getting though the box...

A note on storage:

Maybe everyone already knows this little trick, but I like to store basil and some other herbs the same way you would with flowers, re-cut the stems and place in a little fresh water, then store out of direct sunlight. I just took this photo this morning, and the basil looks as good as it did when we got it. (6 days now) Still has farm dirt on it!

With lettuce, I've noticed that I sometimes won't finish the head before it goes bad, simply because I hate washing lettuce so much. (not sure why...) But I love salad, so I needed to find a better way. I got a salad spinner a while back, and now I wash the whole head at once, spin, then place a kitchen towel in the outer container of the spinner and dump in the lettuce. This keeps it fresh for at least a week, sometimes longer. The only downside is that the salad spinner takes up a huge portion of fridge space, so that can be problem when there's ton's of csa veg to fit in there!

I did that this week, and I still have lettuce that looks great. My mistake was assuming I could do the same with the baby greens... they didn't hold up nearly as well, maybe just from being so delicate?

Also, my scallions have completely wilted within about 2 days both weeks... anyone have better luck with those?

Here's one of my CSA dinners:
I usually favor one-pot dinners pretty strongly, but the csa has forced me to work a little harder for my meals! This one had three pans on the stove:

brown rice

tempeh: similar to book club night, i marinated it in lime, soy, a touch of honey, and pepper, then pan fried it with olive oil

veg: olive oil, added garlic, then tossed in mushrooms, chard*, broccoli*, and salt for a quick saute, pulled it off the stove and added scallions* and a little lemon juice.

I topped the meal with a little sprinkle of sunflower and pumpkin seeds, just for a little crunch and added protein, although this meal had plenty already. Used three csa items, including the chard which was my favorite find on thursday, and mushrooms that were about on their last leg!

Also this week, I made the kohlrabi about the same way as last time, tossed with olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and this week garlic greens. (much better pairing than savory!) This time I hid them in the back of the fridge for about 3 days before pulling them out, and they were super crunchy and delicious!

accidental leftovers at the end of the week: napa cabbage, turnips, and lettuce. I meant to make a slaw with the cabbage, hopefully will do that tonight, the turnips should be fine for a few more day I think, and the lettuce was a big disappointment... I kept wanting to eat it, but didn't have stuff around the house to add in for a tempting salad, and I didn't want to buy anything at the store, cause I had so much veg at home! ...a vicious cycle I will have to work harder on next week!

I think one of my problems is getting the box on thursday, and then following that up with a busy weekend that involves eating out too much... then somethings are wilted by the time monday comes around and I have the chance to cook! Last week we gave away a few whole bunches of things, and this week only partial ones. I find it's a lot easier to cut out a little of the variety, so I have less things to worry about cooking, and can keep the whole bunch of the things I really want!