Week #6

This entry has been delayed as we've been spending lots of time away from the computer over this holiday weekend. Our backyard fence is finally complete, so when we aren't hanging at BBQs with friends, we're putting the yard back together. I hope to have some pics of the new and improved space soon.

Our CSA pickup was a little different than usual, this week, as we actually got to go into the fields and pick some of our items! Green beans were "pick your own," which proved to be difficult since the Tuesday pick-up group had already done quite a number on the two rows of plants that we could access. It was slow-going, but we finally flipped over a couple plants to find a bounty of big, beautiful beans that quickly filled up our container. It actually felt kind of good to "harvest" part of our share, even if I spent the whole time imagining how backbreaking that work must be for the folks who do it all day long. I think the beans will be in a steak stir-fry this week. I've been envisioning lots of stir-fry meals for the nights that we don't want to grill, but where I want the stove to be hot for as little time as possible. We also got to pick our own echinacea so that we have a cute little bouquet on the dining room table - that is, when the cats are not trying to chew on them.

Here's this week's list:
Kale
Spinach
Pickle cucumbers
Scallions
Beets
String beans
Echinacea
Fennel
Squash
Lettuce

I put the scallions in yellow because we got TEN of them. What the heck do you do with 10 scallions?!?!

I took last week's bread and butter pickles to a holiday bbq and they were such a hit that I've decided to use this week's cukes to make another batch. We have our own pickling cucumber plant in the back yard, but with only one plant, the harvests are slim. I think that these quick pickle recipes will be the best way to use the cukes that we are able to get from our plant.

The beets are in green, but we are running out of things to do with just three beets every week, so it might end up being a challenge. Everything else is pretty versatile.

Last week's quiche was a ricotta/summer squash number. It was a disaster for many reasons - a crappy pre-made crust from our scary local grocery store and my failure to sautee the squash before assembling the quiche were probably the main reasons for the disaster. This week, I have re-upped the supply of well-made whole wheat crusts and plan to use the spinach (sauteed first, of course) along with some of those scallions, and local farmer's cheese from NJ. Fingers crossed!