The Great Utah CSA Experiment - Week 10!

This was the last week of August and I was SURE I'd get some tomatoes - but alas, it was not to be. I can't blame the CSAs - my father has some 15 tomato plants he gave an indoor head start to and he still didn't have any ripe ones - though he's still got a great crop of green tomatoes. The very cool spring and cooler-than-usual summer we've had has meant the tomato harvest is much later than usual. At least I received some peppers!

The East Farms share included the following:

	CSA SHARE		Price(Organic)				Price ('Normal')	Value
	0.99 lb Green Peppers (2)						1.29/lb	$1.28
	1.53 lb Onion						1.99/lb	$3.05
	0.80 lb Beets						2.45/lb	$3.06
	0.74 lb Summer Squash						1.99/lb	$1.47
	0.51 lb Eggplant (Oriental)						1.59/lb (Globe)	$0.81
	0.49 lb Green Beans						5.32/lb	$2.61
	2.98 lb Corn (4 ears)						3/1.00	$1.33

Only the peppers here are new, and I quickly made plans to cook stuffed peppers at the earliest convenience. My recipe changes every time (okay all my recipes do - but cooking is more fun when I get to experiment!) but generally the stuffing is very forgiving of on-the-fly changes. This time I decided to experiment with shredded zucchini in my stuffed peppers. Killing two vegetables with one dish sounded like a great idea to me, and sure enough, it was delicious.

This is also the second week of eggplant, which I was happy for: below is my recipe for Eggplant Parmesan. I was very happy for most of the produce - we've eaten very well the past few weeks with the same veggies in our shares. The beets, however, looked at me as if to say "well NOW what are you going to do? You can't ignore us forever!" I stuck them in the back of the refrigerator with the beets from last week and promptly forgot about them.

Also, you might have noticed that this share included an onion. That weighed 1.53 lbs. It was massive - I'm sure I have nieces and nephews with smaller heads than this onion, but I am afraid I didn't get pictures before it was summarily chopped into toppings for Navajo Tacos at a family party. Hopefully I'll remember to take pictures next time!

Monday rolled around quickly, as it tends to do, with another double share of delicious fruits and veggies from Borski Farms:

	CSA SHARE-A	CSA SHARE-B					Price ('Normal')	Value
	1.19 lb Eggplant (1, Globe)	1.00 lb Eggplant (1, Globe)					1.59/lb (Globe)	$3.48
	4.25 lb Cantaloupe (1)	3.11 lb Cantaloupe (1)					0.89/lb	$6.55
	1.5 lb Mixed Peppers	1.25 lb Mixed Peppers					1.99/lb	$5.47
	1.50 lb Peaches	1.44 lb Peaches					1.99/lb	$5.85
	0.25 lb Garlic	0.25 lb Garlic					1.99/lb	$1.00

By this time I must admit I was overwhelmed with produce. The two globe eggplants were perfect, the cantaloupe was wonderfully ripe, and I was excited for the first peppers of the season in my CSA - but I couldn't possibly eat it all. I made a few phone calls and then loaded up two small boxes with produce for my neighbors. Upon reflection, I added one of the edamame shares from last week as well as one of the bunches of beets. I had to keep the rest - it's part of the project! But I hoped it would buy me time to contemplate what to do with them.

I was lucky - when I delivered my boxes of produce to my neighbors, one of them stopped to talk to me about the edamame and the beets. She showed me how to pop them open and eat them fresh, and they were pretty good! Then she suggested I treat the beets the same way I had done with the potatoes - coat them with melted butter, salt, and rosemary, and roast them in the oven. This I did the very same day, mostly because I didn't want them to go bad. I cut them into uniform size pieces (some didn't need cutting, others did) and roasted two bunches, so there would be sufficient for both Craig and I for a snack before we went camping over the weekend. I am sorry to say that he never got any, but I don't feel the least bit guilty about eating them all myself. I'd do it all over again! (Yes, oven roasted beets are THAT good.)

Recipes for Week 10:

-----Eggplant Parmesan-----

This dish, at its simplest, need not be anything more complicated than drizzling marinera sauce over breaded and baked eggplant slices. My version of it is basically eggplant lasagna, having replaced the noodles with the aforementioned slices.

1-2 eggplant
3 eggs
1.5 c. breadcrumbs
2 T. parsley, chopped
1 c. mozzarella cheese
1 c. cottage cheese
Italian seasoning
1 jar (26 oz.) marinara sauce
1/2 lb ground beef or sausage, cooked (optional)

Beat 1 egg with 1 T. water in a shallow dish with a fork until uniform. Combine the parsley and breadcrumbs in a separate dish. Peel the eggplant, then cut into slices 1/4" thick. Dip the eggplant slices into the egg mixture, coating both sides, then into the breadcrumbs. Arrange on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 F for 10 minutes, then remove the sheet, turn the slices, and bake again until light brown around the edges. Meanwhile, prepare the marinara sauce by adding italian seasoning (to taste) and the meat to a small saucepan. Heat through. In a separate bowl, combine the other 2 eggs, and cheeses. Set aside.

When each set of ingredients has been prepared, layer them in a 8"x8" pan, starting with sauce, then eggplant, then cheese, then sauce again. Repeat (finish with sauce). Cover with foil and bake 20 minutes at 350 F. Then remove foil and bake another 20 minutes. Serves 4-6.

-----Zucchini-Stuffed Peppers-----

4 large green peppers
2 c. shredded zucchini
2 c. red beans
4 large tomatoes, chopped
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T. cumin
1 t. cayenne pepper
1 t. black pepper
1 t. salt
1/2 c. shredded Colby jack cheese

First, cut the green peppers in half lengthwise to create 8 1/2 pepper shells - these will be stuffed. Blanch each of them in salted water - this will help them retain their color. In the meantime, mix together the zucchini, beans, tomatoes, onions, garlic, cumin, cayenne, pepper, and salt in a saucepan, and heat through. Once the peppers have been blanched and cooled, fill each half with stuffing, and sprinkle shredded cheese on top. Bake at 350 F for 10 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly and brown. Serves 6.


-----Rosemary Oven Roasted Beets-----

2 Bunches young beets
3 T. butter
1 t. salt
2 T. Rosemary

Scrub the beets well, remove beet greens (stems) and tails, and discard. Cut beets into uniform size pieces, approximately 1/2" in diameter. In a 4 quart bowl, melt the butter with the salt and rosemary in the microwave. Toss the beets with the butter mixture until thoroughly coated. Spread out on a cookie sheet and bake uncovered at 350 F for ~20 minutes. Remove, turn the beets, and return to bake until the beets are uniformly soft (~10-20 minutes). Serves 4.