CSA Weeks 2 and 3

I know I am at least a week behind on my CSA posting, but first I have to mention the delicious strawberries shown in this picture. Shannon spent a Friday morning in Chesterfield picking berries, and there was a huge bowl on the table when I got home from work. They were gone in two days, and were so perfect that they didn't need anything besides a quick rinse.

But Back to Week 2, which featured some grilling in honor of Memorial Day, and a few made over sandwiches. We only had half a bag of salad to contend with that week, and the standard add-ins - olive oil, sunflower seeds, freshly ground pepper, red wine vinegar - made their appearances.

I had neglected a few spring onions from the winter co-op, and mixed them into the new spring onions with olive and spices to throw on the grill. They were smoky and sweet, a refreshing side dish to the cheeseburgers and chicken leftover from the holiday.

While steamed broccoli isn't something out of the ordinary for me to make on a week night, this broccoli was noticeably more flavorful than anything from the grocery store despite some yellow florets.


On the same night I roasted the small Japanese turnips and revamped a tuna sandwich with some of the mesclun mix and fresh toast.

Friday night was another grilling event, this time with marinated flat iron steak, grilled potato chips, and Asian greens with warm ginger dressing. The tatsoi, mizuna, and baby pac choi wilted part of the way with the dressing, and I covered them to trap some of the heat and help them lose their excessive crunch.

I improved upon another leftover sandwich with the salad mix Monday for lunch. The greens lightened a portabello and pesto panini from Can Can. For dinner that evening Davy and I made a quick stir fry/fried rice dish with our leftover Asian greens, the remainder of the steamed broccoli, rice, and some of the grilled steak.


The fried rice provided lunch the next day, and by the time of the next pick up all that we were left with was a small amount of the salad mix.

Last Tuesday night Davy made a shrimp and white bean dish with cous cous from Real Simple. He substituted our garlic scapes for scallions, and sauteed mizuna and tatsoi with garlic and fish sauce to have on the side. We had leftovers for lunch on Wednesday, and then the vegetables were put on hold for a few days while I was out of town.

I brought the Swiss chard and turnips to my parents, and on Saturday night we sauteed the chard with garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. The greens were a satisfying addition to the grilled salmon and potatoes we also ate for dinner.

After a few more delays, I managed to saute the baby squash and spring onions to combine with cous cous. It was nice to use the last of the produce and cous cous from the shrimp dish, and by stirring in feta the dish made a healthy summer meal. We ate the cous cous Tuesday night, and decided to start the next CSA week at the same time by making a salad with the new bag of mesclun mix. We also got a small cucumber, which added some crunch and some much-needed variety to the salad.

The pak choi still looks healthy in its plastic bag in the fridge, and the mustard greens had to be given away so that they wouldn't be rotten by the time we got to them. Overall I think we did a decent job eating what we had around, but I'm sure the challenges of after work activities and weekend trips will continue throughout the summer.