Details, Details

   Share #6 had some good things in it. Unfortunately, a number of them went bad much more quickly than I expected them to.

Here's what happened to Share #6:

The chard got used last night as a bed of greens under poached eggs. I sauteed it with garlic. 
The ears of corn got used for a small Shabbat dinner a week and a half ago. Not all of them got eaten. I got through most of the leftovers, though.
Half a summer squash got sauteed and mixed with pasta. The other one and a half died far more quickly than I expected, so I never got to eat them. I think they were picked before the hurricane, so they'd already been hanging around for the better part of a week before I got them. And that was the last of the CSA summer squash for me this year.
The tomatoes: hmm... I think one died, one got eaten raw, and one got used to make a sort of tomato sauce to put on my pasta.
The cucumbers got eaten raw, as did most of the peppers. One of the green peppers had some unexpected heat to it, which made it useless to munch on (at least for me), but I cooked with it when I made the poached eggs. (See below)
The eggplant got roasted with some zucchini from the supermarket. (Had I realized the CSA squash was on the way out, I would have used that instead.) It came out pretty yummy.

New recipes/experiments:

1. Roasted eggplant worked really well. Olive oil, salt, pepper, into the oven at 500-ish for a while.

2. Poached eggs with sauteed green pepper on a bed of chard: I got these little silicone egg holders so my poached eggs wouldn't lose half their whites in the water. I wanted to get rid of that pepper, so I sauteed it, and put it beneath the raw eggs so that it cooked into the bottom of the whites. Then, all of it went onto a bed of chard sauteed with garlic. 

Unfortunately, the chard was very much on the way out, the garlic burned, and I had too many flavors going on to really figure out what I did and didn't like.

And now for this week's share:

- 3 small carrots
- 7 small beets
- 2 jalapenos
- 3 small peppers
- 1 winter squash
- 6 leaves of collard greens
- 1 bunch of sweet potato greens
- 1 fennel
- 1 eggplant

Thing that went into the swap box (first time I swapped!): fennel
Thing that came out of the swap box: more carrots. Magic.

Thing I considered putting in there but didn't: beets. I should really learn how to do something yummy with them.

Things I'm excited to try out: collard greens and sweet potato greens

Thing I have no idea how to cook: winter squash. Should be interesting.
   

 Hi all. 

Just for the sake of consistency, here's the post from last week that went directly onto Facebook because LJ was down.

For those of you seeing this on facebook, I'll try to delete this note once it cross-posts so that you won't see it twice.

Here goes:

Hi all.

So I can't refer back to my CSA list because that's in a Livejournal post, and Livejournal is down at the moment. But here's what I've done with my share so far - and how I used up some more of Share #2:

Share #2: One more update

Broccoli and kohlrabi actually got used! I had a surprise Shabbat guest (hooray!) who is vegetarian, and since I was taking her along to meals with me, decided that an extra side dish wouldn't hurt - and gave me an excuse to use up the veggies I couldn't eat. I did an internet search for broccoli and kohlrabi together, and found an interesting recipe - that I then modified based on what was in the apartment, since there was no way I was leaving my AC for another shopping trip in 100 degree weather.

Ingredients:
- 1 head of broccoli (greens already eaten)
- 1 and a half kohlrabi (what do you call an individual kohlrabi? Again, greens already eaten.)
- olive oil (for sauteeing)
- onion (from Share #3!)
- craisins
- slivered almonds

1. blanch the broccoli (the internet tells me this takes 3 minutes). Boil the kohlrabi for 2 minutes. I did both in the same pot, and left them in for a bit longer because there wasn't enough water so I had to add more which made it un-boil.
2. chop the broccoli into small pieces and chop the kohlrabi into what the recipe calls matchsticks.
3. toast almonds (I had leftovers from another dish I had just made. Otherwise, I would have tossed them in untoasted. They weren't in the original recipe anyway.)
4. sautee craisins (because I like them better sauteed than not, and it doesn't at much prep time.)
5. sautee onions
6. make a dressing with balsamic vinegar and sugar that no one will use anyway, because they all liked it without the dressing just fine (which is to say, not doing that next time.)
7. mix everything together and serve at room temperature because that's just how it happened.

I think the recipe I based it on came from
http://www.lemonbasilpdx.com.

Share #3 so far:

I used the microwave to steam one ear of corn. It mostly tasted good, except for one spot that was a bit rotten, and the top was missing some kernels. But the good part (most of it) tasted good.

I used the lettuce remaining from Share #2 plus some from Share #3 to make that same salad again for Shabbat, the one with apples and cucumber. (and finished the leftover salad today at lunch.)

I also ate half of a cucumber on its own with lunch one day.

I used some of the onion as noted above, and also in another side dish I made for Shabbat (string beans with sauteed onion and toasted almonds - hence the leftover almonds.) I think over half of the huge onion is now gone.

I sauteed a small amount of zucchini with garlic, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning and it was yummy as a side dish last night.

This evening, I experimented with arugula. I sauteed it with garlic, then tossed it in with some pasta and a bit of tomato sauce, then topped the whole thing with cheese. Either the garlic or the pasta masked the bitterness, and it worked well.

I also used some of the basil on top of a pita pizza again.

I think the basil won't get used up before it dies. The arugula may suffer a similar fate because it is dying quickly - but at least I found a way I like to eat it. I think the onion, zucchini, cucumbers, corn and lettuce will mostly get eaten. I still have to do some research on how to use the fennel and the dill - not that I have much dill. Also, I still have some beets left from Share #2, and I should probably get around to eating them at some point... (Hmm... wonder if there are any fennel and beet recipes out there... maybe I should do an internet search...)

And that is all.

So here's hoping this shows up on facebook without funny formatting...

Halfway through my second CSA share, but may not get to eat much more of it, since I am leaving tomorrow evening for some family time, and won't be back until Tuesday. But here's what I have done so far:

First, some leftovers from Share #1:

Dish #1: Turnip green chips
Results: I only had a few turnip greens left that hadn't turned yellow. I tore them up into small pieces, put them in some oil on a tray in the toaster oven, added some salt, and left them in until they stopped sizzling. They were a bit burnt, but still tasted good. I have a feeling this would be tricky to reproduce in larger quantities, though.

Dish #2: Shnitzel with cilantro, Version 2
Results: I found a better way to get the cilantro to stay on the chicken. Instead of putting it into the egg mixture, I sprinkled it on after the egg and before the matzoh meal, so each piece got a lot more of it - though only on one side. Once again, it worked really well.

And now, on to Share #2:

Dish #1: Poached eggs on a bed of sauteed broccoli greens
Results: This worked really well. The greens taste like broccoli, and I think I sauteed them without any seasoning. They also went well with the eggs. Still haven't had a chance to test my intolerance to broccoli, but I now know I can eat the greens. And they are yummy.

Dish #2: Kale sauteed with garlic
Results: Yes, I used real garlic this time, and yes, you were all right. It tastes better that way. I also got rid of what was still good from the previous bunch of kale, so this also used some Week 1 greens.

Dish #3: Salad made with lettuce, cucumber and apple
Results: the sweetness of the apple cut the bitterness of the lettuce for me - either that, or the lettuce was just less bitter this time. This salad worked well. I've been eating it with my lunch all week.

Dish #4: curly endives blanched, then sauteed with garlic powder and salt
Results: yes, I got lazy with the garlic. I used real garlic in the other dish I ate that night (see Dish #5). This dish tasted better cold than it did warm. I think next time, I'd try it without the salt, since I think that enhanced the bitterness. Overall, not yet a fan of curly endives.

Dish #5: penne pasta cooked in the water from the curly endives, then cooked baked ziti style with tomato sauce, muenster cheese, sauteed zucchini and garlic, and basil put on top at the end
Results: Really yummy, and while I don't usually use penne (I usually use macaroni), it worked really well for this dish.

Dish #6: sauteed tatsoi
Results: I tried it without any seasoning because I'd never eaten it before, and I think I like the flavor. It would also probably work well with garlic. Nice to meet another green I like - especially because I'd never heard of this one before.

Dish #7: "pizza" made on a whole wheat pita, with tomato sauce, sauteed zucchini and kohlrabi with garlic (and salt and pepper), muenster cheese, and basil added at the end.
Results: I don't think the basil went with the kohlrabi, so I wouldn't add it next time, but the rest of it worked okay. Apparently, I can eat kohlrabi. It tastes a bit like broccoli - except that, unlike broccoli, it seems I can eat it.

Dish #8: sauteed kohlrabi greens with garlic.
Results: these were yummy. I even ate the last few bites later in the evening.

What I have left:
- cilantro (from share #1!)
- some basil
- broccoli (now without greens)
- some curly endive
- 2 zucchinis - plus a bit of the third
- beets (and beet greens)
- one cucumber
- some kale
- a small amount of lettuce

What I actually finished:
- tatsoi

So... a lot left to eat, and not so many opportunities, because I am going away. That will be the challenge. (Some of it will be going away along with me, I think...)

On the plus side, I have a sense of what I want to do with all of it. It's just a matter of finding the time...

So, I'm not so into this past week's share, and my attempts to eat my way through it have met with mixed results. 

Since it's been an entire week, I may be misremembering when I ate what. 

Things I learned along the way:
- arugula is incredibly bitter
- sauteed arugula is considerably less bitter
- sauteeing flat greens (like turnip greens) doesn't work as well, because they stick together

Attempts I have made to eat my vegetables: (stuff from this past week's share are bolded - don't know whether that will transfer to facebook, though.)

Dish #1: Salad with lettuce and arugula, with a dressing made with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, garlic powder, sugar, cilantro and scallions. 
The verdict: the arugula was way too bitter - so bitter it was sharp - and the greens needed something better than that dressing, and possibly more vegetables, but I forced myself to eat some of it anyway.

Dish #2: Sauteed arugula with salt
The verdict: Success! These came out all crispy and yummy. I think I did them a second time with another meal.

Dish #3: Roasted turnips and beets with olive oil, salt, rosemary and thyme
The verdict: I liked some bites of turnip and beet but not others. Not sure whether I liked the bites with more spice, less spice, or just one spice over the other. Roasting them cut up worked better than roasting them whole. 

Dish #4: Sauteed kale with garlic powder
The verdict: This is a dish I do often, but it didn't work as well with this set of kale as it usually does. Go figure.

Dish #5: Sauteed turnip greens with garlic powder
They verdict: They were bitter, even sauteed. I may try parboiling them first next time and see whether it makes a difference. I ate them, but I didn't enjoy them.

Dish #6: Lettuce with cucumber, red peppers and Italian dressing
The verdict: The idea of buying other vegetables to get through the ones in my share is not one I like. Also, these vegetables still didn't help me like the lettuce. Maybe I just don't like this lettuce.

(part of) vegetable I still haven't tried: Beet greens