Chapbooks + Cornbread

So much to be excited about this week! I've listed the highlights below.

1. Keith's chapbook has been selected by YesYesBooks for publication! Click on the link; their website is incredible and their books are beautiful. More about this to come.

2. We celebrated by taking a drive through Brown County and spending a few hours in the town of Nashville, Indiana. Lots of rustic charm, as evidenced below.

3. Figuring out what to do with our CSA goods. Here are a few of the results:

Cornbread from Fields of Agape cornmeal. 

Sweet potato hummus (tastes more savory than sweet). Tahini and a touch of olive oil makes it creamy. 

One of the things we had to figure out how to use was a head of cabbage. I was wary about how this crock pot cabbage soup would turn out, but it was not shabby. I think this might've had something to do with the Herbs de Provence I had leftover from making ratatouille with Megan Betz's recipe (somehow mine did not turn out as good as her's).

4. Starting to quilt. I've wanted to forever, and finally bought the materials. Now I just need to find a sewing machine. 

  

5. Watching The Wonder Years. 

6. My mom and her friend Sue coming to visit! We went to lunch at Runcible, then showed them Keith's soul--that is, the orchard, where we went again today for:

7. Cider fest! Keith will be sharing more about this later. But here's a preview for you:

Good try, Keith. Maybe next year!

Al Green + Green Tomatoes

So, it occurred it me today that "togethered" sounds like "tethered," and when I mentioned this to Keith he was like, "Yeah, that's what I thought we were going for." Oh dear. 

I realize we're already verging on solipsism here, so the we renamed our blog, ___________. (Suggestions?) 

Last week, we got some great stuff in Week Two of our Core Farms CSA. We used the squash and zucchini to make stuffed portobello mushrooms, which turned out to be pretty decent. 

Keith took a photo: 

Friday was Keith's turn to cook. We'd done a pretty great job of using all our produce, but we were left with a bunch of green tomatoes. What can you do with green tomatoes, except fry them? Neither of us had ever experienced a fried green tomato (though I did see a movie with Kathy Bates I think?)

Green tomatoes sliced, dipped in two eggs, and tossed in breadcrumbs.

Also, we listened to Al Green:

Saturday was grey outside, but that made the trees along the way to pick up Week 3 of our CSA look even more magnificent.

One of the things we got in our Week Three roundup: cornmeal from Fields of Agape, a local sustainable cooperative farm. Stay tuned!

Raffum. 

Saturday + Sweet Potatoes

Autumnal splendor.

One of our new favorite places. 

Our weekly dozen from Musgrave's egg share. I love how they have photos of all their chickens (who also have names) so we can see where our eggs are coming from.

Filling our basket

Beard to go with the barn.

A sweet potato the size of Keith's head.

Beets + Brown Rice

We just experienced the first week of our CSA! Keith & I learned about it from our awesome friends, Joe & Megan Betz, who we'll write more about in future posts. We'll write more about the whole CSA experience and post better photos and in the weeks to come, too. At least, that's the plan...

Saturday was a gorgeous fall day, and before we left on our exciting road trip to St. Louis to hear Joe give a poetry reading, we picked up our first share of the season. This is what we got:

-Green wave mustard/purple osaka mix, arugula, red & green kale, bok choi, summer squash, zukes, and patty pans from New Growth Gardens.
-Gala apples from Musgrave Orchard.
-Onions, beets, and red raspberries from Wagler Farm.

So the challenge was to use EVERYTHING, and waste nothing, and I am happy to report we were successful. Some of the good things we made:

- Zucchini pasta & beanballs
-Beet burgers (see below)
-Squash & greens sauté: this recipe was given to us by the good people at Core Farms. It's easy and amazing. You just heat a couple tablespoon of olive oil and water in a skillet, sauté the onions for a few minutes (I also added some garlic), then add a variety of chopped squash (we used the zuke, yellow, and patty pan) and cook over low heat, stirring, until tender. Then add a couple tablespoons of dry white wine and soy sauce, and stir in a couple handfuls of greens (we used some of the arugula and kale). I also added some Herbes de Provence and salt and pepper.
- Homemade pizza: we used this recipe for dough, which is far and away the best we've found (we did sub ww flour for half of the regular flour). Then we added the tomato sauce leftover from the zucchini pasta, and some open bags of cheese in the fridge, and all the leftover squash and onions and stuff. I also sautéed some Boca crumbles with the onions and added those, as well as a healthy dash (shower?) of oregano.

Beet burgers: beets and onions from our CSA, plus black beans, brown rice, and some other things. I first tried these at Northstar Cafe in Columbus, Ohio, and had the good fortune of finding the recipe online.

Candlelight + Kitten Love

The days are already getting cooler and darkness coming earlier. Keith got creative with mason jars, wire, and pliers, and we now have the luxury of dining by candlelight (in our coats & wool socks).