Now that month 1 of our first CSA share is over, I can confidently say that this is every bit as wonderful as I imagined it would be. My biggest fear was that we would let food go to waste because I didn’t know how to prepare it. But, I am happy to report that [so far] I’ve done a pretty good job of preparing and eating everything we’ve been given. Nothing has been thrown out [which is good because I am HUGELY against wasting food].

I am starting to fall behind, however. We have a weekly half share, but it is so much food that I am using the vegetables in pretty much EVERY SINGLE MEAL and we are barely able to eat it all before the next week [which is surprising since 90% of the food I eat is vegetables – but more on my eating habits some other time].

I still have a head of cabbage from last week, and I just got another one this week.

Cabbage recipes, anyone?

Here are some of the fun and unusual things we’ve received and how we ate them:

Garlic scapes – [I had never heard of these before] We ate them cooked in scrambled eggs and fried rice, in place of garlic in kohlrabi pesto, and fried with sea salt. They are better than munching on raw garlic…but you’ll still need a breath mint.

Kohlrabi – [I had never heard of this vegetable before either] We ate the bulb raw [cut into “fries” for salads or snacks] and also roasted. We ate the leaves in soup and blended into a pesto which we use on pasta and pizza. This is actually a hugely underrated vegetable, in my opinion. You can do so much with it! And it’s pretty dang good!

Swiss Chard – [I had never had Swiss chard before] We ate it sautéed as a side dish and baked into Swiss chard chips. Not my fave.

Bok Choy – [I had never had Bok Choy before either, though I have bought it many times to feed our sugar gliders back in the day] – We ate it sautéed and roasted with tamari sauce. I actually like it, but Brett and the kids aren’t really fans.

Kale [Red Russia and Siberian] – [I’ve had kale before, but it’s not something I usually buy] I baked it into kale chips – which the kids loved – and put it into vegetable soup [I make vegetable soup a lot], and also had it in salad, obviously. We got more today so I am looking forward to adding it to egg dishes and trying it sautéed. I will probably make more kale chips too.

Scallions – [TONS of scallions – which we are actually growing in our herb planters right now. I have scallions coming out of my ears!] I made a scallion and basil pesto – with basil from a client’s garden – and used some of the remaining scallions to top fried rice, a sweet potato skillet, and eggs. I chopped and froze the rest.

Other stuff we received: red butterhead lettuce, romaine lettuce, broccoli, cucumber, zucchini, summer squash, green beans, and cabbage.

So, about that cabbage…

Suggestions, anyone??

Karis