Eating Our Fruits and Veggies

The summer and fall I was pregnant with Vivie we joined Turtle Bay CSA in New York.  I loved the idea of supporting a local farm and having organic vegetables throughout the summer and fall and financially it made pretty good sense.  You paid for everything upfront but it averaged out to roughly $30/week in local, organic vegetables. 

Every week I looked forward to receiving the newsletter with the list of what was in the share and an update from the farm.  For a food nerd like me who loves surprises I got quite a kick out of finding out what would be in our weekly haul.  During the 20 weeks we ate more greens than we ever have in our whole lives and tried vegetables we had never heard of--kohlrabi anyone?  Overall it was a great experience.

One thing that made the vegetable share a little hard for us was that because we were getting a lot of foods we weren't used to eating (and I wasn't used to preparing) more vegetables than I would like to admit went to waste. That, and by the end of the season I was in my third trimester and late fall vegetables are pretty heavy (e.g. butternut squash) to truck through NYC on the subway.

I had been thinking about joining a CSA in Houston since before we moved but didn't really look into it until January or February.  A family friend (thanks, Teri!) suggested that we look into Rawfully Organic, a fruit and vegetable co-op.  I researched it a little further and it turned out that one of the pick-up locations was close by and you didn't have to make a long-term commitment like we did with the CSA, which I really liked.  All of the fruits and vegetables are organic, and some (from what I've seen, I'd say about one third) are local.  So, in February we ordered our first half share and I was quickly hooked!  We got a HUGE and diverse box of fruits and veggies--at least double the amount we were getting from the grocery store for roughly the same price.

Our most recent box contained:
Kale                        Collard Greens      Grape Tomatoes
Dandelion Greens     Bananas                Pineapple
Swiss Chard             Oranges                Bok Choy
Red Leaf Lettuce      Lemons                Apples
Romaine Lettuce       Pears                  Carrots
Spinach                   Tomatoes              Celery               
Cilantro                   Heirloom Spinach


We got this share almost two weeks ago, and we still have carrots and the bok choy (which are in good shape), but have used up just about everything else. 

This is what I made with our share:
Roasted Tomatoes with Shrimp, Onions and Dandelion Greens
Crunchy Chicken Salad
Roasted Zucchini with Goat Cheese and Grape Tomatoes (recipe coming)
Roasted Garlic Pizza (recipe coming, this was my inspiration and here's the dough recipe)

Cream of Celery Soup
Greek "Calzone" (the leftover pizza dough and a really chunky tomato sauce topped with feta)
Kale Pasta Salad with Orange Vinaigrette (recipe coming, here's the vinaigrette)

Healthy Banana Bread (I added a handful of chocolate chips and doubled the cinnamon)

Baked Apples and Pears with Cinnamon
Lasagna Soup (I added Swiss Chard and cut out the mozzarella)
Chicken Sausage and Goat Cheese Quiche with Phyllo Crust (recipe coming)


 
We added simple salads to most dinners to use up the romaine and red leaf lettuce, the apples, oranges, pears and pineapple were cut up and eaten throughout the day for the most part, and anytime I was simmering a can of tomatoes I added bitter greens or spinach to the sauce.  I'm hoping to make homemade applesauce and macaroni and cheese with bitter greens with our next box.

I learned a few thing during our 20 week stint as CSA partners that I'm trying to adhere to this time around:

1. Clean out the fridge before bringing home a share (the half share more than fills our fruits and veggie drawers)
2. Cut and wash all of the greens before putting them away (a salad spinner is really helpful)
3. Use up the most perishable items first (e.g. Dandelion Greens)
4. Come up with a plan early on for anything I'm not used to preparing.  
5. Have plenty of eggs and canned tomatoes on hand--when in doubt make a frittata or tomato sauce.

Oh yeah, and I should warn you, a food share will only add to your Pinterest obsession (or maybe that's just me).