Jun 06 2008
Dinners with CSA Week 3
We’ve been focusing on using up a lot of the leftover produce we had from last week and before. Last night, we started into the spring mix from this week and there is some sort of purple-y green that hits like wasabi. Mustard greens, maybe? That stuff does not play. Michael made the salad from both the spring mix and the small head of lettuce, which is in fact Bibb lettuce.
Meanwhile, he used fresh basil and oregano from our balcony garden in a very simple tomato sauce that went over some Barilla whole wheat pasta. That was our dinner last night – very simple, very tasty.
The thing I love about pasta is that you can throw ANYTHING into it. Mushrooms, peppers, peas – throw all that stuff in, if you have it. You can do a dressing of olive oil, of vinaigrette, of tomato sauce – depending on what you have, again. My aunt made me the strangest pasta ever, with canned tuna, salad dressing, and broccoli and cauliflower once and it was delicious. My point is – you don’t have to be a chef, you don’t have to follow a recipe. Throw what you have together and it can be simple, easy and healthy.
With the addition of more potatoes in this week’s share, we have enough to fashion a beet and potato salad. Michael is planning to do that tonight so it can sit overnight and we can eat it tomorrow. Color me tickled pink (or magenta) and super excited. There is little I enjoy more than a cool, refreshing salad in the heat.
We’re also using up the last of our red leaf lettuce. We’ve done surprisingly well eating all the greens we get. You know how some people complain and complain about eating salads? Not me. I love salads, especially with all the nifty and very fresh greens we’ve been getting. I don’t like cooked greens nearly as much as I like salad.
I found a recipe on veganyumyum.com for collard greens, tofu and quinoa that we’ll be using up our greens in. I’m not sure what we got were collard greens, they may be chard or something. Either way, this recipe will work and looks tasty, plus we have almost all the ingredients sitting in our cupboard and fridge. All we have to pick up some tofu – all we have is mori-nu, vacuum packed stuff, which doesn’t drain or fry well (but we got a fantastic deal on it – 10 packs for 10 dollars at Lotte Asian Market). I hope this recipe turns out tastier than our sautéed kale and garlic with salt and pepper. That recipe was tasty for a few bites, until the bitterness started punching me in the tongue.
The real problem is all the spring onions! I don’t really care for onions much (when I was little, I found tiny dehydrated onions in Chef Boyardee and couldn’t eat it after that), and we’re getting loads of absolutely gorgeous spring onions. I just don’t know what to do with all of them! Stir fry, fried rice, topping for miso soup or ramen… my mind is stuck in Asian cuisine when it comes to those onions, and I know they shouldn’t be limited that way, the poor fellers.
Our strawberries are gone – we got 4 servings of snacks to take to work. I had no idea how low in calories strawberries are! One serving is 45 calories. Compare that to an apple or an orange at 70 calories for a serving, and strawberries are really low in sugar (and high in vitamin C and phytochemicals). Great stuff! They’re fresh locally right now, likely until the end of June – so eat them up while you can. Believe me, local strawberries will taste a million times better than the ones you get at the grocery store from California. Stop by a farmer’s market or find a pick-your-own farm. Remember, if you’re going to pick, call ahead for conditions!
Outside of the CSA box and onto our balcony garden – our cayenne plant has a pepper, our tomato plants are almost taller than I am and the Bonny Best has tons of flowers. Our mint and oregano are exploding with delight. Everything out there is doing better than I hoped.
wow, your plants sound like they are doing great!!! my tomatoes are finally really starting to take off now.
mmm strawberries! and kale really is just bitter sometimes.