PUMPKINS

Here are some recipes I thought you might like if you are looking for something to do with all those left over pumpkins from Halloween?!

SPICY PUMPKIN SOUP
4 Tbsp. butter, unsalted
2 medium yellow onions, chopped
2 tsp. garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
2 tsp. ground coriander
3 15 oz. cans pumpkin or (2 cups of your own)
5 cups chicken broth
2 cups milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions & garlic & cook, stirring constantly, until softened. Add red pepper & coriander & stir on minute longer. Add pumpkin & chicken broth; stir to combine. Bring to a boil & then reduce heat. Simmer for 15 minutes. Transfer soup, in batches to a blender or food processor. Cover tightly & blend until smooth. Return soup to pan after blended. With the soup on low heat, add brown sugar & stir to combine. Slowly add the milk, stirring after each addition. Add cream. Adjust seasonings & serve hot.

SIMPLEST BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP
1 butternut squash (about 3lbs) or pumpkin works equally well!
3 slender or 1 1/2 larger leeks, white parts only, split lengthwise, washed, & cut into 1" long pieces
3 cups whole milk
3 cups water
salt & freshly ground pepper
fresh grated nutmeg

Optional garnish
1 tart apple, peeled, cored, & cut into tiny dice
about 1/3 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts or walnuts
about 1/2 cup creme fraiche or heavy cream

Peel squash. Remove seeds & string, then cut into 1-2" chunks. Toss into a large Dutch oven or soup pot. Add the leeks, milk, & water; salt generously & bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer & cook for 25-35 minutes or until squash is soft enough to mash when pressed lightly with the back of a spoon.
Using a blender or food processor, puree the soup in batches until it is very smooth. It may be thick; Thin to your desired consistency with milk or water. Season to taste with salt pepper & nutmeg. Reheat if necessary (This soup is best when truly hot)
To serve, ladle the soup into bowls, spoon over the apples & nuts, and garnish with a little creme fraiche or cream.

Wow it's hard to believe, but this is the 25th week (last week) of our CSA year! Today you will be receiving eggs, winter squash, potatoes, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, radishes, cardoon, fennel and celeriac! Now I know everyone is going what is cardoon and celeriac??? So here is some information from my favorite book "From Asparagus to Zucchini" a guide to cooking farm fresh seasonal produce.

CELERIAC
Celeriac, also known as celery root, has an obvious but unusual kinship to the common celery. Its stalks & foliage are similar to those of celery and are edible. However, the celeriac is cultivated for its edible bulbous root crown. Celeriac's growing season is very long.
Celeriac is very popular in Europe, particularly in Germany & France where our commonly known stalk-type celery is rarely used. Actually celeriac was not uncommon in American cooking back in the 1800s.
Do not be put off by the celery root's rough exterior. Inside, a surprisingly delicious and versatile vegetable waits to be added to your culinary repertoire. Celeriac has an excellent crisp texture raw or cooked, and super-concentrated celery flavor, enhancing its usefulness as both vegetable & seasoning. Celeriac is high in carbohydrates, vitamin C, phosphorus, and potassium.
COOKING TIPS:

Slice off stalks at the root crown. Soak the root in warm water to loosen dirt in the crevices, then scrub thoroughly with a stiff vegetable brush. If exterior is too tough, peel with a sharp knife.
Peeled celeriac will darken when exposed to air. To retard darkening, toss with lemon juice or keep in water. Lemon juice can also be added to cooking water.

Parboil peeled celeriac whole for 20-30 minutes 1/2" to 1/4" slices for 5-8 minutes.
Bake celeriac in its skin at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Peel & prepare as needed.
For extra celery flavor, use instead of common celery in soups, casseroles, stir-fries, etc. Use stalks & leaves for seasoning.

Try celeriac in hardy winter soups & stews, or puree for a flavorful, creamy soup base.
Boil & mash celeriac with potatoes.

Now on to Cardoon. This one is a very different thing, and maybe not for everyone, but it will be fun to at least read about and give it a whirl!!!! There are several different web sites with information and recipes, so just click on the highlighted words, Cardoon. This is the first year we've grown this, don't know if we'll do it again, but every year you just have to try something "new" and see what it's like and how it grows. Cardoon may not be the best choice for our zone as it takes a longer growing season and you don't harvest till it gets cooler, like now, but it doesn't like frost. So most years we probably wouldn't be able to raise this. So give it a try this may be the only time you'll every see this!

Enjoy this last week, hopefully everything was good and you had a good experience maybe even tried things you'd never had before. Hopefully we'll see you again next year.

SWEET POTATOES
The sweet potato is one of only a few cultivated vegetable crops that originated in the Americas. The wild sweet potato has been traced back to Peru as early as 8000 B.C. Early Native American tribes relied on both wild and, later cultivated varieties of sweet potatoes. Christopher Columbus introduced this versatile and nutritious storage crop to Europe.

Sweet potatoes are often erroneously referred to as "yams", a family of starchy tuberous roots originating in West Africa. The sweet potato is neither a potato or a yam but a rooted tuber and member of the morning glory family.

COOKING TIPS:
To bake: Scrub the skin and cut away any damaged areas. Place them whole or halved in a pan (or with a pan underneath to catch caramelizing drips) and bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes or until the centers are soft when a knife is inserted. Hint: To bring out maximum sweetness, place sweet potatoes into a cold oven and then turn on heat, thus maximizing the time for the starches to be transformed to sugar before high temperature denatures the enzymes responsible for this process. Serve plain or with butter mashed into the soft inside, like any baked potato. Skins can be eaten if clean.

To steam: Place scrubbed & quartered sweet potato chunks in a steamer over boiling water and cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Let them cool enough to remove peels. To serve round discs, cook sweet potatoes whole, then peel and slice into rounds. Serve plain or drizzled with a toppings: sweet (butter and a tad of maple syrup), tangy (Lime) or spicy (a red pepper or ginger sauce).

Try adding well-cooked sweet potato to your usual mashed potatoes; blend thoroughly.

STORAGE TIPS:
Store sweet potatoes in a cool, dry, well ventilated place for up to several weeks. Do not store in plastic or refrigerate. Temperatures below 50 degrees will result in off-flavors, and excess moisture will encourage sweet potatoes to rot or sprout prematurely. Do not scrub clean or wash until just before preparation. Excess dirt may be removed without water prior to storing.

The above information came from my "From Asparagus to Zucchini" a guide to cooking farm fresh seasonal produce book!

Sorry I haven't posted for a while, have had computer issues!:( Any way we've been busy, dehydrating apples, picking winter squash, gourds and pumpkins! I think Greg has finally cleaned out the patch and hauled it all in. We've also started digging sweet potatoes! So this week be looking for cameo apples, sweet potatoes, winter squash, potatoes, tomatoes, eggs and the full shares will get some okra.

I know a lot of people like to fix their winter squash with butter and brown sugar, but I like to put diced onions and peppers, cheese, salt & pepper! The other day I used blue cheese and that was soooo good! :) Greg doesn't like onions & peppers or blue cheese, so I just used Cheddar cheese on his. Winter squash is an excellent source of both vitamin A & potassium. It provides notable amounts of vitamin C, calcium & fiber, and it is fair in protein and carbohydrates. Store at room temperature for at least a month. Store for several months in a dry & cool (50-55 degrees) but not cold location. Cooking tips: 1 pound trimmed squash equals 2 cups cooked squash. Boil or steam 1 1/2- 2" chunks for 15-20 minutes or until tender. You may peel before or after; it's easier to peel after cooking, but it must cool first. Puree cooked squash for a creamy soup, or add uncooked chunks to hearty soups and stews. Butternut makes an excellent "pumpkin" pie, also bread. Try spaghetti squash served hot with butter and Parmesan cheese or your favorite tomato sauce. Acorn squash is famous baked face up with melted butter & brown sugar or maple syrup. Cook squash chunks alongside roasting meats. Add small amounts of squash to yeast breads, quick breads, muffins, cookies, or pancake batter to add color, moisture, and sweetness.

We had around 5 inches of rain Saturday & Sunday! Not good! We have been trying to get all our winter squash and pumpkins picked. We had about half of it done before the rain, and the ground was very soft then. The tractor and wagons sinking in pretty good. We went out yesterday evening to pick another load and boy was it muddy. I just went barefoot, was easier and sunk up to my ankles in places and we haven't even made it to the wet end! But boy are we having a bumper crop! We have butternut squash galore, and they are big! We also planted the long neck kind and have plenty of those, plus acorn, spaghetti and several new varieties. There are lots of decorative gourds and several cushaws! The only thing that didn't do well was the pumpkins. We have some little pie pumpkins and some new warty pumpkins, but not much of the regular pumpkins.

We've also been busy drying apples, lots and lots of apples! I think we've done around 7 bushel so far?! But we are having problems with our dehydrator. The motor was having problems, and Greg replaced that, now the heater is giving him fits. So he is waiting on getting a price for that so he can get it ordered! He has also been trying to find a 5 foot disc. Has been to a couple of auctions, but so far no luck, will probably just have to get a new one. He now is working on getting some shelves made for the pickup so he can go pick up all the strawberry plugs that will be arriving in a few days! I just hope it dries up enough so we can use the new transplant machine we got last winter that we haven't been able to use yet because it was too wet this Spring! Three thousand strawberries would go much faster and better on my body if I was sitting on the back of a machine than on my hands and knees!!

Wow, we have definitely changed seasons! One week it's 90 degrees hot summer and the next it's 60s and fall! The tomatoes, zucchini and cucumbers have pretty much gone by the wayside. If we have a late frost, we may have a few more tomatoes out of the hoop house as there are several green ones yet. We will be starting in picking the winter squash. There will be acorn, butternut, spaghetti and a few other types. We also have yet to dig the sweet potatoes, so those are some things to look forward to. This is the 19th week of the CSA so only about 6 more weeks to go. I will probably have to go back to baking to supplement your boxes, but hopefully not till next week!

We have been busy with apples, drying and making applesauce. I also made some apple jam with maple syrup! That was pretty good!. We went to an auction last week and bought 10 foot and 8 foot metal posts, so this winter maybe we will get some deer fencing up around the garden area!

Here is another web site for your edamame. You can use them in various ways, eat plain or put in stir fries, or on salads, etc. Just make sure you parboil for 5 minutes first.