Contrary to appearances, Brian and I are still members of the CSA at Mighty Food Farm. It’s just been a crazy few weeks.
The 11th pickup of the season was 4 days before our departure for the Northwest. Since Heather was kindly allowing us to stay at her apartment the night before our 6 am flight out, we decided to thank her in produce.
For ourselves, I picked up a yellow watermelon, 2 cucumbers, 3 tomatoes (still obsessed) and 2 zucchini
Heather got the bulk of the share:
Watermelon, broccoli, garlic, carrots, potatoes, cucumbers.
It turns out that picking out produce for other people, much like cooking for other people, kind of stresses me out. People can be really picky about vegetables! I’m hoping Heather put everything to good use.
I’d never had yellow watermelon before and it was pretty darn good. It probably didn’t hurt that I was really excited to see melons when I arrived at the farm (they weren’t listed in the email!) and I thought they were adorable.
We skipped the 12th week of CSA pickup, as we were on the other side of the United States. Luckily, Mighty Food Farm is awesome and we can redeem our missed items at any point during the rest of the season.
This week’s pickup (#13) looked like this:
edamame, kale, carrots, cherry tomatoes, garlic, beets, head lettuce, summer squash, cucumbers, eggs, orange tomatoes
The week before vacation was pretty uneventful in terms of meals, since we were trying to get ready for our trip and I was wrapping up teaching summer school less than 24 hours before our departure. Since returning, however, some really awesome things have happened in our kitchen.
I modified and combined 2 Serious Eats recipes, Cheddar Scallion Polenta Croquettes and Garlic Shrimp with Basil, Tomatoes and Pepper Flakes, to create the meal below. I didn’t do anything too crazy, just used chives instead of scallions and Italian breadcrumbs in the first recipe, and got a little creative with the sauce and omitted the wine in the second. Granted, my plating needs some serious work, but this meal was delicious. It was also inexpensive and fairly simple, so that helped.
Last night Brian and I used of the orange tomatoes, plus some basil and goat cheese we had on hand to create this apparently under-topped but surprisingly tasty pizza.
Finally, continuing in our apparently tomato themed week, tonight’s supper was slow cooker vegetarian chili, with a side of cornbread. Spicy and hearty, as always.
Your CSA pick ups look delicious. We had fresh beets this summer as well, and they were excellent. I have a great recipe for a beet salad if you’re interested.
Caleb´s last post …Our Story part 3: Derailed
They look delicious because they are delicious!
I would love to see that beet salad recipe. We recently shredded some beets in our food processor and cooked them with some lemon juice into softened. So far, that’s been the best beet dish I’ve made yet. I’m trying to learn to like them, so I’d really appreciate the help!
When I made this recipe, I used 5 medium-large beets.
Peel and cut the beets into wedges, and then boil until tender
While the beets boil, make a red wine or balsamic and orange vinaigrette. Begin with about a tsp of dry mustard, the juice from an orange, and a cup of vinegar. Add regular yellow mustard till things are how you like them. Adjust to your taste.
Drain the beets and run cold water over them until they stop cooking. Let cool. Put in a bowl with S&P. Add your vinaigrette, and mix together with a wooden spoon. Add orange wedges and peel to the mix and you have a delicious salad! Serve chilled.
Caleb´s last post …Our Story part 3: Derailed
Emily!! Thank you so much for the CSA produce!! [never ever ever stress about any sort of free food you are bringing into my apartment – i am definitely not v. picky and definitely v. v. poor. ]
I was thinking on the drive to Philly Thursday that I SHOULD HAVE done a guest post for you on what I did with all the produce!! why didnt i think of that sooner!?!?
I still have a bit of garlic left to use this week, but every bite of every other item was delicious!! My tummy was so thankful for you guys and your sharing :)
xo
Heather´s last post …Take A Good Hard Look
You’re welcome. And don’t worry about it, I’ll hit you up for a different guest post some other time.