Veg*n Cooking and Other Random Musings: Weekly Local Booty 9/1-9/13/08

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Weekly Local Booty 9/1-9/13/08

Rain, rain GO AWAY! It seems like it has been raining almost constantly for the last week. It's been a really rainy, and very mild summer as well. I suppose we shouldn't complain about the mild temperatures, but the rain has really made things difficult for gardeners and farmer's in the area.

Anywho, onto the local booty for the week.

Check out the mega load we got from the container and community gardens this week:















:-)

Things are fairly slow goin' in the container garden, but they are going. The Roma is trying to make a comeback and the Better Boy is moving along. We did get a few Roma tomatoes this week, but forgot to get pictures of them.

Check out the CSA this week:















From the right we have: cilantro, a zucchini, a cucumber, a yellow squash, a green bell pepper, a large tomato, a bunch of Roma tomatoes, and some apples (!!).

This is what $24 can get you at the Columbia Farmer's Market:















From the right we have: local penne pasta, shiitake mushrooms, 2 Japanese eggplants, a zucchini, baby bok choy, snap peas, mung bean sprouts, a cantaloupe, 3 lbs. of red potaotes - in an apple bag :-), and fresh basil.

I just wish some of the produce didn't come in packaging. Any ideas on how to get around that?

I hope everyone is having a good weekend.

'Til next time.

13 comments:

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

It's raining here too... but it's ok; we need the rain.

I love the cute chili peppers. Perfect for your specialty-- Mexican cuisine!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

It's flooding here :0(

Great produce!

Catherine Weber said...

I have issues with all of the plastic bags at my Farmer's Markets, too. I take my own cloth produce bags and when they go to dump my produce in a plastic bag, I shout (over all of the noise,) "I don't need a bag!!"

I got my produce bags from www.ecobags.com -- they are awesome! I use them ALL the time.

I bet you could at least resue that clamshell package that the pasta came in. And I reuse plastic bags a bunch.

Unknown said...

awesome stuff!!! i bought an eggplant today too... it was only $1 so i figured... aw heck, i'll try it.

Lisa (Show Me Vegan) said...

A great haul from your farmer's market! The pasta sold at our farmer's market is not vegan, so nice that you have the option! The rain missed us yesterday, but today it's raining like crazy here.

Anonymous said...

Your CSA bounty looks great! What kind of apples did you get--do you know? I *love* apples and am so excited it is getting to be fall and apple season...a trip to the apple orchard is in my future!

Courtney

Anonymous said...

Yeah, it's like non-stop raining here, too, but at least we're not having flooding. There were bad floods in the North a few days ago! Yikes!

jessy said...

those chili peppers are adorable! :) mega-load made me laugh! yay!

everything else looks awesome, too! and i'm not too sure how to get around the packaging at the farmer's market (besides just avoiding it). maybe if you talk to the vendors and express your concerns about the packaging (plastic waste, environmental impact, etc.) they might be more open to offering some plastic free goodies next time! it's worth a shot! :D

i can't wait to see what you guys make with all the tasty booty

J said...

Chocolate Covered Vegan - Glad to hear you all are getting some much needed rain.

You can bet your buns that is what those peppers will be going in!

Veggie Girl - Oh no! That is horrible! I hope you are in a safe area and are doing alright. There are some neighborhoods in Columbia that have experienced a little flooding, but nothing on our side of town or anything major.

Stay dry!

Catherine - Thank you for the link for the produce bags, Brett and I looked at the site, I think we're going to get a set of 5. You rock with all the great suggestions you've been giving us.

We reuse plastic bags. They make good "kitty poo receptacle". Good idea with the pasta clamshell, I bet it would be good for use to hold odds and ends like envelopes of seeds or nuts, screws, and other "doo-dads".

Selina - Thanks.

Good for you trying the eggplant again. We made a yummy stir-fry last night with one of the Japanese eggplants, and will use the other tonight for a soba noodle dish. I'll be blogging about those sometime this week (I still have stuff from LAST WEEK, I'm such a slacker).

Can't wait to see what you make with your eggplant!

Lisa - Thanks. Really? What's in them? Eggs? Ours are just water, salt, olive oil, and semolina or whole wheat flour!

You're lucky you missed the first wave of rain. It was crazy here, it didn't let up for DAYS. It's nice to see the sun today.

Courtney - Thanks! You know, I don't know. I'll have to ask Dan on Saturday, I'd like to know myself. I love apple season too. I am going to savor all the varieties that I can. I wish more farmers around here produced organic apples, so far Dan's are the only organic ones we've come across.

Do you just eat them as a hand fruit or do you make things with them? We've always just eaten them as hand fruit, since neither of us like pie - though we do like pie filling, pie crust is just ick. I know there is more that can be done. I need to get more creative with my fruit!

Shellyfish - All over the world and people are being inundated with water - we are starting to think the Midwest is going to have a Monsoon Season! The flooding has been pretty bad here in areas. I think we've had enough rain. Last count, which was over a month ago was we were around 12 inches over normal rainfall for the year, and we've had quite a few rains since then. It's been a bane to the farmer's, and, well, anyone who lives by a river or in a low lying area.

Jessy - Haha, well I thought some might get a kick out of that. That's really the only angle of humor I can go for; I have horrible delivery so I don't even try to tell jokes. :-)

It's difficult. As Catherine said, I can decline bags, which I usually do (unless we need kitty poo bags), but things like the pasta and basil were pre-packaged like that. Mentioning it to them though is a good idea. Not sure what the pasta purveyor could do, beyond accepting the clamshells for reuse, but the basil purveyor could just sell loose basil.

I'm a little behind I still have some food from last week to post about, but I won't be rambling this week and now that I have the garden update out of the way, it's all food porn for the rest of the week.

Anonymous said...

I only like the pie filling too! How funny--I have never been a fan of crust :o)

My favorite way to eat apples is to eat them out of hand--kind of boring, I know, but I seriously just love them sooooo much! Occasionally I enjoy making homemade apple sauce (I like to make it chunky and with lots of cinnamon) and I *love* apple butter too. It takes longer than apple sauce, but it is worth it. For the most part, though, just eating them out of hand is my favorite way--so quick and easy and delicious.

Courtney

J said...

Courtney - A fellow pie crust hater! You would get along here in CoMo just fine. ;-)

Not boring at all, that is our favorite way as well. I just thought that I should be "expanding my horizons" a little bit in the apple department.

I LOVE the sound of chunky applesauce with lots of cinnamon. Do you use a recipe from a specific cookbook, a family recipe, just Google it online?

APPLE BUTTER, my Nanny used to make that all the time. My mom and I would always pilfer a jar or two when we went to visit. I wonder why she doesn't make it anymore. I should ask her to make some!

Anonymous said...

Jennifer

Nope--no recipe...I just kind of do my own thing! I basically peel and cut a bunch of apples, add them to a big pot with a little bit of water (enough to cover the bottom of the pot), and bring the water to a boil. Then I cover it, turn down the heat and let it simmer away for a while (til the apples are soft). THEN, take the lid off and let it cook til the water is evaporated--you can then mash up the apples to your desired consistency (I like to leave it pretty chunky). This is also when I add the cinnamon to taste. I don't add sweetener, but if you wanted to add some, I think this would be the time. I let it cook a little longer, and then there you have it! It is simple, easy, and good :o)

Definitely ask for apple butter...it is such a yummy treat!

Courtney

J said...

Courtney - Thanks for the quasi-recipe. I would have never known what to do, I imagined it would be quite difficult. This doesn't sound difficult at all. I think I'll have to try it out! Thanks!