CSA 2013 Season!

CSA Week 2

Our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) started three weeks ago! I had hoped to start blogging again when the farmers markets opened or at least when our CSA started so I could post some ideas for all the seasonal veggies (and soon some fruits too) that are available at the farmers markets. But, life gets in the way...I'll try to remember what I did with most of our produce from the first two weeks of our CSA and ideas for this next week.

CSA Week 1

Let's see, Week 1 we received some leaf lettuce, spinach, radishes, rhubarb and two different kinds of chinese cabbage (pac choi and joy choi). We tried a Choi stirfry with cashews over rice and this yummy pasta dish, adding pine nuts that definitely increased the deliciousness (and nutritional value with more protein). Some of the rhubarb was used in a sourdough coffee cake and I still need to make something with the rest of it. The radishes were eaten with salt or on salads and most of the lettuce and spinach were used for various salads. Including one of our favorite wilted spinach salads, pictured here with strawberries, caramelized onions bacon and blue cheese.

Wilted Spinach Salad

Week 2 provided us with more chinese cabbage, spinach and leaf lettuce along with kohlrabi (greens not pictured as I used them the same night I received them and forgot to take the picture until later), a gorgeous head of butter crunch lettuce, and kale. This time the chinese cabbage was used to make a wonderful Bok Choy Salad that we took to a church potluck event. The kohlrabi was so tender, it left us craving more; we just sliced it up and ate it with salt. I used the kohlrabi greens in my rice and beans with greens and fried eggs meal - they were excellent! I'm trying hard to give up gluten so I've been using the buttercrunch lettuce to make lettuce wrap "sandwiches" for lunches. This Kale Salad was on my list of things to make, but wasn't quite as good as I had hoped. There are plenty of other kale salads that we prefer. With some of the spinach we made this curry dish, but would have like to have made this one if I had coconut milk in my cupboard. Also on my list of things to make is this Thai Crunch Salad with some adjustments of course, I wish I would have saved some of the chinese cabbage, but it will work well with lettuce and spinach. The leaf lettuce and spinach have gone into many salads and on sandwiches.

Please share your favorite seasonal recipes with me so I can try them too!

This post is part of Simple Lives Thursday and Real Food Wednesdays.