No pictures, today

I think the heat is causing my brain to only fire on half its cylinders because I've forgotten to take pictures of what we've cooked, all week long. I think about how I will want to plate the meal for picture-taking purposes, while I'm cooking it...and then remember to take the picture after I've finished eating it.

So here's a round-up of how we've used this week's share, so far:

Weekly quiche - farmers cheese with sauteed spinach. A rousing success!

The beets, fennel, and lettuce became a delicious salad. I boiled, peeled, and sliced the beets and laid them over the lettuce, along with thinly sliced fennel, and some orange pieces. (Similar to the salad I made last week.) The hubby grilled some shrimp that I marinated in olive oil, lemon zest, and lemon & lime juices. A quick dressing of dijon, OJ, white wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper brought everything together.

Yesterday, I let the slow cooker take care of our protein with this awesome pulled pork recipe that I've made before. I am slowly perfecting my own version of bbq sauce based on this recipe, but the hubs remarked that this incarnation of it was the best one yet. I took care of the CSA summer squash and some of the scallions by making this for the side. Everything tasted twice as good as lunch leftovers, today.

This evening, we ate some more pulled pork, but I made this kale and green beans recipe in an effort to use up two more CSA items. This dish has the potential to become something great, but it was pretty much a failure, tonight. It made me sad since we put so much work into getting those beans! The recipe called for way too much salt, and I wondered about it as I poured the salt into the pan, but I should have followed my instincts and made it 1 tsp instead of two. Also, I only had pre-grated parmesan cheese which a) probably had a ton of salt added to it and b) did nothing but clump up and make the dish smell weird.

Tomorrow is our last CSA pick up for the next couple of weeks. We're headed to Europe for 10 days, on a long-awaited honeymoon. (We've been married for almost two years...and we've been broke for most of that time.) In Amsterdam, we will be in a hotel, but we've rented an apartment in Paris and can't wait to frequent the local "marches" for breads, cheeses, fruits and veggies so that we can cook some of our own meals. If you've ever been to Amsterdam or Paris, we welcome suggestions of good local foods, or even reasonably priced restaurants, to try.