Our First CSA Box!

Well, so far the tooth, or lack there of rather, isn’t giving me too much trouble. It’s been a bit sore, but the real kicker is not being able to eat fully solid foods. I’ve been relegated to what I call ‘semi-solids’, yesterday I was able to eat a can of Amy’s Black Bean and Vegetable soup which I doctored up with some cayenne pepper (any surprise there?), and for dinner I cooked up some soba noodles and tossed them with some store bought Thai Peanut Chili sauce, which I doctored up with some hot chili sauce (again, any surprise?) and a splash of lemon juice. It hasn’t been too bad, but I’m used to eating far more substantial food than this (read: lots of beans, rice, fiberous fruits and veggies, etc), so I’ve been really hungry. Luckily, I was thinking when we ran to the store last night, I got some So Delicious Chocolate and Peanut Butter ice cream, which I've never had before (I think it's awesome that there is such a good selection of vegan ice cream). Now, I am a freak in that I don’t really like ice cream very much, I never have, but I was wanting chocolate and I knew I couldn’t eat the dairy-free wheat-free Newman O’s I love so much, they are just too crispy, so this is what I got. And it’s really good, just very sweet, I couldn’t eat very much of it.

Today has been pretty much the same, I can’t really eat anything crunchier than roasted asparagus, which isn’t very crunchy, but I’ve planned out some menu items that I think will make it tolerable. I just cringe to think that it could be weeks before I can eat tortilla chips or raw veggies. :-( But I am lucky that it hasn’t been for me how it was for Alice, I can actually eat some substantial foods (read: she was only able to eat blended food), just not anything I want. I'm so sorry you had to go through that Alice, it must have been rough.

We got our first ‘box’ from our CSA today! It was fairly skimp as the weather has been very rainy and quite cool as of late, but with my tooth situation, I think it worked out well that we didn’t have a ton of stuff around. Anyways, the forecast is looking great, warm temperatures, no rain for the near future that I saw, and SUNNY! Good news for the garden. Speaking of which, the bad weather last week got one or two of the starts we put in the ground, one broke off pretty cleanly. The rest of the plants got a little beat up, but look like they are going to make it. Since there is extra space now, Brett and I decided to pick up a Roma tomato plant at the farmer’s market this morning. We are also going to be getting a cucumber start as that was one of the things that broke. I’ll post pictures of the gardens status tomorrow as today I will be transplanting all the peppers into pots on the porch and tomorrow we will be going down to weed and clean up the garden from all the bad weather this week.

We also stopped by the grocery store to pick up some grub for the next few days. We are taking smaller, more frequent trips to the store this week as I can’t really predict what I will and will not be able to eat later in the week. But I thought I’d leave you all with some pictures of our CSA and grocery store grub, as well as the new addition to the garden.

Our first CSA box consisted of spinach, oregano, radishes, green onions and some gorgeous asparagus. When we got home, we roasted the asparagus with some garlic, and sauteed the spinach with some of the white part of the green onion and some garlic. It made for a wonderful, local breakfast, and one that I was able to partake in! And I'm telling you, this asparagus was the best I've ever had. We will be drying the oregano to use for spice and the radishes, well, those will be eaten raw, with sugar. Yum! Well, Brett will be enjoying them that way, I'm not sure they will still be around when my mouth is up to that.

Our small trip to the grocery store. We've got: 2 anaheim peppers, 2 habaneros, serrano peppers, 2 avocados, a poblano pepper, an orange, red onion, lemons, an orange bell pepper, and 4 small red potaotes.

The new tomato plant! It's really big. Some of the tomato plants at the market already had fruit on them! Crazy!

Anyways, I hope everyone enjoys their Saturday!

'Til next time.