Southside CSA

Southside CSA Diary for the week of 9/20

One important thing to note about our share is that my boyfriend does not eat vegetables, only lettuces, potatoes, and raw carrots. But he loves fruits, berries, eggs, and meat of all sorts. This means I have to really make the most of the veggie share all on my own, especially as I hate to waste good food.

This week I was rather pressed for time so what you will see is a trend in one-pan dishes that utilize lots of different veggies that I didn’t want to waste. It was a very practical if not exactly creative use of the share. Sadly I didn’t have any dinner parties this week to use an excuse to be more artful, but usually I have weekly dinner visits from my veggie-loving friends.

Monday

After pick up I realized all I had to add to the distribution for my meal was a bag of frozen shrimp (Whole Foods sells some excellent frozen shrimp), so I set about making a shrimp stir-fry:

Shrimp Stir-Fry

• 1 serrano pepper from a previous week
• 1 leek
• 1 bunch radish greens only
• 1 bunch cherry tomatoes, cut in half and salted
• 1 bunch of frozen, thawed shrimp

I cooked all in a single pan, making sure to let leeks and Serrano cook longest to ensure they were soft and charred. The radish greens were a lovely addition. Toss in shrimp at the every end as they only take a couple minutes to cook through. I like to do these dishes with EVOO and salt/pepper and random seasonings since I’m not a fan of cooking at home with butter, but I bet it would have been even more delicious with butter. Total time: 20 minutes!

Dessert: 1/2pint of red raspberries and 1 apple.

Wednesday

Collard Greens Sauteed with Organic Chicken & Turkey Feta Spinach Sausage

I like to use the leafy greens as soon as possible after pick up so that they’re really fresh and lively. I saw a recipe somewhere for collards with bacon, but I also don’t like to cook with bacon at home, so I subbed it with organic chicken & turkey feta spinach sausage.

Entrée:

• 1 entire head collard greens, rolled like a cigar and sliced very thin
• 2 serrano peppers from a previous week
• 2 chicken-turkey sausages
• Fresh lime juice

For the entrée, I sliced the sausages, which were pre-cooked, and got them very hot and crispy in the pan with the Serrano peppers. Then I added all of the collard strips and plenty of squeezes of lime juice, which really brightens the flavors of the collards. Very tasty! Ate leftovers for lunch at work next day.

Potato Chips Side:

Potato Chips

• 1 white potato

• Bunch of sage from my terrace, chopped

For the chips, simply sliced thin and sprinkled with salt, pepper, red chili flake, and chopped sage, and baked in pre-heated 400 degree oven for about 20mins, just until browned and crispy. I love this side dish!

Dessert: 1 pear

Thursday

Felt like having some pasta for dinner, so made whole wheat pasta primavera with a side of jalapeno poppers.

Whole wheat pasta primavera with a side of jalapeno poppers

Entrée:

• Whole wheat pasta fussili
• 1 red pepper
• Beet greens from 2 beets, chopped
• Lots of Garlic
• Basil from my terrace

Jalapeno Poppers Side:

• 5 jalapenos, slit down middle and seeded
• Goat cheese
• Basil from my terrace

For the entrée, I started by sautéing the chopped red pepper and garlic for a long time so that they got nice and soft, mostly with the lid on the pan. It needed a stock, so I used Better than Bullion Veggie stock, which I really like. The beet greens cook quickly so I tossed them in at the end, and finished it with the fresh chopped basil. Then I added in the cooked pasta and tossed it all together. Again, I had the leftovers for lunch at work the next day.

The poppers: I simply stuffed them with goat cheese mixed with the fresh basil, and made sure they had enough olive oil coating on them to get nice and soft and moist as they baked. I baked them for about 35mins in a 450 degree oven. I was afraid they’d be too spicy to eat, but when they cook that long in the oven they actually lose their heat, so they were perfectly edible! And very tasty.

Jalapeno poppers.

Saturday Lunch

Still had so many veggies! I made lunch of romaine salad with lots of sliced radishes and carrots, with a nice anchovy dressing. I like anchovy dressing with a hearty green like romaine.

Romaine Salad with sliced radishes & carrots

• Romaine lettuce
• Radishes
• Carrots
• Anchovy mixed vigorously with EVOO, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, mustard

Saturday Dinner

Was going over to a friend’s house for dinner, but asked if I could bring a salad, which thankfully was welcomed, so I made a roasted beet salad.

Roasted Beet Salad

• 1 very large beet
• Four-Pepper Goat Cheese
• 1/2 Red onion
• Home made salad dressing

Roasted the beet wrapped in tin foil at a 450 degree oven for about 1 hour (till very easy to cut through with knife). Let cool, peel, and chop. Add goat cheese and very thinly sliced red onion. Toss with home made dressing.

Sunday Breakfast

Veggie Egg scramble!

• 1 leek, sliced
• 1 tomato
• 2 Eggs

Veggie Egg scramble

I really wanted to get use of the leek since it was getting soft in the fridge by now, so I sliced it and sautéed it in EVOO and then I added chopped tomato that was marinated in oil, salt, and pepper, then once the veggies were nice and soft and hot I added 1 whole egg and the whites only of the second egg, and scrambled it all together in the pan, seasoned liberally with salt and pepper, etc. With the eggs I ate a piece of toast and 2 slices of bacon, cooked very well done. I break the “don’t cook bacon at home” rule when it comes to breakfast!

Plans for remaining veggies: Squash will be cut lengthwise, seeded, and filled with maple syrup, oil, red chili flake and baked in oven til very soft. Beet will be roasted and likely be made into the goat cheese salad, because I just love this salad.

Throughout the week at work I ate 2 pieces of fruit per day, for breakfast and at 4pm at my desk, so that makes quite a dent in the apple and pear bounty, and then I also get to count on Evan to help out with consuming the fruit!

Filed under: Member Diary, Recipes | Tagged: basil, beet, carrot, collard Greens, Egg, Jalapeno Poppers, leek, lettuce, pasta, pear, Potato Chips, radish, salad, sausage, Savory Ideas, stir-fry, tomatoe |