The Great Utah CSA Experiment 2009 - Week 3!

We got the food from weeks 1&2 used or stored just in time for the week 3 pickup. The peas all went to snacking, the spinach was stored in the freezer with the beet tops and half the chard. The other half of the chard was shared with neighbors (along with two bags of lettuce greens) and we had lots and lots of salads. I would probably be tired of salads right now if I weren't coming out of 5 months of fresh food deprivation. As it is, I'm excited to have leafy greens for breakfast lunch and dinner. And as for the rest, oven-roasted beets (recipe) have now become a real favorite of mine. Hurray for beets! (I don't think I could ever have pictured myself saying that a year ago.)

I'm also happy to report that I've gotten quite a few great recommendations on how to use leafy greens creatively. Head on over to my friend Sarah's recipe blog for some good recipes with arugula. However, because of my recent deprivation, and because last season I ran out of stored greens at the end of August, I am quite happy to store those that I can. In fact I may purchase extra before the end of the leafy greens season with the express purpose of storing them. Sadly, lettuce greens like romaine, red leaf, and green leaf cannot be frozen for later use and as a result we get a bit more tired of them. If anybody has any non-salad based recommendations for romaine - I'm all ears.

This week in the box I received the following. Prices for this week are for non-organic fare from the local Dick's supermarket:

CSA SHARE					Price	Value
1.19 lb romaine					0.84/lb	$1.00
0.63 lb red & green leaf lettuce					1.19/lb	$0.75
0.63 lb spinach					3.54/lb	$2.23
1.00 lb beets					1.29/lb	$1.29
1.00 lb rainbow chard					2.50/lb	$2.50
1.06 lb baby carrots (with tops)					*0.75/lb	$0.79
1.75 lb zucchini (3)					1.29/lb	$2.26

*Price based on 2-lb bag carrots, the closest equivalent.

The season seems to be moving along a bit earlier this year than last, as this week's share included several young zucchini (not available until week 5 last year!) Also new are the carrots, which I didn't receive last year. These are real baby carrots, none of them thicker than my fingers, and most of them shorter. The picture at right shows them next to the storebought whittled down snacking "baby" carrots for comparison.

The spinach was used in a chicken cannelloni dish (one day, when I perfect the recipe, I'll post it). The leaf lettuces have surprisingly been devoured already, thanks again to my wonderful brother. The zucchini went into vegetable stir-fry (see picture, at left) and the beets and carrots have a date with the oven tomorrow. After all that, and a little more blanching/freezing beet greens and the rainbow chard, I'll be ready for the next CSA pickup!