right) so they could all experience the vegetable with us. Overall, my family heartily enjoyed the beans, and they were gone quickly. I tested the pods, because I hated to see them go to waste and they tasted like normal green beans. I probably wouldn't eat a lot of the shells but one or two certainly didn't hurt me.These next few weeks I head back to work nearly full-time, so it will be interesting to see how I manage the CSA process while juggling other obligations. This first share can be picked up after 4:00 pm on Thursdays, which shouldn't normally be an issue with my work schedule; unfortunately, I had to work late this Thursday so I asked my father if he would pick up my East Farms share for me and keep it at his house until I could pick it up later that evening. I arrived at ~10:30 pm to find the following:
| CSA SHARE | Price(Organic) | Price ('Normal') | Value | ||||
| 0.68 lb Green Peppers (2) | 1.99/lb | 1.29/lb | $1.35 | ||||
| 0.73 lb Onion | 1.99/lb | 0.99/lb | $1.45 | ||||
| 1.07 lb Beets | 1.71/lb | 2.45/lb | $1.83 | ||||
| 0.07 lb Anaheim Peppers (1) | 1.99/lb | $0.14 | |||||
| 0.63 lb Eggplant | 1.99/lb | 1.59/lb | $1.25 | ||||
| 0.55 lb Green Beans | 5.32/lb | $2.92 | |||||
| 3.65 lb Corn (6 ears) | 3/1.00 | $2.00 | |||||
| 5.65 lb Zucchini (1) | **** | **** |
More of everything, and all veggies we enjoy. The zucchini was a puzzle, though. The CSA has given me a lot of zucchini, but never any that wasn't still small, young, and tender. Once zucchini gets to be the size of this monster it's really starchy and only good for a few things, mostly to be shredded and disguised as other things in dishes like breads or cookies. Also, it was stuck on top of the rest of the food, which was odd placement given its size and
heft (I hope the picture included conveys the size of it accurately. The peaches and bottle are included for size comparison). I wondered if my parents had any need for zucchini, since this one was clearly much more than I needed. I looked around their kitchen counters to see if they had any (and might possibly want more). What did I behold? Only two more monster zucchini, suspiciously like the one in my box. "Hmmm. . ." I thought. When confronted, my father smiled guiltily and admitted to planting the veggie in my box. I don't think he thought he'd get away with it, but it was funny anyhow. I was happy to add a 6 lb zucchini to my load - I was delighted to have material with which to experiment on zucchini chocolate chip cookies. They turned out very well and were quickly devoured at a family party.One note on the prices: I regret to inform you I've been lax in my duties of keeping this blog so the prices from store values are actually values from several weeks after this share came. It is my experience that as the season goes on, the prices fall, and I suspect the 'value' of this share was higher when it came. Regardless, I've given the values I have and hope you will forgive me. Also, I wanted some real sense of the value of this food as 'organic' which I haven't had in weeks, since my local grocer mostly carries only early spring greens and the like in organic. I went out of my way to get prices for organic goods from Whole Foods in this case. The story is the same on the Borski share I received, as follows:
| CSA SHARE | Price(Organic) | Price ('Normal') | Value | ||||
| 2.29 lb Red Potatoes | 1.99/lb | 0.69/lb | $4.56 | ||||
| 0.53 lb Green Peppers (1) | 1.99/lb | 1.29/lb | $1.05 | ||||
| 1.42 lb Peaches | 1.99/lb | $2.83 | |||||
| 3.21 lb Green Cabbage (1) | 1.49/lb | 0.69/lb | $4.78 |
This share usually needs to be picked up between 12:00 pm and 6:00 pm on Monday, and I suspect it might prove a challenge to me with my work schedule in the future, but this week I was lucky and had the day off. We'll see how easy it is for me to meet the pick-up deadline as the season wraps up.
We were excited for our first red potatoes, and the peaches of course. The cabbage I tucked back into my refrigerator for use in my potstickers recipe in the upcoming weeks, and otherwise I forgot about it.
Recipes for Week 11:
-----Fresh Veggie Pizza-----
1 recipe pizza dough*
1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 jar favorite marinara sauce (~10 oz)
1/2 medium onion, chopped coarsely
1/2 large bell pepper, chopped coarsely
2 large or 4-6 small tomatoes, sliced
1/2 lb. spicy franks, sliced**
Roll out the pizza dough to cover a cookie sheet size pan. Prick the dough with a fork and bake at 350 F for ~10 minutes until dough begins to set. Remove pizza bread from the oven and spread marinara sauce to cover. Sprinkle cheese over the pizza, then layer on the chopped onions, peppers, tomatoes, and sausages. Bake at 350 F until cheese is bubbly and begins to brown (~10-15 minutes). Serves 4.
*As you can see from the picture, my pizza dough recipe isn't worth printing. Maybe another day I'll experiment enough to get one worth posting. Or anybody who reads this can feel free to contribute!
**You can really use any meat you like, from cooked sausage to shredded chicken. I often substitute sliced spicy beef franks for the traditional pepperoni.
-----Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies-----
This recipe comes from the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. It, and many other delicious recipes are available online through the website for the book.
| 1 egg, beaten | 1 c. white flour |
| 1/2 c. butter, softened | 1 c. whole wheat flour |
| 1/2 c. brown sugar | 1/2 t. baking soda |
| 1/3 c. honey | 1/4 t. salt |
| 1 T. vanilla | 1/4 t. cinnamon |
| 1 c. finely shredded zucchini | 1/4 t. nutmeg |
| 12 oz. chocolate chips |
Mix the wet ingredients together (egg through vanilla) and blend well. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour through nutmeg) and mix well before blending it with the wet ingredient mixture. Fold in the zucchini and chocolate chips. Drop by the spoonful onto greased baking sheets and flatten the drops with the back of a spoon. Bake at 350 F 10-15 minutes. Makes ~ 2 doz.
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