Ramping it up in Winter Farm Share Week 13 with fresh ramps, something I’ve never tried. We received some beautiful veggie pierogi and that’s not something I ever expected. I’m loving the sleeve lettuce with their roots attached. You can’t get much fresher than that! I spent the week fixing meals from the freezer and the vegetable bin as a result of several weeks of farm share bounty, so ramping it up is an appropriate title for our self reliance on our food hoarding as well. Check out my results below…
Week 13 our small Vegetarian Pilot farm share included (featured photo at the top of this post is full vegetarian share)…
Eggs – 1 dozen
Broccoli Soup – 1 quart – I gave this to my parents for their 1/2 share since we ate the last quart we received
Veggie Pierogi – 7 frozen
Strawberries – frozen – 1 quart
Tomatoes – frozen – 1 quart – we had a choice this week but we can’t get enough of these tomatoes so it was an obvious choice
Apples – 6
Apple Cider – 1/2 gallon
Rutabaga – 1 large
Lettuce – 1 sleeve of two kinds, rooted
Ramps – 1/4 lb.
Beets – 1 lb.
My half of the Vegetarian Pilot small share Week 13 (above photo) and what’s left since Wednesday, April 6…
Eggs – 1/2 dozen – we used these in scrambles this week
Veggie Pierogi – 4 frozen
Strawberries – frozen – 1 pint – we’ve been defrosting these to mix in with Vanilla Greek yogurt for dessert.
Tomatoes – frozen – 1 pint – we’ve used up all the other tomatoes received in sauce and soups
Apples – 3
Apple Cider – 1 quart – 1/2 left
Rutabaga – 1 large – I’m going to roast this and share the cooked version with my parents
Lettuce – 1 rooted red lettuce (my parents got the green one) – 1/2 is left
Ramps – 1/8 lb. – haven’t decided what to do with these yet
Beets – 1/2 lb. – stored
Added – 2 dozen eggs – these stay so fresh – I want to play with some gadgets I bought to work on some posts for the blog. I love gadgets!
Aren’t these Vegetable Pierogi gorgeous? Can’t wait to try them!
RESULTS…
Both families have been cleaning out our freezers and vegetable bins, making soups and casseroles. The four of us got together this past weekend to have the Vegetable Lasagna from Week 7 and the Baked Apples from Week 6, plus I made a salad and my mom made some beets from one of our share weeks. We do this dinner share and then play cards. I’m especially fond of these prepared items we receive in the Vegetarian Pilot program with Fresh Fork Market because they’re so easy and they’re usually something I haven’t tried preparing before. The vegetable lasagna was interesting – it had what looked like pureed eggplant layered within the noodles. Good way to use up the eggplant. The baked apples were a fun idea and something I can see myself doing. They were packaged in a foil loaf pan, a super easy way to bake and freeze to eat later. We defrosted both items for a couple hours, then baked them at 350 degrees for 1/2 hour. The lasagna didn’t temp high enough when tested after 1/2 hour. The first time we baked them, we just put them on the oven rack but the baked apples had a leak in the pan, so we put it on a cookie sheet. When the lasagna didn’t temp out, we put it on the cookie sheet and that heated it up much better. Note to self – the cookie sheet is a must next time.
I tried a nifty little cleaning trick I found in THE MADE FROM SCRATCH LIFE by Melissa K. Norris. When that pan leaked all over the bottom of the oven, we sprinkled it with baking soda and it was pretty easy to rub out with a wet paper towel. We then used some vinegar water, something both of us always keep on hand for cleaning and that cleaned up the balance of the spill. Even though we have self cleaning ovens, it’s great to be able to clean up a spill quickly without going through hours of running the cleaning cycle.
This Rutabaga this week is enormous. Look at it in comparison to apples. It’s a little bit bigger than a cantaloupe. There was no way to split it the night of the farm share pick up, so it’s sitting on my table waiting for me to cut it up and roast it. It’s too big to take up room in the refrigerator, so as long as I fix it fairly quickly, it should be okay sitting out. We’ll see.
Earlier in the week, I made some sauce with the jarred sauce we received in week 9, along with some of my roasted tomatoes I froze last year. See my recipe for roasted tomatoes here. I used one of the pastas we received in our share week 8 that I froze. It’s super easy to fix that pasta from frozen. I bought some homemade meatballs from my local fresh market that day to make sure Mr. Carnivore was pleased. Spaghetti without meatballs makes him very sad so those little gems were for him, but I loved the added flavor to the sauce. 🙂
Then I made a Vegetables and Ham Casserole in the slow cooker (above photo), a recipe I’ve been working on for the blog. I liked the way it turned out this time because I added in some Parsnips. I’ll be working on that recipe to share here with the photos I took while making it this time. It can also be a soup, which is how Mr. Carnivore likes to eat it.
I also made Chicken Noodles and Vegetables for our son’s family when we were babysitting for the grands. It’s a real easy recipe that I’ll work on for the blog as well. In a nutshell, I stir fry the chicken and vegetables while I boil the noodles. I like to use chicken that I’ve baked, shredded and froze in little packets for nights we need a quick meal. The vegetables vary, but I can’t seem to go without peas, so I used frozen. When the pasta is done, I drain it and add the chicken and veggies, as well as some type of sauce I’ve made ahead.
Overall, it was a very productive 2 weeks using up a variety of items we’ve received in our farm shares. It felt good to see the refrigerator empty out and the freezer pile dwindle. I’m completely out of potatoes and onions so I finally broke down and bought some onions. We’ve overindulged on the potatoes so I’m making us take a break. I’m sure there are some hash browns in the freezer to get us by if we panic and the pierogies will let us carb out a bit.
What has your fork been getting into?
