Eggs-actly what you need

 

With the 15 week members being done for the season and the chickens still producing lots of eggs, this week everyone got 2 dozen fresh brown eggs with their distribution.  YUM!  We use lots of eggs around here, and can go through a dozen easily in one meal if we make that our protein source for the meal.  However, when we have LOTS of eggs, a fun thing we like to do is my 14 year old daughter's DUO OF DELECTABLE DESSERTS.  For those of you who don't like to sugar yourselves up, or can't...This doesn't help you much, but this dessert solution is my absolute FAVORITE use of a dozen eggs. 

The first is Angel Food Cake, the recipe the link goes to is Alton Brown's, which is our favorite.  We switch up the extract of choice depending on our mood.  Light, fluffy, and delicious!  And is uses one dozen egg whites.

Then, since we have 1 dozen egg yolks left after this delicious angel food cake is done, we move onto a double batch of Alton Brown's Creme Brulee Recipe.  Yes, Alton Brown again, what can I say, we always look to the master for our recipes, his always turn out to be our favorite!  Yes, double batch.  There are 5 of us, and we sometimes share.  

 We have also been getting into a lot of breakfast sandwiches lately.  They're yummy, easy, portable and pretty healthy too.  Using an English muffin, typically the whole wheat variety, as the bread, I scramble an egg, and load it onto the muffin with a slice of cheddar and sometimes either bacon or ham or sausage.  This week we used Canadian Bacon.  If you have kids who run out the door without breakfast, or like me need to bring dinner on the run in between after school activities, these sandwiches are GREAT to hand them as they run out the door for the bus, or as a breakfast for dinner in the car, or anywhere.   I wrap them in aluminum foil when I make them, and stick them in an insulated lunch tote, and off we go.  I did 5 on Tuesday and took them to my oldest daughter's swim meet and we all ate them for dinner while sitting in the stands.  She came up to get hers during the diving break.  

Of course, you can make an omelet bar night , scramble them, make chicken in a basket, quiche, frittatas (like maybe with some of the lovely tomatoes and  green peppers we received this week as well!), or many other yummy things with your eggs.  But with only about 70 calories per egg & 6 grams of protein, plus some of the healthy fats and other nutrients we need, eggs are a lovely choice for any meal! 

A new way for me to can - The Freezer

 

The biggest reason I have heard for people to tell me they couldn't do a CSA or farm share program is that they simply can't use all of the produce that we get each week through our farmthisway membership distributions.  That they don't know how to can or don't have the time, or don't want to invest in the supplies.  Here is a secret...I don't have the time to can most of the time either.  But I do have a freezer!  And here is how that helps.

This week we got a whole crate of corn.  We can't eat THAT much corn in one week, especially at the end of the season, when we literally have corn coming out of our ears (pun intended).  But, if I freeze some of that corn, right on the cob, mid winter, a special taste of summer can be ours.  Last week we got a LOT of tomatoes, and this week too.  Last week I didn't have the time to deal with them and make sauce, so I froze them, whole with skins on.  Sometime this fall or winter, I will pull them out, and the skins will come right off when they're defrosted, and I will use them for sauce or soup then. 

But, aside from freezing stuff straight out the freezer and a farmthisway CSA are great for future meal planning.  Today, a rare day where I don't have to be anywhere while the kids are at school, I have my stove and oven working away. Tomato sauce, potato and corn chowder and chili sauce on the stove, and acorn squash roasting in the oven (which will also become soup).  The chowder is for tonight, but the others are for future meals.  The easiest way for me to process them is this....after they are done, I let them cool.  I transfer them to 1 gallon size Ziploc bags, suck the remaining air out with a straw and seal the bags.  then I have flat laying packages of future meals that stack EASILY in my freezer.  It doesn't require a canning pot or lids and jars, just some bags, which are way cheaper and I always have in stock anyhow.  I don't have a chest freezer because my husband isn't a fan, so I have one section of my bottom freezer (similar to the one shown above) that I save just for all of my flattened, frozen meals or meal starters.  On those nights in the fall and winter when we are in need of a quick dinner or need sauce for a pasta meal, I go to the fridge and grab a bag to defrost, and off we go!  

So, if you dread the process of canning, give freezing a try.  It is my new favorite method of preservation!  

CSA with Farmthisway - Not just for Humans

While I always talk about how much my husband, kids and I enjoy our farmthisway CSA, today I thought I would talk about the ways that our furry family members enjoy it as well.

My daughter, Mara, has two chinchillas (Mooch and Squishy), Caitlyn has a Russian Dwarf Hamster (Ivan), and my son, Finn, has a guinea pig (Oreo).  Not to mention the blue jays, squirrels and other friends we have in the yard as well.

One of the things we like to share with the critters is Kale.  Kale is a special treat that the chinchillas especially love.  It is something we can only give any of the furballs in small amounts, but they all seem to enjoy the occasional treat of kale.

Corn - sweet corn, because of the high sugar content is also given only as a special treat to the Hamster and Guinea Pig, but the inner husks of the corn are apparently VERY tasty if you're a guinea pig, and that is one of Oreo's favorites!  It makes him hop up and down in his cage and make happy chirp like noises.  Ivan is especially excited when he gets a kernel or two or corn.  Chinchillas are never supposed to eat corn because it can have fatal effects on them.

Herbs - Chinchillas can eat some basil or thyme as an occasional treat too. Guinea pigs too.

There are other little treats we can give our furry friends from our CSA distribution.  Just check with your vet or search the internet to find what is safe for your pet and then let them share in the farm fresh goodness as well. 

****Note*******
this was written 9/6 and meant to be published last week, so I will be posting another as well today