The Last of the Root Vegetables

Is your refrigerator like mine? The only vegetables I have left from the farm are root vegetables. While I’d give my right arm for some fresh baby leaf lettuce from the farm, instead I’m still staring at the remaining beets, carrots, potatoes and celeriac. Don’t get me wrong, I love these vegetables, but after this many months I’ve grown bored with them and I’m chomping at the bit for the change of seasons. If you’re feeling that way as well, maybe a little recipe inspiration will get you through.

For starters, these lovely Beet Chips are my new favorite way to eat beets. Cooked without any oil or salt, they couldn’t be healthier, yet I’ve had parents write to me to tell their kids couldn’t get enough of them. I LOVE when I get mail like that! (I tried making this recipe similarly with celeriac with less than stellar results – if you have a recipe or technique that works, won’t you share it?)

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

We are in the process of trying to empty the freezer of last year’s produce that we had saved.  Because we had so much wonderful summer squash last year, we have some frozen zucchini to use up.  Usually, we shred the zucchini and freeze it in portions big enough for a couple of loaves of zucchini bread.  But its spring!  Traditional zucchini bread doesn’t really appeal to me in the spring time.  Luckily, my friend posted this recipe to her Facebook page and it sounded so good, I just had to try it!

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

Ingredients

•  3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup applesauce and 1/2 cup oil (equal to 1 cup vegetable oil)
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups white sugar
• 2-3 cups shredded zucchini
• 3 cups all-purpose flour (I like 1/2 whole wheat, 1/2 white)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 pint fresh blueberries ( this is what the recipe calls for, but we really like our blueberries here and end up putting in 2 cups).  If you can find the smaller ones (frozen or fresh) they tend to keep shape and not bleed as much.

Directions

1. Oven at 350 degrees F. Grease 3 mini-loaf pans.
2. Beat: eggs, applesauce, oil, vanilla, and sugar. Fold in the zucchini.
3. Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Gently fold in the blueberries.
4. Transfer to pans. Bake 50 minutes.

Contribute to the Blog!

We are excited to use the new blog as a way to get to know other members and create an online community for our CSA!

And we are looking for contributors!

Do you have a green thumb? Want to share what it’s like running a distribution center? Love being a working member? Are you an expert canner or excellent cook? Super thrifty or handy around the house? Have a funny story, great idea or quick tip? Do you love to write or have a great snapshot of your farm share?

Then contribute to the Monroe Blog!!!

We are looking for farm members willing to write posts or share pictures on the following topics:

-Community
-Farm Work
-How you use or what your love about your share (summer, winter, meat or
fruit!)
-Food Storage & Preserving
-The Harvest Festival
-Home Gardening
-Recipes
-Saving Money

If you have something to share, please submit your posts and farm/produce pictures to Anisa at aschell13(at)yahoo.com along with a short bio about yourself, including a picture of yourself and/or your family. We’d be happy to post a link to your own blog along with your post as well.

If you’d like to be a regular contributor (submitting two or more posts per month), please contact one of our blog admins, Michele at michele(at)cookingwithmichele.com or Anisa at aschell13(at)yahoo.com

Do you have a blog that you’d like added to our blogroll? Send us the link!

Dark Days

While many think of spring as a time of rebirth, for those of us trying to eat seasonally from the bounty of the farm, spring marks the time when we are sadly missing our weekly distribution of fresh produce. Why not use this as a time to work your way through the refrigerator and freezer in preparation for spring? Here are some tips to make it through the dark days until we are rewarded with the first harvest from the farm this summer.

• Did you freeze vegetables last summer? Now is the time to make sure you’re using them up. Frozen vegetables work well in soups and stews as well as stir fry dishes.
• Use frozen squash (summer or winter) and zucchini to make zucchini bread.
• Not sure how to use some vegetables? Puree them together into a soup and garnish with some herbs and cheese.
• If you purchased meat from the farm, take stock of what’s left and make weekly menu plans that help you use it.

Perhaps the most dramatic way to approach this time of year is to commit to a full month of eating only from what you have on hand – working your way through everything in your pantry, freezer and refrigerator is a great way to “spring clean” the kitchen, will save on grocery bills, and ensures that you use food when it’s fresh and avoid waste. Before you know it, the dark days will be over and we’ll be celebrating the first harvest!

New Faces at the Farm!

This spring has brought a few new faces to Monroe Organic Farms! 

There are eight new baby lambs that were born on the farm this year but I only have pics of a few of them.