Subscribers' Blog: Wisconsin Week 1

Subscribers' Blog: Wisconsin Week 1

After reading Tony's newsletter this week, I'm thinking of our experiences with the week's rain. Last night, we watched the storm roll in while stirring risotto on the stove. As the winds picked up, the flames on the stove started to flicker and the mason jar of mint clippings fell from our window sill. A few closed windows later, we resumed cooking and debriefing about our days at work. I paused for a moment to wonder how the new cherry tomato plant was faring in its pot on our back porch.

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Recipe Links: Wisconsin Week 9

Recipe Links: Wisconsin Week 9

Dela said it best, this is a delicious time of year. So much beautiful color and so many delicious varieties at our fingertips this week. And, tomatoes! I love tomatoes. Of all the produce I yearn for in the summer, red, juicy tomatoes are the ones I miss most. Maybe it's because there are all those insipid grocery store tomatoes and pale greenish slices on restaurant burgers sitting there, reminding me of what I'm missing. In any case, summer tomatoes are here now and until they're gone, we'll be celebrating them with fresh, perfect BLTs, beautiful panzanella and caprese salads, and French tians.

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Recipe Links: Wisconsin Week 8

Recipe Links: Wisconsin Week 8

Over the last two weeks we've been pretty busy, but we've found time for some creative CSA eating along the way. A couple weeks ago I wrote about adapting the radish pizza recipe that I shared to fit other veggies. Upon the arrival of the first summer squash, we did just that, subbing roasted patty pan and zucchini for the radishes and adding a basil garnish to the top.

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Recipe Links: Wisconsin Week 4

Recipe Links: Wisconsin Week 4

The birds are signing outside my window as I type this blog post, drawing my attention away from my computer and outside into the cool afternoon. Soon I'll be packing up the car and heading out for a backpacking trip on the Superior Hiking Trail on the Lake Superior shoreline in northeastern Minnesota. Soon I'll be climbing up the ridgeline surrounded by birch and aspen, then descending into the canyons of the powerful rivers that run into the lake. 

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Recipe Links: Wisconsin Week 3

Recipe Links: Wisconsin Week 3

It's another cool Thursday in Madison as I write this week's post. I, for one, am grateful for the brief reprieve from the 90 degree heat. With the rains this week, our farmers are expecting a surge in weed growth, so if you find yourself with nothing to do this weekend or a few hours to spare, consider giving them a hand! Freeing young vegetable crops from the invading weeds is a surprisingly satisfying task.

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Recipe Links: Wisconsin Week 1

Recipe Links: Wisconsin Week 1

Spring vegetables pair really nicely with eggs--especially if those eggs happen to be wholesome farm eggs delivered fresh from Scotch Hill Farm, *nudge nudge*. Think of all the spring vegetable frittatas (way easier than they sound), quiches, and omelettes!  I seldom follow recipes for egg dishes, but they can be helpful for getting a baseline and some basic techniques. 

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CSA season is here!

CSA season is here!

I'm writing again this season to share information, recipes, and thoughts I've gathered about making the most of your CSA veggies throughout the season. For anyone new to this blog, I'm Megan. (That's me to the right). My partner, Blake, and I have been subscribers to Scotch Hill Farm since 2012. I love reading about food, trying new recipes, and experimenting with different approaches to cooking. 

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Recipe Links: Week 17

Recipe Links: Week 17

Fall is here but the summer's bounty hasn't left us just yet. Look at all the deep, rich colors in this week's share. I'll be holding onto memories of shares like this mid-February when it seems like the snow will never end. By now, I'm sure everyone's found plenty of ways to cook with their shares, but I thought a few new ideas might perk up our plates for the last few deliveries of the season.

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Taking your CSA veggies on the road (or trail)

Taking your CSA veggies on the road (or trail)

As the height of summer approaches, Blake and I spend more and more of our weekends out of town. For us, this means lots of camping trips, both car camping with friends and backcountry backpacking and canoeing. Being away for the weekends could mean not using our share very efficiently, but with a little planning and know-how it's possible to enjoy our veggies on the road and on the trail. Even if you're not a fan of camping, a lot of these ideas work well for picnics and road trips as well!

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Recipe Links: Week 8

Recipe Links: Week 8

Tomatoes! Tomatoes are here. I always get excited when the sungold tomatoes I plant in my meager backyard veggie garden begin to set and even more excited when they turn their beautiful glowing orange. More than any other produce, tomatoes embody the essence of summer bounty. At the height of summer, their flavor cannot be replicated. Winter's sad-sack tomatoes trucked in from California or Florida (my home state) cannot compare. Tomatoes capture the fleeting nature of the Midwestern summer perfectly. Now is the time to savor them, to eat all you can. They will be but a memory soon enough.

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Recipe Links: Week 3

Recipe Links: Week 3

This Friday was a beautiful sunny day and I had pizza on my mind, grilled pizza in particular. Any opportunity to eat dinner outside and keep the heat out of the kitchen appeals to me  as the days hold their warmth into the evening. Making dough seemed like a bit of a task for a Friday evening, but picking up some pre-made dough from the Willy Street Co-op (or another grocer that sells it) simplified our dinner making quite a bit.  For us, CSA pizzas are a great way to indulge a pizza craving without giving into the greasy delivery pizza that leaves us questioning our life choices.

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Recipe Links: Weeks 1 & 2

Recipe Links: Weeks 1 & 2

Spring has arrived! And with it comes some beautiful produce courtesy of our dear friends at Scotch Hill Farm. It is such a joy to see fresh, local produce return to my kitchen after the long winter months. Now it's time to enjoy the delicate, fleeting flavors of spring before they cede to the heat of summer. Although I am a fan of bold flavors, spring provides an opportunity to reset our palates. I love bracing vinaigrettes and pungent sauces, but for spring produce milder ingredients shine.  After the heaviness of winter cooking, I see spring as a time to shorten ingredient lists and use a lighter touch in my cooking. With that idea in mind, I've collected some recipes for the items in our shares thus far.

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