Stretching Your CSF Bounty ~ Newsletter #2...Keeping the Clients Informed
This was our first Newsletter, Stretching Your CSF Bounty, where we introduced our vendors to our customers, explained what the Market Days are, and (hopefully) how it will work. As I'm sure you are all aware, eating organically is not inexpensive! And that holds a lot of people back...my goal, here, is to teach our customers to get the biggest bang for that ever elusive buck! Here's some of what's in Newsletter #2...
Special points
of interest:
• Make the most of your high $$ chicken!
• Radishes…more than just for salads!
• A new twist on the country biscuit…Goat Cheese Rosemary Biscuits ~ divine!
• Simple Side Preps…delicious sides in minutes without the waste!
The Organic Free Range Chickens are anything but just some cheap chicks! They are the diamonds among the rough, the cream at the top…well, you get my drift! Yes, they are expensive. So, it’s imperative that we make the most of our investment! Picture credit to jobisjob.com
The average 5# chicken will have breasts that weigh in at about 1.25 # each. The leg/thigh quarters are about 3/4 to 1#, each; with the wings, back and neck picking up the remainder of the weight. One chicken will provide you with at least two meals plus a soup, if planned well. We eat our wings...I love them; they're my favorite! If you don't eat wings, tuck them away for soup!
If yours is a family of two, a single breast will make a satisfying Roast Breast of Chicken dinner. So you would have a four or five meal whole chicken! See, that price just got a whole lot better, didn't it? Use both breasts for a family of four. Brine or marinate for moisture and flavor. Set it in your 9 x 12 Pyrex baking dish along with a couple hands full of those cute fingerling potatoes and some fresh green beans that you’ve tossed in olive oil with some kosher salt and pepper…herbs for fun. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes, to an hour, or just until the chicken is done and potatoes tender. The breast meat will easily pull away from the bones, for carving, crossways. Save those bones for the soup. The roasting process makes them even better! Save any leftover meat to go into your soup later in the week...and, the potatoes and green beans, too. Waste not!
The leg/thigh quarters make a fabulous Chicken Rice for 2 to 4. Split the leg from the thigh, then, use a good knife to cut each thigh in half, season with House Blend. If you've got a good butchering knife, or cleaver, you can split the legs in half as well. Sear, in butter/oil and set aside. Add another two tablespoons of butter to the pan. Add chopped onion and bell, saute to tender. Stir in 1 cup of rice with a 14.5 oz. can of fire roasted diced tomatoes and enough chicken broth to make two cups total. Add 2 teaspoons Knorr Chicken Bouillon and a teaspoon of kosher salt, half teaspoon black pepper. Nestle the chicken back into the pan, add the juices, too. Bring to boil; reduce to simmer…cover and cook about 20 minutes, until rice is tender. This is similar to Pealla...but, not quite Paella. This gives everyone about 3/4 cup of rice, which is 'enough'. If you have heartier starch eaters, double the rice and increase to two cans of tomatoes, with total liquid being 3.5 cups. Use 3 teaspoons of the bouillon. You can save the leftover rice for breakfast...it's delicious with a couple of fried eggs on top!
For Paella, after you've seared your legs and thighs, and set those aside, brown off a half pound of sliced smoked sausage in that same pan. Pull those out, and do the rest, as listed. Add a packet of Goya Sazon (the kind with achiote) with the broth. It's less expensive than saffron! And, add in a handful of frozen sweet peas at the end. If you're a shrimp fan, add in a half pound of medium peeled, cleaned and deveined shrimp with the peas, in the last five minutes of cooking. Taste & re-season as needed. If you're using a well seasoned stock, you're better off than with the flavorless box stock. In this type of dish, that will make a difference in the flavor satisfaction level.
Get into the habit of saving your roasted chicken carcasses for the week’s stock. Line your roasting pans with foil not just for easy clean-up, but to easily fold away those glorious drippings that come from a roasted chicken. Just fold it up with the goodies inside, tuck in a freezer bag, label it “chicken gold” and pop it in the freezer for the next soup!
Keep a baggie for the random chicken backs, necks that you get with each whole chicken. At the end of the week, like on a lazy Sunday, when you have time, put the unfolded foil of “chicken gold” at the bottom of your Crockpot, ‘gold’ side up. Pile on the random chicken parts, bones, any skin that you saved from carving and top those with three carrots, in chunks, one big yellow onion, quartered, skin on (it gives the stock color), two stalks of celery, in chunks, half a head of garlic, smashed. A bay leaf or two, a couple sprigs of thyme, a sage leaf or two, 12 cups of water and 4 heaping tablespoons of Knorr Chicken Bouillon. Sprinkle over a hearty shake of Lawry’s Seasoned Salt, kosher salt, garlic powder and onion powder (to fortify the flavors) and toss in about a half teaspoon of peppercorns. Cook on low for 8 hours.
For use the same day, strain the stock, discard the scraps and bones...or grind them for meal in your dog's food. Let the stock sit so the fat rises to the top, so you can remove it. Proceed for whatever soup you're doing!
To store, just strain through fine mesh strainer. Do not remove the fat. Fat will rise to the top and create an hermetic seal, protecting your stock indefinitely, frozen. Just lift off to use your beautifully gelled Bone Stock. This little puck of fat is known as Schmaltz to the Jewish community. It makes the best base for chicken gravy. Just use this in place of the butter…or in addition to, and make a bigger batch! Because, YES, gravy freezes!
bakerbynature.com
Southerners are all familiar with the classic biscuit…flour, butter, buttermilk, baking powder and salt…maybe a touch of sugar. Sometimes, we get wild and throw in some cheddar cheese…maybe some herbs or even jalapenos!
This recipe takes the classic, gives it a few twists, for a unique flavor! And, they are fabulous with butter and Strawberry Jam!
3/4t salt & 1/2t pepper ~~~ 3T minced fresh rosemary ~~~ 3T cold butter
1C & 3T heavy cream ~~~ 2 oz. goat cheese, crumbled ~~~ 1T heavy cream for glaze
Mix all dry ingredients. Grate in the ice cold butter and work into the dry ingredients
with your fingertips. Mix in cheese crumbles. Form a well, add the cup, plus of cream. Work gently into the dry ingredients until all is moistened. Turn out on floured surface and knead briefly, just to get it together. Pat into 1” thick circle.
Cut into 8 rounds.
Brush with remaining cream.
Bake in preheated 400 degree farenheit oven for 15 minutes or until nicely browned.
Radishes are one of our first early crops of the season. They grow underground, and quickly, and don’t seem to mind the weird temperatiure fluctuations as much as our more tender leafy crops. So, what do we do with them besides put them on salads? Here’s one Recipe!
Spice Blend: 1 teaspoon pepper…1 teaspoon tumeric…1/2 teaspoon sea salt…2 teaspoons dry parsley…zest of half lemon. Enough for two recipes.
Use our Tumeric Spice Blend to avoid excess cost, if tumeric is not one of the spices you keep. As we do Indian food, I keep it handy. Penzey’s is my spice peddler of choice.
And the recipe...
¾# radishes, trim, wash and cut in half…3 carrots cut in size to be close to the radishes…2 T. corn oil (or your favorite high temp oil)…juice of half the lemon. Toss radishes and carrots in oil and lemon, then sprinkle with the seasoning. Bake at 425 for 20 to 25 minutes, until they’re tender and charred. Dress with fresh parsley, if desired.
Although we do love potatoes any time of year, the ones that come at the beginning of Spring are cuter, smaller, more tender…just perfect! It’s Fingerling Season! The cute oval new potatoes are shaped like a finger, albeit often a gnarly one. Hence, the name! We parboil these about 5 minutes; it starts the cooking process, allowing for a creamier mouth feel to the center of the potato…it can be important!
While that’s happening, melt a few pats of butter in a small pan with a few cloves of sliced garlic and minced rosemary or thyme, kosher salt and pepper. Toss the potatoes to coat and bake on foil lined sheet at 425 until they’re crispy on the outside, tender and moist on the inside. You can add some halved brussel sprouts or fresh green beans to this, too!
And, with this, we have two pages of the newsletter done...it gives you an idea of what I'm sharing with clients and potential clients who might be on the fence about using a CSF program for their families. We believe that an informed consumer is a happier consumer. And knowing how to make our dollars go further helps that pricetag to be more acceptable.
The print newsletter doesn't have photos in it; it's strictly print format. It's laid out like a newsletter would be, as opposed to linear all the way. A photo rich newsletter would be too expensive to be practical, but we do like to use them with our online posts, to break up the format.
To follow along on our adventures, check out the history
https://steemit.com/newbieresteemday/@mamajeani/csa-update-expanded-horizons-allow-more-options
https://steemit.com/newbieresteemday/@mamajeani/the-path-to-our-csf-community-supported-farming
https://steemit.com/newbieresteemday/@mamajeani/bounty-baskets-on-my-mind
https://steemit.com/homesteading/@mamajeani/a-csa-alternative-the-garden-gate-bounty-box
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I like the way you think --- All that sounds absolutely delicious !
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