Tag Archives: CSA

CSA haul {10/6}

This was last week’s haul. We get a share every other week. It’s certainly getting colder (though, not quite fall in Florida). All of the greens are back – radishes again, mustard greens, and some weird bok choy/kale hybrid (can you help identify it?). The eggplants are getting smaller and smaller. I fear we’ve seen the last of them this year. We got the best cherry tomatoes I’ve ever had. They were gone too quickly. I didn’t even have time to put them on a salad. They were just snacks.

We bought more apples from the apple guy. Yes, we have an apple guy. We look foward to seeing him each fall. The apples weren’t part of the CSA. It’s gotten a bit cooler in the past week. Today the high is 80. So I think we’ll start to see squash and pumpkins in our share.

I’m still stumped with what to do with these mustard greens. I like their taste, but after a few bites, I’m just a little sick of them. I have the same problem with actual mustard. We roasted the radishes, which is the best way to eat them.

I’m off to run 11 miles (what?!) before it gets too warm. I’m running a half-marathon in two weeks.

csa haul {9/22}

CSA Veggies

Last week’s CSA haul brought us lots of greens. I didn’t start eating greens, or liking them for that matter, until about a year ago. This week I ate my first mustard greens and radish greens thanks to this share. An earlier haul this year introduced me to beet greens, which are my favorite so far.

Oh, and do you see? Oyster mushrooms? Yes, please! I felt like I hit the jackpot. We also received sweet potatoes and more eggplant, which we are thoroughly sick of eating by now.

I’m excited for this Fall’s harvest. Even though everything is still green around here, we bought our first apples of the season, so it can’t be too long for Fall.

life lately

I’ve let my job take the wheel these past few weeks. By the time I get home from work, my brain is fried, and I’m finding it hard to get anything done. I zombie out in front of the TV or occasionally attempt reading a book. I usually try to dedicate a little bit of time after work to learning new things like programming, Photoshop, or even reading up on current events or spending time on Wikipedia. But, these days, I can hardly tolerate looking at a computer screen after 5 p.m. The good news is, I anticipate my job getting easier in the next few weeks.

Despite all of that, I’m still having lots of fun, mostly on the weekends. Here are a few glimpses of some things that have been happening.

Ryan and I have been biking from Tallahassee to St. Marks. It’s intense and awesome.

st. marks sign

Here we are once we made it to St. Marks. We’re super sweaty. Did I mention it’s like 99 degrees outside?

st. marks

Ryan and I own bikes, but we’re not bikers. I was so proud of our Map My Run stats, since it was our first ride. We’ve been back and beaten this time already.

map my run

Grilled pizza. Before and after.

grilled pizza before

grilled pizza after

The biggest moth on my front porch. Yes, I live in the jungle. And yes, I have fears of this thing flying right into my face every single day. Ever notice how flying insects have no sense of direction?

gigantor moth

The best vegetarian product – Gardein’s Mandarin Orange Chick’n. I can eat an entire bag.

gardenin chick'n

I only take photos of food, don’t you know? This is our latest CSA share. I made the best squash quiche with the squash. We renewed our share for fall.

csa share

Ryan and I are trying to take a photo at least once a month. We’re really bad at it.

<3

But we’re getting better. This was taken on his birthday. <3

<3

I love him so much.

csa haul {6/16}

CSA Vegetables

It was a small haul this week, but holy cow, do I have so many tomatoes.

I might try this yellow tomato sauce recipe. Our CSA had about double the yellow tomatoes above, I just didn’t photograph them.

That long root vegetable in the back is green garlic. They’re supposed to be sweeter and grassier than regular garlic. The long stalks can be used like a leek, so I’m thinking of making some type of garlicky leek soup.

Each week I end up freezing most of my basil. I can’t seem to eat all of it.

Do you know how to store fresh basil? Place a bunch of basil in a short jar or cup and let the stems rest in some water. Leave the jar in a sunny spot in your kitchen. Don’t get the  leaves wet. It will last for more than a week if it’s fresh.

basil2

basil

CSA haul {6/2}

The CSA bounty has been outstanding lately. We renewed our share for the summer crops.  This was our last week’s CSA.

This week’s grab was red and green: tomatoes, red potatoes, strawberries, zucchini, basil, and green beans. Carrots were thrown into this bag, and a weird zucchini/yellow squash hybrid. I picked up some peaches, because I can’t resist.

Ryan and I have been really good about eating all of our vegetables from the CSA. The green beans are the hardest to finish. We’re actually not sure what type of beans they are. How sad is that? They look like peas, but we eat them like green beans. Having a share has really challenged our culinary and gastronomic interests.

salted cucumbers In our last CSA, we received pounds of cucumbers. I made this cucumber salad recipe with it and did not regret it. I brought it to a potluck and my friends inhaled it. I used my iPhone to take a shot of me salting the cucumbers.

Sometimes things just come together, like this perfect pairing of CSA veggies.

italian veggies

I practically threw it all in a food processor and then in a pot to make pasta sauce.

veggie pasta

I won’t share this recipe with you, because no matter how hard I try, I can never make my homemade pasta taste as good as the jarred stuff. Do you have any thoughts on how I can improve? My friends advised me to use tomato paste.

CSA haul {5/5}

CSA veggies

We hit the motherload with this week’s CSA package. I always had this feeling that our previous CSA bags were a little light for the season. But this recent bag makes it clear to me that the spring and summer vegetables are on their way.  This week we are eating: spring onions, three heads of lettuce, a ton of green beans, squash, and cucumbers, strawberries and potatoes. Additionally I bought a head of broccoli for $1, cherry tomatoes for $2.50, and a bunch of kale for $1. I almost feel guilty after leaving because it’s so cheap. How are these farmers making a profit? I’d pay more, don’t they know?

Ryan and I were asked to renew our CSA share, which has sparked some discussion. A while ago, we let some of our produce go bad. Lots of it. Sometimes nothing feels worse than throwing away food. It’s hard to eat food you’re not used to eating, like chard and snap peas. We decided we couldn’t let it happen again.

And so here we are, a few days in and eating from it daily. And it’s nice. It’s nice to open my fridge and have an array of fresh produce. It’s nice to know where my food is coming from. It’s nice to know I’m supporting my community. (and saying a big “eff you” to factory farms.)

We’ve been doing a lot of steaming and boiling vegetables, since it’s the fastest way to cook them. Then we eat them unseasoned, or with just a bit of salt. It’s interesting how I’ve forgotten, or perhaps never known what a plain vegetable tastes like. So much of what I eat is strongly seasoned and covered in sauce.

Our CSA included two giant bags of green beans, so we’re struggling to consume them. I boiled some and topped it with a poached egg.

green beans and poached egg green bean

This is my first attempt at a poached egg. I lost one in the process. I’ve only ever had a bite of one before and was completely grossed out. But lately, I’ve been craving egg yolks (weird, huh?) and my standard over-hard eggs are suddenly turning into gooey, runny treats.

I followed Smitten Kitchen’s method, of course.

CSA haul {3/24}

CSA

This week our CSA included:

green onions, oranges, beets, lots of strawberries, rainbow chard, and lettuce. We picked up some cherry tomatoes at the farmer’s market, as well.

I’ve never really cooked with beets. So, I look forward to the challenge. I plan on making a beet cake to ease into it, because when in doubt, add chocolate.

I’m just a few days away from running my 10k. It’s on Saturday. I’m nervous, but ready to get it over with. My body is sick of being perpetually sore and t’s getting too hot to run in the evenings after work. With that being said, I’ve been having a great time competing with myself and comparing my distances and times with each progressing week. And I’m still entirely amazed that I can run 6.2 miles. Also, I have the most supportive friends.

I stopped in the store and picked up a pack of Abita Strawberry (limited release). This is the first time I’ve seen it in stores, but I had it when we went to the Abita Brewery. I know it’s not champagne, but can I drink it with a few of the strawberries from the CSA? I bet it will be amazing.

abita strawberry harvest lager

First time CSA Members

Ryan and I bought a CSA share from a local farm, so we’ll be getting fresh veggies every other week. We visited the farm yesterday, which made it all the more meaningful.

This week’s haul included fresh carrots, kale, swiss chard, strawberries, cilantro, and green beans.

csa veggies

Needless to say it was a big day for all of us.

Watson found a new home in the CSA bag.

watson in csa bagcsa bag

Watson got stuck in his new home.

watson in csa bag

The agony.
watson in csa bag

Riley got a special kale treat.

kale treatkale treat

And Watson was jealous.

kale treat

shrinking violet

hello,

I’m up to two cups of coffee in the morning these days. I live within walking distance from a Winn-dixie, so whenever I’m out of essentials (tp and coffee) I make a trip there (remember the one-mile walking rule: if it’s within a mile walk to it.) Here I’ve found a great bold coffee. There’s no other way to describe it, except it’s Winn-dixie’s gourmet generic brand, called Winn & Lovett Prestige Selection and the coffee is Italian Style Espresso. My only complaint is that it’s not made in whole bean (I prefer to grind my own coffee.) But ground coffee has it’s perks, specifically prep time. This makes a mean iced coffee, btw. This is how I do it:

- Take the normal amount of coffee you’d use per however many cups you’d like to prepare and double it.
-Brew as usual.
-There are two things you can do here: After it’s done brewing and still hot, you can add the cream & sugar, and pour it over ice. This is why you want it extra strong. The ice tends to melt and dilute the coffee.
-Or: Make the coffee a few hours in advanced (or overnight), mix the sugar & cream, and stick it in the fridge. Pour over ice, and the ice is left in tact. This is the best way. I’ve also placed a ziplock bag of ice in the coffee while it’s hot, it cools it pretty fast, and the ice melts in the bag. But I try not to heat up plastic, if I can help it, so use this one only in a crunch.

Make this coffee extra great by crushing ice in a blender/food processor. Why is crushed ice so much better? There has got to be science behind it.

I had some huge margaritas last night. While I’ve been known to make some pretty amazing ones, I forget exactly how powerful tequila can be. But tequila has always been my friend. No hangover.

Here are some things I’m in love with right now:
-Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food Blog. Specifically the Cooking From the CSA category (hello spiced zucchini with pecans). The bf and I go to the farmers market every Saturday. Sadly, we’re not members of the CSA, but strongly considering it (members get farm fresh eggs!). While it’s great to eat local produce, it’s sort of tough to find things to cook with it. This blog is yummy and helpful. Zucchini is frequently available, so we eat a lot of it. And the boyfriend just bought a huge bag of pecans, so look out for the candied spice pecans recipe – coming soon.

-Speaking of cooking from the farmers market, last week we got a huge cabbage (appx. 8 pounds). I made sweet & sour cabbage this weekend. It was perfect, German inspired goodness. I fused some aspects from this and this recipe. Sadly, the cabbage wasn’t a red one. And I was all out of red wine vinegar (balsamic worked fine) and subbed brown sugar for white (what a recession, I’m all out of sugar!). This made a huge amount of food. There is probably four big servings left. Also, I still have about a quarter of a cabbage left. What to do with it? Certainly not waste it.

-My new favorite tumblr. It’s perfect.

-Did you know students with a .edu account can get free two day shipping on Amazon? Basically, it’s a free one-year trial of Prime.

-I bought this Vera Bradley bag (well luggage) this weekend. Should I return it? It seems impulsive. I’m not into Vera Bradley at all (actually, I find it hideous.) But I wanted a trendy bag for these weekend trips that the beau and I have planned (Savannah, GA, and Portland, OR coming up.) And I’ve borrowed a Vera Bradley bag from an old roomie, and they’re very sturdy and easy to clean. It was on sale ($45). But I bought it before my car broke down yesterday and was out a chunk of change.

Happy Sunday all.

image via foodista, with many thanks.
p.s. Sorry for the ugly layout. I’m working on getting a tolerable look.