The Suburban Herbivore

Full share from August 26, 2009

It was a big week! We received four pounds of tomatoes, one pint of Sungold tomatoes, one pound of onions, a quarter-pound of basil, one pound of Japanese eggplant, one pound of red and yellow bell peppers, and one butternut squash.

Full share from August 27, 2008

I’m particularly happy about the squash, since I’m going to test out making my own baby food with it. Depending on how that goes, I may do a separate post on it. I’m also pleased about getting the eggplant. Getting a bunch of eggplant every week is not so good (for me), but having it come in every couple of weeks is perfect. The tomatoes should be winding down pretty soon, so I will have to think of something particularly good to do with these.

Last year, we got three pounds of Big Beef, Cherokee Purple, and Orange Blossom tomatoes, 2.5 pounds of potatoes, one pint of Sungold tomatoes, two large spaghetti squash, and one pound of yellow squash.

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.

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!

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.

Tomatoes are here! We received two varieties this week: Big Beef and Early Girl. Growing up, I’d always heard that it’s unusual to have tomatoes before the 4th of July, so I remain impressed when they show up before that. Certainly, the ones I’m growing won’t be ready for quite a while. A few years ago, I grew Sungolds, which are little, orange, sweet, and delicious. Since our CSA supplies those, I’m devoting my tomato space to ones that can be used for sauce and/or slicing. I haven’t written about my garden yet… I’ll do that soon.

Full share from June 24, 2009.

This week, we received two pounds of tomatoes, three pounds of Red Pontiac potatoes, one yellow squash, one zucchini, one bunch of basil, three onions (two yellow, one red), two cabbages (one green, one red), and three cucumbers (two green, one lemon). Since our friends are out of town this week, we are keeping the entire share for ourselves. Time for another cooking challenge!

We received some broccoli this week along with a sizable number of cabbage worms. The weekly newsletter included a tip on deworming the broccoli (shudder): soaking it in salt water until the worms detach and rise to the surface of the water. I grew broccoli one summer a few years ago and had the same infestation. It’s particularly insidious because the worms are the exact same color as the broccoli stem. It was actually enough to put me off trying to grow broccoli again because ewwww.

Full share from June 10, 2009.

Here’s the full list of what we received this week: one pound of green beans, two heads of lettuce, three onions, one bunch of orange carrots, one bunch of beets, one pound of broccoli, and one bunch of radishes. The white onions are a variety called Candy, and the red one is Candy Apple. These are said to be sweeter than the average onion, though I don’t know how they will compare to Videlias. We are a little overwhelmed with beets!

Half a pound of basil is a LOT of basil! I have no doubt that I could use it all myself, but I suppose I should give our friends who are sharing the share their share. Heh. We also received a cauliflower, a small red cabbage, some dill, two zucchini, four yellow squash, four cucumbers, 3/4 pound green beans, and two onions with the greens attached. It’s a pretty good haul, and I remain really happy with the shares so far this year.

I placed a quarter on top of the cauliflower for scale before taking this photo. This is a trick that I picked up in my geology classes – though they tended to use a pick-axe or lens cap or a person.

My husband is already planning to make pickles this weekend. I may ask him to do a guest post about that. I actually have a couple ideas of what I want to do with the cabbage. Dill is one of those herbs that confounds me a little. It’s very good in omelets. I haven’t used it for much else, and am open to ideas…

After four hours of cooking, here’s what I have left:

1/2 lb beets
7 small turnips
1 lb bok choy
7 radishes

And here’s what I made:

Thai Curried Vegetables

Sugar snap peas, broccoli, carrots, and onions were used to make this simple curry. I also added some tofu. Based off a recipe in Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, I wasn’t happy enough with this to share how I made it. I cooked the broccoli and snap peas briefly before adding them to the curry, and I think this made them too soft and mushy.

I’ve made this a few times before. It features beets and dried cranberries, and yes, it really is that color. Risotto in general is just delicious, and this dish is no exception. Cinnamon and cloves add depth to the sweetness of the beets. This is from Lorna Sass’s Recipes From an Ecological Kitchen.

I’m not sure what makes the spices particularly Moroccan, as it was just cumin, turmeric, and cayenne, but this was a very tasty way to use up all those greens. It called for preserved lemon, which I didn’t have, so I added a few splashes of lemon juice instead. Check out Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone for the recipe.

This was another banner week. Nearly all of the produce so far has just been exceptional. And, thankfully, we have a week off from lettuce, as I still have an entire bunch left from last time. We received several new items: yellow, orange, and purple carrots, as well as sugar snap peas. And, of course, broccoli, kale, cabbage, onions, turnips, boc choi, and the best batch of strawberries yet.

I already have plans for the broccoli, in the form of a tofu stir-fry. But I think I’m going to need to cook up another mess of greens this weekend. And probably some beet risotto. And maybe I can make some soup somewhere in there, too.