Adventures with a Weekly CSA Mystery Box

Color!!!

2008-08-08T12:33:00.000-07:00

Today's box struck me as beautifully colorful... in striking contrast to the boxes of winter and early spring. It's not that green and white aren't colors, but now we are blessed with yellows, reds, oranges, pinks, and purples in addition to green and white. I am a firm believer that the best nutrition advice out there is to eat a wide variety of (natural) colorful foods. Researchers will continue to find out what exactly makes those colors so good for us, but I don't think we'll ever learn enough to change that basic advice: eat a lot of different colors! Maybe I just like this advice because it makes eating so fun!

Goodies in box included:
Basil -- Again! It's not that we don't love basil, but with a lot of it in the yard as well, this is the one part of box we usually can't use up during the week.
Melon -- It's kind of ugly I must say, but I'm not a melon fan so find most melons ugly! I'll trust the family judgment here.
Lettuce
Cherry Tomatoes -- These are also producing heavily in the garden, but we keep running out no matter how many we have.
Strawberries -- they just keep coming, but never lasting long.
Carrots
Squash
Oranges
Potatoes
Radishes
Heirloom Tomatoes
Plums

We have some red snapper in the fridge, so I think we'll parchment wrap it with tomatoes, basil, and the squash -- and some garlic, olive oil, and a squirt of lemon. Cook it at 400 degrees for about 15 mins. Yum. I was also thinking of some rice cooked with the expected greens. But, there are only a few radish tops. Perhaps plain rice and a salad to use some of that gorgeous lettuce soon.

The chaos of summer is winding down. We finally get kid #1 back tomorrow and have until early next week to eat our way through the rest of box. A friend will get next week's box and then we'll have to break down and buy veggies during the few weeks of box-break until the fall season starts up and we are all on a more regular schedule.

Lots of new stuff -- fruit, beans...

2008-07-26T13:53:00.000-07:00

Lots of great surprises this week:
The little bags of the worlds sweetest plums and nectarines are already gone.
The strawberries continue to be amazing.
Basil to add to the only leftovers from last week. More pesto?
Carrots
String Beans -- yellow ones
Lettuce
Cherry tomatoes -- also yellow, and fantastic
Chard
Cucumbers
Parsley
Grapefruits
Summer squash -- still the cool yellow and green ones
Lemons

We're down a kid for the next two weeks. And just dad will be home next week. Maybe he can figure out how to use up all of the basil! It can be a challenge to use up the veggies when we aren't all eating on our normal schedule at home. The next few weeks will be tough -- but we're ready!

Arugula-Potato Salad

2008-07-23T10:02:00.000-07:00

1-2 bunches of arugula -- highgrade the tender parts
red potatoes from box -- I think there were 5 or 6
cherry tomatoes - halved
red wine vinegar
olive oil
salt and pepper

Cube the potatoes and cook until tender. Put all of the arugula in the salad bowl and cover with the cooked, drained potato pieces. Cover with foil so the arugula can get all wilty as it cools to room temperature. Add tomatoes, about 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar, and olive oil. Mix and eat.

Box Soup

2008-07-23T09:56:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the greens from box threaten to take over the fridge. When that coincides with a night where we all need dinner on our own schedule, we've created a favorite soup to use up a lot of box ingredients. Last night it looked like this:

2 onions - diced
all of last week's box carrots - sliced
2 cans white beans
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 box chicken broth
1 package cooked sausage of appealing variety from TJs
accumulated greens (kale, chard, radish tops)
a healthy handful of oregano
salt and pepper

Saute the onions in olive oil. Add carrots. Add everything except greens and bring to a boil. Add greens for about 10 minutes.

Everyone serve him/herself when hungry! Best with a healthy spoonful of parmesan or romano cheese.

Raw Zucchini Salad

2008-07-23T09:47:00.000-07:00

Using zucchini raw? Who knew? It's one of the hits of our summer. Box keeps bringing us these very cool, yellow-green squash, but we've had our share of very hot days and cooking isn't appealing at all.

Using the mandoline I sliced them all very thin. Also sliced a red onion very thin. Squeezed both of the box lemons on top with a good dose of olive oil as well... and some salt. Mixed in a handful of box basil and left it in the fridge for an hour or so.

For that first salad, I mixed it with a bowlful of box mixed salad greens and a bit more olive oil and lemon juice.

It was a hit. We've been making variations on it every week since. Some weeks without any lettuce. Sometimes oregano instead of basil. Sometimes additional veggies. It's always good. I think the secret is the super thin slicing of the squash and the hour or so in the fridge with lemon juice and olive oil.

CSA article in today's New York Times

2008-07-11T14:36:00.000-07:00

Interesting article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/us/10farms.html

We needed todays veggies in a big way!!

2008-07-11T14:19:00.000-07:00

Since the family seems to be more gone than home for the month of July, we gave box to a friend last week. She has been curious about this CSA thing, and we were happy to let her experience it for a week! But, it meant that our veggie drawer actually got completely empty. I can't remember the last time that happened.

So, I was happy to fill it up today with:

Basil -- though I have been told "no pesto"! If I can find some good tomatoes at the farmer's market, we'll make a caprese salad I think.
Arugula
Chard
Potatoes
Onions
Lemons
Lettuce
Grapefruit
Strawberries
Carrots
Mizuna
Cucumber
Squash/Zucchini
Cabbage

We haven't seen cucumber before at all. And it's been a long time since we got a head of cabbage. Funny, but I don't think of July as the month for cabbage in Southern California. Or carrots, for that matter.

June 27

2008-06-27T17:30:00.000-07:00

I know we are nuts to get excited about the first squash of summer. I'm sure we'll be cursing the things come September. It's not like we've ever wished we had more zucchini than the ones that we grow. But, it was such a buzz to see them in the box today. They're gorgeous -- especially the yellow and green ones. It's also the first time we've gotten onions. Each week we expect that we're seeing the last of the amazing strawberries, but somehow they keep coming. It's a good thing too, because they are by far the best strawberries ever. They rarely last through the day.

We also got:
Salad Mix
Basil -- yikes, between this week, last week, and our own garden it will be a big week of pesto
Arugula
Mizuna
Chard
Turnips -- thought those were long gone!
Oregano -- also something we have tons of in the yard, but it smells great
Watermelon Radish
Parsley
Potatoes

We did pretty well last week getting through everything. That's pretty impressive considering how many dinners one or more of us were missing. As usual, the fried rice was a favorite. We've gotten to the point where the ration of rice to greens is about 1:1! We add some red peppers, scrambled egg, green onions to balance out all of the kale and chard. It's really good.

We've still got some beet greens and about half of the fresh herbs from last week, but that's it. We're down a kid for the next two weeks and have some long weekends coming up, so it will be a fun challenge to use everything up before the next box arrives!

Summer!

2008-06-23T08:14:00.000-07:00

Yikes -- it's Monday morning. Came home from a long weekend away to a refrigerator full of greens. And this week will be a short one with lots of chaos and evenings out. It will be a challenge to get through our veggies every week. The pace of summer is so different for us -- the kids are busy with their stuff, Boy #2 is off to camp this week, lots more evenings out, lots of long weekends. And it's been over 100 degrees or most of the last week here in Southern California so the desire to heat up the kitchen is nonexistent.

Nonetheless, we've already worked our way through the fruit we got on Friday:
Grapefruit
Strawberries
Blueberries

I'll make a potato salad to put smiles on the boys faces to use up the potatoes.

And the veggies have no real plan yet:
Salad mix is actually about half gone
Arugula
Chard
Kale
And the ubiquitous beets and their greens!

The only thing we didn't use up last week was the fresh herbs, and this week we got more cilantro and basil. Add it to all the basil in the garden and we could overdose on pesto in the next few weeks.

The coolest thing in the box this week was a large bottle of honey -- dark, and rich, and yummy!

Chicken Wrapped Greens

2008-06-18T07:19:00.000-07:00

We finally all had a night home together. I figured it was a good chance to get a recent favorite into permanent memory. I think this recipe has its origins in a NY Times article, but it changes every time we make it based on what came in the box and what is in the fridge.

Tonight we served it with fresh pineapple chunks. Also, Boy #2 made an amazing cheesecake. We had to use store-bought berries on top, since all of the box-berries were long gone... mostly to Father's Day french toast. Bear with us -- we have a lot to learn about food photography! I'm bummed we didn't get a picture of the cheesecake. It was beautiful -- and tasted even better.

So, the recipe is roughly as follows. Measurements and details are generally pretty sketchy! We don't measure much, nor do we ever make quite the same thing.

2 half chicken breasts -- each one cut in half, put in a ziplock, and pound until pretty thin

Greens
LOTS (about 10 cups) of mixed greens -- this time we used chard, mizuna, and radish tops
1-2 T garlic -- we finally used up the huge cloves that came a few weeks ago
1 onion -- finely chopped
3/4 cup pine nuts
3/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup grated parmesan (or similar) cheese
salt/pepper

Saute the garlic in olive oil. Add the greens. Cook down. Add everything else except the cheese. Cook down some more and add the cheese.

Put about 1/2 cup of the greens mixture onto a chicken piece. Fold or roll and secure with toothpicks or string. About half of the greens will be leftover.

Heat a new pan with some olive oil. Brown the chicken a few minutes on all sides. Put into a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes to finish cooking the chicken.

Divide the remaining greens onto plates. Put the chicken on top. Drizzle with sauce.

Sauce
Into the chicken pan add:
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 T mustard
2 T honey
another 1/2 cup liquid: from greens or chicken if any, or broth or wine
Lots of fresh oregano -- mostly because it is going crazy in the garden right now.

Cook until syrupy.

June 13, 2008

2008-06-13T15:15:00.000-07:00

Oh man, these berries filled the car with delightful berry smell on the short drive home. They will go fast I am sure. It's been a while since we got potatoes -- I thought we were done for the year! But for the first time all year, there are no beets. We might even miss them.

This week we got:
Spinach
Potatoes
Watermelon Radish
Cilantro
Basil
Blueberries
Grapefruit
Tatsoi
Chard
Arugula
Onion
Mizuna
Lemons
Strawberries