Tuesday, June 25, 2013

our summer CSA share: the first week

For the third summer now, I'm getting a weekly CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share from a nearby organic farm.  This is my first summer using this particular farm - I've tried out a different farm each summer I've done this so far!  Anyway, I thought I'd do a weekly post recapping some of the meals I make with our organic veggies.  Here are just a few of the things we ate last week:

one

Emeril's Tuscan white bean soup with broccoli rabe.



I actually ended up combining a few recipe ideas and adding vegetarian "sausage" from Trader Joe's to this soup, in the hopes of making it more appealing to my veggie-hating husband.  If I make it again I won't bother; after all, I'm usually the one eating the leftovers when it comes to a meal like this, and I'd enjoy it more without the sausage {or "soysage as I like to call it}.

But this is a tasty, flavorful soup recipe, pretty quick to assemble, and a great way to enjoy broccoli rabe!

two

Roasted beets, sauteed beet greens with garlic, quinoa, and oven-baked fries.



{Okay, Nathan's plate had baked chicken on it, too, and significantly less of the other stuff.  But he did taste a beet!}

I love roasted beets, and these beauties were delicious with nothing more than a little olive oil and salt on them.  And Nell loves quinoa, so this meal was a big win in her book, as well.

three

Veggie sandwiches for lunch... almost every day for the past week!



Lettuce and spinach from our CSA plus hummus, avocado, tomato, pickle, cheese, and some lettuce from my own garden... the perfect sandwich!  Nell enjoys a 'deconstructed' sandwich, if you will -- particularly the cheese, avocado, and tomato, although she's been known to eat a spoon of plain hummus from time to time, too.

Farm-fresh spinach and lettuces... that stuff from the grocery store doesn't even compare, am I right?

5 comments:

  1. Oh that all looks so delicious! I want to do a CSA someday, but I just don't have the time to cook like that just yet! Luckily, we have great farmer's markets and a good farm to table delivery service as well. That way we can get smaller amounts of fresh produce and not feel as stressed about it! :) Another issue is that a lot of the produce that is available are things we don't like (read: never tried, didn't like when we were kids, etc, etc). I'm so very intrigued by your roasted beets though. I may have to give it a try!

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    1. I have been wanting to check out some local farmer's markets as well! You make a very good point about getting to pick what you want and select the amounts you want as opposed to a CSA share. One thing I like about our CSA this year is that there are some choices; for example, when you go to pick up your share, you bag up your items yourself, and you might get to pick whether you want radishes or beets or turnips, and whether you want bok choy or mixed greens or arugula. A few years ago the CSA we did landed me with pattypan squash and bok choy coming out my ears... not my favorite! :-/

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  2. I'm not a vegetarian but you made all those fresh local veggies look so good. I love beets in a cold salad with feta cheese and homemade dressing. Now I'll have to try them roasted. And that sandwich looks delicious as well.

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  3. These all look splendid!

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  4. oh, and I know how to pronounce "quinoa"--CarolMom taught me.

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