Potato leek soup

Since I could basically start my own root cellar right now with the number of potatoes I've got stockpiled in the fridge, I decided to make some of them into soup. I'd also gotten some leeks in the past week's box, so thought potato leek soup would be a good option (thanks to Amanda for the suggestion!).

One of the great things about getting recipes from the Internet is you can basically keep browsing until you find a recipe that calls only for the things that you have on hand and not for things you don't have. A lot of potato leek soup recipes include cream, which I didn't have at the time (not something I tend to keep on hand). A lot of them also called for only using one leek, and I had three. So, I kept browsing the Google results until I found a recipe that called for three leeks and no cream!  Here it is: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/potato_leek_soup/.  (I also didn't have any marjoram or thyme, but I never let the lack of certain herbs stop me from making something... I just throw in whatever I have at the time.)  The soup was delicious, so much so that we ended up having the leftovers later the very same evening...

Farm share week 17

In this week's box:

• Corn: 4.25 lbs
• Onions: 1.25 lbs
• Squash: 3 lbs
• Apples: 2 lbs
• Leeks: 1.25 lbs
• Kale: 1 lb
• Salad greens: 0.5 lb
• Raspberries: 6 oz.

This was the first week where all the items didn't actually fit in the box! The ears of corn came separately, in a bag. (The woman who gave me my share at City Feed told me that each person was getting 6 ears of corn, and I only got 5, but considering we still have 3 ears in the fridge from the last time we got corn, I'm okay with being shorted an ear...)

It's exciting to get some more things that herald the coming of fall -- leeks and a squash, as well as a different variety of apples. According to this week's newsletter (PDF), these are Shamrock apples, which they say are similar to Granny Smiths. I don't generally like GS apples because the skin is very tough, and they can be a bit tart for my taste. But these are delicious -- they really taste just like apple pie, with a great combination of sweet and spicy (I don't know how an apple can taste like cinnamon, but these do). We've had a tradition of going apple picking in the fall for the past couple of years, but I'm not sure if we'll do it this year -- not only are we getting great apples from the farm share (and in manageable quantities, I might add), but I don't know where we'd store the picked ones this year, given that all our crisper space is otherwise occupied. (But I do love apple picking, and the place we go has the most incredible Golden Delicious apples...)

And these golden raspberries were really delicious. Please note the use of past tense... they didn't stick around too long!

Farm share week 16

In this week's box: 

• Carrots: 2 lbs
• Green peppers: 1.5 lbs
• Potatoes: 3 lbs
• Apples: 1.5 lbs
• Tomatoes: 1.25
• Callaloo: 0.75 lb
• Basil: 0.5 lb

These early Macintosh apples are really good -- the ones we got last week didn't hang around long in the fridge... And more basil means more pesto, hurray!  (Now that I know how easy it is to make pesto in the food processor, I want to make it all the time.)

The tomatoes we got this week are beautiful -- previously we'd been getting what they call "field tomatoes," which are your common alleycat tomatoes, but these are obviously heirloom (as confirmed in this week's newsletter). The red one is almost too pretty to eat!

Farm share week 15

In this week's box:

• Corn: 5 lbs
• Rainbow chard: 1.25 lbs
• Eggplant: 1 lb
• Tomatoes: 1.5 lbs
• Green pepper: 0.75 lb
• Apples!: 2 lbs
• Beets: 1 lb
• Onions: 1.25 lbs
• Carrots: 2.5 lbs
• Parsley: 0.5 lb

This was the biggest shipment to date -- 16.75 pounds! I haven't gotten around to cooking last week's corn yet, and now we have TEN ears of corn. That's a lot of corn, even for two people who really like corn!  Thinking of making a creamed corn dish.  Still with the eggplant and green pepper, although I notice that this week's green pepper is ripening into orange, which perhaps signals that the green pepper shipments will be ending soon.

I'm really excited to get the first of this season's apples -- they're early Macintoshes, according to this week's newsletter (PDF). I used to buy apples at the store every week and had an apple for an afternoon snack every day at work, but this year I've been trying to be more conscious about buying things that are in season. In case you thought apples grew on trees all year round in North America, keep in mind that most of the apples marked USA that you see in the stores have been sitting around in special climate-controlled warehouses for most of the year. (And also why you see apples from New Zealand for a lot of the year; you know, their fall is our spring and all that.)  So, this is all to say that I haven't had an apple in a while.  Abstaining from things not in season does make one appreciate them more when they ARE in season, I think.

Farm share week 14

In this week's box:

• Corn: 4 lbs
• Watermelon: 2.75 lbs
• Green pepper: 0.5 lb
• Tomato: 0.75 lb
• Garlic Onions: 0.5 lb
• Eggplant: 1.25 lbs
• Kale: 1 lb
• Bok choi: 0.5 lb
• Arugula 0.5 lb

I thought the shallots were actually garlic until I cut one open -- they have multiple small bulbs contained within the paper. But they're definitely onions.  (This week's newsletter [PDF] actually gives two possibilities -- red onions or shallots. But aren't shallots longer and narrower?)


Happy to see some corn again -- it's been a while.  But really, could do without MORE eggplant and green pepper, since Carl doesn't like them. I love both, but it's hard to eat it all myself! What I've been doing is slicing them up and roasting them while I'm cooking dinner, and then eating them as snacks. And earlier in the week I gave some green peppers to a work friend...