Winter Farm Share Week 5 was supposed to last until Christmas since we’re on a two week pick-up schedule until the end of the season. That’s a bit harder to figure with some things like eggs and baking. But we landed perfect by buying two half gallons of milk. We dined out several times so we didn’t use up as much of Week 4‘s veggies as I expected. We also make use of that glorious roast we purchased in week 1. The Grassfed-Beef Chuck Arm Pot Roast was the best roast I’ve ever prepared. I will definitely order another one of those in the future. We ran out of eggs because of a last-minute supper solution when we had family visiting, but we can’t always plan for those moments.
Week 5 of our Winter Omnivore farm share included (featured photo at the top of this post)…
Ground Beef – 2 lb (we requested 2 ground beef instead of sausage – easier to split between two families)
Potatoes – 3 lbs
Onion – 1
Frozen Green Beans – 1 qt
Eggs – 1 dozen
Kale – 1 bunch
Grape Cider – 1 qt – easier to split if we don’t try to split what’s in the jars.
Garlic Dill Pickle Chips – 1 pt – we got the pickles, my parents got the cider.
Brussel Sprouts (smaller) – 1 stalk
Broccoli – 1 head
Green Cabbage – 1 head
My half of the share (above photo), plus extras, and how we used it.
Ground Beef – 1 lb – this landed in some sloppy joes with the last of our roasted tomatoes – frozen from summer of 2015.
Potatoes – 1.5 lbs – these were wonderful in with the roast and baked separately to go with some fish.
Onion – 1 – this went to my parents.
Frozen Green Beans – 1/2 qt – still in the freezer.
Eggs – 1/2 dozen – went into baking and dinner one night with the extras below.
Kale – 1/2 bunch – I forgot all about this but it still looks okay.
Grape Cider – 1 qt – this went to my parents.
Garlic Dill Pickle Chips – 1 pt – I can’t believe Mr. Carnivore hasn’t touched these. He’s the pickle-crazy one in our family.
Brussel Sprouts (smaller) – 3/4 stalk – only 1/4 of them to my mom because my dad doesn’t like them. I need to roast these.
Broccoli – 1/2 head – this got frozen because the weather was so cold on pick-up night. Not sure if it’s worth trying.
Green Cabbage – 1 head – this went to my parents because I still have one in the fridge.
Extras…
2 bags of heirloom corn chips – we ate one bag of these with hummus at the Christmas party we had at our house. Still have one left.
Veggie Jack cheese – this is waiting for a rainy day. I think it will be good just to munch on but melted in scrambled eggs is yummy too.
Sweet Potatoes – 4 lbs – haven’t touched these yet and not sure why.
1/2 dozen eggs – we bought an extra dozen so we’d each get 1 dozen total – used them up.
2 half gallons of 2% Grade A Milk – almost gone, just in time to buy more.
RESULTS…(week of December 12 until December 26)…
I can’t believe I forgot to take a picture of the spread we had on December 18th. That was music Sunday at our church, so our son and his family joined us, plus my parents, my sister and my best friend and her husband. It was a day of music when I tried to play the bells and sang a few songs with the choir. It’s my favorite Sunday with a variety of songs and musical instruments.
After church, we put on a sandwich bar with meats and cheeses, plus veggies and dip, hummus, Heirloom corn chips, potato salad, cole slaw, etc…, plus our guests brought desserts and drinks. It was a pile of food and I’m sure I’m forgetting something. There was awesome apple cake and sugar cookies made by our guests, so we had leftovers to munch on during the week.
We exchanged gifts with our son’s family since he had to work on Christmas. Wonderful day of fellowship, food, family and friends. I’m looking forward to doing this again. Usually I’m overwhelmed having a gathering at our home, but that sandwich bar idea is super simple. So simple that we did it two more times during the holidays! HA
The Grassfed-Beef Chuck Arm Pot Roast from Fresh Fork was so tender and flavorful. I seared it in some olive oil after rubbing it down on both sides with Montreal Steak seasoning, then put it in the slow cooker on top of grilled onions and garlic. Then I piled on potatoes and carrots from the farm share and one container of our favorite veggie broth by Imagine. I added in Mel’s Herbs de Provence she generously shared with me, plus a couple bay leaves. Cooked it on high for 5-6 hours.
I’m sure it would have been more tender if I cooked it on low, but I can never seem to get my roast act together in time to do that. I’ve found if I do it on high, then refrigerate it, it will be tender and yummy the next day.
HINT: — change up your roast leftovers by cutting it in small pieces, as well as the leftover carrots and potatoes and add some more broth to make a soup. I boil it hard in a saucepan for a few minutes which tenderizes the roast even more. We like it this way so much that I make a big roast with tons of carrots and potatoes with this idea in mind.
HINT: — We froze two small chunks of the roast to shred over rice another day. Add in a little grilled onions and mushroom gravy and you’ve got an easy dinner.
Nothing I like better than re-purposing a dinner over and over again. With a huge roast like this one, there’s no sense in cutting it up to be cooked in portions when it can be slow roasted and re-purposed so many different ways later. I used to try to cook less for two people, but I find that doubling up gives me some “fast food” options without actually leaving our house.
For Christmas day, I experimented with this appetizer Mel suggested from The Girl Who Ate Everything for another gathering we’re planning in January. I don’t like serving something without trying it first, so the family had to be guinea pigs. We liked it, plus it makes a cute decoration as a Christmas tree, even though mine turned out more artsy than it should be. I think it would also look great as a wreath by using dried tomato wraps, too mixed in with the spinach. I think I’ll play with that next time.
Once again we repeated the sandwich bar idea for Christmas. It’s super simple. We bought turkey, ham and roast beef in the deli at our favorite grocer, then added Swiss and Colby cheese, along with sliced tomatoes, lettuce and chopped onions. We love the Walnut Creek Cheese brand of meats and cheese, as well as Russo’s roast beef that we can easily get at local groceries. They’re all very lean and less salty than others we’ve tried. We also love their jams and have fun going down to Walnut Creek, Ohio, to shop at their retail store. We added in some fancy breads, buns and breads each time to mix it up. This sandwich bar went on the road the next day to our son’s house, along with leftover Sloppy Joe to rid our house of leftovers.
Finally, I raided the freezer for some leftover Turkey from Thanksgiving, added some Broccoli I froze this fall, the mini carrots leftover from the 18th and basmati rice for a delicious dinner the night before our next pick-up. We had enough leftover for pick-up night so I didn’t have to cook after photos and putting everything away.
HINT — use a rice cooker and make a huge batch of rice. Freeze the rice in smaller portions for easy dinners another day. I never worry about making too much rice because it freezes really well. The benefit of a rice cooker is perfect, tender rice every time.
Is your belly full? Holidays always seem to crank up the munching. I really need to stop but I think I’ll wait for a New Year’s resolution to kick me in the pants.
