Welcome CSA Members!

So here we are! By now you are a confirmed CSA member and hopefully we have received the answers to all seven questions from our information sheet. You have found this blog because we sent you the address so here is where you will be checking in at least every Friday night or Saturday morning to find out what your bag contains and from which farmers and/or producers your items came. You will only receive e-mail if we need to get important information out to you immediately or if a payment is due. You are obviously not required to read this blog, it is simply here for your reference. We encourage you to visit often, though, as it will help you with this journey.

We want you to know how thankful we are that each of you has made this commitment. We will be taking a bag home each week along with you so know that we are sharing in this with you and we are here to help. Every week we will provide recipes and information but we welcome questions. If you are comfortable posting your questions within the comments of this blog everyone will be able to benefit from both the question and the answer. We will try our best to respond in a timely manner. Any recipe ideas or suggestions are welcome-this is your place, too!

Many people do not know where to begin with a project like this that requires so much cooking, so we've included below a list of items that we keep in our home pantry and kitchen to help make cooking easier. Although we have both cooked professionally for sixteen years each, the food we enjoy at home with our kids is very simple and allows for the flavors of the food to shine.

Our Pantry*

*Feel free to skip this part. Maybe you don't care to know this much about us. We do admit to being hippies at heart, so if all of this seems a little too much, just use what you can and know that every little bit helps! If you want to know more, and there is more, let us know.

We subscribe to the Michael Pollan eating approach, a simple seven words:

“Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.”

We do eat meat and fish, though they play a background role on our plates. Here's what we use regularly:

oils: extra virgin olive oil, canola oil, toasted sesame oil, hazelnut oil (choose your favorites)

vinegars: white vinegar, white wine vinegar, rice wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, sherry vinegar (a must for beans)

salt: we keep kosher salt in a small dish on the counter, easy to grab with hands, mild, easy for kids to use; we use sea salt for baking

whole peppercorns and pepper grinder

soy sauce

flours: white wheat flour, wheat flour

bay leaves

dried beans ( soak some beans overnight, cook them them the next day)

whole wheat pastas

yeast (pizza dough, bread, rolls)

real maple syrup (comes, like many things we get, from our Amish farmers)

brown sugar

white sugar (yes, I'm afraid we do still use it occasionally)

butter: always in house, always some soft and on the counter, some cold in fridge for baking; we do not use margarine or butter-like substances

2-3 favorite cheeses (one is always parmesan)

plain yogurt (great baby food, great for smoothies, great with granola, great for dressings; we often make our own yogurt)

homemade granola (our favorite cereal)

onions, garlic, carrots, celery, ginger

eggs: we keep 1 dozen amish chicken eggs at home all the time: great for breakfast, snacks, baking, and they make the BEST flan ever!

local Amish chicken: we cook one a week on the stove and use the pulled meat and stock for the week

the chicken can be used to:

mix with pasta and veggies

make soup

make chicken salad

Grass Fed Beef: ground beef, 1-2 steaks, cook, slice, add to salads

caramelized onions: make them when you have people over-they smell great cooking; add to sandwiches, pasta, soups

canned or preserved organic tomatoes: in the off season for tomato sauce (no excuse four ingredient tomato sauce here)

fish or other seafood; small portions with lots of veggies

three last minute chances to make things more healthy:

1. grow your own sprouts at home and put them on everything (we love these folks here)

2. add your cooked beans to sauces and pasta dishes
3. add dark greens to sauces and pasta dishes raw and let the heat cook them for optimum nutrition

We are probably forgetting something so we'll add on later!

Try to cook with your kids, family members, or friends so that they can see how important it is to eat seasonally and locally,too!

Hope this is helpful. We'll be back tomorrow with the first week's delivery list!

With Thanks,

Christy and Tom