Veg*n Cooking and Other Random Musings: Our First CSA Box!

Saturday, May 17, 2008

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.

16 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

I LOVE the CSA - look at all that great produce you received! Fabulous!

And that tomato plant is gorgeous!

Monika K said...

I want to join a CSA! You're making me jealous... (except for the tooth thing - I hope you feel better soon). (-:

Anonymous said...

I miss my CSA! I am going to the farmers market tomorrow...hopefully there will be some local produce. Your haul from your CSA sounds (and looks) beautiful! Yum, yum, yum...you will be enjoying all of your fresh produce this summer, I am sure!

I hope your mouth/tooth gets better soon!

Courtney

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Sounds like the perfect time to pull out a food processor if you have one (Best kitchen appliance EVER!).
The veggies in your CSA box look so beautiful—like a little edible rainbow.

Alicia said...

I'm sorry you have to go through this too... But I've forgotten it already!

As long as you can eat something...

But I need to know more about those radishes with sugar. Really? Is that good? Do you just dip the raw radishes in sugar? I'll have to try that!

Danielle said...

So excited about your produce! I go to school in upstate NY and got spoiled with my fresh boxes every other week. CSA is such a wonderful thing, enjoy!

Veggie said...

I'd LOVE to get the CSA, all that produce looks great.

Anonymous said...

Vegan ice cream is always a great treat to add on the calories when you can't really eat solid foods. Or you could try a protein shake on the go. I relied on those when my teeth were pulled. I'm sure there's a vegan protein shake out there somewhere. Possibly at whole foods.

I hope you feel better Jennifer! your food still looks great!

P.S. sounds like you to add more spices. ;-)

J said...

Veggie Girl - I know! I'm loving it and we've only gotten one weeks worth, but it came with asparagus AND spinach! I can't wait for the sweet corn......

The plant is so tall already!

Monika - Hahaha! The tooth takes it down a notch, eh? Do they do CSA's where you live? I know you have to snatch them up pretty quick and they are a bit pricey. Not if you average the cost out over the season, it's that you have to pay all at once, up front.

Thanks, I already am, I just can't eat real solid food yet.

Courtney - :-( Yay for the farmer's market. I'm so happy that we pick up our CSA at the farmer's market. We can check out what we got and pick up anything else we need while we're there.

I hope so, if all goes well for the farm, all goes well for us! :-)

Thank you!

Chocolate Covered - I am in love with my food processor. It gets a lot of use for sauces/salsas.

They are so colorful! I love what nature can bring us. And it's organic!

Alice - Hahaha! It's fine, I'm fine, and I'm stoked it's over with, just waiting to be able to eat hard food.

Hahaha! I like radishes in salad. Brett is more fond of them with the sugar. However, he tried it this morning and decided the radishes would be better suited to a stir-fry. I'd say, maybe it's not as good as either of us remember as kids, maybe these radishes are a different kind.

Danielle - It's great isn't it? Oh, I bet you got some FABULOUS produce.

Veggie - I am happy we were finally able to do it. We've been thinking about it for a few years, so we saved up and got a share with an organic local farm before they were sold out. I can't wait to see what the rest of the summer brings!

J said...

Leng - It is. I just wish I liked ice cream more. It's good, but it's so sweet, and cold, I can only eat so much and generally don't crave more. And fresh fruit is out of the question and doesn't help so much with calories.

The protein shake is an excellent idea Leng, thanks! The vegetarian restaurant in town is also a juice bar and they do smoothies with protein powder. I may stop by there if I have time.

We don't have a Whole Foods here. :-(

Spice makes most anything better! I was telling Brett the other day that I felt the same way about cayenne pepper that some people feel about salt - it makes most anything taste better, he looked at me like I was an alien.

Jill said...

I love love love love love love love CSA's!!! Enjoy the yummy stuff!

Lizzy said...

Sorry to hear your missing tooth is giving you trouble! I'm crossing my fingers you'll be able to eat solid foods again as soon as possible!
And as much as I love ice-cream, I couldn't eat it all day long.
So I really hope this phase will pass soon! Your tummy needs the mexican goodness ;)

Yay for the CSA box! I love how veggies can make you think "Beauuuutiful!" by just looking at them.

jessy said...

oh man! i'm so jealous! :) all of our CSAs were already filled - and we've been on 3 wait lists for 2 years now! maybe next year we'll get to participate in one! all of your veggies look awesome! and hooray for some really yummy asparagus - it looks so fresh!

Erin said...

Lucky you to get a CSA box! This looks like a nice, simple one to get the season started. And glad to hear your tooth is starting to feel better, here's wishing you a speedy recovery!

J said...

Jill - Me too! I can't wait to see what the summer brings us!

Lizzy - Ah, no worries, it's mostly the inability to eat solid foods that is bothering me. I've been hungry pretty well non-stop since Friday. :-( One can only eat SO MUCH applesauce.

I wish I liked ice cream more, I've been 'going to town' on it for 3+ days now and am barely half way through the container.

I agree, I've made a few things and just ate the bean filling, one of which was VERY good and I'll be posting about tomorrow I think.

They are gorgeous all on their own.

Jessy- :-) Oh no! It's like that around here most of the time, we made sure to sign up at the VERY BEGINNING of the season. However, ours isn't so packed that we have wait lists. More farmer's in your area should start CSA's, it's better financially for them anyway.

It was amazing, we ate most of our CSA the day we got it!

Erin - CSA's rock, this is my first experience with it and so far I'm hooked. I mean, you can even go out to the farm - in fact, you get a discount on your CSA if you volunteer to help work on the farm for 'x' number of hours over the season. We didn't take the work option/discount though as we don't have a car.

Thanks, I'm getting there, I just probably won't like applesauce anymore when all is said and done. :-)

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