The Great Utah CSA Experiment 2009 - Weeks 1 & 2!

It's that time of year again! Weekly produce and weekly posts about my adventures with East Farms CSA. I've been anticipating this ever since they ended last October, but I've really felt it the last few months. Every time I buy produce at the grocery store I regret it: it really tastes awful. Even the stuff from Whole Foods was just okay. (I mean, it was better than the alternative, but I had no appetite for it).

After being fooled by the system 5 times over the past winter - I decided not to bother at all. (Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me five times. . .) A whole winter subsisting on bread, milk, occasional protein has convinced me to store as much of the great produce I get during the season as possible. I don't think I could make it through another winter like that again! I'll probably need buy an upright freezer sometime this summer to help me store food, but it'll be well worth it.

Unfortunately, after all the anticipation for the CSA pickup, I'm a week late getting started! I missed the first week because I didn't get my pickup letter in time. (It was sent in time, but it took an extra week to navigate the change-of-address process via post). Luckily the good people at East Farms decided I could pick up a full share this week to offset the loss. Here's the goods for a full share (two half shares) delivered Tuesday the 16th. Prices are based on organic fare from Sunflower Farmer's Market:

CSA SHARE-A	CSA SHARE-B					Price (organic)	Value
0.94 lb romaine	1.0 lb romaine					1.90/lb	$3.69
1.25 lb red & green leaf lettuce	0.94 lb red & green leaf lettuce					3.00/lb	$6.57
0.81 lb spinach	0.81 lb spinach					5.99/lb	$9.73
1.06 lb beets	1.25 lb beets					1.59/lb	$3.68
1.31 lb rainbow chard	0.19 lb rainbow chard					2.89/lb	$3.90
0.69 lb english peas	0.81 lb english peas					*2.99/lb	$4.49

*Price based on non-organic sugar snap & snow peas, the closest equivalent.

Compared to week 2 from last year, there is a little more variety. I was really surprised to find beets so early! The peas, chard, spinach, and beets (pictured at right) are great: I can eat them now or freeze for later use; but the lettuce is again a problem for me to put away quickly enough (it doesn't help that my father has been supplying me with as much lettuce as I can consume for the last few weeks from his garden.)

With a glut of fresh locally grown vegetables I'm eating as much as possible to make up for my winter starvation. The first thing I did was eat an entire bowl of peas. I can't begrudge the shucking, they were really great. Next night I prepared a simple salad and roasted root vegetables with the beets (pictured at left). Thankfully, my brother joined us for dinner - the one that can down a large horse. He personally cleared 5 plates of leafy greens! (THANK YOU!) Even with that, I'm going to have to eat as fast as possible so I have room in my refrigerator again!

This year I'm not going to be as picky about including recipe posts - that will allow me to put up the 'what I got' pretty quickly, and the recipe tweaking won't delay the posting: I can post them individually later. Besides, it helps me solicit help from readers in deciding what to do with all my produce!

Having said that, here's my recipe for yesterday's Simple Salad:

3 c. salad greens, torn
3/4 c. chicken tenders or popcorn chicken (optional)
honey dijon salad dressing

I first had a salad like this at my cousin's house - just lettuce and ranch. I was floored by the audacity of the dish. What, no tomatoes? No cucumbers or cheese or olives or peppers? No onions or spices? No nothing? It sounds pretty plain but it was great, and now I don't feel bad serving simple salad. (Besides, let's admit it: the rest of that stuff isn't seasonal at the same time leafy greens are. And what busy cook can resist simplicity in mealmaking?) I should clarify: Craig likes it with the chicken, but my brother liked it just as well without. Nothing is really required beyond the greens and some dressing you love.