Monica

Fruit is good, but I do hope the balance shifts a little more toward the vegetable end of the spectrum next week! (For this purpose, we can count tomatoes as vegetables.)

• 3 small and 3 medium Bartlet pears
• 5 Gala apples
• 3 nectarines (not yet ripe)
• 1 large tomato
• 2 medium green peppers (here's hoping they'll ripen)
• 1 head of romaine lettuce

Weight: about five pounds.

I also harvested my second red pepper tonight. (It was delicious in a stir-fry.) There are eight more full-grown ones on the plant in various stages in the journey from green to red. I lost one in a storm. For a long time it's looked like that was going to be it -- 11 peppers -- but in the last few days some new ones have started. I count seven, and there might be an eighth in a hard-to-see place. They're in the rapid-growth phase, so it should become clear soon. Nice -- a second round!

Earlier this summer I found out about 412 Food Rescue, a local non-profit that tries to mitigate food waste by collecting what would otherwise be thrown away (e.g. by caterers) and distributing it to people in need. That's a worthy cause on its own and they'll go onto my year-end-donations list, but I also noticed that they run an "ugly CSA" -- food that local farmers can't sell to grocery stores. (They note that there is non-ugly produce too; it's a CSA, working with local farms, but they'll explicitly take the unsellable stuff first.) It was too late to join this year's, but I signed up for the waiting list for next year.

A couple weeks ago I got email that there were new spots in this year's and would I like to join for the rest of the season? Why yes, I said; this is an easy way to check it out at a slightly lower cost, and then I can decide about next year. Their site says to expect 10-15 pounds of fresh fruits and veggies each week.

Today was my first share. It included:
- a pound of green beans
- one giant tomato (about 12oz)
- three large ears of corn (had some tonight - tasty!)
- one large cucumber
- three nectarines
- one large and two humongous green bell peppers (oh well - can't win 'em all)

The humongous peppers weigh about a pound each, so while I didn't weigh the entire bag, this probably isn't far off from the low end of the predicted volume.

The peppers I'm growing are finally starting to turn red, so in a few more days I should be able to use a home-grown red pepper and the smallest green pepper to make stuffed peppers for us. (He doesn't mind green peppers; I do.) We had two of the ears of corn tonight and we'll split the other one soon. Aside from the remaining green peppers, I know things I can do with all of this.

• Turk's turban squash (I'm just copying what the manifest called it...)
• 5 Rome apples
• 6 potatoes
• 6 rainbow carrots
• 2 heads garlic
• large yellow onion
• tomatillo salsa
• whole spelt flour

Anticipated but not present: watermelon radish. (Drat! Those are nice, and I've never seen them at the grocery store.)

They suggest that Rome apples are best for cooking. I've been doing baked apples a lot; maybe I'll make a cobbler with these ones.

Does anybody have suggestions for breads using spelt? I am particularly interested in recipes that work in a bread machine and ones for quick breads (which I would make in the oven). The CSA linked to a recipe for a blueberry/lemon quick bread, which sounds interesting except that it calls for several ingredients I would not otherwise buy. If I were to try that one, what do flaxseed meal and coconut sugar contribute to the result (chemically, flavor, baking properties, etc) and what can I safely substitute for them?

This was the last week of the fall share. I was looking forward to the winter share; that's when I started last year and we got a lot of great produce, including several things that were new to me. I learned that radishes come in more than two varieties (red and daikon)! And the baby turnips were great, and I cooked with rutabagas for the first time! Alas, they cancelled the winter share this year for a combination of supply issues and low subscription volume. I've heard good things about Imperfect Produce but they don't serve my city; a (remote) coworker recently mentioned Misfits, which apparently does, so I might give that a try. But for the locals, I'm also interested in hearing where I might shop for local produce, particularly things that Giant Eagle doesn't carry. Connect me with those radishes, parsnips, and baby turnips, please!

Things have been hectic, so here's a belated post covering two weeks.

Week 3:

• 5 carrots (1 white)
• 5 yellow onions
• 5 empire apples
• butternut squash
• head napa cabbage
• small acorn (?) squash
• bunch arugula
• 11 small red potatoes
• jar tomatillo salsa (last-minute substitution for maple syrup)

Week 4:

• large acorn squash
• head purple cabbage
• bunch green kale
• 3 red peppers (I don't know if the darker one is a different variety or if that's just normal color variation)
• 5 yellow onions
• 2 heads garlic
• delicata squash
• 5 roma apples
• green tomato relish

The salsa and relish both appear to have a fair bit of liquid content. Suggestions on what they're best used for?

The napa cabbage mostly went into stir-fries; I'm not sure what I'll use the purple cabbage for. (That's a lot of coleslaw, but I don't know if I really want to make sauerkraut.) The squashes have been accumulating in my squash cellar (ok, bin on the basement landing, where it's cool and dark but accessible), from which I fairly regularly pull one to bake stuffed with apples. Much of this is staples, and well-timed; I was almost out of both onions and garlic.

Unfortunately the winter share got cancelled this year. I haven't yet looked for local alternatives. The winter share last year was my introduction to a CSA, and I particularly liked a lot of the winter produce, some of which I'd never seen before (i.e. is not in the local grocery store). I'm thinking particularly of the different types of radishes, and also baby turnips.

The fall share is weekly for six weeks. This is the standard box.

• large bunch white turnips with greens
• 1 red onion
• 2 "sun tan" bell peppers
• bunch Japanese garlic chives
• bunch basil
• head hydroponic lettuce
• bag green beans
• 1 white acorn squash
• 4 d'Anjou pears
• 9 mini peppers
• 6 fingerling sweet potatoes

I don't know what "sun tan" bell peppers are. One is green; the other is mostly green but has a red patch. Do they taste like green bell peppers or something else?

I've never had a white squash before. Is this just aesthetics or is there something different about how it tastes?

I'm glad to have more sweet potatoes! Also turnips, though I'm particularly looking forward to the baby turnips we got last winter. So tender! We had the turnip greens tonight, sauteed in sesame oil with shallots. (I think the dish wanted garlic too -- note for next time.)

One of the pears has a small bruise, which just means I should eat that one first. I can manage that. :-)

• 1 bulb fennel with fronds
• 2 bulbs garlic
• 1 honeydew
• 4 ears sweet corn
• 2 green bell peppers
• 8 mini peppers ("snack peppers") (yellow, red, orange)
• 4 bartlett pears
• 5 roma tomatoes
• 1 bunch red radishes with greens

Small share got: fennel, roma tomatoes, pears, corn, white potatoes, shallots, "semi-hot block peppers" (?).

I've roasted some of the past corn and made corn fritters with some (making kind of a mess of the "remove raw corn from ears" part). This week's email included a recipe (warning: site full of invasive ads and crap) for Caribbean boiled corn on the cob that I might try. The recipe fails to mention when to add the coconut milk, but I think it's implied by the series of photos.

I might make pasta with roasted fennel and lemon with the fennel.

Alongside the share I got a bag of Japanese eggplant (because I've never had that kind and I like eggplant). That'll be for me; Dani hates eggplant. I can have eggplant while he's having whatever I do with the green peppers, which I don't like. I'll roast some of the eggplant and I invite other suggestions. These are the long, skinny ones.

• 1 giant leek
• 4 ears sweet corn
• 1 cantaloupe
• small bunch parsley
• cup or so of blueberries
• 6 peaches
• 2 small delicata squash
• 2 heirloom tomatoes

(Small share got: corn, cherry tomatoes, blueberries, delicata squash, beans, and peaches.)

The manifest said "white or yellow peaches"; some of these look a little different on the outside than others, so I wonder if I got some of each. I'll know more when I cut or bite into them. :-)

When I saw both parsley and tomatoes on the list I though of tabbouleh, which they also suggested, and put bulgur wheat on the shopping list. This doesn't seem like enough parsley for that; I mean, yes, I could make a very small bowl of tabbouleh, or buy more parsley, but perhaps I'll use it in something else instead -- or maybe a tabbouleh-inspired salad with parsley, tomato, crumbled feta, cucumber, and a suitable dressing. (I have all that already.)

We haven't had fresh corn yet this season, so that will be a treat.

I've seen a few recipes using squash in things like curries or parmesan-crusted treatments, and none of them say to peel it first. Some have pictures that clearly show the peel present. Is the peel on this type of squash edible? It's not on butternut or spaghetti squash, but those are bigger.

I also got a few things on the side, which started because they were offering "seconds" of those delicious little watermelons from last time at a good price. (Then it was a matter of making the minimum order.) So I also have a pair of those, a bag of banana peppers (which I will stuff with something, not sure what yet), a bag of mixed carrots, and a bag of shallots.

• bunch basil
• bunch scallions
• head red lettuce
• head green cabbage
• four large light-red beets (don't know what variety), with greens (edit: they turned out to be golden yellow inside)
• bunch red kale
• one fennel
• one bulb garlic
• half pint? blueberries
• two zucchini

(Small share omitted lettuce and fennel. Both sizes were slated to get Roma beans but we didn't; I don't know if they did. Cabbage was not originally on our list but was for the small share. Garlic wasn't on either list.)

I was anticipating more blueberries and planning to make cobbler. Maybe I'll combine with peaches for that? I already got the vanilla ice cream that goes with cobbler. :-)

I haven't cooked with fennel before. What's the best way to use those delicate greens?

• large bunch red beets (chioggia), with greens
• 1 cucumber
• bag snow peas (half pound?)
• bunch garlic scapes
• head romaine lettuce
• big bunch kale
• big bunch Swiss chard
• 2 green zucchini and 1 yellow squash (2 pounds)
• small head broccoli

(Small share omitted the snow peas and chard, and got butterhead lettuce instead of romaine. They did not get less zucchini. :-) )

Last time I used some zucchini in the same red curry that I use kale in and that worked reasonably. Dani might not have been buying it, though. (Dani's a hard sell when it comes to zucchini.) I might stew it in a tomato sauce this time.

Beet greens saute nicely with onion and garlic. So does chard, but I might make a variant on beans and greens instead, using either chickpeas or great northern beans and (of course) omitting the pork that I understand to be typical. I might experiment with kale chips (who knew?). Snow peas are easy; those go into stir-fry, maybe with broccoli and tofu or chicken. The romaine will become the base for a hearty salad for Shabbat lunch (because it is going to be way too hot for hot food), maybe with salmon.

We signed up for a biweekly standard share for the summer. This is the first week. (We were initially assigned to even-numbered weeks, but I asked to switch to dodge Origins and the main week of Pennsic. They only allow you to switch three boxes a year, and there's a delivery on Yom Kippur so that would have left zero wiggle room.)

• bunch scallions (big ones!)
• head butterhead? lettuce
• bunch swiss chard (manifest said "rainbow")
• bunch lacinato ("dinosaur") kale
• bunch turnips (yay!) (about a pound?)
• bag radishes (about a pound?)
• 2 zucchini
• bag salanova greens

(Small share omitted radishes, turnips, and salanova, and got strawberries.)

In the winter share we got baby turnips once and we both liked them a lot. (Before that I'd only ever had big grand-daddy turnips.) We've been looking for more ever since. These aren't baby turnips, but they're not large either. Dani dubbed them "youthful turnips".

We had some salanova greens (the last of last week's, actually) in an omelette tonight, along with some cheddar cheese. It wanted something more -- maybe scallions?

• bunch red radishes
• 2 large pieces green garlic
• bunch scallions
• bag salanova mix (1/3 pound)
• head red lettuce
• bag butter chard (1/3 pound)
• bunch collard greens
• small bunch spinach (1/4 pound)
• 2lb spelt flour

(Small share omitted the butter chard, collard greens, spinach, and green garlic, and got kale.)

I used the salanova and some radish in a salad tonight with carrots, cucumber, and tofu (marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, garlic and then pan-fried) -- this was from a recipe in the print (!) Jewish Chronicle last week, but I can't find that article online. (Basically, you mix the salad veggies, cook the tofu and marinade, and dump the latter into the former, then combine.)

One of last week's kale suggestions was braising, "like collards", so now that I have collards (new to me) I'll do that. I know what to do with most of the rest of this.

For the spelt flour they suggest brownies and chocolate chip cookies. I wondered about bread and found this recipe, which I'll try.

I sauteed last week's radish greens with onion and garlic, but it wasn't as satisfying as that treatment usually is. I can't quite characterize the problem; I don't think bitter is the right word for the greens, but I don't have a better one. As you can see, I have more radish greens this week -- any suggestions?

The theme for the week is: green!

• 2 large green garlic
• large bunch of red radishes, with lots of greens (at least a pound, probably more) (manifest said radishes or green onions)
• 6 spears asparagus
• 7 white potatoes (2 pounds), though some of the skins look more reddish?
• bag of mixed arugula and mizuna
• head of butterhead lettuce
• head (bunch?) of romaine lettuce
• bunch of kale (half pound)

Small share omitted half the potatoes, radishes, asparagus?, and arugula/mizuna, and got bok choy.

The asparagus was a substitution; they weren't sure if it would be ready in time, so they listed salsa instead but gave a heads-up that we might get "a very special spring vegetable" instead. The small box didn't list salsa so I assume they didn't get asparagus, but I don't know.

Anyway... I'm delighted to have more radishes and the first asparagus of the season, and the two types of lettuce are staples. (Which is funny: I rarely bought lettuce before the farm share and used spinach as a base for salads. But this lettuce is good! Unlike a lot of the stuff in the store.)

Stir-fry works for the arugula/mizuna, but do those greens work well in a soup, I wonder? I'm thinking vegetable broth with ginger, parsnips or sweet potatoes, and the greens. I've done that with spinach and chard but never these greens. Opinions?

There are lots of greens on those radishes. I assume I can do something with them. Google is pointing to sauteing.

We're not big fans of raw kale (like in salads), but maybe cooking with it will work out better. Suggestions welcome!

• 2 pounds cornmeal
• 2 large blue potatoes
• 5 medium (on average) white potatoes
• 3 green meat radishes
• head lettuce
• bag tatsoi according to the manifest, but it looks different from the last tatsoi we got
• bag salanova (mixed greens)
• 8oz black locust honey

(The small share omitted honey and radishes, and got kale instead of salanova.)

The manifest said "cornmeal or polenta" and I was hoping for the latter to see what the difference is, but cornmeal is good too. (I know what Google says the difference is, but I've never done a direct comparison.) The cornmeal we got in the winter share made nice cornbread and this will too.

The honey is described as "delicate, sweet, fruity, with a hint of vanilla". Sounds yummy.

Blue potatoes, I have determined, are fantastic when cut thin, tossed with olive oil, fresh rosemary, and sea salt, and then roasted. The other day I worked from home and made those for (part of) lunch, intending to have half that day and save half for the next day. That...didn't work out as planned. :-)

Last night I roasted a large radish, a small sweet potato, and a couple parsnips, all cut small, and then tossed the cooked veggies with some lettuce (the kind that's shown in a head here, not the more delicate mixed greens) and a little balsamic vinaigrette, making a roast-veggie salad to go with dinner. That was very nice, and used lettuce in a different way for variety.