Apples are here!

The newest addition this week was apples! Karen had three varieties for sale: Rambo, Gala, and Matsu. We bought a bag of Matsu apples and they were delicious, crisp and flavorful!


Dogpatch Nursery

Sadly, this week marks the end of Keith's delicious rainbow of tomatoes. Plant disease ended his season, but he'll still be around for the market. Who knows what he'll bring along!

Last week my husband made a simple and delicious golden tomato pasta sauce that turned the pasta a beautiful sunny yellow. Here's the recipe he used, which can be found at 101 Cookbooks.

Golden Tomato Sauce Recipe (printable)

I don't bother peeling the tomatoes here, but you certainly could. You can also do a double or triple batch. The sauce will keep refrigerated for about a week. Also, the color of your tomatoes will dramatically impact the color of your sauce. I like to choose tomatoes that are bright yellow in color, like you see here. Alternatively, yellow tomatoes with a hint of orange make a striking sauce as well.

• 1 1/2 pounds / 24 oz / 680g ripe yellow tomatoes, cored and halved
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 medium cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (we used a pinch of chipotle pepper powder instead)

Run your finger along the inside of each tomato to remove and discard the seeds. Chop the tomatoes into 1/4-inch chunks, reserve any juice, and set aside.

Combine the olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper flakes in a cold medium sauce pan. Now, heat the ingredients, stirring occasionally, until the garlic begins to sizzle and take on a bit of color. Stir in the tomatoes and reserved juices, and bring to a simmer. Cook for just a couple minutes, long enough for the tomatoes to start breaking down a bit. Remove from heat, taste, and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Makes 2 cups / 475 ml.


Ochoa Produce

Another week of delicious yellow and red watermelon, as well as frog-skin and regular cantaloupe, not to mention juicy, delectable peaches. Last week I was trying to think of creative things to do with all of the melon and peaches that we purchased so I got out my smoothie blender and made Cantaloupe-Peach Smoothies. Freezing the fruit before making the smoothie means that ice isn't needed, so the flavor isn't watered down.

Cantaloupe-Peach Smoothie (printable)

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

• 1/2 ripe cantaloupe, peeled, seeded, cut into chunks, and frozen
• 1 peach, pitted, cut into chunks, and frozen
• 1 cup fruit juice
• 1 cup vanilla fat-free yogurt

Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Makes about 4 cups.

Every week samples of Ochoa Produce's delicious melons and peaches are available, so you know what you're getting before you purchase.

There's a wide variety of produce: yellow squash, zucchini, yellow zucchini, yellow pattypan squash, white pattypan squash, three varieties of eggplant, Carolina Gold orange tomatoes, green tomatoes, red tomatoes (available by the box for canning as well), hot peppers (habanero, jalapeno, and poblano)




sweet peppers (cubanelle and bell peppers, both green and red), cucumbers (slicing, pickling and English)


yams, white sweet potatoes, red potatoes, white potatoes, red onions, yellow onions


radishes, kale, collard greens, crowder peas ( a flavorful type of bean similar to a cowpea), broad beans, greens beans

If you haven't tried crowder peas, I encourage you to do so! My 9-year-old son loves to help me shell them and they have a wonderful, unique flavor steamed with a bit of salt and pepper. They're also very flexible and can be used in place of pinto beans in Mexican dishes.

This post online guided me in my first efforts to prepare them, and a Google search of crowder pea or black-eyed pea recipes gave me more ideas than I could possibly use!

Fresh black-eyed peas are so delicious. I simmer them in unsalted water until soft. (How soft is a matter of preference.) Then add salt.

Sometimes we eat them plain, maybe add a dash of hot sauce.

Peas and greens are a simple preparation: Cook a strip of bacon until crisp. Remove bacon and cook chopped onion in the grease. Add chopped greens (turnip, beet, chard...) with some water or broth. Cook until the greens are soft. Add cooked black-eyed peas and heat through.

Next Week

Next week look for more greens, and in a couple of weeks you can expect butter and lima beans. Once the nights cool down watch for turnips and beets, as well as other cool weather crops such as herbs.

Karen McLeod

Not only did Karen bring delicious apples, she had a selection of canned goods such as jam, relish, watermelon pickles, and tomato preserves, as well as a variety of baked goods.