet corn
• Spinach
• Kale
• Bananas

What did we do or will we do with the produce?

The leek, well I’m thinking a leek, pea & fetta frittata, although in the back of my mind a chicken, bacon and leek pie is sounding delicious.

The potatoes, they were made into mashed potatoes and served with lamb cutlets for perfect Sunday evening dinner

The carrots, well again they were so full of flavour and have/will be snacked on as well as used in a minestrone soup

The broccoli, well there was heaps of it and it was so green and fresh. I want to let the flavour shine not cover it up so simple treatment of steaming it and maybe dressing it with a bit of lemon juice as I find they work well together. I’ve also seen some recipes for roasting broccoli which I’ve never done but am curious to do just to see how the flavour comes out

The pomegranates, well they aren’t something I come across too often and I’ll probably use them in a salad or perhaps make a syrup with them to use in a cocktail 🙂

The cucumbers well my children just love them so they’ll eat them in a salad or as they come

The apples well they are just beautiful and the only way to use them is simply to eat them as they are, crunchy, slightly tart, slightly sweet and delicious

The grapes were sweet and seedless perfect of our children to eat (if I share them)

The pears like the apples are beautiful and could be used in a cake or in a salad but really probably will just be eaten fresh and will be perfect

There was only one cob of sweet corn so it’s been served as a side dish boiled and dressed with a bit of butter (just a bit)

The spinach, well my husband hates it so I’m not going to cook a meal based around it, but tis great sautéed and will of course work well in a stir-fry. I’ve also been having green smoothies for breakfast so will probably use it there too/

The kale I find a bit stronger in flavour than spinach and it’s just come into season so I haven’t used it for a while, but is packed full of goodness. But it’s been used in minestrone, a bit in green smoothies/ Also I’ve seen recipes for kale chips and I’m really intrigued by this so think these will definitely be made.

The Bananas well they could be used in a multitude of ways, but I suspect we will eat them just as they are in all their bananary goodness

For more information on Jupiter Creek Farm see here

Part of the In Her Chucks CSA link party

Jupiter Creek Farm CSA box

There’s no recipe involved in this post, this one’s about thing produce behind the cooking.

This week I got my first CSA box from Jupiter Creek Farm. What’s CSA you ask? It stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Essentially it’s a box for fruit and veg that comes direct form the farmers, no middle man (or 20) involved. In this case it comes from a farm called Jupiter Creek Farm. They grow a large chunk of what’s in the box and source the rest from other farmers. It’s all organic and local, and soo fresh. I like it for these reasons.

Yeah its more expensive than popping down to the supermarket and you don’t get to choose its contents but I like spend my shopping dollar in supporting local farmers and giving them a fair price for their produce as well as buying seasonally. It doesn’t provide all our fruit and veg needs but a least a fair chunk of them.

Back to the actual box. You pick it up from a local pick up point (PUP) and take it home to find out what’s inside. In this case there were

• Oranges
• Apples
• Permissions
• Plums
• Spring onions
• Spinach
• Potatoes
• Pumpkin
• Onions
• Carrots
• Celery
• Sweet Corn

What did we do or will we do with the produce?

The Apples, Oranges and plums well these are eaten as they are, super fresh and delicious. The plums tasted like the ones we pick from our own tree, so full of flavour which you just don’t get from supermarket/shop bought ones. The permissions well I haven’t encountered them before so after a bit of research I’ve left them in the fruit bowl to ripen up where by I should be able to cut the tops off and eat them with a spoon.

The spring onions I’ll use them in place of onions where I can swap them around and probably make my favourite carb cheese combination – baked potatoes halved with the filling scooped out and mixed up with some grated cheese and sliced spring onions then this mixtures is popped back into the potato halves and some more grated cheese is sprinkled on top and browned in the oven – YUM

The spinach – well my husband doesn’t like it (read hates it) so it’s a bit hard to make a meal based around it but I generally treat it with love and respect and don’t over cook it. This morning it was lightly sautéed in butter with garlic and served with bacon and eggs.

The potatoes well they could be used above in the spring onion cheese carb fest or they will accompany a roast I’ll do later in the week.

The pumpkin is gorgeous, it was a variety I hadn’t seen before and after a bit of hunting around I was informed it was a heirloom French variety potimarron, best served baked. This will be roasted up to either accompany the roast or even just by itself or with olive oil and may some cumin seeds as cumin and pumpkin go so well together. I might even make some haloumi cheese as that also goes well with roasted pumpkin.

The onions well they could be used any number of ways and won’t go to waste.

The carrots were real proper carrots, funny shaped and all. They reminded me of the carrot s my grandfather used to grow where they weren’t all shaped perfectly and tasted so carroty (for lack of a better word). The carrots will in honestly probably just be eaten raw as a snack or otherwise included in the above mentioned roast, a stir fry or salad.

The celery well like the carrots will probably be snacked on and included in a stir fry or casserole or pasta sauce. That’s one of the things I love about celery you can just use it so many ways.

The sweet corn well I love sweet corn and could happily eat it just boiled and plain or another really good way is to remove the leaves and silk and rub some olive oil on it season with salt and pepper or rub some butter with lime zest grated into it and chilli and bbq it. However I think we will use these in corn fritters as it fits in well with the menu for this week.

For more info on Jupiter Creek Farm see here

Part of the In Her Chucks CSA link party