CSA week ???????

CSA food basket number five....or is it 6? I lost count.

Once I saw the sunflowers and the spring onions I was done! It didn't really matter what else was in the basket. I mean how gorgeous is this? It's a shame to take it apart. I just want to leave it all assembled like this and stare at it everyday. It brings a smile to my face.


We got more red peppers so I made sausage and peppers by sauteing them with some organic turkey and chicken sausage. Easy, quick and satisfying.

More basil. I have made more pesto in the last two months than I have in the past two years but gotta use it up and now that I know the citric acid secret and know I can freeze it there is no reason not to. Of course I made pasta one night with the pesto and, as always, a salad. I shaved some slices on Parmesan on the pesto pasta for a little added zing.

I used the spring onion tops to make some massive baked potatoes for dinner. Loaded them up with sour cream, the green onion tops, crumbled apple wood smoked bacon and lots of salt and pepper. It turned in to a meal.

Did I tell you about the cucumber soup? It was horrible. I've had cold cucumber soup before and I liked it but this was not good. The recipe I selected was just not right. My husband refused to eat it and I was not thrilled either so I dumped it. Another one hits the dust.

More summer squash called for a quiche. I used a frozen pit crust (shame on me! I have not done that in years!) Cut up the squash into bite sized pieces and saute in some olive oil with salt, pepper and garlic. Beat about 6 eggs with some cream or milk. Cook some apple wood smoked bacon. Chop the spring onions and shred some cheese. I had no recipe. I just layered it all in the pie crust and baked it for about 45 minutes and it came out perfect. Served it with a side green salad made with a pomegranate vinaigrette, with the lettuce from the CSA of course.

One item we got was a kohlrabi. I had never used one and had no clue what it was until I researched it. Then I had to figure out what to do with it and decided to add it to a stir fry. It's similar to the root vegetable that tastes slightly like broccoli but is very mild like a jicama. It was good.

The carrots were beautiful. Small little perfect specimens with dirt still on them. They were so cute. I was excited about making them for dinner one night but did not have enough and so mixed in a few carrots I bought at the supermarket. I cooked them all together in exactly the same way only to discover the flavor difference was unmistakable. I am sad to report that the supermarket carrots were so much better.

All the fruit has been wonderful. Peaches, nectarines, apples, grapes and plums. Really good. Oh yeah and melon too. My fav.

At this point I am more than half way through my CSA subscription. I think I only have a couple more. I have learned some things about myself along the way. One is that I support everything the CSA stands for. I am happy this has been a successful endeavor for South Coast Farms. They have a large following and when I go there on Wednesday to pick up my basket the place is busy with people excited to see what's in them that week. It seems there are lots of other folks who love this as much or more than I do. BUT, and this is a big but. I have missed having the options of what to purchase. I went to the farmers this week for the first time in months and I was in heaven. All that variety, and the beautiful tables filled with seasonal produce and I could pick and choose what I wanted. Wow I have missed that.

That being said I probably will not renew my subscription. I look forward to Saturday mornings at the farmers market. The act of walking around seeing all the foods offered, not just produce. The cheeses, eggs, coffee, baked goods. The quality of these products is high and the cost is well worth the taste and enjoyment that comes from these artisans and their products. One woman I visited makes her own goat cheese. I was given a taste of one with lavender and lemon. It was wonderful.

I am still a huge supporter of the CSA's and what they bring to the community. Perhaps if I did not cook as much or if I was so busy I did not have the time to pick and choose what I wanted it would be different. I see lots of working Moms at the CSA that don't have alot of time and so what they get in the food basket is exactly what their family will eat that week and they are thrilled to have it. I get it. But that is not my situation. Or maybe I am just too spoiled and don't want to give up the options presented here in Southern California.

So the end of my CSA experience in upon me, for now. It was great and I am thankful for having it.

CSA Food Basket - week two

Yikes more produce!

I picked up my CSA food basket yesterday and that means more good healthy food. I immediately set about cleaning the stuff and getting it put away. In the process I realized I still had a few things left from the last basket, and that was two weeks ago. Shame on me! We have eaten lots of vegies in the last two weeks so we don't feel like we are slackin' but seriously, using some of this stuff is like what the????

For instance I still had a bunch of celery and with yesterday's delivery I got another bunch. What does a person do with that much celery? I used one stalk in some tuna salad. Now what? I got on google for celery recipes and it was astonishing what came up. Tons of recipes and they all sounded disgusting, in addition to the fact that they used like one celery stalk. Hello. That is not much help. So here is what I am thinking. Cream of celery soup. That should use up a far amount don't you think?

Well yes and no. I made a puree of celery soup because I was trying not to use cream. The recipe used an entire bunch of celery, which was good, but the dish left something to be desired so we had one bowl and threw the rest of it out.

I made halibut wrapped in parchment and I added several stalks of celery to it thinking we would use up several stalks that way. Unfortunately the celery did not cook all the way through and it was a little too hard for me. I didn't want to cook it any longer because then the fish would have been overcooked. Other than the celery the dish was good.

These beautiful yellow starburst squash were put on the grill which is still our favorite way to cook vegetables during the summer. A little olive oil and salt and pepper. Simple.

Here is the list of what we received in the CSA food basket for week two: green beans, broccoli, lacto kale, 1 bunch basil, 1 bunch parsley, 6 heads lettuce, 1 bunch pink radishes, 4 cucumbers, 2 lemon cucumbers, 6 red bell peppers, 1 bunch celery, 6 potatoes, 1 onion, 1 grapefruit, 4 oranges, 4 plums, 2 nectarines, 1 melon and 14 small tomatoes. Quite a lot of stuff if you ask me.

I was surprised to get potatoes and so decided to make something special with them. After looking at lots of recipes I ended up making twice stuffed potatoes with bacon and cheese. So much for the healthy streak I was on. Guess I could have used that cream in the celery soup uh?

Now I hate to get on the cucumber issue again but, as I stated last week, my husband dislikes them and now I have four more I have to use. This is a major challenge. Maybe more of a challenge then I really want. If I am going to be rich in vegies couldn't it was least be something we like so we could just get sick of eating it? However, when you don't even like them it is hard to figure out how to use them. Oh well. Would my neighbors think it strange if I shared my cucumbers with them? I take them cookies and baked goods all the time, why not a nice cucumber salad?