Veg*n Cooking and Other Random Musings: Weekly Local Booty - 7/20-7/27/08

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Weekly Local Booty - 7/20-7/27/08

We got a lot of produce this week, some of it from our garden, but much came from the rich soils of good 'ol Illinois. Brett's dad paid us a very nice visit this week, and in the process, unloaded a truly intimidating amount of squash on us.















We got a decent amount from our gardens this week, but I'm ashamed to say I was pretty lazy with the camera. Brett was good and took a picture of what he picked this week:















Pictured is a large zucchini and three Roma tomatoes. Not pictured are: a yellow straightneck squash, 1 banana pepper, 4 serranos, and 2 small green bell peppers. There are about 3 more Roma tomatoes that are probably going to be ready to pick today.

With all the produce around and our weekly CSA, we didn't end up having to get too much at the farmer's market.

This week's CSA:















We got: 2 small apples, new potatoes (we got a bonus yellow potato), green beans, a cucumber, a yellow squash, sweet corn, a green bell pepper, an onion, and a tomato. I don't know what kind of tomatoes Dan grows, but these are meaty, delicious tomatoes, I keep forgetting to ask him.

Our farmer's market booty:















We've got 2 gorgeous ears of sweet corn, 2 bulbs of Music garlic (we've since had some, this is some of the best garlic I've ever had, bold, yet smooth, I can't wait to make refried beans with them!), 2 small yellow, white, and red onions.

This week's food preservation activities included:
  • freezing 4 green bell peppers
  • freezing 7 yellow summer squash (in coins)
  • freezing 5 zucchini (some in coins, some shredded)

To freeze the bell peppers, I simple washed and dried them, cut off the stem, removed the seeds, stems and ribs, and sliced them. I then put them in a ziplock bag and Brett used a straw to suck the air out of it. The peppers should keep about 8 months like this.

For the summer squash, we followed these directions, for the zucchini, we followed these directions. We were in the kitchen for quite some time yesterday, this was a lot of squash! Brett was awesome and helped me out with the whole process which not only made it take less time, but also made it more enjoyable.

And finally, I would like to give a big thanks to Leng, over at A Fat Cat Who Created A Vegetarian for passing on the Brillante Weblog Award to me, I really appreciate that Leng. It's really nice to know that people enjoy the blog.










I think there is some sort of "rule" about passing the award on to 7 people, but that's not how I roll, rules are made to be broken, so we're doing this my way. Besides, these are really just pats on the back anyway. Muahahahahaha!

I am passing this award on to all the quitters in the Quit Now Challenge and also including Chile. These folks may or may not even have blogs, but they are brave, wonderful people who are willing to sacrifice and do their part to make this world a better place - they know as Brett and I do, that every little bit matters. So I may be going beyond the spirit of the Brillante Weblog award, but to all you quitters with blogs: Chile, Alice, Bee, Bobbi, Chessa, Cookiemouse, Brett, Leng (again), and Vegan CowGirl - I pass these awards on to you guys! Anyone who joins beyond this point, consider yourselves recipients as well.

To Claire and Courtney, since you don't have blogs, here is my rudimentary People Who Rock Award. :-)










'Til next time!

13 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Ahh, heavenly produce - everything looks so fresh and WONDERFUL!! Can't wait to see what meals you make next with the "local booty" :0)

Congratulations on the award!!

Unknown said...

Thanks for the award. Great pictures!

Anonymous said...

Ohh fresh veggies! You guys are so lucky!

Thanks for the tip on how to freeze veggies. Great way to save money and not waste food. too funny that Brett sucked all the air out with a straw. haha. Luckily you guys didn't have ALOT of veggies or else he's be blue in the face.

Your definitely deserve the award.

P.S. can I change my quite now challenge thingy. I don't think I'll have an easy time going vegan (at this moment). I can't get enough of yogurt. LOL. Plus, I got to thinking about it more and realized that I DO NOT recycle at all, so I'd probably due more good with that. :-D

Anonymous said...

Wow--you lucked out this week with the produce from Brett's dad! That is wonderful! The tomatoes from your garden look delicious...yum.

Congrats on the award--you deserve it! I always enjoy your thoughtful posts and lovely photos.

Hahaha! Thanks for the people who rock shout out!

Courtney

Lisa (Show Me Vegan) said...

Congrats on your award! Your posts really are inspiring regarding good food as well as making a positive impact on the environment.

Chessa said...

That booty looks awesome! That's great that you're putting so much food up.

Congrats on the reward, and for "sharing" it with us! I'm touched. (seriously.) :)

J said...

Veggie Girl - I was happy to get all the produce, but it was definitely work getting it all processed.

I've got a few recipes up my sleeve to try out this week. ;-)

Thanks!

Cookiemouse - Thank YOU for signing up for the challenge.

Yeah, Brett is much better with the camera than I am. He might have to start being the official picture taker.

Leng - No problem, it took a long time, but you are right, we WILL save money and avoid food waste. Not only that, we'll be able to enjoy local veggies in the dead of winter.

Hahaha, yeah, he had a break in between sucking the air out of bags.

Aw, thank you!

Recycling is a wonderful habit to get in to, we got you marked down for recycling for the month of August now.

Courtney - Yes, we thought it was a mixed blessing, it was nice getting all that food, but it's a little bit like someone getting their wife an ironing board for their birthday, the gift involved a lot of work on Brett and my part.

Aw, thank you Courtney, that means a lot.

No problem, about 10 minutes on Macromedia Fireworks and you got yourself a rudimentary award.

Lisa - Thank you!

Chessa - I couldn't think of anyone better to pass the award on to besides people who have my utmost respect for the sacrifices they are willing to make to do their part. You all should be very proud.

Chile said...

Aw shucks, thanks!

Do you want me to send you the lemon zucchini relish recipe? It's tasty and can be waterbath canned if you don't omit ingredients. ;-)

J said...

Chile - Hey woman you deserve this. All the work you have put into this and other challenges, all the information and resources you provide us. I was truly stoked to find your blog, you've helped us out in ways you'll never know, I'm sure others feel that way as well. It's nice to "know" someone with cajones, dedication, creativity, and loads of information who is willing to share it.

That relish recipe would be wonderful, I'm not going to be lucky enough to survive this summer without a lot more zucchini making it's way into my apartment.

Chile said...

Thank you for your nice words. Now if I could figure out who started that damn award. I can't track it down (and I like to...cuz I'm weird.)

J said...

Chile - No problem, the words are much deserved.

Hahaha, good luck tracking that down!

Jam - Wonderful! You made a great choice!

We got you marked down and welcome to the challenge!

Bianca said...

Looks like somebody's gonna be making some zucchini bread! I love it this time of year when there's so much squash and zucchini, you have to find creative ways to use it all. Or freeze it, which is awesome that you're doing btw.

J said...

Bianca - You got it, once it isn't too hot out to turn the oven on, I'll have shredded local zucchini waiting for me. Mmmmmm.

I have a love/hate relationship with the squash right now. I know come winter, I will really appreciate having it, but right now, man, it's just overwhelming.