Summer 2014 CSA: Weeks 6 & 7

Morning! Time for another CSA update.

Can you even handle how huge that turnip is?! We got it during week 4 or 5, and we’re STILL eating it. I don’t even love turnips that much.

Here’s what our stash has included in the past couple of weeks:

• Week 6: Blueberries, spring onions, lettuce, squash, cucumbers, potatoes, peppers, eggplant, basil, turnips, fennel, collards, rainbow chard, dill
• Week 7: Corn, cucumbers, squash, potatoes, spring onions, lettuce, peppers, eggplant, tatsoi, lemon balm, basil, kale, and green chard

All the deliveries are kind of starting to blend together since we usually have some ingredients that last beyond a week, and we’ve also been stopping in at the farmer’s market on the weekend to pick up anything extra (plus meat and fish). Let’s just say there is definitely not a shortage of veggies in our home! Here are some of our latest creations:

Stuffed zucchinis (probably a mix between this recipe and this recipe):

Summer squash, bell pepper, and chickpea salad:

Hummus crusted chicken with a side of farro, bok choy, and turnips:

Ground lamb, chard, and kale stuffed eggplant:

Zucchini and shrimp fritters over greens:

Grilled mango and blueberry kale salad:

An easy cucumber salad with dill, inspired from our Veggietecher lunch at work:

Tropical kale smoothies (I’ve been adding 2 scoops of vanilla protein powder to this recipe)

Grilled haddock with a corn and tomato salsa, potatoes with onions, garlic, and parsley, and roasted zucchini/squash with dill:

Grain free zucchini muffins:

Grilled plum salad with cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and pine nuts over lettuce with a homemade citrus dressing made of lemon balm and orange:

Some fun meals, huh? The delivery we got yesterday might be my favorite yet though! Will share soon. 🙂

–Let’s chat–
What have you been eating lately? Do you like turnips? Any recipe requests from this post?

For more on my summer 2014 CSA experience:

• Wellness At Work: Community Supported Agriculture
• Summer 2014 CSA: Week 1
• Summer 2014 CSA: Week 2
• Summer 2014 CSA: Week 3
• Summer 2014 CSA: Weeks 4 & 5

Summer 2014 CSA: Week 1

Good morning! Let’s talk vegetables in honor of National Eat Your Veggies Day yesterday.

Last week was the first week of the community supported agriculture program that Tim and I signed up with through the wellness program at work. Aside from the farm fresh eggs, our first delivery on Tuesday included sweet potatoes, asparagus, romaine lettuce, dandelion greens, an awesomely huge tomato, red mustard greens, radishes, oregano, broccoli raab, and scallions.

Here are some of the meals we made with our goodies!

First we made a chicken and gnocchi skillet with the dandelion greens, radishes, and oregano for dinner on Wednesday and Thursday night.

I don’t think I’ve ever had dandelion greens before, but I liked them cooked down in this dish. Our lesson learned was to cut the stems out because the stems were definitely more bitter than the rest of the leaf. I also liked preparing the radishes in a different way besides just slicing raw in a salad!

Friday nights are often pizza nights in our home, and we were psyched to try our hand at a homemade asparagus pizza.

We topped a multigrain crust with the sliced asparagus spears, sliced mushrooms, sliced yellow onion, ricotta, some shredded mozzarella cheese, minced garlic, and some spices. For the win!

Our weekend was full of non-homemade meals, so we didn’t bust into the veggies again until we made lunch for the beginning of the week and dinner on Monday night. For lunch, we went with a tried and true favorite, this grilled sweet potato salad recipe. This used up the sweet potatoes and most of the scallions.

Finally, Monday was a throw together kind of night, so we used up the head of lettuce and topped it with grilled shrimp and leftover ingredients from our pizza toppings.

We also cut up that huge tomato for the salad, and it was delicious. We had some left over, so I sliced it and packed it for a snack at work. Drizzled in a little balsamic with some s&p, it really hit the spot.

I think we did pretty good for week 1! The only two things that didn’t get used were the broccoli raab and the mustard greens. I’m chalking that up to not having any meals at home on Saturday and Sunday at all.

Yesterday we picked up delivery #2. Is it normal to feel this much excitement about vegetables?

AND fruit!? These strawberries don’t stand a chance at lasting beyond today.

Possible meals on deck for the next week:

• Spiced collard greens and ground beef
• Balsamic chickpea and kale salad
• Chicken kabobs with a side of farro, bok choy, and radish
• Beet salad
• Avocado egg salad to use all those eggs!

–Let’s chat–
Tell me about the eats from your week last week. What was the best meal you made? If you are participating in a summer CSA program, how did you get creative with your produce? What fruits and vegetables are you loving lately? Did you celebrate Eat Your Vegetables Day?

Have a good one!