Saturday, August 28, 2010

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.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

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.