The Box Begins

Submitted by EcoMommyo on Wed, 2008/11/19 - 8:27pm
in

Last Thursday, I picked up the first of our winter CSA share courtesy of Beneficial Farms. FYI, Community Supported Agriculture is something all the cool kids are doing. You provide a farmer with a lump sum of dough and over a season they provide you with a weekly supply of fresh fruits and vegetables. As an added bonus they are often organic and local. Our CSA provides produce from farmers all around New Mexico. I'm looking forward to learning about my state's agricultural bounty; apparently it extends beyond green chile.

The next delivery arrives tomorrow and I'm feeling a little behind. We have a lovely bag of spinach to use and the green peppers are getting lost in the vegetable bin. However, the mixed salad greens were perfect with a lentil salad from Jack Bishop's A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen (Fall section). One of the huge onions was split up and went into a roasted tomato salsa (Rick Bayless' Salsas that Cook and the NY Times' Andean Bean Stew with quinoa. We had the rainbow of chard with stew leftovers tonight. I had one of the apples for lunch the other day. The pomegranates were the most exotic item. I used some in a salad and will try some with vanilla yogurt for lunch tomorrow.

The carrots have been a very pleasant surprise. While raw carrots are one of the things I eat most, never did I think they would inspire more adjectives than "orange". These are sweet and juicy Vitamin A delivery systems.

We are off to a good start. I read Farmer Steve's e-mail earlier this evening and we can anticipate some great things for our Thanksgiving table. This season will be interesting and I'm happy to have some cooking challenges ahead.

For Your Cooking Pleasure

Beneficial Farm
http://www.beneficialfarm.com/

Jack Bishop's A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen
http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/catalog/titledetail.cfm?textType=exc...

Rick Bayless' Salsas That Cook
http://www.rickbayless.com/cookbooks/salsasthatcook.html

NY Times' Andean Bean Stew with quinoa
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/health/nutrition/06recipehealth.html?_...