Woah, week 11 is here and we are heading into Labor Day weekend. Where has the summer gone? While the days are long, the weeks have truly flown by this summer. I feel like we just started the vegetable season and now I am looking at the first load of pumpkins in our parking lot. Pumpkins. That’s one thing I’m definitely not ready for. Ready or not, fall is coming, but I’m going to hold onto summer as long as I can. Fall is great, but I’m not ready for what comes next. So until then, we are just going to enjoy the craziness that comes with colliding seasons here on the farm.

 

My recommendations for this week’s share are short and sweet. My time at home is limited the next few days and I know many of you are heading out of town for a long weekend, so instead of adding extra pressure to get things cooked before heading out, this week’s share is full of items that are easy to enjoy raw or they are super easy to turn into a meal in under 30 minutes. Let’s dive in!

 

Corn: Some corn to enjoy on the cob and then some corn to enjoy in a stir fry with some onions, and a sweet Italian pepper. This little stir fry combo is perfect to serve aside some eggs in the morning or alongside a sandwich or burger. It’s quick and easy, but when you saute sweet corn, it gets even sweeter.

 

First Kiss Apples: Dare I say it, I might enjoy these apples more than a Honeycrisp? Yes, I said that. Juicy, but not overly sweet, these are an excellent early season apple. You can always turn these into your favorite apple crisp or even an apple muffin, but I prefer to enjoy these fresh. Keep it simple. My go-to after dinner snack has become an apple with a little bit of peanut butter.

 

Mini Bell Peppers: Keep it simple and enjoy them as an afternoon snack with a bit of hummus or veggie dip. Otherwise, you can stuff these little peppers with something like cream cheese, bacon, and green onions. Or, another great combo would be goat cheese, parmesan cheese, minced jalapenos, and black pepper.

 

Broccoli: Roasted is truly my favorite way to enjoy broccoli. I will probably keep it simple because of time this week, so as soon as I get home I’ll chop the broccoli and cauliflower and roast it so I can grab and go.

 

Cheddar Cauliflower: Roasted with the broccoli is the plan for my yellow cauliflower this week. It is also great raw as a snack or perfect for adding to a dinner salad.

 

Celery: I’ll be honest, not my favorite vegetable, but it smells amazing in the shares today. What I’ll probably do with this celery is chop it up, leaves included and toss it in a freezer bag. One Saturday later this fall or early winter, I’ll turn it into a great stock for some soup. I just don’t have the time or energy to make that happen immediately.

 

Cucumbers: Sliced and enjoyed as a snack or turn them into a salad with some freshly sliced tomatoes. I like to chop up a tomato, chop up a cucumber, mix them both together with a little bit of salt and pepper and you have a quick salad in no time. You can always make a dressing for it, but I like keeping things simple these days.

 

Sweet Italian Peppers: Stuffed sweet Italian peppers are one of my favorite things to make in the summer. I don’t really have a recipe I follow, but this is typically what I do: Slice the peppers the long way and remove any seeds. Chop an onion and saute it with about a pound of Italian Sausage-I use mild, but you can always use hot if you’d like. This is where you can get creative and add whatever other veggies you might like to it as well. Kale? Spinach? Spicy Peppers? While the meat is cooking, I like to bake the peppers for about 10 minutes, just to get them soft. Once the meat is done cooking you can decide to mix it with some ricotta cheese and stuff the peppers OR you can put the meat mixture into the peppers and sprinkle with some shredded cheese. It’s totally up to you. Toss the peppers back into the oven and cook for another 15-20 minutes. I like to make a big batch of these because the leftovers are delicious.

 

Slicing Tomatoes: Sandwiches, salads, burgers….keep it simple. I know we have about a solid month of tomato season left, but it already makes me sad thinking about going back to store bought tomatoes once the homegrown season ends.

 

There you have it, week #11. 6 weeks to go and so many items left to include. With fall items arriving and summer still in full swing, shares are going to have a great mix of both in the coming weeks. I hope you all have a fabulous Labor Day weekend.

 

Cheers,

Jenna