Adventures and Thoughts of Team Cross

This is coming straight from the newsletter again. Sorry. Life has been a little busy with the house and we don’t have Internet yet.

What’s in the Box Make sure to contact both your site host & Terri at the farm if you have pickup/delivery issues! The sooner we know about any problems with boxes the sooner we can resolve them, so get in touch with us right away on Thursday or at the latest Friday noon.  Thanks! Italian garlic: Try a creamy roasted garlic sauce over linguine with roasted cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers, wilted spinach, and chopped chicken or shrimp. Red and yellow onions: Thinly slice and caramelize two onions, then spoon into a shallow tart shell with a little bit of beaten egg and cream, salt, and pepper.  Bake until the custard is set and the crust is browned. Peppers: Ukraine: Chop sweet peppers into large chunks, marinate, and grill with chicken, steaks or chops. Jalapeños: Now is the time to make up a few more batches of fresh salsa before tomatoes and peppers make their exit for the year. Broccoli: Sauté chopped broccoli with chopped onion, diced tomatoes, cubed firm tofu, tamari, and garlic butter.  Serve with toast.  Yum! Red or green leaf lettuce: Big, crisp lettuce leaves make a great addition to any sandwich, or use them as a wrap for your favorite filling. Cauliflower or romanesco: Top steamed cauliflower or romanesco with a creamy cheese sauce made from a nutty Swiss or smoked gouda. Tomato variety bag: Find a good recipe for homemade tomato soup, then make some! Fresh tomatoes will make you never go back to Campbell’s. Green Top celeriac: Shred with a cheese grater, mix with batter, and fry little celeriac fritters. Green Top parsley root: See veggie feature on back of newsletter. Spinach: Chopped spinach makes a quick nutritious pizza topping! Great with mushrooms and garlic. Eggplant: Slice thin, brush with olive oil, S & P, sauté until translucent & top a pizza.

Technorati Tags: CSA

Today’s post comes straight from the newsletter…

Technorati Tags: Community Supported Agriculture, CSA

Team Cross has an exciting announcement….

We are now homeowners!!!

See the newest addition to our family below:

We are excited about being first time homeowners and putting roots down in Minneapolis. We actually closed yesterday and today are celebrating 3 years of being married!! What an exciting week.

After 5 months of searching and 2 months of waiting we finally got the keys to our new house!!!  We started the cleaning process this evening, changed all the locks and got the first round of paint.  We’ve got a long way to go before we are settled in and only a short time.  We’ll be moving next Sunday – if you want to help!!

Stay tuned for more info and pictures!!

This prayer from Hebrews was recently brought to my attention and it was quite meaningful with all that is going on in our lives. I pray it is a blessing for you too.

May God, who puts all things together,
makes all things whole,
Who made a lasting mark through the sacrifice of Jesus,
the sacrifice of blood that sealed the eternal covenant,
Who led Jesus, our Great Shepherd,
up and alive from the dead,
Now put you together, provide you
with everything you need to please him,
Make us into what gives him most pleasure,
by means of the sacrifice of Jesus, the Messiah.
All glory to Jesus forever and always!
Oh, yes, yes, yes.

Week 18 of Harmony Valley Farm’s CSA (blog) contained the following:

• Italian garlic,
• Red & Yellow onions,
• Carrots,
• Cauliflower,
• Tomato variety bag,
• Red Grape or Black or Red Cherry tomato,
• Melon,
• Watermelon,
• Sweet corn,
• Orange Ukraine & Red Pimento Peppers,
• Spigarello,
• Broccoli,
• Salad,
• Red or French breakfast radish,
• Jalapeño Peppers,
• Summer squash,
• Eggplant,
• Cucumber, and
• Edamame

Another great week of veggies.  Delicious!

Technorati Tags: CSA, Community Supported Agriculture, Harmony Valley Farms

What is your deepest fear? We all fear something, tripping while on stage, having food in your teeth, or appearing over eager.  Fear is a normal part of life, but how we react to that fear says much about who we are.  In his newest book, Fearless, Max Lucado has this to say about how we handle fear (pg 5):

Fear never wrote a symphony or poem, negotiated a peace treaty, or cured a disease. Fear never pulled a family out of poverty or a country out of bigotry. Fear never saved a marriage or a business. Courage did that. Faith did that. People who refused to consult or cower to their timidities did that. But fear itself? Fear herds us into prison and slams the doors.

Wouldn’t it be great to walk out?

Yes.  It would be great not to be imprisoned by fear.  This book actually came at a pretty good time – we are in the final stages of buying a house and it has been a nightmare.  Our fears are that we would end up homeless for a short period of time or lose the house and have to find a place to move into mid-month.  Yes, I still am anxious about this problem, but Fearless helped me regain some perspective.

This is another great Lucado book that provides direct application to your life and provides lasting value.  He doesn’t resort to simple platitudes but embraces his own fears while providing opportunities for growth.  Ok, he does throw in a few one-liners that we all probably know, but they felt genuine and thoughtful.  Lucado talks about a variety of different fears that we might be facing.  He develops a case for why we shouldn’t be afraid of those things or how we can see God’s provision through them.

Many people think Christians and Christianity mean a perfect life with nothing bad ever happening.  He quickly puts that to rest with this quote on page 8:

Christ-followers contract malaria, bury children, and battle addictions, and, as a result, face fears. It’s not the absence of storms that sets us apart. It’s whom we discover in the storm: an unstirred Christ.

We face storms in our life.

Like most of his other books, Fearless, provides a section in the back for small group discussion or personal reflection.  My copy of the book from Thomas Nelson also included a shorter version of the book called, Imagine Your Life Without Fear, which also happens to be the subtitle of the book.

I’ll end with this great quote (pg 177):

There’s a stampede of fear out there. Let’s not get caught in it. Let’s be among those who stay calm. Let’s recognize danger but not be overwhelmed. Acknowledge threats but refuse to be defined by them. Let others breathe the polluted air of anxiety, not us. Let’s be numbered among those who hear a different voice, God’s. Enough of these shouts of despair, wails of doom. Why pay heed to the doomsdayer on Wall Street or the purveyor of gloom in the newspaper? We will incline our ears elsewhere: upward. We will turn to our Maker, and because we do, we will fear less.

Do not fear.

Technorati Tags: Fear,   Fearless, Max  Lucado, Book Review

Week 18 of Harmony Valley Farm’s CSA (blog) contained the following:

• Broccoli romanesco,
• Yellow onion,
• Italian garlic,
• Tomato variety bag,
• Grape tomatoes,
• Orange Ukraine,
• UW Roaster,
• Jalapeño,
• Teggia horticultural bean,
• Green top carrots,
• Watermelon,
• Cantaloupe/French orange melon,
• Spigarello,
• Cucumber- American Slicer or thin skinned Diva,
• Summer squash,
• Red or French breakfast radish,
• Salad or spinach,
• Colorado Rose or Carola Gold Potatoes, and
• Edamame

What happened to all the veggies we knew what to do with? Now we’ve got more that I’ve never heard of. Yikes.

Technorati Tags: CSA, Community Supported Agriculture, Harmony Valley Farms