Creativity | Food

CSA

September 18, 2019

This summer we opted to get a weekly CSA (community supported agriculture) box from a farm that delivered to my husband’s work building. Having done it in the past, a full share was enough to feed our family when the kids didn’t eat anything really. I figured a full share now would cover us with a little extra left over.

Holy Hell. That first box he brought home was HUGE. I thought, “How the hell am I going to get through all of this in a week??” Short answer, we do not go through all of it. A half share would have been about right, so each Tuesday night I need to figure out how all of those veggies are going to either fit in the refrigerator or if I need to get it into the freezer.

For the most part, I make sure to take care of the freezing right away. Sometimes I need to blanche or roast things, so as soon as I get home I set a pot on the stove to blanche and/or get the oven going.

Last Tuesday I really needed to get after it since I hadn’t done anything the week before. I blanched enough for 4 packages of green beans, 3 packages of bok choy, 1 package of cauliflower, 2 packages of corn and then I made 4 quarts of apple pie filling.

This week I roasted the tomatoes and peppers, then blanched the rest of the veggies. I had two packages of roasted tomato puree (tomatoes, onion and garlic), 4 packages of roasted peppers, two packages of corn, 3 packages of kale, and 3 packages of carrots. I also put 4 packages of un-blanched chopped celery in the freezer. There was maybe a cup in each for soups over the winter. I was going to just eat them, but they were too tough to eat raw.

That was in one night. Now I don’t always do so much, but often at least a couple of bags go into the freezer each week.

My veggie drawer is still full after all of that, too. I also still throw out veggies that go bad. Mostly it is lettuce that you either eat or throw out or other fruits that you can’t freeze (like melons).

I prefer to roast what I can over blanching, since you keep more of the nutrients in them.

I also do it right away, since the longer they sit in the fridge, the more nutrients they lose. Plus…I just didn’t have room for all of it. I decide what I could use during the week, and everything else goes into the freezer. I would generally opt for over-freezing, since I can always take it out to use it. I do this all in one night for the most part, to get the pain out of the way at once. I will also wash and chop up lettuce, and do refrigerated pickled onions or cucumbers at the same time.

My kitchen is pretty much destroyed by the end of the marathon.

This is basically what I have done with the summer bounty.

Blanche/roast, cool and freeze in quart freezer bags:

  • Greens (spinach, rainbow chard, collards, kale) – this can be thrown into pastas or soups in the winter (or artichoke spinach dip 😉 )
  • Cabbages (green, purple, bok choy) – I either cut in wedges or dice it up. This can again go into soups or used for things like eggroll in a bowl.
  • Zucchini, summer squash, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans – I diced them up to have as a side in the winter. You should just be able to throw them in a pan and saute with some spices. The main thing I focus on is making sure they are cleaned up and the right size, so I don’t need to do anything more than throw them in a dish and cook them up. All the bad spots are cut off and they are in edible sizes.
  • Corn – I blanched them on the cob, or just threw the whole cob in the oven for a little bit, cut them off the cob and packaged in quart bags. This yummy summer corn is great in one of our favorites:
    • At least 8 cups of corn, stick of butter, package of cream cheese, salt and pepper to taste – put all in a crock pot on low. This takes a few hours and some mixing up along the way, but it is super good (soooooo low fat).
  • Tomatoes – Roasted tomato sauce. I cut up the tomatoes (or left cherry tomatoes whole) with an onion, whole garlic pieces, Italian seasoning, olive oil, salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar. I put these all in lined jelly roll pans and roasted on 375 for at least an hour. A lower heat and longer time frame will caramelize them more and deepen the flavor. When done, just blend it all up (I keep the skins on and seeds with it) and package about 2 cups. I use this for pasta sauces in the winter, and will add a can of diced tomatoes and/or tomato sauce. You get the slow roasted flavor without having to do any extra work.
  • Tomatillos – Unwrap, wash and roast in a jelly roll pan – they expel a lot of liquid. If you get jalapeno peppers, garlic and onion, then roast them as well. I just had to buy some cilantro and lime for this. I basically used this recipe, and had so much that I had some for the fridge and three extra quart bags full. This can go into a chicken verde soup or enchiladas.
  • Apples – I waited until I had lots of apples and then made a big batch of apple pie filling. I filled up my stock pot pretty well and that made 4 full quart bags for the freezer.
  • Squash – This is another roast and freeze. Cut in half, seed it and put it on a sheet pan at 400 degrees for about an hour. I usually do it when I have several sitting there so I can do it all at once. You can use them in risotto, butternut squash soup or just as a pureed squash side. My kids aren’t big fans of it as a side so I prefer to use it as an add in to recipes.
  • Peppers (poblanos, shishito, Italian sweet) – roasted in the oven or grill, skin taken off and de-seeded. The hot ones will be great for chilis, and other spicy dishes over the winter. The sweet ones can be used in pasta or sandwich add-ons.
  • Jalapenos – These were made into jalapeno poppers. Cut in half, seed, fill with cream cheese and wrap with a thinner bacon (thicker cut doesn’t wrap well). These work best to grill when frozen, since it takes longer for the cheese to unthaw and thus will not drip out all over the place.

I did buy a food saver to help with freezing. It is a work in process figuring it out, since it does not like the wet, blanched food for the vacuuming and sealing part. It takes a few tries to get it to suck all the water out and then seal it. I have been opting to just use quart freezer bags and try to get as much air out as possible.

Once the weather cools and my freezer doesn’t have to work as hard in our hot garage, I’m going to do an inventory of the veggies, along with some potential recipes so I do actually use it all before freezer burn sets in. My freezer is getting pretty dang full right now. I’m hoping this will help me out, and keep me out of the grocery store. We already have pork and beef from my parent’s neighbors filling up the meat portion of our diets, so having this in there is also really helpful.

My goal for the winter is to just have to buy milk, eggs, butter, some lettuce for salads and condiments that are needed. The freezer should provide most of our meals!

Some recipes I have on my old blog that uses these veggies:

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