I see now that I wrote about my projects last week, but failed to explain what was in our CSA box.   Well, we got 1 bunch beets, 1 bunch radishes, 2 quarts sour cherries, 1 pint blueberries, 1 pint wax beans, 3 cucumbers, 3 small zucchini, and  a head of red leaf lettuce.

We'll start with the beets.  I separated the greens from the roots and will be making roasted pickled beets ala Alton Brown's recipe . I usually fiddle with recipes and make them my own, but this one is SO GOOD that you'll eat the whole jar in one sitting.  Trust me.

The beet greens were stored in the refrigerator and later chopped and sauteed along with chopped swiss chard, bacon, salt and pepper, and a sweet onion.  We ate this with a loaf of crusty bread and it was a perfect light dinner on a 90 degree day!



At this point, I actually had 2 bunches of radishes waiting to be eaten.  I did a separate post dedicated to this because I came up with a radish salad idea that takes the bite out of radishes. And I was PROUD of it!




The blueberries were eaten before the day was out.

The sour cherries were pitted and made into Blackcap/Sour cherry wine (it's still bubbling on the counter!).  

I made the wax beans plus about a quart of green beans from my Mom's garden into Dilly Beans!   I wait all year to make these!

The cucumbers were eaten whole by my husband and kids.

The lettuce was washed, chopped and kept in a bag in the refrigerator for easy green salad making.

AND the zucchini will be grilled tonight in oil and garlic to go alongside some BBQ chicken.

ENJOY!!

So radishes.  I received 2 more bunches of globe radishes and I already have a quart jar of pickled radishes going. If you remember from a few weeks ago, nobody in our house likes radishes.  I personally don't like the bite they impart.  Their texture is just fine and holds up well to grating, so I got an idea:  How about a marinated radish relish? I thought about how marinating raw onion takes the bite out of them... so why wouldn't it work for a radish??   Oh, It does!!!  Does it ever!

This is a really simple recipe for marinated, not spicey, globe radish relish that is refreshing, crunchy, and delicious by itself, on a salad or even on a burger or cold cut sandwich.

These were sitting in my crisper...

I've been processing away all day today.    

I pitted the sour cherries and had about 4 gallons of frozen blackcaps in the freezer.  It is OFFICIALLY time to make Blackcap Jam and Wine!

Here's this years first small batch of Blackcap Jam!

Follow the link above to find my original recipes for these. 

This year I'm doing a variation on the Blackcap wine recipe that includes 2 lbs of pitted sour cherries.  For the fruit, you just add 2 lbs Blackcaps and 2 lbs Sour cherries.  Mash, add dried cranberries (or golden raisins) as suggested let set 24 hours, and carry on from there just as the instructions from the original post tell you!

First, you pit the Sour Cherries!

Put all of your frozen fruit (cherries and blackcaps) into a large pot, add raisins (or dried/sweetened cranberries), and top off with 4 quarts of water.

Cover with a hand towel and set sit 24 hours.  This is actually 2 different batches of wine. One plain Blackcap, and one Sour cherry/blackcap

See the original recipe here!
Have Fun, and Happy Fermenting!!!

This week's CSA haul consisted of:

1 quart sweet cherries
1 quart sour cherries
2 pints blueberries (1 pint disappeared in the car on the way home)
1 head red romaine letuce
1 bunch cilantro
2 heads broccoli
1 large bunch beets
3 medium cucumbers
3 small zucchini
1 small bunch kale
Well, the sweet cherries and blueberries were put out on the table and eaten as they were.  We had green salad all week that was a mix of the last of the Romaine hearts from last week, this week's red romaine, and kale. I kept it chopped in a plastic bag for easy use. The cucumbers were eaten on salads and the kids ate one of them cut up themselves.

I still don't have a plan for the broccoli (I'm working on it!).
The Zucchini will be turned into  Ur Oma's Zucchini soup for dinner tonight.

The Sour cherries were pitted and made into really gorgeous scones by my husband. He substituted 1 1/2c fresh cherries for the usual 1 c of dried.  We brought them to a Summertime Wine Party (you CAN dip them in wine if you have a big enough glass!).



The beets were made into Borscht which we had for Sunday dinner, along with ham sandwiches on marble rye and a green salad.

And that leaves the cilantro.  Guys, I hate to admit it,  but nobody in our house likes cilantro.  I think it tastes like soap... I've read that this is an inherited taste preference.   Soap scent, however, makes great SOAP!   So, I'm making a Cilantro Vinegar surface cleaner out of it, once I collect enough.

Enjoy!!

So, this was a lost week.  Well, maybe not entirely lost, but entirely not planned.  I DID end up making Vegan broccoli and cheese bake, which I will share my recipe for because it came out wonderfully. 

Here's the photo from Week #3 CSA share:

Our second CSA box arrived with a heavy dose of fruit, which was much appreciated! 



What you see here is 1 quart of cherries, 1 quart of strawberries, 1 pint of raspberries, 2 pints of peas, and 1 quart of blackcaps (the blackcaps were from our garden).  This side of the box disappeared within 2 days, and without any prepwork needed!   uuhh... sorry there's no recipe ideas other than set the boxes out on the table and let the family have at it.

Now, since I'm on the topic, lets talk briefly about blackcaps.  I have a huge patch in the backyard that grows wild.  The berries are smaller than blackberries and have no pit, much like raspberries.  They make amaaaazing wine, and jam, if they don't disappear immediately upon being picked.

These little berries ripen every year on the 4th of July and keep producing LIKE CRAZY until the end of the month.  For the next couple of weeks, I'm expecting to pick about a quart PER DAY.   I freeze a good number of them and they work just fine for cooking and fermentation projects. 

She took a break from bike riding to help (EAT) pick blackcaps

There was actually 2 of these containers full today that I picked, and probably at least 1 more out there on the bush.  It'll have to wait until tomorrow!

Now that we've discussed fruit, how about the rest of the bin?

We  got 1 head of red romaine lettuce, 1 head of red leaf lettuce, 1 small bunch of kale, 2 crowns of broccoli, and 2 small zucchini.  The heads of lettuce and the kale quickly became  a raw green salad for a family get-together on Sunday night (with some leftover for lunches during the week... I just keep it sealed up in the fridge, ready to go).  The zucchini was sliced and grilled up with some of the leftover garlic scapes and some asparagus I got from the store.

That leaves the broccoli.  I'm going to be making a broccoli/cauliflower (non-dairy) cheese bake later this week which I will share the recipe and photos for in my next blog post.

** One note from this week:  I wasn't all that impressed with the volume or variety of veggies in our CSA share this week and I actually ended up buying stuff in the produce section at the grocery store to supplement!  We also ended up going to a local orchard and picking up an extra quart of cherries and a pint of raspberries...aaaand a half dozen friedcakes for the girls and hubby.

The first week of our full share from the CSA included a lot of greens.  I described the contents in detail in my last post. 

Here are the recipes and photos from my two featured recipes this week. 

We had the Buttercrunch Steak Wraps on Sunday (along with a vegan pesto over whole wheat bowtie pasta). 

Radish pickles with garlic scapes, caraway sauerkraut in back, and kale ribs pickling on the right.