Week 15

Hi everyone,

Well we've had some perfect September weather this week. The color is just starting to show in the hillsides, the mornings are chilly and misty, but the days are warm and fine. The asters are blooming everywhere, and the crickets are continuing their chorus, even though many of the summer birds have left already.

We're starting to gather the storage crops in, and the onions, potatoes, beets and winter squash are getting brought in by the crateload. I really like this time of year, when all the hard work of the spring and summer is showing its yield of successes (and failures). We've got some tasty vegetables to share with you this week, and just so you know, we have 3 more weeks of CSA after this one.

In Your Bag:

Salad Mix

Summer Squash

Beans

Beets

Garlic

Red Maria Potatoes (red-skin)

Sweet Peppers

Tomatoes

Cherry Tomatoes

The peppers are all sweet, whether they are a classic bell or shaped like a horn. I've been cooking beets in a slightly new way, lately, and it would work particularly well because some of the beets you're getting are quite large and some are smaller. If you tired to roast them whole (which is a delicious way to prepare them, of course), it would be hard to get the big ones to cook through without over-doing the smaller ones. But recently, I've been giving the beets a quick peel (watch out, those peels will stain!) and then slicing them thin, about a 1/4 of an inch. I melt about a tablespoon of butter in a cast iron skillet (a pyrex would probably work too?) and then toss in the beet slices. Then I cover it, and put it in the oven at 350 for half an hour, or until the beets are tender. At some point towards the end, I take off the cover and let them crisp up a bit around the edges. Yum!