September ends

Where has this year gone? I can't believe we're already at the end of September. We're finally getting some relief from the hot summer down here and it's so nice.  We got a big variety this week as you can see. A huge bunch of okra, tons of little round potatoes (those I swapped for the 6 eggplant they had in there- 6!!) a bunch of collard greens, some french breakfast radishes, one lone cucumber, peppers galore, a few onions and a few little tomatoes, zucchini and yellow squash and a couple of pattypans, one little butternut and a big bunch of sweet potatoes. Quite a haul.

Last night we used up last weeks sweet potatoes, this weeks red onions and the butternut squash. We had some pork cutlets and to go with it I made a saute of onions, sweet potatoes and an apple. I had saved the bottoms of 3 butternut squashes last week so I added this new one, hollowed them out and added maple syrup and butter and baked them. Delish!

This morning I plan to use the leftover sauteed onions/sw potatoes in a breakfast hash with eggs. For lunch we'll slice up that lone cuke with the radishes and little tomatoes for a fresh veggie plate to go with sandwiches. Tonight we're indulging in some steaks and the little round potatoes. Our favorite thing is to steam them in the rice cooker and season with butter and parmesan. Will saute up the collards too for some extra nutrition.

I'm going to bread and freeze our okra abundance for later.  That's on todays to-do list as well, guess I'm going to be in the kitchen a lot!

I picked up some ground lamb at the market last week so am going to try a new dish on Sunday, lamb & rice stuffed zucchini. We'll have it with pita and curried mashed sweet potatoes. Monday we need a break from all this meat. I'm going to crock pot a big mess of beans and have it with cornbread and sauteed summer squash. Tuesday going to try another new one, crispy polenta with sausage and pepper ragu from the CSA blog. Gotta use up these peppers.

Sept Week 3

This week was about the same as last week with the addition of a few extra greens. I swapped out some of the eggplant for tat tsoi, an asian green to go with our bok choi. It's hidden behind it in the picture. Along with that we got arugula, okra, a butternut squash, onions, zucchini, eggplant yellow squash, some small tomatoes, green onions, peppers . sweet potatoes and basil. 

At the market I had also picked up a bunch of squash blossoms. The first night I've learned to use up the veggies that don't hold up very long. We had a veggie meal of eggplant parmesan, sauteed summer squash with tomatoes and red onion and cheese stuffed fried squash blossoms. The eggplant was actually edible fixed this way and the kids love sauteed squash. The fried flowers were interesting but a bit too much work to become regulars. 

Last night we used all the peppers up in our favorite cheese stuffed peppers and I made a big batch of butternut squash penne to go with it. This used up the two butternuts from last week along with this weeks, the tops anyway. I saved the bottoms to hollow out and bake with brown sugar/maple syrup as side dish later this week. Also used most of the basil in these two dishes as well. 

Tonight we're having asian so I'm going to make some teryaki beef to go with the bok choi/tat tsoi sauteed in a little oil and garlic. We'll have this with some steamed rice. 

That leaves just the sweet potatoes and a few onions left. I'll be making some pork chops on Tuesday and will have the sweet potatoes sauteed with apples and onions and the leftover butternut bottoms. Monday we'll eat out as we have Leander's festival of bands to attend. 

Wed has been deemed official Brooke's spaghetti night so that she can cook while I go to the market for next weeks haul. 

Finally back on track- September!

I missed a few weeks but am thankful that our CSA allows you to order 4 weeks at a time. Many programs that I have found you have to pay for the whole season up front- usually 350-500 dollars depending on the number of weeks in the season. That just does not jive with my lack of budgeting. But I'm back in the black now and have signed up for four more weeks. Picked it up tonight and am so happy I decided to do it instead of pushing off one more week due to being out of town this weekend.

Wow! Look at all that goodness. This week we got a huge bunch of basil, arugula, garlic scapes. butternut squash, BOK CHOY!!!!, onions, pepers, two itty bitty squash, a few tomatos, okra, sweet potatoes and a pack of cherry tomatoes that we got in trade for the eggplant. 

We're heading out tomorrow night to an out of town wedding and won't be back until Monday so I knew I'd have to use as much of the fragile stuff as possible. So we did spaghetti and caprese salad with Spicy Garlicky Greens.  That used up the basil, bok choy, garlic scapes, both red onions, the little squashes, the arugula, all the regular tomatoes and half the cherry tomatoes. Pretty good veggie content for one meal :)

So now whats left I think should last until Monday with some proper handling. The only thing I'm worried about is the okra but I read that you can bread and freeze it with good success so I've put that on my todo list for tomorrow to throw them in the freezer before we leave. Should only take 30 minutes or so to bread them all up and get them into the freezer on a cookie sheet. Then I can run my errands and when I get back throw them in a freezer bag and be done. Yummy fried okra someday in the future. The few remaining tomatoes will be part of my lunch tomorrow or an after school snack for the girls. The peppers I'm hoping will make it through if I put them in a jar in the fridge.  

When we get back I'm looking forward to some kind of sweet potato casserole on Monday and butternut squash pasta I saw Giada make recently on Tuesday. Then we'll start it all over again.

August week 4- Oops I missed it

It sucks to be broke. Through a comedy of errors all of which are my fault I missed the pickup this week of my box. Unfortunately for me the "policy" is that since I didn't notify them ahead of time I can't get another box. I understand, they've got a business to run and can't be listening to everyones excuse every week. So this week we'll fend for ourselves from what's lingering from last week and pick up some extras at the grocery. I should have taken the bus down there like I originally planned, will make sure I don't miss it again!

On to next week!

August week 3

Yeah! This week little new potatoes were back. We adore those. Along with butternut squash, a melon, bunches of basil, peppers and onions, mint, purslane, hot peppers and a lone cucumber. It's almost time for back to school here so our schedule has been crazy plus it's been 100 for the last few weeks and that is just too hot to go near the stove!

I did get to most of this weeks offering, using the squash and some onions in a delish thrown together curry dish. I'm learning to love anything with indian flavors. Then I made a big batch of pesto and used it for a Jamie Oliver inspired dish of pasta with sliced potatoes and green beans with pesto sauce. Turned out pretty great. The mint and cuke and purslane were meant for a salad I found but I have yet to make it. Going to raid the fridge this morning and see if they have survived their two weeks in plastic in the crisper. Wish me luck :)

I made a huge batch of sauteed onions and peppers to use them all up at once and have just kept it in a jar in the fridge and used in various meals, on a sandwich for lunch, tucked into an omelette, etc. Nice to have them ready to go whenever I want and they've stayed good in a mason jar in the fridge.

Looking forward to seeing what cooler weather in Sept will bring us.

August weeks 1 & 2

August has been really busy and I had a week with no internet at home so it's taken me a bit to get it together here. Nonetheless I've had two weeks of the usual bounty. Here's what we got the first week this month: a big bunch of basil, some mint, onions, acorn squash, garlic, okra, bell peppers, hot peppers, zucchini and assorted other summer squashes, some beets (grabbed those in place of the eggplant) and sweet potato greens. I'm hoping that further in the fall we'll be getting actual sweet potatoes :)

I didn't keep track of how it all got used up as it's been a crazy couple of weeks. I've been working on a big project at work that's taken a lot of time and my brain has been drained each night by the time I get home. I've taken to using cukes and mint to make pitchers of "sassy water" to keep in the fridge. It's refreshing and helps me to drink water. Plain water is just so bleh. It's really easy, slice a lemon and cuke, add some mint leaves and sometimes fresh ginger slices to a pitcher, fill with water and leave in the fridge to steep overnight. I have a handy little strainer that I use to just strain it directly into a glass. A little kick of Tito's makes it even better. 

We roasted the beets and made a great salad with spring greens, beets, candied pecans and goat cheese. The family ate it with commercial vinaigrette but I made a simple turmeric dressing for me that I really liked. Olive oil, yogurt, turmeric and a hint of cayenne that I found web surfing one day. 

I made pesto and we did homemade pizza one night inspired by some I had at a friends house in Denver a couple months back, alfredo sauce mixed with pesto as the sauce and topped with provolone and parm.   It was really good. I made homemade crust from How to Cook Everything, my favorite cookbook.

Made those cheese stuffed peppers from a few weeks ago again with all the hot peppers we've been getting. The hubby really likes that recipe.

Before I knew it it was Wed again! Last week we got more acorn squash, a butternut squash, basil and mint, more sweet potato greens, some purslane, garlic, lots of onions, more okra and peppers, cucumbers and zucchini.

That first night I had to use some okra since I had some left from the week before. I knew I had to try this great sounding salad from one of my favorite blogs, The Bitten Word. I picked up some corn on the way home from the market and grabbed a couple of cans of beans. Couldn't find the cranberry beans it called for so I used mayocoba beans because they looked interesting and were on sale. I used spinach and the purslane from the CSA instead of the lambs ear. I used white balsamic vinegar because that's what I had and this salad was awesome. The fried okra was so delicious. I cut them in quarters lengthwise like they say and it was really great. Better than last time when I cut them in disks. This will be our go to okra prep for the rest of the season I believe.  My 13 year old was impressed, stating "I thought this was going to be gross, but it's really really good!"

We made some more sassy water and then ate out the next two nights. Tonight I'm going to make the sweet potato greens and a butternut squash risotto. Tomorrow I think I'm going to make cucumber/onion salad since I have several of both. You know the one, with mayo and vinegar that everyone's had at least once. It goes great with BBQ chicken!  We'll probably end up with pesto fish monday or tuesday since that's a favorite of ours. And I'll bake the acorn squash to have with pork chops or something. 

July-week 4

This week it feels like the box is a little sparse, perhaps the rain the last few days has slowed the harvest. We still got a buch of great looking produce. I again traded out the eggplant, this time for a large bag of carrots which is missing from this photo as is the okra this week since I used them on Wed night and had already put them away come picture time.

This week we got purple basil, mint, some kind of winter squash who's name eludes me, lots of hot peppers, bell peppers, a mini watermelon, onions, zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, okra, cucumbers and garlic.

On Wed night I made a veggie curry which I used the carrots and my remaining yellow squash from last week. As a side dish I made a crispy okra salad from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. It was interesting, I liked the okra better this way than fried with cornmeal like last week.

Tonight I made a fantastic pasta dish with a red onion and the acorn squash from last week.

As I head off to bed tonight I'm going to put together a pitcher of Sassy Water for tomorrow. Hoping I'll like it and it'll give me something to do with all this fresh mint. I'm going to make some caramelized peppers and onions as well to have for lunch with some leftover naan bread from our Indian night on Wed.

Saturday we'll be having dinner with some friends. I'll probably find a summer squash/zucchini recipe to share and will take them some roasted garlic and some of my fig preserves from last week. I think the rest of the carrots are going to make a fantastic carrot cake and just possibly end up in carrot cake ice cream!

Sunday I'm going to try my hand at gumbo to use the rest of the okra and a few of the hot peppers. Monday night will be our fish night and I'll make pesto fish with the purple basil. Curious to see how that looks. Tuesday I'm planning to make a winter squash risotto to go with maybe some ham steaks or chicken.

If I can't use all the mint up I'm going to try freezing it for later use as I hate to see it go to waste.

Onward to next week!

July- week 3

This week was the first time since starting the CSA back in March that I ever made a trade. I usually just go with what they provide, but I've discovered we are not fond of eggplant. We adore their little new potatoes so this week when I opened my box and found two big eggplants, I kindly requested a trade which they quickly granted. I love that they are flexible in this way.

So we ended up with more little hot peppers, a big bunch of basil, the potatoes, several cucumbers, assorted sweet peppers, a few small zucchini, yellow squash, plum tomatoes, onion, okra, acorn squash and a bag of beets.

Last week I tried my hand at canning and made some plum jam and fig preserves from some extras I had bought at the market. I also made a jar of mixed pickles and peppers. Still waiting to taste those. I found I don't have a large enough pan to actually seal large quart jars so I need to pick up some pint jars or a bigger pot. I found a recipe for bread and butter zucchini that sounds good. I'm going to try to pickle the little hot peppers for future use or gift giving as well since we like hot but not enough to use them all before they go bad.

I used the basil the first night on Wed in a summer pasta dish with tomatoes, squash and onion. Thursday we had corn on the cob with hamburgers so I didn't use anything out of the obx and last night we ended up at Mama Fu's for dinner after working late and running kids around.

So today I have a bunch left and only a few days to fit it in. Here's what I'm planning. The cukes I'm slicing up for snacking. Tonight we're grilling steaks and I'm going to make a corn/zucchini casserole from Leanne Ely of Saving Dinner.com.  We're also going to try some peppers stuffed with feta from the Aug/Sept issue of Saveur magazine and I'll steam the little potatoes.  While I've got the oven hot I'm going to roast the beets for use tomorrow and I think I'm finally going to roast the tons of garlic I've been collecting. Once roasted I've heard it'll stay good in the fridge.  I'm going to shred up any zucchini and yellow squash that's left after the casserole along with what's left from last week and get them into the freezer in 2 cup portions for use in breads and muffins. The extra sweet peppers I'm going to chop and freeze for use in future casseroles, omelets and pasta sauces.

Tomorrow we'll have some pasta carbonara with fresh green beans and the roasted beets. Monday night I'll make some chicken and have the okra with tomatoes and some garlic bread made with the freshly roasted garlic from saturday. Tuesday I'm planning on something easy like a tuna casserole and I'll bake up the acorn squash to have with it.

My goal this week is to use up what's been accumulating and get it all either eaten, preserved or frozen as I've ended each week this month with some leftovers. Luckily squash and zucchini are hardy and last for awhile so they aren't getting wasted.

I read a great post from one of the many blogs I read, The Bitten Word, about using a chalkboard to list the produce on hand as it goes in the fridge and then marking it off as it gets eaten as a way to avoid having things turn into science projects before you've had a chance to enjoy them.  Great idea, I think we'll start that next week as I'll hopefully have an empty fridge on market day :)

July- week 2

This week we got three new additions in the box. A large bunch of mint, two butternut squash and a big bag of okra.  Along with that we got a bunch of plum tomatoes, basil, tons of peppers both sweet and hot, more yellow squash, a few squatty cucumbers, four small eggplants, a selection of onions and more garlic.

I've been un-motivated the last few days and am just getting around to planning for the next week. Tomorrow we're heading out on a mini-road trip to the lake all day so I won't be cooking much. I think I will make a pasta salad to take with us using some of the tomatoes and the fresh basil tossed with italian dressing.

Sunday I plan on hanging at home and trying my hand at making some homemade pickles. I need to use all these peppers and since my hubby doesn't really care for them  going to try to pickle them with the cukes and onion and garlic. If they turn out good I'll take them to the office to share. I'm also going to try to make some baba ghanoush with the eggplants using a quick recipe I found on the Kitchn blog. We've so far not been really excited about eggplant. The last two things I've made with them, while edible, were just a bit bitter and strange tasting. I've read some on the bitterness issue and will try draining them longer to see if it helps. We might just not be eggplant people. If the dip is a hit then I'll use that as my standby for the next few weeks of the season. Luckily the CSA lets me make a trade - so if we don't like it then next week I'll trade it for something else, more onions perhaps! Or extra "little round potatoes" which we love.

Okra has me a little intimidated too as I haven't really liked it the last few times I tried it. I've only had it fried and pickled and once in a gumbo like stew. I didn't care for the texture. My husband likes it though and while looking for a recipe I found this really interesting one by Emeril, where you take out the seeds and stuff the okra with cream cheese and crab and then coat them in cornmeal and deep fry. I'm not a crab person either but I figure I'll give it a shot. I haven't yet met anything stuffed with cream cheese that I didn't like :)

I'll probably have the rest of the yellow squash with a pork loin I'll be roasting on Sunday while pickling- the fried okra will be an appetizer either Sunday or Monday.

I'll save the butternut squash to have with some baked chicken on Tuesday.

And then- it'll be Wed again before I know it.

July - week 1

It's July in Texas and it's HOT! We're getting into full on summer and I think it's reflected well in the contents of the box this week. Peppers galore! I meant to ask what variety these long bright yellow ones are but the market was busy and I just wanted to get my loot and go.

Here's all that was included this week: mixed onions, new potatoes, a big bunch of basil, small yellow tomatoes, bell peppers, large and small zucchini, yellow squash, assorted peppers,a lone cucumber, eggplants, a few hot peppers, some slicing tomatoes and a head of garlic.

Now, what to do with it so it all gets enjoyed before going bad? That's been the biggest challenge for me so I've finally started to actually sit down and plan how to use it all and this blog is devoted to helping others gain inspiration and

Here's the plan for this week
Wed- used most of the basil to make pesto. Used some of the pesto in a pan sauce for fish and saved the rest, the kids will use it on pasta for lunch later in the week.

Thursday- Tonight I made eggplant lasagna which used all three eggplants, an onion and a bell pepper. The bell peppers are a purply almost brown color and when I added them to the pan my daughter said they look like bacon. It was a nice night in the kitchen because I got to cook with her not in a rush. She's mastered basic meat sauce as she is the resident spaghetti cook in our house, but tonight she learned how to kick it up by adding extra veggies and fresh garlic. The result was delicious.

Friday- Planning on enjoying the leftover lasagna and pairing it with a classic caprese salad to use the slicer tomatoes and the rest of the basil. I have yet to find a good way to store the tomatoes more than a day or two so I try to eat them the first few days. I'm also going to try to use the lone cucumber this week for a cucumber based cocktail. Haven't found the perfect recipe yet- still searching, you can bet it will contain Tito's Handmade Vodka

Saturday- We'll be out and about most of the day but if we find ourselves home for lunch we'll have a salad with sliced yellow tomatoes, a bell pepper and the red onion with some grilled chicken and a quick vinaigrette.  Heading out to Poker night in the evening so I'll make a spicy cornbread to take that will use up the hot peppers.

Sunday- Going to finish off the peppers by making stuffed peppers, most likely with black beans and rice as the stuffing, possibly with a bit of smoked turkey from the new Smokey Moe's BBQ that opened down the road from us. We'll have some grilled squash on the side.

Monday- We'll do some kind of salmon dish and I'll steam the potatoes and season with butter and parsley.  We'll pair that with a side salad and the rest of the yellow tomatoes if any are left.

Tuesday- Use it all up day! I hope by this day to only have maybe one onion and some squash left so we'll saute that up and serve it with some kind of chicken. My daughters love a quick dish we call orange chicken and we haven't had it in awhile. If there are leftover potatoes we'll have them too.

Wed is back to market day! We'll be ready for a new batch of veggies.

I'm trying to keep this blog centered on what comes each week and the planning process to use it all up so recipes that I mention will be on my other blog when possible along with pictures and other finds and musings.

The beginnings of a new project

I've become a member of the johnson backyard garden CSA and have been so thrilled with the bounty that comes in my weekly box. I've decided to embark on documenting each weeks contents and my attempts at meal planning around it, trying to use it all before the next weeks delivery. At the end of a year, perhaps a cookbook will be born!

My delivery day is Wednesday,I'll start with next week.
I am excited- the thrill of a new project idea is always greatest at 4am when I can't sleep until it's out of my brain :)