The “Tell” – Springdell Winter CSA Pickup #2


What a wonderful crate!  You’ll notice I stored more things than usual this time around, and in my last post, I was a bit secretive about not being around to cook a lot due to a “surprise”. The surprise was that we took the kids to Disney and weren’t around for over a week. We keep it quiet and were able to get the boys all the way onto the plane before they figured out where we were going, which was amazing.  A great time was had by all but I did miss getting creative with the farm goodies.  

If you caught the last post, you’ll recall that I cooked up the mushrooms and onions right away.  I knew the mushrooms wouldn’t keep until I returned from Disney, so they were on my list of things to eat ASAP.

They were so tasty with the sprouts and the spinach.

Replacing the burger with a couple of farm eggs was another winning combo for breakfast, and then it was off to Disney!  

The turnips and beets kept well in the fridge until we returned, and the turnips went into a lovely slow cooker turnip soup adapted from this recipe from Southern Living. Fresh cream from Tully Farm really made the soup and spinach was a great stand-in for turnip greens.  Bacon was a welcome addition to this silky and flavorful dish.

We had a little party with the goat cheeses.  Despite the aversion to goat cheese that many of my family members have, everyone tried these and enjoyed at least one of the two varieties. The Calabrini is truly amazing, with a winning combination of sun dried tomatoes and herbs, it’s my new favorite.  The chocolate was my kid’s favorite!  I didn’t even tell them it was goat cheese they were eating, I didn’t have to because I had them at “chocolate”.  Rich and creamy, this didn’t take too long to disappear spread on bagels and croissants with summer strawberry jam.  

Not the best photo, but this is my spoon swirling in the pan leaving creamy trails in the garlicky pasta sauce.  It was really just butter, garlic, a pinch of herbs (thyme and oregano) and fresh Tully Farm Cream. 

It was delicious on pasta with medallions of chicken and warm spinach.  My original plan was to make this recipe with my spaghetti squash, but I was thwarted when my kids saw me preparing to cut the squash.  Note to self, hide the squash next time, as they love this dish with spaghetti squash when they don’t realize they are eating spaghetti squash.  

I cracked into a mason jar of summer tomatoes to whip up a winter spaghetti sauce. The green cube in the sauce is a frozen pesto cube from the summer. There is something so comforting about winter sauce made from preserved summer ingredients, especially in the peak of winter. I think it tastes like the promise of warm days waiting around the corner.

My small army of Springdell meatballs was waiting patiently to join the party.

Group A will be picking up in the morning, and it sounds like egg nog will be making an appearance!  Remember to bring your empty crates, egg containers, and milk bottles back to the stand when picking up your share box! That’s about it for this round, short and sweet. For the Winter CSA patrons, I hope you had fun with your share box this week as well! As always, feel free to share your ideas!  Meanwhile, I’ll see you back here tomorrow for the 3rd “show” of the Winter CSA version of the Springdell Show and Tell!

 


About Jess

Jess Anderson is the creator of CSA|365 and is passionate about the local food movement. A long time member of Springdell and a busy mother of two, Jess loves keeping her family fed by honest local food.

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