The Suburban Herbivore

Since I’m writing this a number of days late, I can include a mention of what I made with some of this week’s share. The potatoes went into a delicious Peanut-Potato Curry. I used some of the tomatoes, plus bell peppers and red onion from the previous week, in making Friday Night Pizza. I need to whip up a batch of pesto – I’ve certainly got enough basil from the CSA for that.

Full share from August 19, 2009

For this week, we received two pounds of yellow squash, three pounds of white-flesh potatoes, five pounds of Big Beef tomatoes, one pint of Sungold tomatoes, and one large bunch ( 1/4 pound) of basil. Last week at this time we were at the beach, so we canceled our share.

A few months ago, there was a flurry in the blogosphere about DIY (do it yourself) pizza. We at Suburban Herbivore eschew being trendy; instead, we prefer to procrastinate… er, wait until some time has passed before writing about a topic so that it is all new and fresh again. Here’s a quick round-up of the pizza recipes, in no particular order, that landed in my blog reader in the latter half of March.

Friday Night Pizza from Animal Vegetable Miracle.

• Fast, Frugal, Flavorful Pizza from Scratch – Eat. Drink. Better.
• DIY Pizza – Mainstreet
• Inexpensive and Delicious Homemade Pizza – The Simple Dollar
• Deep Dish Pizza – The Paupered Chef
• Pizza Dough – Bitten
• Homemade Pizza Party – Eco Child’s Play

I’d meant to have tried many more of them by now. So far, I’ve made the pizzas from Eat. Drink. Better. (for which I have photos) and Mainstreet. I preferred the former because the crust came out thicker and chewier. The other recipe turned out a crust that was better-suited (in my opinion) for a pie. It was tasty, but not how I like my pizza.

Actually, the pizza that I’ve been making lately is Friday Night Pizza, published in Animal Vegetable Mineral by Barbara Kingsolver, and available in PDF online at http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/Recipes.html. It is not meant to be a speedy recipe (otherwise, it would be Monday Night Pizza), but it is definitely delicious. The recipe makes two 12-inch pizzas.

Rolled-out crust and sauce for Eat. Drink. Better. pizza.

Artichoke hearts and tomatoes for toppings.

Baked and delicious!

When I came across the recipe for Potato-Peanut Curry on The Simple Dollar, I knew I had to give it a try. Potatoes. And peanut butter. How could you go wrong?

I had a semantic problem with the title of the recipe, though, as there were no ingredients that actually made it a curry, other than a tiny bit of tumeric. So I made a few alterations. I had some chickpeas in the refrigerator and thought those would be a great addition. I added red curry paste instead of tahini, and increased the peanut butter. Finally, I added cilantro instead of parsley.

Potato-Peanut Curry

Ingredients:

1  pound potatoes, scrubbed and diced
1 can (14 oz.) diced tomatoes or two large tomatoes, chopped
2 15 oz cans chickpeas
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons red curry paste
3 tablespoons peanut butter
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped

Bring the potatoes, tomatoes, water, and salt to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Add the chickpeas.

In a separate pot, mix together the vegetable oil, red curry paste, peanut butter, and garlic, and heat on medium. Once this is warmed through, add it to the potatoes and tomatoes.

Continue to simmer for about 10-15 minutes, or until the mixture has thickened and the potatoes have cooked all the way through. Stir in the cilantro and serve with basmati rice.

Full share from August 12, 2009

I’ve realized that I’m spending all of my blogging time posting the CSA share descriptions and very little else. So what am I doing with all this produce? Well, I’ve simply been incorporating a lot of it into dishes that I make frequently. Sad to say, I haven’t really been trying anything new. But I figure I get a little bit of leeway now that we have a baby. I do have plans for posting some recipes in the near future. Here’s a taste: Black Beans and Rice, Hummus, Habanero Salsa, Caprese Salad, and Vegetable Lasagna. Mmmmmm….

This week, we got one large bunch of basil, one pound of red, orange, and yellow bell peppers, three pounds of Big Beef and Pink Girl tomatoes, one pint of Sungold tomatoes, one pound of yellow squash, and one pound of red and white onions.

Full share from August 13, 2008.

Sorry for the crazy photo of last year’s share! We were on the road and had to snap the picture of the produce laid out in the back of Jason’s car. What we got: three pounds of potatoes, one cantaloupe, three pounds of tomatoes, two pounds of red, orange, and yellow bell peppers, and one pint of Sungold tomatoes.

Full share from August 5, 2009

In the past, I’ve found basil to be about one of the easiest things to grow. But this year my plant is shrimpy and non-productive. I’ve gotten a few handfuls of leaves from it, and that’s it. My current theory is that the tomato plants are casting too much shade on the basil for it to thrive. I’m thinking that next year I’ll see if it does better in a container on the deck. Fortunately, there is no lack of basil from the CSA!

Full share from August 6, 2008

In this week’s share, we received one large bunch of basil, one pound of red and orange bell peppers (plus a jalapeno), two pounds of potatoes, one pound of Big Beef tomatoes, one pint of Sungold tomatoes, one pound of yellow squash, and one pound of white and red onions.

Last year: five pounds of tomatoes, two pounds of red, orange, and yellow bell peppers, one large butternut squash, and two white onions.

Full share from July 29, 2009

Things are definitely in a predictable pattern right now. I’m a little surprised, though, at the lack of squash and eggplant, as those are usually in abundance at this point. However, I’ve got no problem with having lots of tomatoes, peppers, and potatoes on hand! We got one large bunch of basil, one pound of red and yellow bell peppers, three pounds of white and yellow potatoes, three pounds of Big Beef and Pink Girl tomatoes, one pint of Sungold tomatoes, and one pint of mixed cherry tomatoes.

Last year at this time, we received two pounds of red and yellow bell peppers and serrano peppers, three pounds of Rose Gold potatoes, two acorn squash, three pounds of tomatoes, and one pint of Sungold tomatoes. Rose Golds are yellow-fleshed and pink-skinned, unlike Yukon Golds, which are yellow-fleshed and brown-skinned. But both are equally delicious!

Full share from July 22, 2009

Our CSA newsletter over the last few weeks hints that some people are getting Cherokee Purple and Striped German tomatoes. I’m sad that I’m not one of them. Hopefully my Cherokee Purples will begin to be ready fairly soon. I’m not familiar with Striped Germans, though I did try growing German Johnson tomatoes one year. It was pretty much a failure. The plant grew wonderfully, and I think I got all of one tomato from it.

Full share from July 23, 2008.

This week, we received five pounds of Big Beef and Pink Girl tomatoes, one pint of Sungold tomatoes, one pint of assorted cherry tomatoes, one cantaloupe, and three pounds Kennebec potatoes. I have to rave about the cherry tomatoes again. They are gorgeous and delicious! Kennebecs are a white-fleshed potato, and while to my mind, you can’t really go wrong with a potato, I do love the Yukon Golds.

Last year, we got: three pounds of tomatoes, two spaghetti squashes, two onions, one pound of bell peppers, one pound of Japanese eggplant, five assorted hot peppers (serranos), and two pints of Sungold tomatoes.

Half share from July 15, 2009.

We weren’t able to get a picture of the full share, so what you see is just our half. The list, though, is the entire amount. We got: five pounds of Big Beef and Pink Girl tomatoes, one pint of Sungold tomatoes, one pint of mixed cherry tomatoes, one pound of green bell peppers, one jalapeno, one pounds of onions (white and red), and one pound of Japanese eggplant. The cherry tomatoes are beautiful – I love the yellow pears.

Full share from July 16, 2008.

I think it’s a little funny that there’s one jalapeno in the box each week, as if more than that would be way too much for anyone to handle. While it’s often advised to wear gloves while cutting hot peppers, I’ve never bothered and haven’t suffered from it. Yet. But I have suffered a lot from running the hot water when there are pepper seeds and stems in the sink. If you are cooking with hot peppers, please don’t do this!

Last year’s share: five pounds of tomatoes, two pints of Sungold tomatoes, one pound of Japanese eggplant, one pound of yellow snap beans, two yellow squash, one zucchini, one cantaloupe, and two onions (one white, one red). Check out those crazy eggplant!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we carved out a little space in the one sunny part of our yard for a garden. This is our second summer in this house, and I really missed not being able to grow my own vegetables. It is only a 4×4 plot, but it’s better than not having anything!

Just after planting, April 22, 2009.

Here is how it looked immediately after planting. There are two empty spots in the front that are reserved for cucumbers. In the back row is a Cherokee Purple and a Brandywine plant, and in the middle row are (l to r) bell pepper, Roma, basil, and bell pepper. The four corners are planted with marigolds, which are said to keep away rabbits. This worked pretty well for us in previous gardening experiences, even when growing lettuce.

The view from our deck, July 7, 2009.

Two and a half months later, we have a beautiful tangled mess of green that is getting not nearly enough attention. The tomatoes could seriously use some pruning – something I’ve never been very good at. You’ll notice the two Topsy Turvy planters to the side. I was intrigued enough to give this a try. The plants certainly grew well, but the planters are not nearly far enough off the ground, and it’s difficult to keep them watered sufficiently.

Two jalapenos, one banana pepper, and one habanero on the back deck. July 7, 2009.

Jalapeno, ripe for the picking. July 7, 2009.

We also started two jalapeno plants, one banana pepper plant, and one habanero plant in pots on the back deck. They are all pushed to the corner that gets the most sun.

I do hope that they are far enough away from the bell peppers to prevent cross-pollination. This happened to us the very first time that we grew peppers, and we ended up with these weird long slightly hot bell peppers – not really hot enough to use in place of jalapenos, but a bit too strong to use in recipes that just called for bell peppers.

Anyway, unsurprisingly, the jalapenos were the first to be ready.

First harvest: July 9, 2009

Full share from July 8, 2009.

So, this is the point last year where I quit, though I didn’t know it for a while. I continued to take photos of our share each week and I saved the newsletters. And after a while of being out of the habit, it was too overwhelming to try to catch up. Fortunately, I have most of the photos, so what I’ve decided to do is present this week’s share in conjunction with the corresponding week’s share from 2008.

Full share from July 9, 2008.

This year, we got: four pounds of Big Beef tomatoes, three pounds of potatoes, one pint of Sungold tomatoes, one pound of cucumbers, four green bell peppers, one jalapeno pepper, and three onions: two white (Candy) and one red (Candy Apple). Last year, we got: four pounds of Big Beef and Pink Girl tomatoes, three pounds of Rose Gold potatoes, one pint of Sungold tomatoes, two pounds of Japanese eggplant, four yellow squash, two zucchini, and one cantaloupe. The differences are pretty apparent, but it will be more interesting to see what trends develop.