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.