CSA Week 20

Sigh….Next week will be the last week for our CSA. I’ll miss the creative meal planning to use up the weekly share; I’ve enjoyed it. I’ll have to shift the way I shop in my grocery’s produce section to achieve a similar result. In past years, it has been too easy to slip into the purchase of the same fresh veggies week after week.

We managed to eat the entire week 19 share so I had both crispers clear for the week 20 produce. That has worked out well. The pac choi is huge! I traded the hot peppers for arugula (someone getting a full share had put it on the trade table) but otherwise cheered for the variety and quantity of peppers: green bell peppers, sweet pepper mix and colorful bell peppers. There were the slender Japanese eggplants in the mix; they are my favorite for stir fries.  I used one in the stir fry last night along with stems and leaves from one of the kohlrabi, some arugula, and some pac choi.  I am trying to decide if I want to use the broccoli in soup or salad!

I have a few things that will last for quite a while from the CSA: garlic, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash. I’ve added the sweet potatoes from the CSA to the ones I harvested from by deck garden. The pile is in the glass bird bath that I recently brought indoors for the season.

CSA Week 5

I had a few things left from the 4th week share from Gorman Produce Farm Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) when it came time to pick up week 5: a couple of carrots, one leek, an onion, a few cloves of garlic and 1/3 of the cabbage. All the more fragile veggies were consumed before they were spoiled. I have discovered that I can enjoy a whole cucumber in one sitting made into a smoothie with pineapple salsa and water on a hot afternoon. The vines on my deck have a lot of small cucumbers right now so the cucumber + salsa smoothie might become a summer afternoon tradition!

The share for week 5 includes:

• 1 bunch of carrots
• 1 bunch of leeks
• 1 head of magenta lettuce
• 2 onions
• 2 small heads of cabbage (from at 3 types!)
• 2 kohlrabi
• 1 pound squash (yellow and zucchini)
• 2 pounds of cucumbers
• 1 bunch of kale (my choice instead of chard or collards)

I already made most of the kale into chips! And we’ve made a start on the magenta lettuce and purple cabbage as part of last night’s salad.

I am most thrilled about the kohlrabi since I discovered how great it tastes in stir fries when it was part of the week 3 share. They are such an odd looking vegetable but have become my favorite new food so far this summer (although the beets in Fruit Beety are a very close second!).

CSA Week 4

I managed to have empty crispers by the time I picked up the 4th week share from the Gorman Produce Farm Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Drying most of the parsley (cutting it up coarsely with kitchen scissors and just leaving it out on a cookie sheet for a couple of days…now it is stored away for use in other cooking) and making collard green chips (same technique as kale chips) cleared the overflow condition within 24 hours of picking up the share!  Then I alternated between salads and stir fries and green smoothies to finish off everything except the beets - which I used for the special treat: Fruit Beety (see picture in yesterday’s post, recipe in CSA Week 3 post)

There is a shift in week 4 - it not as overwhelmingly leafy green! Can you find all the items on the list in the picture below?** (Hint: I chose the kale rather than chard or turnips). The cucumbers will make excellent smoothies with plain yogurt and pineapple salsa (and maybe I’ll use some leek too). The lettuce and cucumber are the only two items that are not candidates for stir fry. I’m trying to decide whether to use the kale for chips…or save some leaves for stir fry and salad - there’s really enough for all three!

** Starting at the upper left and moving clockwise: red leaf lettuce, cucumbers, onions, cabbage, kale (lower right), summer and zucchini squash, garlic, carrots, and leeks.

Discovering Brussels Sprouts

I have rediscovered Brussels sprouts recently - having not eaten them for over 40 years (and my mother forced the issue). They were boiled and I thought they were bland and slimy. But now I’ve discovered they are great cooked just about any other way! They are generally milder than cabbage but have many of the nutrients and their size is definitely a plus. It is so easy to rinse a handful of them, cut off the dried up end and take off the wilted outer leaves…..and then they are ready for all kinds of recipes.

These miniature cabbages can be cut in long wedges and roasted (coated with olive oil and non-salt seasoning).

They can be cut in wedges or chopped to add to soups.

They are excellent raw. I like them diced with apples, raisins soaked in apricot brandy, and pecans. Orange marmalade and olive oil makes an excellent dressing.

I bought a small bag of them at the grocery store and discovering how easy it is to add them to meals. I’ll probably avoid large cabbages from now on.