CSA Diary: Week Fourteen, Fifteen & Sixteen

Well, I think I must have hit the summer rut. I've just been making repeats of tried-and-trues for weeks now. But here's a bit of it, just in case you're dying to know what I've been putting in my belly...

What I Got:

• Edamame (pictured below)
  
• Eggplant
• Garlic
• Green Beans
• Green Peppers
  
• Hot Peppers
• Sweet Corn
  
• Yellow Tomatoes (pictured below)
  
• Yellow Squash
• Zucchini

What I Made:

• Salsa Tacos: Sauteed fake meat with finely chopped zucchini and yellow squash and packet of taco seasoning. Served in a taco shell with a crapload of fresh yellow tomato salsa (tastes the same as red tomato salsa!), some cheddar cheese and some sour cream.
  
• Green Beans: Steamed green beans with butter and garlic salt. Simple, but oddly satisfying.
  
• Colorful Veggie Pasta: Sauteed hot peppers, green pepper, garlic, edamame (boiled and de-podded first), zucchini, yellow squash, sweet corn and green beans. Tossed with olive oil and lemon juice. Topped with chopped tomatoes, slivered almonds and freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
  
• Eggplant Randomness: Eggplant sauteed with hot peppers, garlic, basil, yellow squash. Tossed with marinara sauce and spaghetti. Topped with slivered almonds and feta cheese.
  

CSA Diary: Week Thirteen

What I Got:

• Garlic
• Green Beans
  
• Green Peppers
• Tomatoes
• Yellow Squash
  
• Zucchini
  

What I Made:

• Tomato & Cheese Sandwiches: White bread, toasted. Sliced tomatoes. Provolone cheese, sliced. Veganaise. Repeat many times over many days.
  
• Fried Egg on Bed of Salsa: Lots of salsa (tomatoes, green peppers, ancho peppers, garlic, onion and lemon juice.) to be eaten! This week's made a nice bed for my sad and pathetic attempts at frying an egg. Still tasty, though.
• Steamed Green Beans: Microwaved green beans for 2 minutes with garlic salt and a bit of butter. Super easy.
  
• Salty Smores: Not at all green, but oh so yummy! Graham crackers and World Market's Sea Salt Dark Chocolate, microwaved with two marshmallows for 9 seconds.
  

CSA Diary: Week Twelve

What I Got:

• Ancho Peppers
• Green Leaf Lettuce
• Green Peppers
• Okra (That I pawned off onto to Susan!)
• Tomatoes (lots & lots of tomatoes!)
  

What I Made:

• Corn Salad: Green leaf lettuce tossed with corn*, tomatoes, cucumber* and salted pepitas. Topped with bleu cheese dressing (of course.)
  
• Salsa Mac: Leftover macaroni & cheese topped with fresh salsa (tomatoes, green peppers, ancho peppers, garlic, onion and lemon juice.)
• Cucumber Salad: Cucumber*, tomatoes, and white onion tossed with a splash of red wine vinegar and olive oil. (I often add feta cheese to this, but was out of it, so I made the following instead:)
  
• Red, White & Green Provolone Sandwiches: White bread spread with Veganaise, layered with provolone cheese and cucumber salad as listed above.
  

CSA Diary: Week Eleven

So, I wanted to preface this post by saying that the "what I got" section of my CSA diary is a bit a-typical. This is my 4th(?) year with my CSA, and it has been a rough one. Weather has prevented our farmers from gleaning all that they had planned for in this year's harvest. This is why joining a CSA is so important to farmers. It makes it slightly less of a gamble for those using organic practices to weather out the bad years when they know that they have loyal clients who will continue to support them. It's difficult, knowing that my bounty isn't quite as plentiful as it has been in past years, but then again, it's given me an excuse to eat out more often!

What I Got:

• banana pepper
• basil
• eggplant
• garlic
• green pepper
• jalapeno pepper
• tomatoes (3 different kinds)

What I Made:

• Rainbow Salsa: I diced up the deep purple, cherry red and bright yellow tomatoes along with the green, banana and jalapeno peppers and a few cloves of garlic to make a tasty salsa. Throw in a bit of lemon and some diced onion and you're set!
• Eggplant Parmesan, Kinda: Diced up an eggplant and sauteed it with a few cloves of garlic and some olive oil. Added in some basil and some marinara sauce, then topped with almonds, mozzarella cheese and some Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. The almonds replaced the texture of the usual bread crumbs and added to the nuttiness of the cheese.