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Hello, veggies!


Today was the day: we went back to our local farmers market to get our first CSA box.

sign reading "Farmers Market Today"
Hooray!  Market Day!!

We get an e-mail on Thursdays that gives us a sense for what to expect, so we knew to anticipate an abundance of fresh, delicious, organic seasonal veggies grown nearby.  I made a tentative meal plan, leaving some flexible spaces on purpose so we could account for volume once we knew what we had.  Karen made sure the massive reusable bag was in the car, and away we went!

The market was a bit busier today, but we took our time perusing.  We returned our egg carton to the farmer who we bought eggs from last week, stopped for cold brew coffee (again - not sorry!) and wandered our way to the back corner of the market, where CSA pickup happens.  We picked up a loaf of bread on the way, and I admired the golden beets.

We checked in to pick up our CSA, and the farmer showed us where to tick off our names on the list and pick up our medium-sized share.  If you've never done a CSA, you sign up for a share which includes a given number of units a week: in our case, seven.  A "unit" is just whatever you'd buy in the grocery store.  So, you might get a head of lettuce, a pint of peas, a bunch of kale, etc.

Or, like us this week, you might get a box of strawberries, a box of peas, a head of cooking greens, a bag of salad mix, a napa cabbage, scallions, and four summer squash.

Turns out the medium share is unquestionably enough for two people.  Our bag was packed.  But I wasn't leaving without some of those beets, so we found a little space for those, too.

Zucchini and some of those fabulous beets.
Goodies!


Did I mention that we still have some lettuce and kale left over from last week?

From there, it was a trip to the co-op for some of the non-vegetable things we are eating this week.  The good news is that the list was short.  The bad news is that we're still fairly new to the co-op, which means we get really excited about pretty much everything.  Friends, we went hard.

The green bag in the back left is the CSA. One bag contains dishwasher soap and stuff from Target. The rest is shelf-stable, thank God.

Fortunately, the fridge was mostly empty, except that lettuce and kale. The fridge is no longer empty.  (Karen came up with the brilliant idea to clip an index card to each bag of veggies to serve as a label, to help us distinguish between the various kinds of delicious greens.)

So what are we going to do with it?  The menu this week:

  • Breakfast: toast with various nut butters (a mixed nut, sunflower butter, and straight-up creamy peanut butter) and fruit
  • Lunch: green salad with chickpeas, cranberries, & sunflower seeds
  • Dinners: beet & goat cheese pizza with kale salad; a massive stir-fry; taco night; veggie burgers with zucchini fries, a new recipe I am trying out; shrimp on squash noodles

About that taco night: I've got a summer research student this year, and it's tradition that we invite my research student over to have dinner early in the summer.  That's this week!  (My student is absolutely fabulous, and I'm having a blast working with her.)  She happens to be vegan, so we're whipping up a batch of vegan sweet potato tacos and a wacky chocolate cake for dessert.

Stay tuned this week for the amazing Karen's DIY cold brew coffee (because kits are for wimps), with bonus homemade coffee syrups.




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