A Fall Double!

So, we've been on a short hiatus, partly because I was away on research.  (Karen did an admirable job of keeping the Queer Hipster Kitchen moving - there were doughnuts and a vegetarian shepherd's pie waiting when I got home!)  But we're back and the kitchen has been busy this week.

When we travel, we are able to put a "vacation hold" on our amazing CSA, which lets us schedule a double share for a future week.  (This is an amazing feature and part of why we love this CSA.  Besides, you know, the incredible veggies.)  Due to unexpected travel, we had a forthcoming double.  I *thought* I'd scheduled it for the last week of the fall CSA, before we transition to the winter one.  But it turns out that, nope, I scheduled it for this past week.

Surprise!  A double!

I love a double, but it does take some planning.  Yes, that is five medium eggplant, two butternut squash, two cauliflower, two bundles of cooking greens, two bundles of kale, two batches of carrots (with greens), and a big old container of potatoes.  The apples aren't pictured.  We get five pounds of apples per week.

So what did we do?  First, panic.  Then, get to cooking.  Greens are easy: we replenished our frozen saag supplies.

  

 One of the best things about fall cooking, in my view, is that it's a great time to get out the crock pot.  This is especially true when we're both working full time, though it's slightly alleviated by my research leave this semester.  But when there's a double, well.  Gotta get stuff done - and in a hurry.

Above are pictured this week's endeavors: a new recipe, a spicy red lentil chili on the left (already in its jars for the week), and an old favorite on the crock pot in the right: butternut squash soup.  Our soup is incredibly simple and a beautiful thing to make in the crock pot.  It's versatile, easily adjusted, and delicious.  And it's vegan.  This time, I had a cup of canned pumpkin, left over from making breakfast oatmeal, so I tossed that in just to use it up.  We toasted up part of an old loaf of bread to make croutons, and all of it is coming soon to a bowl near you.  Or near me, anyway. 

The eggplant was roasted and became a spicy dip that I invented on the go.  We brought it along to a wonderful potluck at the home of some friends.  So, that's two down!  But there was the not-so-small problem of TEN POUNDS OF APPLES, compounded with the fact that we had leftover apples from previous weeks.  Luckily, an overabundance of apples is never a problem.

That, friends, is a proper apple crisp.  It's a recipe I have made a thousand times, ever-so-slightly modified from my mom's recipe.  (I use more apples and less sugar.)  Still, only just so many apples fit into a 9x9 pan, so the rest of them got cooked up into delicious, delicious applesauce, which will be used for baking (and eating) throughout the fall.

We're definitely going to be managing this double into next week, especially the potatoes and that lovely cauliflower.  And I'm excited to see what goodies our winter CSA yields: we've been told to expect roots and greens, and we're continuing the apple share into the season.  So it'll be fresh local veggie treats until Christmas here!