CSA Week 3

We dove into this week's box before even getting a chance to take a photograph...this pic is missing several squash, onions and some baby lettuces. But, as you can see, the interesting stuff is still here...

... summer sqash...2005 vintage black beans...dried chile de arbol (read: HOT)...red onions...nopalitos (yes, it's cactus)...and tomatillos.





peeling nopalitos is not hard, but not easy either...




they sautee up easily, making a thick gummy sauce (which is supposed to cure everything from diabetes to high cholesteroal to GI distress) and taste a lot like very sharp okra...kind of a cross between a green pepper and okra.










The finished scramble: summer squash, onions, garlic peppers, nopalitos and tofu with cilantro and just a touch of chile de arbol...enough to make it hot!

Next up: veggie sautee over couscous and veggie fajitas with tomatillo salsa!

CSA Week 2

Week two brought a new box, filled with some familiar veggies and some new ones...


Included in this box:

- beets
- rhubarb
- fresh paprika
- brocolli
- garlic
- onions
- freckle lettuce
- summer squash

We made lots of salads...used the squash, brocolli and onions to make a great tofu lo mein..the brocolli was the best Anna had ever tasted (David hasn't made it to brocolli yet). This was the first time Anna tried cooking beets...learned a few things, but most importantly fresh beets, roasted and then chilled make a great salad topper--all they need is a little salt--way better than anything from a can.

The paprika was interesting...almost pasty...added nice color but little flavor to a tofu scramble. Still wondering what to do with rhubarb....

Our First CSA

On June 13th, we picked up our first CSA box from Tierra Farms.

The box included fava beans, red onions, cilantro that you can smell a mile away, amazing leaf lettuce, fresh strawberry jam, a few summer squash and two dried chipotles (watch out!). It truly does not get more fresh than this... all the veggies were picked the same day we brought them home.


And when we got them home:

We chopped up the squash and the red onions, along with some peppers we had in the fridge (we're not going cold turkey on the regular store)...

Tossed with some tofu and tomatoes...

















And served them up with a salad made from the fresh lettuce.

The key word is fresh...the squash tasted more like squash, the lettuce, more like lettuce...peppery and earthy...and the onions were the sweetest and most fragrant we've ever had.

One meal down...now what to do with the fava beans?!