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Bok Choy – 1 each
Greens – 0.5 lbs
Butternut Squash – 1 each
Carrots – 1 lb
Radishes – 6 each
Celery – 1 each
Sunchokes – 0.5 lbs
Wax Beans – 0.5 lbs
We still haven’t done anything with the celery yet but fortunately they keep fairly well. The carrots also keep for a long time, and now I’ve got quite a collection in the fridge. In contrast, the bok choy and the chard need to be eaten relatively quickly, since they start to wilt a bit in the fridge.
We got another sunchoke this week, also known as a jerusalem artichoke. They look like pieces of ginger but are a root vegetable that taste great when roasted. They’re a bit hard to clean but they don’t need to be peeled, so I just chop them up and toss them in the oven with a little olive oil and salt. Flavor-wise, they’re slightly sweeter than potatoes.
The butternut squash we got is a decent size, but I find them hard to prepare because the outer skin is so tough. I might just try cutting it in half and roasting it like that, then scooping out the flesh.
I’m thrilled that we’re still getting radishes, as Josh and I are both loving them this year. I always root around in the bin looking for the largest ones, and they’re always crunchy and slightly sweet, with just a tiny bit of a bite on the finish. Delish!
]]>Celery – 1 each
Greens – 0.5 lbs
Bok Choy – 1 each
Carrots – 1 lb
Peppers – 2 each
Mini Bell Peppers – 4 each
Radishes – 6 each
Beans – 0.5 lbs
The celery we got today was huge, though to be honest, we still haven’t eaten the celery from last week. I think we’re going to try and make a savory version of a celery/goat cheese dessert that we had at Del Posto two years ago. It was a shockingly delicious dessert that Josh loved, and I found a recipe for it in an article.
We’re both happy to see radishes again this week, as we can’t stop eating radishes with fresh ricotta on baguette slices. It’s become our go-to meal this year, rather than our usual fresh mozzarella/tomato/prosciutto/basil combo.
As for the carrots, I’m stockpiling the ones we get each week and will make a carrot ginger soup when we have enough of them. We also have quite a collection of mini bell peppers, which are kind of hard to use because of their size. Now that we have so many, plus two regular peppers, maybe I’ll figure out a good use for them.
More roasted bok choy and pasta carbonara with chard are also in the works. Now I just need to figure out something creative to do with all the string beans we have, as I’m tired of sauteed string beans with garlic. Any suggestions?
]]>Squash – 1 lb
Butternut Squash – 1 each
Bok Choy – 1 each
Carrots – 1 lb
Mini Bells Peppers – 7 each or 0.33 lbs
Tomatoes – 0.75 lbs
Sweet Potatoes – 1 lb
Greens – 0.5 lbs
Radishes – 0.33 lbs
This week Josh is away on business so it was my turn to pick up the share. Fortunately it was a relatively light week, and I’m hoping that will give us a chance to catch up and clear out our fridge a bit. Between the holidays and various other commitments, we haven’t been doing much cooking lately, unfortunately. I’m hoping that we’ll have a chance to get everything organized this weekend. This week our share contents included:
Celery – 1 each
Carrots – 1 lb
Squash – 1 lb
Bok Choy – 1 each
Mini Bell Peppers – 0.3 lbs or 7 each
Radishes – 6 each
Greens – 0.5 lbs
Beans – 0.75 lbs
Fennel – 1 big or 2 small
I guess tomato season is over since this was the first week in a long time that we didn’t get any tomatoes. I was happy to see fennel though, since we got it once earlier in the season and it’s one of Josh’s favorites. The last time we got one, he made a great salad with thinly sliced fennel, tomatoes, and chunks of watermelon. It was refreshing and pretty delicious.
Celery is a new item for us this season, though we did get some last year. Celery is definitely one of the items that you can taste the difference between farm fresh and supermarket varieties. The celery we get from the CSA is thinner, a bit tougher, and packs a huge amount of flavor. The celery leaves are slightly bitter but intense. This celery is nothing like the fat, watery sticks we pick up at the supermarket.
Radishes are definitely one of our favorite CSA items, and we’ve discovered a new way to eat them. Instead of using butter on slices of baguette, we used fresh ricotta cheese. The creaminess of the ricotta and the crunch of the radish was just heavenly, and the combination really can’t be beat. It might have also helped that we got the ricotta from Di Palo’s, where they have really excellent cheese.
I’m not sure what kind of greens we got this week. They kind of look like dandelion greens though, and I think they’ll need to be sauteed before they can be eaten since they’re a bit tough. As for the bok choy, I can’t wait to roast another batch. If you haven’t tried roasted bok choy yet, please do so – it’s pretty awesome.
]]>This week we got our biggest distribution of the season, probably because it was the last share. Our vegetable share contents included:
Winter Squash – 1 each
Brussels Sprouts – 1 each
Radishes – 5 each
Potatoes – 1 lb
Cooking Greens – 1 lb
Bok Choy – 1 each
Cabbage – 1 each
Carrots – 1 1/2 lbs
Onions – 1 lb
Beets – 1 lb
Celery – 1 each
I’m excited about the winter squash, which was butternut this time. I might just roast it, or make some butternut squash soup. I was also happy to see bok choy again, since it was always one of my favorites during the season. Everything else looked great as well, and we definitely have enough vegetables to last us for the next few weeks.
Any guesses what our fruit share contained? That’s right, MORE apples! This week the contents included:
Fuji Apples – 4 3/4 lbs
Jonagold Apples – 4 3/4 lbs
The entire bottom shelf of our refrigerator is just packed with apples right now. Some are getting a bit bruised and soggy so I’m going to turn them into a huge batch of applesauce. With the rest, I foresee a few pies and tarts, and maybe a crumble or two. I’m complaining about the amount of apples now, but when we finally do get through them, I know I’ll feel a bit sad.
Joining the CSA was really a great decision for us. We got to try out vegetables that we ordinarily would not have picked up from the supermarket, and it was nice to have fresh produce on hand weekly. Cost-wise, the share was very reasonably priced per week, though you have to pay the total at the beginning of the season. The vegetables and fruits we got more than covered the cost, especially when we saw how pricey certain items were at the local Greenmarkets. We will absolutely join a CSA again next year, and we hope we’ve inspired some of you to check out a CSA as well.
P.S. No worries about CSA posts withdrawal, I’ve still got plenty of recipes to write about. Thanks for reading!
]]>This week our vegetable share contents included:
Celery – 1 each
Greens – 1 lb
Carrots – 1 lb
Turnips – 1 each
Winter Squash – 1 each
Leeks – 1 each
I’m curious about the winter squash because we got one a few weeks back but we haven’t eaten yet. I think it’s buried in our fridge somewhere so I hope it’s still ok! I wonder if we’re just supposed to bake it? It has a super hard shell and reminds me of one of those gourds people put out during Thanksgiving. Anyone have suggestions on how to cook it?
The leek is a new item for us, but unfortunately it’s pretty small so I’m not sure what we’ll do with it. The turnips are pretty tiny as well. The carrots I’m already planning on turning into soup. We made a really great carrot ginger soup a while back, but I never got around to posting about it. I should, because it was really yummy. For the greens we got kale, as usual, since we’ll never tire of eating kale chips. Those chips rock! As for the celery, we’ve been making bloody marys out of the previous batches, since these are pretty thin and spindly celery stalks, not the fat watery kind you get from the supermarket. They have a much more concentrated celery flavor, but they’re also kind of bitter.
As for our fruit share, we are getting buried by even more apples and pears. This week our fruit share contents included:
Apples – 5 lb
Pears – 3 lbs
I’ve been snacking on apple slices with peanut butter, but that gets tiring very quickly. It doesn’t help that Josh and I aren’t really “dessert” people, so when I make a cake or tart out of the fruit, we still have trouble eating it. I’m considering just making a huge batch of applesauce, since some of the apples are starting to get mealy from sitting in the fridge for so long. I’m trying not to let anything go to waste!
]]>This week we’ve really been working on clearing out our fridge because I don’t know what will last until we get back from our trip. I made a wonderful plum cake with some of our Italian plums, and Josh and I made a really delicious peach pie from a recipe sent to us by James. The season is starting to change so this week we saw some new items in both our veggie and fruit shares. This week our vegetable share contents included:
Celery – 1 each
Jerusalem Artichoke – 3/4 lbs
Tomatoes – 2 lbs
Greens – 1 lb
Squash – 2 lbs
Pac choi (bok choy) – 1 each
Corn – 2 each
The list we got with the contents said radishes, but I was happy to see corn instead. For the greens, we got some more kale. We’ll have to use those up before we leave because they probably won’t keep. I’m not sure what to do with the Jerusalem artichokes though, which look like knobs of ginger. Anyone know any good recipes?
For the fruit share, our contents this week included:
Grapes – 1 quart
Pears – 1 quart
Apples – 8 each
I’m super excited to try the pears, and Josh has already snacked on the grapes, which he says are super sweet but have a weird texture and lots of seeds. We’ll try to eat those quickly, but I think the apples will be ok to keep. Felipe and Silva will be taking our shares next week, and we hope that they enjoy the produce as much as we do!
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