CSA Preview Week 1

I doubt anyone is sitting around waiting for new posts from me, since I’ve abandoned this thing for months. But I’m back with a new CSA season and hopefully new energy toward my blog. I’m playing around with a new blog identity in the hopes of finding something that really inspires me and feels like it fits right.

Without further ado: vegetables! Local, naturally grown, fresh, in-season, delicious vegetables. This is our second year with a community-supported agriculture (CSA) share from a local farm. We have two “free” CSA weeks from The Farm Stuff before the official 20-week CSA season starts. We love our farm and the abundance and variety of goodies we get. This was last week’s haul.

spinach, escarole, rhubarb, mustard greens, dandelion greens, spring onions, asparagus, pumpkin butter

Here’s what we made:

• Strawberry rhubarb crisp
• Spinach artichoke chicken
• Italian chicken and escarole soup
• Whole wheat fettucine with dandelion greens, goat cheese, and roasted garlic
• Pizza with mustard greens, ricotta, and caramelized onions

Meal Plan: October 21-28

Meal plan came together pretty easy this week sans CSA produce. I think that’s because we’ve got quite a bit still leftover (turnips, potatoes, onion, garlic, squash). So we of course worked that stuff into this week’s meal plan. I’m excited for some of the tasty fall flavors we’re emphasizing.

Sunday:

• Easy pad thai with cream cheese wontons
  It’s the Mister’s birthday! I was excited to find this recipe for pad thai on Pinterest. Like (I suspect) so many others, I’ve steered clear of making pad thai at home because it calls for so many foreign (to me) ingredients that I don’t want to buy, use once, and then waste. Cream cheese wontons may not be Thai in origin, but this is America. We’ll eat those puppies with anything resembling Asian food.

Monday:

• Sweet potato turnip soup
  Monday night is actually yoyo night. I’ll be preparing this today for quick meals throughout the week. We’ll eat it with some simple bread and butter, I’m thinkin’.

Tuesday:

• Wilted arugula and pear salad
  This looks like a tasty little salad that I’m going to zest up a bit with some walnuts and proscuitto, perhaps a baguette on the side.

Wednesday:

• Acorn squash and goat cheese ravioli with sage butter sauce
  Trying out ravioli made with wonton wrappers (something I’ve seen a lot online but never tried myself). Seems like it will be easy and tasty.

Thursday:

• Slow-cooked pork shoulder with sauerkraut, sweet potato, and apple
  When the Mister and I were dating, I surprised him one night by making a German meal (or what I consider a German meal): pork, sauerkraut, and dumplings. He was floored by this and has since referred to it as my “frau dinner.” I am going to take a different spin on the frau dinner with this recipe. It looks delish and I can’t wait to try it.

Friday:

• Thai noodles with spicy peanut sauce
  Two thai noodle dishes in one week? Yes, that is the case. It just worked out that we’re really craving this household favorite. We use rice noodles and whatever fresh veggies we have on hand (I think it will be green pepper, pea pods, and carrots).

Saturday:

• Banana crumb muffins
  I’ve made these before a couple times. A few bananas in the freezer have found their fate. I think I’ll try ‘em with white whole wheat flour, my new flour of choice.
• Yoyo/leftovers/freezer food
  Keeping our options open, depending on how much food we’ve got in the fridge and what were up to.

What’s in the Box? [CSA Week 20]

Sniffle sniffle. I’m mourning the end of our CSA season. We picked up our last box of goodies on Sunday.

I remember last winter when I said to the Mister, “Hey, I have this idea, and you’re probably going to think I’m nuts.” I explained to him the CSA concept and how I thought it would be a great way for us to eat local and healthy, and branch out in our food choices. And, to my surprise, he was pretty much supportive right off the bat.

Through the last 20 weeks, we’ve been mostly happy with our decision. We’ve been exposed to dozens of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and other goodies, a great many of which were new to us. Sure, we’ve had the frustrating nights where we just didn’t want to deal with preparing more veggies and would rather order pizza. But most of the time, we pushed through and were grateful on the other end that we’re fortunate to have a fresh and nutritious meal on the table.

I said to the Mister a few weeks ago, “It will be interesting to see if we decide to do this again next year.” And he nearly scolded me. “Of course we’re going to do it again!” There you have it, world: our commitment to be CSA-ers again.

I highly recommend you look into the CSA option in your community. Ours cost $400 for 20 (actually 21) weeks of produce (we get a “half share;” you can get twice as much per week if you’re a giant family or a veg-aholic). It may seem like a lot of money, but really, I think $20/week is reasonable for this much organic/naturally grown produce (obviously your grocery store bill goes down as a result).

Well, here it is folks. Our last haul of the season: collard greens, decorative Indian corn, green peppers, turnips, apples, butternut squash, onion, sweet potatoes, white potatoes.

The meal plan this week is not really concrete. I’ve gotten kind of annoyed with Sundays: the planning, prepping/cleaning, putting away veggies, plus the extra grocery shopping (not to mention cooking/baking and dishes). This week I revolted and said “no, we’ll fly by the seat of our pants.” So I guess this repreive is just in the nick of time.

It’s back to boring old meal planning next week (yay!) and grocery store produce (boo!). However, I’m sure I’ll hit up the last few weeks of the farmers’ market to get my fix in before it’s no longer an option. You should too!

What’s in the Box? [CSA Week 19] + Meal Plan [October 7-13]

I think we definitely scored this week. The only downer is the reappearance of kohlrabi. But I believe I’ve come up with a suitable way to hide it.

Forgive the indoor photo; it was raining and I was messing around with the DSLR (and may need a few lessons). We’ve got: kohlrabi, broccoli, carrots, bell peppers, kale, apples, eggplant, butternut squash, sweet potatoes.

When I started planning this week’s meals, I found I was able to pack in a lot of the items together in the first few days of recipes, which left me with a sparse end of week. We’ve got leftovers and freezer staples to fall back on though. This week also ended up being very light on the meat, which we’re more than okay with. The world would be better off if we all ate more vegetarian meals.

Sunday:

• Caramelized onion and proscuitto pizza
  We pushed this out a day. Going to be so tasty.
• Pumpkin scones
  These will be breakfast for the next couple days. I’ve been craving another pumpkin treat.

Monday:

• Yoyo
  Monday night class means another yoyo night.

Tuesday:

• Broccoli cheese soup (with carrots and kohlrabi) and fresh bread
  I’ve made this soup recipe before; it’s delish and easy. I’m going to give it a boost by incorporating the kohlrabi and greens, and include the broccoli greens too. I bought some bakery bread at the farmers’ market today, so that will round out dinner.

Wednesday:

• Gnocchi with squash and kale
  I am looking forward to this one. Last year, I made gnocchi from scratch with butternut squash, and it was darn good. However, since this is a midweek meal, it’s better for my sanity to keep it simpler.

Thursday:

• Chinese sauteed potato, green pepper, and eggplant
  I googled eggplant and green pepper recipes and this popped up (and lucky us, we’ve got leftover potatoes from last week). The Mister will probably like this meal more than me, since I’m not a huge fan of green pepper. We’ll likely serve it over rice.

Friday:

• Yoyo
  I think we’re going to have a decent amount of leftovers come Friday.

Saturday:

• Maple cinnamon pancakes with warm apple compote
  We do love pancakes around here. The apples we got are sweet and crisp, and will make a great topping (which means we probably won’t need all the sugar/syrup in the recipe either).
• Buffalo chicken nuggets and sweet potato fries
  We do like our buffalo chicken around here. And when it comes to sweet potatoes, I say don’t mess with perfection (fries).

What’s in the Box? [CSA Week 18] + Meal Plan [September 30-October 6]

The CSA season is winding down. Only two more weeks of pick up. What the heck are we going to do after that? I hate buying produce at the grocery store now. It’s always gross and old and expensive (organic). We’ve got some veggies stocked in the freezer, but apartment living doesn’t allow for much food preservation and storage (I’m sure there are people who would beg to differ, but I’m not into clutter…not one bit.) I dream of the day I have a full size deep freeze to call my very own (wow, nerd alert).

I didn’t plan it this way, but apparently we’re using quite a few freezer randoms in this week’s meals. It’s nice to have that stuff to fall back on.

Here’s what we’re working with: acorn squash, green bell pepper, carrots, zucchini, potatoes, sweet potatoes, garlic, turnips, radishes, onion.

Sunday:

• Buffalo chicken bites with potato and turnip cakes and salad
  We used up the turnips and last week’s lettuce in this throw-together lunch.
• Loaded baked potato chowder
  I had this soup at a Pampered Chef party years ago. It’s a simple and tasty recipe that’s easily doctored up (if you can get over all the product pitches in the instructions).

Monday:

• Yoyo

Tuesday:

• Penne with squash and goat cheese
  We didn’t make this a couple weeks ago. I’m actually going to try it this time with our (real) acorn squash. The mystery squash is still on top the fridge waiting for it’s fate.

Wednesday:

• Corn and black bean enchiladas with chips and homemade salsa
  We have leftover enchilada filling in the freezer. It’s basically corn, black beans, bell pepper, garlic, and onion, all sauteed together. Then we use Trader Joe’s enchilada sauce and cheese stuffed inside corn tortillas. The Mister is going to whip up some salsa with CSA peppers, garlic, onion, and cilantro (hanging on from last week).

Thursday:

• Pulled pork sandwiches on homemade buns with honey balsamic carrots and zucchini
  The pulled pork is leftover from last weekend (in the freezer, I promise). I’m going to make some fresh buns and also try out this Pinterest carrot recipe. I figure I can throw in zucchini, since it’s mild and will probably take on these flavors nicely.

Friday:

• Out
  We’re going to a social event and will probably bring a dish to pass, but I have no idea what yet.

Saturday:

• Caramelized onion and proscuitto pizza
  What’s not to like here? A ball of pizza dough in the freezer makes this even sweeter (read: easier). I might add roasted red peppers to half … see if that tickles the palate.

What’s in the Box? [CSA Week 17] + Meal Plan [September 23-29]

Another late post. Whoops. And it’s going to be a short one.

One topic that came up this week, chatting with other members at the CSA stand, which I found interesting … growing seasons.

I should preface it by saying that the Mister and I are from Minnesota. Much of Minnesota has already had nights below freezing this fall. It’s deep into harvest season and most people’s gardens are done around now. On the flip side, what’s weird to me is reading about people who have just started their gardens in the south (e.g., my sister lives in Phoenix, and she planted tomatoes in the winter last year). This is foreign to us … you just don’t even think about it. Beyond that, Delaware has a much more temperate climate, and I guess it’s not uncommon to do two growing seasons for greens and other “spring” veggies. And that explains our produce haul this week. Honestly, I think it’s awesome that here we get two rounds of produce in one year. One point for Delaware.

Without further ado: kale, carrots, collard greens, lettuce, cilantro, potatoes, red onion, eggplant, red bell pepper, sweet potatoes.

 

Here’s what we’ve been eating and will be eating:

Sunday:

• Pulled pork sandwiches with homemade barbeque sauce, sweet potato fries and kale chips
  We moved this from Saturday to Sunday. Local pork from our friendly neighborhood butcher, CSA potatoes and kale, sauce simmering on the stove. What’s not to love?

Monday:

• Yoyo
  We had leftover pulled pork for lunch and leftover root veggie stew for dinner. Hint for anyone who wants to make this stew: don’t use beets unless you want to eat hot pink dumplings.

Tuesday:

• Chicken teriyaki stir fry with peppers, carrots, and green beans over brown rice
  Nothing too impressive here. We used store-bought sauce.

Wednesday:

• Collard greens with bacon, cornbread, and sweet potato souffles
  This was our attempt at a southern meal — something we’re really not accustomed to. In this house, we don’t really take issue with not having a defined “main dish” (read: meat). If it’s enough food, what does it matter? All in all, turned out well. I totally winged the sweet potatoes (took bits and pieces of four recipes to make my own based on what we had in the house).

Thursday:

• Ground beef tacos with leftover cornbread
  Pretty straightforward here. I do make my own taco seasoning, and you should too (gross stuff in the packets — read the label!).

Friday:

• Eggplant parmesan pizza
  This is a tested and proven recipe. We’ve become real comfortable with pizza on Friday nights, on the floor of the living room, watching Netflix. Oh, the exciting life of a married couple.

Saturday:

• Yoyo
  Leftovers and TBD. I’m meeting friends in Baltimore for the day (yay!).

What’s in the Box? [CSA Week 16] + Meal Plan [September 16-22]

Another beautiful haul this week, including a few items we’ve never tried before. We’ve got: apples, yellow squash, carrots, green beans, onion, turnip, corn, cucumber, mystery winter squash*, sweet potatoes**.

*CSA lady told me this was acorn squash. Upon arriving home and looking it up, I think she’s wrong. But I can’t figure out what it is. Anyone?
**CSA lady told me what these sweet potato thingies are, but I forgot the name. Something about the parts that grow up (out?) of the root. Apparently their sweet potatoes aren’t doing well. She told me to wash ‘em and roast ‘em. Sure, what the hey.

The Mister is on his own for the first half of the week, as I’m headed back to the homeland (Minnesota) for work. I’ll try to help him out with some simple food ideas while I’m gone, but he’s become quite capable in the kitchen without me. (So proud!)

Sunday:

• Spaghetti squash with chicken
  I didn’t want make anything complicated for dinner tonight since I’ll be prepping to leave. I’ll adapt this to what we have in the fridge and freezer.

Monday-Wednesday:

• Blueberry carrot top smoothie
• Corn on the cob
• Roasted sweet potato “fries”
• Potato, squash, and goat cheese gratin

Thursday:

• Penne with squash and goat cheese
  I’m going to try this recipe with our mystery squash. Guess we’ll see what happens.

Friday:

• Root vegetable stew with herbed dumplings
  This looks like a delicious and hearty dinner that will result in good leftovers. We’ve got a turnip, sweet potatoes, carrots, a beet, and white potatoes. Plus it’s dumplings … what’s not to like?

Saturday:

• Pumpkin granola
  I’ve wanted to make this for awhile. Sounds so yum.
• Slow cooker pulled pork sandwiches with Neely’s BBQ sauce
  The Mister is the master of this one. I’ll just sit back and enjoy eating it. We’ll make some kind of veggie side dish (likely green beans, potatoes, or both).