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.

So, as promised, here's the haul!    It's very, VERY green... which I LOVE.  I love the challenge put forth too and getting the kids to try everything in this bin (including radishes and garlic scapes).


Over on the right you'll see that there's 2 quarts of strawberries and a pint of sugarsnap peas.  Um.  Those disappeared within the first 24 hours that I brought them home.  I just left them out on the table and they were eaten as is.  The peas were, by far, their favorite and I only actually got to try maybe 2 or 3 of them before realizing that they were completely gone!



Next we have 2 bunches of Kale, 1 bunch of rainbow chard, 1 head of Green Leaf lettuce, and one head of Buttercrunch lettuce.    The first thing I did was make a huge tossed 100% green salad with some kale, Green Leaf and Buttercrunch lettuce to put in the fridge for dinner accompaniment/snack.  I will continue to replenish the bowl as it empties out during the week. 



To finish off the Butter Crunch lettuce, Sunday dinner this week is going to consist of some Seared Steak and Veggie Lettuce Cups.  These cups will also feature the garlic scapes as a background flavor.     I will update the blog later in the week with my recipe/any modification ideas that I come up with to make it super-kid-tempting.

So, that leaves us with 1 small bunch each of rainbow chard and kale.  These will be going into one of my favorite recipes:  Smoked Pork with Greens and White beans.   I'll share this recipe later this week along with the Lettuce Cups.

And then, we are left with a bunch of radishes.  Um.  So... nobody in our house actually likes radishes raw.   At all.   But, I figured out a trick a little while back when I had a leftover veggie tray (FULL OF RADISHES):  They make really tastey, crunchy, not-at-all-spicey pickles. I'll be lacto-fermenting this bunch whole in 2% brine along with the remaining garlic scapes for a little added flavor.  They'll be ready in about a week, and I'll share the process with everyone once they're complete.


Summer time with the kids actually came early this year when preschool ended the first week in June.  Things around here have been nothing short of hectic, trying to keep 2 preschoolers entertained, but I'm so glad we decided to do this CSA project. It gives us all a great thing to focus on and my eldest really enjoys going with me to pick up our box every week.

We even made some stone "markers" with veggies on them one day while we were waiting for pickup to start.  I wanted to get the kids as involved as possible with the process and what better way that with arts and crafts that require a picnic trip to the park/lakeshore?




That's acrylic paint on Lake Ontario stones from the nearby lake shore.  I let the kids do the initial painting, and then I went over it to define a few parameters/make things a little more recognizable.  

Hope you're enjoying Summer and the abundance of green that's suddenly available!

Well, strawberry season is winding down, and I thought it best to have it go out with a BANG this year.  I made the last of the strawberry harvest into preserves with some leftover rhubarb that I had frozen a couple of weeks back.  And, I'd also like to take this opportunity to share my favorite cake recipe, ever.  This cake doesn't screw around or make excuses.  It's a full-blown from scratch birthday cake-style treat that includes Dairy-free buttercream frosting.

We'll start off with the preserves.  If you aren't making your own preserves ( jam and jelly) yet, you really should.  It's incredibly easy and doesn't take as much time as you might think.  I made 5 jars of Strawberry- Rhubarb Jam that I'm keeping in the refridgerator.  The first jar disappeared after about 3 days, and another jar could easily be used as an AMAZING strawberry cake layer filling/ fruit topper.

Honestly, I just follow the recipe on the Certo pectin box, but I'll write it down here just you can all see how easy it is:

• 24 oz very ripe strawberries, hulled (or no-sugar-added frozen strawberries)
• 1-2 tsp sugar (optional)
•  
• For the cake:
• 1/3 cup Soymilk, at room temperature
• 6 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cup cake flour
• 1 3/4 cup sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 12 Tbsp Earthbalance brand Margarine (1 1/2 sticks), at room temp

1. Hull, slice and toss fresh strawberries with a teaspoon or two of sugar and cover. Let them sit at room temperature until juicy.
2. Puree strawberry mixture  in a blender 
3. Reserve 3/4 cup puree for the cake.
4. Use leftover puree to fill the cake or fold into the frosting, if desired. OR use some of the Strawberry Rhubarb Jam from the above recipe!
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare two 8- or 9-inch pans: oil and flour the pans well
6. In a small bowl, combine puree, soymilk, eggs, and vanilla and mix with a fork until well blended. In  the bowl of a stand mixer, add the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix to combine. Continue beating at slow speed and add butter. Mix until combined and resembling moist crumbs.
7. Add wet ingredients and beat at medium speed for about 1 minute or until  evenly combined. Stop mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl and hand beat for 30 more seconds.
8. Divide the batter evenly among the pans
9. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (time will vary). Let cakes rest in pan for about 10 minutes and turn out onto wire racks. Let cakes cool completely before frosting!

• 1 cup Earth Balance Margarine (or Palm-oil based Shortening *contains no transfat)
• 4 cups corn-free confectioners’ sugar
• 1 t. vanilla extract
• 2 T. plain unsweetened almond milk or soymilk

In a large mixing bowl, using an electric hand mixer, cream the margarine until fluffy. Add the confectioners sugar gradually, beating at a low speed until combined. Turn up the speed to high, add the remaining ingredients, and beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Chill slightly before using.



Assemble your cake!  Put the Jam layer in between the two cake layers, and then frost with buttercream!

I hope you all enjoyed strawberry season as much as I did this year!   

We made our annual obligatory strawberry shortcake and it's super-easy, super tastey, and loved by everyone in our household.

My youngest daughter is currently potty training, AND has switched into a big girl bed... in the last week and a half.   She woke me up at 5:00am this morning.  The sun was up, the birds were singing and she was excited!

I decided to take a meditative "weed walk" this morning at 6:00am.  Yesterday, I had brought my daughter to the swimming hole, and had seen a lot of weeds.  Most notably, to me, was a huge abundance of stinging nettle...




As a child, I grew up on the same creek that I bring my girls to on our hikes.  One time, when the neighborhood boys and I went down there to look for newts, we got into a patch of stinging nettles.  Our legs were on FIRE for the rest of he afternoon.  We spent the next several hours pool-hopping, hoping that the cool water and the chlorine would somehow help ease the sting... it didn't.


Many years later, I read about the health benefits of making teas and infusions out of dried stinging nettle. I used to buy it in bulk, prepared... so I didn't have to deal with the sting.

And now, there it was on my path... inches away from my toddler's legs...

What a beautiful opportunity.  I decided to take this day, the Summer Solstice, the lightest day of the year, to shine some light on my fears and negative thoughts through walking meditation... and I took a bag, gloves, and rubber boots with me to act out this light shining exercise by harvesting and becoming allied with stinging nettle.  I made a potato nettle soup, started a nettle beer, and hung up 10 bunches of nettle to dry for tea and infusions.

I sorted, washed, weighed and deligated nettle to 3 purposes.


2 of these containers full were used to make Nettle Beer.


This bowlful was used to make a potato-nettle soup


And these bunches are hanging up to dry.


And if that wasn't enough to keep me busy, we also went strawberry picking!




We got 6 quarts, and one last small harvest of rhubarb.  I'll be putting together a strawberry wine, strawberry rhubarb jam, and a fresh strawberry cake in the next few days. This week should be fun!