6 Farm Delivery Friday August 31!

 This week's Riverford Farm Delivery really is showing the transition from summer to autumn- both delicious seasons!

Discovery apples and blueberries.

Discovery apples are supposed to have a hint of strawberry flavour- I'm intrigued!

 Lettuce, courgettes, and mixed peppers.  I was delayed in taking pictures because Sloan had another playdate with Finley (you try taking pictures around 180lbs and 12 legs of canine!), so Paul and I ate the other head of lettuce during our lunch!

 Spinach!

 Carrots, cucumber (there were two- the other one was in our lunch, too!), and calabrese broccoli.

 Cheeeeeeeeeese.  Specifically, Glastonbury smoked cheddar, halloumi, and skimmed milk.

Portobello mushrooms, sweet potatoes, and salad potatoes. I put them in my potato bag, which keeps them dry and dark which makes them last longer- although we rarely test that in our house!

When I was eating the carrots from last Friday the dogs begged for some- so I gave them each a small one. Sloan ate hers very daintily, so I had to take a picture!

I'm off to make some cookies, and tomorrow I've got that apple and Wensleydale-with-cranberries pie calling my name (I promise I'll take pictures, Betsy!). Do you have any exciting plans this weekend?

Any good fall food favorites making their way to your kitchen?

4 Farm Delivery Friday August 24

 There are so many shades of green in this week's Riverford farm delivery- it's DELICIOUS!

Bunched onions and broad beans. Unfortunately, I don't like ANY beans, but they were the only negative in my "Seasons" vegbox.  Let's hope my neighbors like them!

 Leeks! I absolutely love leeks. 

 Bunched carrots, cucumbers, and portobello mushrooms.

Something I've learned from Riverford is that, while bunched carrots sure are attractive, they shouldn't be stored with the greens attached, as they suck the moisture from the carrots. If you're not eating them soon, cut them off. Also, if carrots are left dirty, they can be stored in a brown paper bag in a cool, dry place- they only need to go in the refrigerator if they're scrubbed!

 Calabrese broccoli.

 Spinach and mixed peppers. Sadly, my favorite bell pepper is green- and I don't like the yellow at all. Ordering the "mixed peppers" just guarantees two different colors, though. Oh, well. 

 Apples. 

(It looks like Core Bamboo sponsors me... only I paid for it.)

 Grapefruit and lettuce.

 Fresh mint and blueberries!

I feel like some lemon-mint flavored water is calling my name...

 2L skimmed milk, Glastonbury smoked cheddar, fresh buffalo mozzarella, and organic roast beef.

Paul likes the roast beef for sandwiches- I like the smoked cheddar for everything!

I got two fresh mozzarellas because I'm hoping I can talk Paul into making pizza when he gets home- he loves pizza, so I'm hoping having had access to Mellow Mushroom for two weeks hasn't satiated him!

I've told you how Max "shops" in the box while I take these pictures. Last week, when I was shucking some corn for dinner, he patiently waited until I pulled the last of the husk off- and stole the cob! When he bit the end off I grabbed it back and sliced off the corn for him- no digestive blockages here, please!

Today the brat tried to steal the broccoli and blueberries- before he found the cucumbers I distracted him with some dog ice cream!

I'm thinking of picking out four of my favorite FDF pictures and getting big acrylic prints made to hang in our NC kitchen- thoughts? Any favorite images or subject matter you want to recommend?

Have a great weekend! Any last-hurrah cookouts planned for the end of summer?

5 Farm Delivery Friday August 17 and Giveaway Winners Announced!

 This week my Riverford Farm delivery is much smaller, as Paul is in the States. 

However, I still want fresh, delicious fruit and veg even if I'm eating alone!

Sweet corn on the cob.

YUM.

 Tomatoes, blueberries, and portobello mushrooms.

 Bunched onions, butternut squash, and carrots!

Spinach and fingerling potatoes.

I'm sure the rest of the world new this, but I just found out that spinach has protein. This is great news, since I am often lacking in protein- and I like spinach! I'm trying to be sure to add some to as many meals as possible!

I'm sure you're curious to know the winners of last week's giveaway...

Our winners: 

 Jessica from Jessica Who? will have a busy oven with these, and can apply her U.K. to U.S. cheat sheet knowledge...

and Lindsay from Trial by Sapphire will be busy at her local farmer's market stocking up on great ingredients for these recipes!! 

Congrats, girls! Your books will be in the mail next week!

Everyone else, have a great weekend! I'm hoping to take it easy... I've had a packed week full of friends and good times (and a fantastic getaway to Edinburgh to meet up with Lexi- YAY!)- but that makes for an exhausted me!

7 Friday Farm Delivery August 10- and a GIVEAWAY!

 After three weeks of no farm delivery due to our holiday, plus the sun finally showing it's face just in time for the Olympics, this week's order was a HUGE one! The summer bounty is IN and it looks amazing!

As usual, farm delivery is from Riverford!

(Previous farm deliveries here.)

I ordered the 'fruit and veg' box this week: apples, pears, oranges, sugar snap peas, salad pack (mixed greens, bottom left), sweet corn, kohlrabi (the pretty purple thing), spinach, bunched onions, cucumber

 2L skimmed milk, 2 fat-free plain yogurts (it's hot, Max needs his doggy ice cream!), halloumi cheese, Glastonbury smoked cheddar, fresh buffalo mozzarella

Note that word that keeps circling around: ORGANIC! It actually means something in the U.K., though, unlike the U.S.. What's most important to me is that all of this dairy comes from "happy" cows, with wonderful lives in green fields- and no added hormones or antibiotics pumped through them!

 cucumbers, blueberries, grapefruit, celery

Summer brings the best snackfoods!

 sugar snap peas (yep, more- and we're eating them right now!), sweet potatoes, mixed bell peppers

Max does a final inspection for me. He also taste-tested a pea and a blueberry for me.

 sweet corn, calabrese broccoli, carrots

I love corn on the cob. Love. If I can find it fresh (not at the supermarket), I will eat it everyday during it's season- and then crave it the rest of the year!

 My sad-skills food photography always means I forget one item... but here's the lettuce!

Now... for the GIVEAWAY!!! 

You've heard me wax poetic about the food here. British food gets a bad rap, and while there are a lot of fatty foods, a lot of heavy cream, a lot of greasy fish & chips, and not much spiciness, I love it.

And I don't eat much fat, I avoid grease like the plague, but I do prefer not-spicy food. So that one's spot-on. 

We've found, especially in Yorkshire it seems, that the movement towards local, organic, sustainable foods is in full-force, and these principles have really helped bring the traditional British dishes to a whole new level. Homecut chips are taking over flash-frozen processed freezer ones, herb-flavored savoury pies come steaming to your table.  We've both loved eating out here, but, knowing we would eventually have to leave, we knew we'd have to learn to cook the dishes we've come to crave-

and here are some of our favorite cookbooks.

 First prize set: The National Trust Farmhouse Cookbook and Riverford's own first cookbook: Riverford Farm Cookbook. 

 Sample page from the N.T. Farmhouse cookbook: a British favorite, Treacle Tart!

One of my favorite features of Riverford's is that it is divided by main ingredient (mostly veg) and each section gives a history on the plant: its seeding, growth, harvest, storage, and uses. It's like a farmer's almanac and cookbook in one!

 One of the recipes: Grilled Courgette (zucchini), Tomato, and Bean Salad with Basil Dressing.

 Second prize set: Another Riverford Farm Cookbook and The National Trust's Good Old-Fashioned Roasts!

I'll be honest, this cookbook is mostly Paul's since I don't eat much meat, but he loves it! He even read it cover-to-cover before bed right after he bought it. 

He picked Roast Chicken with Tarragon as your sample recipe.

So here's the deal: enter below, and I'll send two lucky winners a pair of books each!

Remember, these are British, so you'll probably need a kitchen scale (ingredients are measured in grams) and Google to be sure you know what your recipes require (courgettes=zucchini, auburgine=eggplant, etc.)- but otherwise, it's all English!

MANDATORY: You must follow English as a Second Language via GFC or Facebook- if you do both, that's two entries! 

*I will be emailing the winners to check for dietary concerns, i.e., if one is a vegetarian, that winner will receive the Farmhouse book and the omnivore will receive the Roast book. If both are vegetarian, then I'll make a trip to the National Trust shop, and we'll have to have three winners! Gotta respect different diets! :)

**open to residents of planet Earth only. I'm not aware of any Intergalactic postal system, but I am comfortable mailing to the U.S., U.K., Europe, Africa, Asia... if you've got an address, I'll get your prize to you!

***If you don't have an email attached to your GFC account, be sure you leave it with Rafflecopter so I can reach you.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

6 Farm Delivery Friday: July 13

 Farm delivery by Riverford.

I'm going to ask y'all to excuse my shooting venue; I didn't start photographing until 8PM and it was so overcast the best light I had was in our conservatory, on the ottoman- that Sloan likes to snooze on. 

Basically, I'm going to ask you to forgive the dog hair you might can definitely see.

Clockwise, from top left: white onions, new potatoes, courgettes, cherry tomatoes, pointed cabbage, bunched carrots

This week we opted for the mini vegbox. I decided to photograph it all together, so y'all can see what we get for £10.35 ($16.12).  

 rhubarb, sugar snap peas, courgettes, cucumbers

We both eat sugar snap peas like candy- they're so good!!

 mixed bell peppers, avocados, lemons, strawberries

Neither of us have ever really enjoyed avocados when we've had them served to us... but they're so good for us that we've decided to try to find a way we'll eat them. 

Guacamole is out... as is any mushy dish.  Any good ideas?

 Lots o' bunched carrots.

 More new potatoes (we are a predictable sort) and marsh samphire.  Last time, I made it the suggested manner: sautéed with butter. It wasn't bad, but it was really buttery (and I only used a small amount), and I ended up eating it with spaghetti noodles. I'm gonna try blanching it this time, and adding it to a thai-noodle dish with other veg.

 Fresh buffalo mozzarella, 2L skimmed milk, and lettuce. 

Oh, and my "See Rock City" bird house, bringing a little bit of Home to England!

 I decided to photograph our eggs from Paxton's Farm Shop, too.  We go through a lot of eggs- a lot. I only eat egg whites, so we buy the extra-large ones, hopefully not getting too many double-yolks.  

These are the two biggest ones, with a film canister for scale- y'all remember film canisters, right?!?!

Have a great weekend- have any big plans? 

2 Friday Farm Delivery June 29; In the Interest of Honesty

 Lately, we've been a little disappointed. Our farm delivery, while fantastic, just hasn't been up to the standards we've become used to over the past two years.  It's still great, delicious, organic, and fresh- but the berries aren't quite as sweet, and the greens seem to spoil a little faster than usual.  We were blaming this on the fridge in our house, since it has obnoxiously uneven cooling, and tends to freeze one section while having warm juice in another, but last week's newsletter in our farm box answered some of our queries.  This week's offered even more explanation.  Our really terrible, rainy, chilly weather this spring/summer has done in a lot of the crops. Riverford has had to import some crops, betraying the "local" part of the philosophy, but this is in order to maintain the "organic" part of the philosophy.   

I'm growing more and more adamant and passionate about not adding toxins to my body; I figure there are enough unavoidable ones in our modern life that I can do my part to not bring extras in knowingly. I've been making a slow and steady effort to remove plastics from our kitchen, not throwing away usable products (because that would only increase waste) but only purchasing glass, metal, or ceramic.  I long ago made the switch to antibiotic and rBGH free dairy and meat, both for ethical reasons and for my own health.  This whole soapbox is to say that, while I've found my vegetable-eating to decline towards the end of the week (since we're trying to eat them up early in the week before they're wasted), I appreciate Riverford's maintaining their organic methods, even though it's becoming financially painful for the company. 

Now on to the veg (and fruit)!

onions, cherry tomatoes, asparagus, new potatoes, ramiro chilis 

My spicy-phobic self was pleased to find the ramiro chills from last week to be sweet, more like bell peppers!  Yum!

 White grapes (which Paul had eaten half of by the time I got around to the pictures!), strawberries, rhubarb

I'm trying to decide between strawberry-rhubarb pie and strawberry-rhubarb cobbler... although I might just make smaller versions of both!

 sweet potatoes, wet garlic, cucumbers

 carrots

I've loved these young carrots just steamed up, eaten naked- it's delicious!

 baby spinach

 pears

celery, mint, marsh samphire, lettuce

I'm excited about this marsh samphire- I'll let you know how it is!

Not pictured are my usual 2L skimmed milk and homity pies. 

Are you doing anything to health-ify your eating? Have you had any struggles or disappointments along the way?