CSA Weeks #9 & #10

I was so swamped catching up on just about everything last week that I didn't get the posts up for week #9 or even take pics for week #10.

Week #9 brought more of the same summer veggies we've been getting:

Kale
Leeks
New potates (red & yukon gold)
Green Beans
Cucumbers
Kholrabi
Green Onions
Cabbage
Sweet Corn (Bodacious)
Lettuce
Beets
Carrots (orange, white, and purple)

I've been making hand cut potato chips with the new potatoes, though this isn't quite enough to keep up! I think there will be potato salad sometime in the near future. The sweet corn was pretty good - growing up on a farm, my family and I are pretty picky about corn varieties - this one was very similar the the Early Sun Glow we used to grow back in the day.

Week #10 saw the first appearance of tomatoes and other goodies:

Tomatoes (red in baskets, green avail on request)
Onions (Cippolini)
Green Beans
New Potatoes
Cucumbers
Zucchini
Sweet Corn
Lettuce
Carrots
Summer Rambo Apples

I made a small batch of apple butter with the apples and we've been putting vegetables in just about everything this week.

BBA Challenge & more!

The last part of July was hectic, alas, I was not able to participate in this month's Daring Bakers or Daring Cooks challenges. This month I'll have more time, and the challenges are too tempting to pass on!

One thing I was able to squeeze in this month was Greek Celebration Bread the next recipe in the BBA Challenge. I admit, I always admired this bread each time I pulled the book of the shelf, but never had any motivation to try it, as too many other breads are on my list of 'regulars'.

I loved the feel of the dough, though it was a little more wet than I expected it to be. The addition of the spices really made me look forward to the final product! I added bourbon soaked golden raisins and cranberries. Because I didn't think to set aside a portion of the dough for the decorative element of the Christomophos, I formed the dough into a boule.



I have to admit, the bread smelled AWESOME, it looked AWESOME. The taste and texture where disappointing. The aroma of the spices was misleading, there wasn't a lot of flavor to the bread. The bread was surprisingly dry - even with butter or jam spread on slices, it seemed like eating cardboard.

This is the first recipe of PH's that I've not liked.