So our CSA (community supported agriculture) is through Green Gardens in Battle Creek. I chose them because they posted on the EatLocalSWMI yahoo group. That simple. Luckily, they're a great farm (certified naturally grown, which is just like organic w/o the organic label) and a great couple of people. They're wonderful, young (my age!) and obviously in love and loving what they do. Happy food from happy people to make people happy.
Each week we pick up our box at the Bank Street Farmer's Market. Trent sends us an email beforehand that outlines what we should expect and gives us a link to their website, where they have posted recipes. An online cookbook with my food - wonderful!
This week our box contained:
1 bunch collard greens
1 bunch curly kale
1 bunch pac (bok) choi
1 bunch salad turnips
1 bunch radishes
1 bag salad greens
1 bunch garlic whistles (scape)
1 small bag snap peas
1 bunch cilantro
Doesn't that sound great? Some day, maybe, I'll take pictures so you can drool over it all. I wanted to this week, but we started cooking as soon as we got home. Here's what we had:
Day 1 (Saturday):
Breakfast - Farmer's Market eggs scrambled w/ CSA kale & garlic whistles (sauteed in butter)
Lunch - Large salads w/ CSA greens, salad turnips, radishes, snap peas, Farmer's Market carrots, and meat (I think we had left-over steak)
Dinner - Stuffed peppers w/ Farmer's Market ground beef and garlic whistles
I grabbed my dehydrator which had been living in my in-laws' basement and dehydrated the cilantro since I had no plans for Mexican food this week. It smells and looks gorgeous, though.
Day 2 (Sunday):
Breakfast - Farmer's Market egg omelette w/ CSA kale & garlic whistles (sauteed in butter) & local bread
Lunch - Large salads w/ CSA greens, salad turnips, radishes, snap peas, Farmer's Market carrots, and meat (either steak or pork tenderloin) & local bread
Dinner - Left-overs (I had a stuffed pepper)
Dessert - Plainwell ice cream & Thin Mints... yum!
Day 3 (Monday):
Breakfast - Farmer's Market egg omelette w/ CSA kale & garlic whistles (sauteed in butter) & local bread
Lunch - Large salads w/ CSA greens, salad turnips, radishes, snap peas, Farmer's Market carrots, and meat (either steak or pork tenderloin) & local bread
Dinner - My mom's lasagna w/ kale & garlic whistles, plus collard greens instead of noodles
I also ended up making veggie stock w/ left-over veggie pieces. I just keep a gallon freezer bag in the freezer and add any odds & ends from cooking (onion pieces; carrot, turnip, radish tops; ends of asparagus, celery - anything I'd normally throw away). Then I dump it all in a stock pot w/ 12 cups of water and some herbs and let it simmer for 2 hours. Then I strain it w/ a cheese cloth (yes, I have cheese cloth in the house) and freeze it in 1-c containers.
Day 4 (Tuesday):
Breakfast - Well, nothing local here. Matt made apple & banana pancakes... but only because we only had 3 eggs and 1 garlic whistle left. :(
Lunch - Large salads w/ CSA greens, salad turnips, radishes, snap peas, Farmer's Market carrots, and meat (pork tenderloin) & local bread
Dinner - Stir Fry w/ Farmers Market chicken (Otto's), carrots, and parsnips, & CSA kale, pac choi, peas, garlic whistle, and other veggies.
Dessert - Strawberry shortcake w/ Farmers Market strawberries
Today I also bought a TON more garlic whistles and strawberries at the Farmers Market. The herb lady told me how to freeze dry the garlic whistles at home: cut them up, put them in a paper bag, put bag in freezer. Shake every time I get into freezer. Store in airtight container. Reconstitute as needed. So I did that today, plus we froze more strawberries AND I tried my hand at strawberry fruit leather using the dehydrator. It's yummy, but we only have one fruit leather tray, and it takes so many strawberries... I'm not sure I'll be doing that again until the girls start asking for Fruit Roll-Ups in their lunches. ;)
Tomorrow I'll stop by the Richland Farmers Market to buy more chicken, beef, and maybe pork. Definitely need eggs and bread. Hopefully our Meijer bill will drop, right? ;) I need to sort through and organize our deep freezer, because it's been completely overrun by new stuff and there's no way to tell what's in there. That's my job between the LLL meeting in the morning and Sophia's doctor appointment in the afternoon... right... ;)
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