Ohio Grapes! Farm Share Week 20
Ohio Grapes! Farm Share Week 20 introduced us to fresh picked Concord Grapes, which are awesome. These scrumptious beauties contain tiny seeds, but are super sweet. The skins are a bit tougher to chew than the standard grapes you get at the grocery, but the flavor can’t be beat. The skins also split easily so they’re something we need to eat quickly.
I didn’t expect such a variety of produce this late in the season so I really enjoyed this week’s vegetarian farm share.
This week our small Vegetarian farm share included (above featured photo)…
Carrots – 1 bunch
Green Beans – 1 pound
Kale – Tuscan – 1 bunch
Lettuce – Romaine – 1 head
Cauliflower – 1 large head
Grapes – Concord – 1 quart
Tomatoes – Cherry – 1 pint
Peppers – 2 Green
Potatoes – 2 pounds
My half of the Vegetarian small share this week (above photo) and what’s left since Thursday, October 15…
Carrots – 1/2 bunch – I had just purchased a bag of carrots so I’m saving these to use when the others are gone.
Green Beans – 1/2 pound – I used these in a new recipe I worked on this week with Chicken Thighs (inspired by Mel) – recipe coming soon!
Kale – Tuscan – 1/2 bunch – I have a recipe in mind, just have to find the time!
Lettuce – Romaine – 1/2 head – we’re still working on week 18’s Romaine — we’re in cooked veggie mode so we need to work on eating our greens.
Cauliflower – 1/2 large head – This is gorgeous and I need to do something special with it within the next day or two.
Grapes – Concord – 1/2 quart – so sweet for munching!
Tomatoes – Cherry – 1/2 pint – on the table with the tomatoes harvested from our garden.
Peppers – 1 Green – 1/2 this pepper went into the Chicken Thigh recipe, coming soon!
Potatoes – 1 pound – these went into the Chicken Thigh recipe, coming soon!
RESULTS…
I am behind in using up our farm share this week. We did a lot of hiking, which inspired casseroles and slow cooker meals that can be eaten as leftovers for several days. Right now I’m writing while smelling the most amazing aroma of slow cooking vegetables and ham for a recipe I’ll share very soon. I’m hoping the delicious smell signifies a great taste so there will be no more testing, just sharing the results on the blog. Mr. Carnivore salted and peppered his serving before I could get his opinion, so I’m waiting for him to report in on his second helping. The true test will be tomorrow, after it has set overnight in the refrigerator. This particular recipe becomes more flavorful the second day.
A great sale at my local grocery, plus some technique sharing from Mel inspired a Vegetables and Chicken Thighs recipe I’ll post soon. That one had Mr. Carnivore smacking his lips and looking for the missing fourth thigh. Sorry, Mr. Carnivore, poultry doesn’t always come in matched pairs when bought by the pound. 🙂 I must agree that it was lip-smacking good even though I was a bit overzealous with the olive oil again. I really need to take my own advice and pour the olive oil into a spoon to drizzle from, instead of directly into the pan, because I can’t seem to drizzle thinly, but instead do it with pomp and circumstance.
We also had to harvest the last of the veggies and herbs from the garden and we did some clean up for the temperature drop we expected this week. Last night it got down to at least 38 degrees on Saturday night and it may dip to 29 Sunday night. I am experimenting with a tarp over the vegetable bed to see if we’ll get some more Squash, Tomatoes and Peppers, but I picked whatever was there, even if it was very small. The results are mixed, as half the tomato plants dropped their leaves and my neighbor’s tomato plants which are not tarped look gorgeous. Hmmmph. I guess that’s not a workable plan. Of course, I did see flakes of snow on Sunday afternoon. Noooooo! Go away!
Now that it’s freezing outside, maybe I’ll stay inside and cook a bit more! Nope. It’s supposed to warm up again into the 60s this week, so I’ll be working the outdoors until at least November 1st, when I’ll get busy in the kitchen. Winter is long and hard in Ohio — I’m getting in my Autumn romp for as long as I can. 🙂
October 19, 2015 at 4:11 pm
Concord grapes are so good. Jeff’s family just squeezes the pulp into their mouths, leaving behind the skins. I don’t mind the skins. Eddy’s fruit farm in Chesterland has concord grapes you can pick. My son always had us buy him a quart of concord grape juice from there.
You need to buy yourself a bottle pourer for your olive oil. It’s hard to drizzle with a big bottle of olive oil. The last time we bought olive oil at Trader Joe’s , the bottle came with a cheapy plastic pourer to put on it. Made it so much easier.
Bed, bath and beyond has them.
October 19, 2015 at 5:43 pm
Glad I’m not the only one enjoying those amazing grapes, Mel! The grape juice would be amazing, I’m sure. Great idea on the pourer — I’ve seen them, just never think of it when I’m at the store. We should plan a kitchen supplies shopping trip sometime soon — I need my fix. 🙂
October 19, 2015 at 8:29 pm
That sounds like a great idea….shopping for kitchen stuff.