Summer Vegetable CSA Week 6 -- Fruit CSA Week 1

Week 6 was a beautiful week for weather and vegetables. We received basil, green leaf lettuce, mint, 3 green onions, 2 bunches of radishes, 8 cucumbers, 6 squash, 2 swiss chard, 4 ears of corn, a missing pint of grape tomatoes, and two bunches of carrots.

The fruit share contained 2 pints of blueberries and a 1/2 pint of raspberries.

I'm still catching up on life after the breakage of our stove, the internet constantly dying for no reason, and my beautiful dear child dumping a drink on my laptop. I've also had lovely weather to distract me, but I've also been busy preserving and making jam.

Most of these things are long gone, I can tell you what I made:
Blueberries were went into a salad and a few jars of small batch jam.
Raspberries were frozen for future misdeeds.
The basil made sauce, meatballs, and bruschetta.
Green onions were frozen and used in bruschetta along with tomatoes.
Lettuce, cucumbers, and radishes were for salad.
Other cukes are being made into pickles.
I roasted most of the squash for lasagna or side dishes.
Swiss chard was a side dish.
The corn was used in my First Time Grilling Corn Ever.
The carrots last forever, so they are stored in my fridge.

That's what happens to a week's worth of vegetables! It is kind of neat to look back and say how everything was used and to see how little waste we made, I think it was a successful week in the kitchen.

Vegetable CSA Week 1

This was the first day of a twenty week vegetable CSA. This has probably been my favorite first week out of the last three years. 2 bunches of thyme, oregano, garlic chives, 2 bunches broccoli rabe, a cucumber, 2 bags of spinach, beets, 1 bunch kale, a head of Boston lettuce and a tomato that is not pictured because it is in protective custody.

Thankfully, beets will keep a long time in the fridge because I have a repairman coming sometime this week. I cannot make beet chips until he looks at my oven. That's a pretty major setback so I'm planning on doing most things on grill or stove top. The thyme will be hung and dried for another day and the oregano will be frozen in an ice cube. I'm not sure about the garlic chives yet, whether I want to make a compound butter, a pesto, or just freeze them. The lettuce will make a great bread substitute or will go for a salad, while the spinach will end up as a pesto or dip. I'm not sure about the broccoli rabe, maybe a pasta or sausage dish. We often use the cucumbers as a substitute for crackers or chips, our 4 year old loves them this way. As for the kale, I'm still not certain. I wish I could find one go-to recipe that I like for kale but until then, it continues to defeat me week after week. Kale is my biggest nemesis.

Week 12: Final Spring CSA Week

This is the last week of the my Spring CSA share. Next week is the first week of summer shares. I was so happy to see tomatoes! Even though they are greenhouse-grown, they are leaps and bounds beyond whatever is in the grocery stores right now. This week also included kale, parsley, cilantro, 2 bags of spinach, two bags of lettuce and a bag of joi choi with nasturtiums. I originally had some tatsoi but I traded it for an extra bag of lettuce in the swap box.  One bag isn't enough for my family for a week!
We had our usual Taco Salad, so as of now, we're one bag of lettuce, one tomato down and the cilantro is gone. I'm thinking of spring rolls on Friday with the joi choi, carrots, and some shrimp. The kale is going to be in a chicken, kale and carrot soup. The spinach will be a dip or spanakopita. I'll still have enough extra to make a great salad and the parsley will probably end up in a compound butter.

I'm so glad we signed up for the spring share, and I'm looking forward to my third bountiful summer share.

Spring CSA Week 11

 

What a week! I was really surprised to find tomatoes and chives with flowers in my share. My son had to carry one bag of spinach because I should have brought two bags this week. We ended up with three bags of spinach, kale, tatsoi, nasturtiums, lettuce mix, carrots and a lovely bunch of oregano. No swaps this week for me, but I really had a hard time deciding between cherry tomatoes and a big, ripe whole tomato.

I've mostly been making things that I've made before as I tend to do when I am busy. I made a whopping bowl of spinach dip last week and will probably make another this week. I like spinach almost every way so it isn't hard to use up three bags. It looks like salad with the lettuce this week and I might have all the ingredients for a nice dressing. The tatsoi will be for an Asian dish one night and I am thinking about making a kale and feta pie. I feel like the carrots don't get attention but I can't make enough of them when we have a roast, so they are always great to have on hand. The oregano is enough for some herb butter, and then some, probably two batches for the freezer. The tomatoes and the chives might be components of a salad dressing or just part of a salad with edible flowers. If we're grilling, I might even throw the tomatoes on the grill.

Spring CSA Week 7

 Herbs are never a bad thing. I was so happy when I opened my box this week to find cilantro, chives, and basil. I even traded my joi choi for more cilantro. We go through cilantro pretty fast these days. Tonight, we're having taco salad again and I was thinking about making more chimichurri sauce for a mixed grill dinner that we're having on Wednesday. It makes a great marinade, too. I'm hoping to use the basil in a sauce, possibly for eggplant on Thursday. It looks like I have plenty of carrots and greens for salads and braising. The cucumber always goes great in salad but it isn't bad for dressings and appetizers, either. I'll probably end up freezing the chives for another day and I'm not sure if the what the greens are in the share, they look like arugula, but they might be from a root vegetable or a mustard green.

Chicken and Bacon Caesar Salad

Another big dinner salad today, the greens are from my CSA share. I hosted a party once and this salad was gone before any of the other main dishes. Since chicken and bacon can be thawed quickly it can be made on short notice.

Essentially this salad is about: 6 cups of lettuce; 4 chicken breasts, seasoned with salt and pepper, grilled and sliced; two pounds of applewood bacon, cooked and chopped; a few handfuls of grape tomatoes, halved; tossed in Caesar dressing and about 1/4 cup grated Parmesan.

This probably isn't something that a determined person would not be able to figure out on their own, but I figured I'd post it anyways for those loaded with Spring greens (and hopefully bacon) who are in need of inspiration.

Bruschetta Salad

I mentioned before that we aren't eating a lot of bread these days, so with a whole bunch of grape tomatoes in the kitchen, I decided to make my favorite bruschetta recipe into a salad. It's really simple, just be sure to use good feta, it really makes a difference. I like to grind pepper over this salad, it's a nice contrast to the acidic tomatoes and the salty feta.

Bruschetta Salad:
Lettuce, your choice
Grape tomatoes, halved
4 oz feta, crumbled
3 green onions sliced
freshly ground pepper
dressing of your choice, I like balsamic

If I explain further it will probably insult your intelligence.