Summer CSA Week 4

Well, things are starting to shift in our CSA box. The abundance of greens is over and now we're working with a little more variety. We got our first cucumbers this week along with a few other new additions. Here's the picture of everything laid out. It's all listed below starting at the top and moving left to right.

1. Broccoli
2. Head of lettuce
3. Salad mix
4. Yellow squash
5. Fresh elephant garlic
6. Green and purple basil
7. Assorted cucumbers
8. Globe radishes
9. Spring onions

The radishes and cucumbers served as snacks, so no pics of those.

We were able to use up a good chunk of the lettuce with an entree salad. This Buffalo Chicken Salad is become a new favorite around here. Look for a full recipe in the future. :D

One night we had a zucchini frittata with a side salad. Simple, easy, and delicious!

Pizza night also benefited from our abundance of lettuce. Plus, who doesn't like a little homemade ranch on their pizza? The pizza itself looks slightly burnt in this picture, but I promise it was totally edible in real life.

I prepared the broccoli using my favorite method: roasting. It was crispy and delicious and went perfectly with some scrambled eggs.

We had pork chops one night this week and I roasted up the yellow squash, onion bulbs, and some zucchini as the side. Once the pork chops were done cooking, I quickly sauteed the green onion tops in the remaining fat and threw in some tamari (kind of like soy sauce) to deglaze the pan. This was the perfect topping for our pork chops!

The basil is going into tonight's pizza.

As far as the garlic goes, I haven't used it yet. I was playing around with the idea of trying to dry it for long term storage, but I'm not sure that will work without the stems intact. I'll probably just end up using it in recipes. We definitely use our fair share of garlic!

 Are you as excited as me that the summer veggies are starting to come in? Share in the comments below!

Summer CSA Week 5

5 Tips For The Perfect 4th of July!

The 4th of July is all about celebration! Here are my 5 tips for a great Independence Day. [x_video type="16:9, 5:3, 5:4, 4:3, 3:2" m4v="" ogv="" poster="" hide_controls="" autoplay="" embed='' no_container="true"]

Summer CSA Week 3

Happy Friday! It's CSA time and Week 3 continued with the greens explosion we saw last week. A lot of my food prep time was spent washing and rewashing those gritty leaves. A good reminder that our food, ya know, grows in the dirt. :) We got our first yellow squash in this box, which made me super excited because it's one of my favs! Unfortunately, the hubs wasn't too thrilled. He says I should be glad he's not a fan because it means more for me.

I also got to play with some more kohlrabi, and it is definitely becoming a new favorite! It's tastes kind of like a mix between potato and broccoli with a little sweetness thrown in.

Here's everything we got. Items are listed starting at the top and moving left to right.

1. Perpetual spinach
2. Head of lettuce
3. Chinese cabbage
4. Snow peas
5. Radishes
6. Yellow squash
7. Russian red kale
8. Kohlrabi
9. Spring onions

The snow peas we ate plain and the radishes were dipped in hummus or homemade ranch. Hooray for veggie snacks!

I used the Chinese cabbage and half of the green onions in some  fried rice.

The perpetual spinach, kohlrabi leaves, and radish leaves got sauteed with the rest of the spring onions and served alongside some eggs.

The head of lettuce and all of the chickens in our freezer inspired me to make a buffalo chicken salad. So so good!

I was able to squeeze the rest of the veggies into this meal. The yellow squash and kohlrabi bulbs were roasted with some zucchini I had picked up at the farmers' market, the rest of the spring onions were added to a quinoa and black bean salad, and the red Russian kale was served as salad. A note about the kale: this particular variety was the easiest to strip from the stems of any kale I've tried.

And that wraps up everything for Week 3!

Are you a squash lover or a hater? Let me know in the comments below!

Summer CSA Haul Week 4

Summer CSA Week 2

The greens are here and there are lots of them! I love my veggies, but I am struggling a little bit with this season transition. Figuring out how we're gonna eat everything is feeling a little bit like a puzzle. I think it'll just take a couple weeks to shift my meal planning and get into a new groove. Despite the challenge, I really am loving the sight when I open my fridge: a sea of vegetables! I also got a couple things that were new to me in this box: tatsoi and kohlrabi. I had never even heard of tatsoi before, but it's similar to spinach. Kohlrabi on the other hand, I was somewhat familiar with, but I was always a little afraid to buy it for some reason. I'm still learning how to use it, but I like it so far.

Here's the overview. Everything is listed below, starting at the top and moving in rows from left to right.

1. Swiss chard
2. Head of lettuce (A gigantic one! The picture doesn't do it justice.)
3. Turnips
4. Salad mix
5. Tatsoi
6. Lacinato/Dinosaur kale
7. Kohlrabi
8. Scallions

The salad mix and lettuce meant we were eating lots of salads. This is one of them. I had it for lunch with some leftover chicken, homemade ranch, and a touch of hot sauce. Yummy!

The Swiss chard got sauteed with garlic and some asparagus I had picked up at the farmers' market. Seasoned with just a little S and P.

I was able to squeeze the kohlrabi, turnips, tatsoi, and scallions into one meal, along with some peas I had from the market. Here's a close up of the tatsoi.

Everything was cooked in some garlic-infused olive oil and homemade chicken stock, plus some salt. It was super yummy as leftovers the next day.

I still had the greens left from the turnips and kohlrabi, so those got cooked up and finished with apple cider vinegar. They were quite delicious served with pulled pork I made in the slow cooker.

To finish everything off, the kale will be served as salad tonight with dinner!

Are any of you kohlrabi fans? I'd love to hear your tips and favorite ways to eat it. Please share in the comments below!

Summer CSA Week 3

Healthy Grocery Haul!

Ever wondered what I buy at the grocery store? I'm always sharing my CSA and farmers' market hauls on Instagram, but it's not often that I show you how I fill in the gaps. In today's video I'm showing you everything I got at the grocery store on a recent trip. [x_video type="16:9, 5:3, 5:4, 4:3, 3:2" m4v="" ogv="" poster="" hide_controls="" autoplay="" embed='' no_container="true"]

Summer CSA Week 1

Today, I'm excited to announce a new blog series! I recently posted a picture of everything I got in my CSA box on social media and asked if you guys would be interested in seeing how I use the items each week. Lots of you were excited about the idea, so every week I will be showing you what I got in the previous week's box and sharing how I ended using each item. I'm introducing this on a Monday, but all of the following posts will go up on Friday. Since this is the first post, I'll start with a little background info to get us started.

What's a CSA?

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. It's basically like a weekly subscription to a local farm. You sign up before the growing season starts and pay up-front. Once the season is under way, you receive a share of what the farm is producing each week.

Why join a CSA?

The CSA model has a number of benefits for the farmer and consumer.

For the farmer

• More accurate forecasting of demand, resulting in less waste
• Financial security in the event that poor growing conditions, natural disaster, or some other unforeseen event negatively impacts production
• Closer relationships with consumers

For the consumer

• Consistent access to fresh, local foods
• More food for less money because of the security you are providing the farmer with your up-front payment
• Opportunity to try different and specialty items
• Greater awareness of the seasonality of foods grown in your area
• Closer relationship with the farmer

This week's box

This is technically the second week of our CSA because we missed the first week while on vacation. To make things less confusing, I'm just calling this Week 1.

Here's what we got! Everything is listed below, starting at the top of the picture and moving from left to right.

1. Head of lettuce
2. Bok Choy
3. Cilantro
4. Green Kale
5. Swiss chard
6. Snow peas
7. Strawberries
8. White salad turnips
9. Garlic chives

How I used it

The snow peas and strawberries were ate up as snacks, so no pics of those.

I used some of the garlic chives to add garlic  flavor to a roasted potato salad...

...and used the rest when I sauteed the bok choy.

I cut the swiss chard into ribbons and chopped the stems to all be sauteed with some onion, garlic, salt, and pepper. Simple and delicious, especially when served with a fried egg!

The kale became a massage kale salad.

Cilantro = burrito bowl night. It got added to the rice and was a key player in the guacamole.

The lettuce was salad and a topping for our burrito bowls. Here it is after a few rinses.

I thinly sliced some of the white salad turnips and ate them raw on a salad (shocking, I know). I still have a few left and I plan to saute them up as a side one night.

So that wraps up everything from our first week! Let me know if you have an ideas for this series, such as info you'd like me to include/omit or a catchier title. :) We'll be doing Week 2 on Friday, so make sure you come back for that!

Are any of you CSA members too? Let me know what you're getting in your boxes and how you're using it in the comments below!

Summer CSA Haul Week 2

Weekend Canning Experiement

This weekend, I decided to spend some of my spare time trying my hand at canning. It's a great way to preserve summer's bounty and there is something so cool about seeing a row of colorful jars. If anything, it's at least a fun food project.  I'm not a total novice when it comes to this topic. My grandmother had a cellar with shelves lined with home-canned goods and I've even played assistant to my parents as a kid. The one time that sticks out in my mind is when we spent all day canning tomatoes and, once we were done, our dog came home covered in skunk spray. Result: lots of freshly canned tomatoes in the bath tub. Despite this history, this was my first time as canner-in-charge and I pretty much had no idea what I was doing.

I decided to do a small batch of pickled banana peppers for my first try. We got them free from Jasen's parents and even if they didn't seal right, they would still last in the fridge for a while due to the pickling. They were a low risk endeavor.

I sliced the peppers and put them in clean, hot jars along with some spices, according to this recipe.

Then I filled the jars with hot pickling liquid, got rid of extra air, and put the lids on. These babies were ready for a hot bath!

To transfer the jars in and out of the pot, I got a little creative. Yes, those are rubber bands wrapped around my tongs. I know there are people out there cringing at this picture right now and I'm one of them. I'm not recommending this method, as it is obviously all kinds of dangerous, but it happened.

Here the jars are boiling away. My pot was just big enough to cover them so there was a little bit of boiling over.

And here are the finished jars! They look so beautiful and I'm pretty proud of myself for success on the first try. Maybe now I'll invest in the appropriate equipment. : )

What is your experience with canning? Expert or novice, let me know in the comments!

Recipe: Layered Melon Popsicles

Since I purchased the popsicle mold I mentioned here, I've been enjoying my healthy frozen treats often, as a snack or after-dinner dessert. This recipe uses one of my favorite fruits, the watermelon. I can eat and eat and never get tired of it. In college, my roommate once said "You know you live with a dietetics major when you find watermelon seeds in the couch cushions." It's just soooo gooood! In addition to highlighting this beloved food, I'll teach you how to make layered popsicles. They look super fancy and really aren't all that difficult to make. It takes a little more time and patience, but you're already in for some waiting if you're making popsicles anyways. Mine ended up a little uneven on this batch, but I like to just call that "rustic." The amounts in this recipe are specific to my mold, but you can easily adapt it to whatever mold you have, even if that's just an ice cube tray.

My mold. It makes 10 pops and has a handy lid to keep the sticks in place. You can learn more about it here. The great thing about melon is they liquefy easily. No worries about having to get in a fight with your blender. The key to these is freezing the layers separately so they don't mix. Into the freezer we go! This is the other melon I used. I got it at the market, but I don't know what it's called. Let me know if you have any guesses! I love the contrast between pink and green melon. Cantaloupe would be nice too if you're a fan of the pink/orange combo. I added the final layer and this is the result! These look so pretty I almost don't want to eat them. Almost. Check out the recipe below.

Layered Melon Popsicles

makes 10 servings

Ingredients

3 cups cubed watermelon, seeded 1.5 cups cubed honeydew or other similar melon

Directions

1. Put your watermelon in a blender and process until liquefied. Transfer liquid to a measuring cup.
2. Pour watermelon liquid into molds until 1/3 full.
3. Place lid on mold and insert popsicle sticks. Freeze until solid, approximately 6 hours.
4. When ready to add next layer, repeat steps 1-3 with honeydew, minus the part about the popsicle sticks because they're already in place.
5. Once honeydew layer is frozen, finish off your pops with the rest of the watermelon liquid and freeze in the same fashion.
6. Once pops are frozen, remove from mold and enjoy!

Recipe: Cucumber Tomato Salad

This easy summer salad has been a go-to for us for the past couple weeks. We most often eat it with falafel. With only 5 ingredients and minimal preparation, it makes a yummy addition to any meal and a great choice for a summer partay. As a side note, you don't have to seed the tomato if you don't want to (or feel like it), it just helps to reduce the liquid in the finished product. If you do decide to go ahead with the seeding, don't throw that stuff away! You did pay for it after all and it is delicious. We usually collect it in a bowl, add a little salt and pepper, and then fight over who gets to eat it.

Cucumber Tomato Salad

makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients

2 large cucumbers, diced

3 large tomatoes, seeded and diced

1 medium red onion, sliced into half-moons

Salt to taste

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and toss to combine, making sure the onion sections separate from one another. Serve immediately or refrigerate for later.

My favorite knife

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