It came! It came!

Our first CSA box arrived on Thursday and we have been cooking like crazy ever since.  For the uninitiated, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture and is a wonderful idea for people who want homegrown food but can't grow everything they want in a garden and don't always have the time or the forethought to hit the farmer's market.  Our first box contained collards, curly kale, sweet potatoes, turnips, strawberries asparagus and cabbage.  Our dinner the first night consisted of cheese pie (it's really a white cheddar quiche but we call it cheese pie because that's what Angelina Ballerina eats) sauteed collards, and strawberries with whipped cream.  You can see Ruthie enjoyed hanging out in the box while she licked the whipped cream off the spatula. 

 The fun part has been trying to find ways to use new vegetables.  So far the kale has been featured in vegetarian lasagna and kale and Parmesan risotto.  The asparagus was roasted and topped with kalamata olive vinaigrette and the strawberries have just been eaten up, no chance to make jam or marmalade.  Today I'm trying to work with the rest of the veggies.  We're making crock pot barbecue using pork tenderloin and George's Barbecue Sauce and then we'll have cole slaw and carmelized turnips to go with it.  The other half of the cabbage is going to be used to make Borscht, along with some beats I found at the store.  If any of you haven't tried Borscht, you should.  It is easy as pie and delicious.  Beware, it does make your pee pink.  It is also one of the prettiest foods I've ever eaten.  Just a big bowl of dark pink yumminess.  I'll have to take a picture of it when I'm done.

Well, for some reason the creative juices just aren't flowing and I am starting to feel the pre-call stress of trying to make my house tidy and functional with an abundance of decent food for Bobby and the kids (and ME if I make it back here for any meals tomorrow.)  So I'll leave you with a link to an interesting discussion of CSAs and Farmer's Markets and other summer veggie options.  Happy Monday!

http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2011/04/18/monday-mission-where-are-your-summer-veggies-coming-from/#more-10702