Night Owl's Garden

Though I am already well into the summer CSA program, I wanted to give my final update on the spring CSA. Week #10 featured corn, tomatoes, apples, and green beans. With houseguests visiting during part of that week, I was a little bit off my game in food preparation, but here’s how I made use of my week #10 basket.

Corn – Elote Skillet – I love elote (Mexican street corn), but with the super hot weather, I didn’t want to fire up the grill. I tracked down an elote skillet recipe, and it was AMAZING! I made the recipe on that Friday night and again that following Monday. We made use of all twelve ears of corn. Yes, I had given six to my parents, but they returned them for our guests to enjoy once we found this recipe. I didn’t request that they do that, but I was grateful nonetheless.

Tomatoes – BLTs – Bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches made it onto the menu. Of course, I also go low-carb and skip the bread.

Apples – Snacks – The apples are hanging out in our apple bowl with some Fuji apples. We are working through them slowly.

Green Beans – Freezer – I did not have immediate plans for the green beans, and I didn’t want them to go bad, so I rinsed and chopped them and put them into freezer bags. They are divided into easy dinner portions, so I can just grab them and cook them.

I failed to get a picture of the elote skillet, so this post shows the basket photo for week #10. I highly recommend the elote skillet recipe. It is easy and delicious!

Though it won’t be documented here, my CSA adventure continues through the next 9 weeks of the summer basket. I am making Indian eggplant bhurtha tonight! If you like tracking down new recipes and trying new-to-you fruits and vegetables, check out your local CSA options and sign up.

My pace at posting shows the increasing activity of summer or at least reflects that I’m spending more time at the pool (if lounging counts as an activity). I made use of almost everything in my week #9 CSA basket, and I even made two dishes I’d never made before. I picked up my last spring CSA basket on Tuesday, which means that next week’s Week #10 Update will be my last post in this series.

Week #9 Update

I got creative with using my veggies in week #9. Here is what I did.

Cucumbers – Sour Cream Cucumbers – A friend of mine made sour cream cucumbers for our Fourth of July gathering. It was the first time I’d ever had them, and I loved them! That following weekend, I made them myself. This is the recipe I used as a guide. I did not use any sugar, and I used white wine vinegar instead of white vinegar. They turned out great!

Green Peppers and Onions – I chopped the green peppers and onions and put them into two freezer bags for use in fajitas later.

Radishes – Roasted Radishes – When in doubt, roast ’em! I chopped off the tops and bottoms of the radishes, sliced them into wedges, tossed them in olive oil, salt, and pepper, and popped them into the oven for a half hour at 450. They tasted sweet and buttery.

Basil – Pesto! – I had never made pesto and did not have pine nuts on hand, but that didn’t stop me. I put chopped garlic into my small food processor, pulsed a few times, added basil leaves, pulsed some more, added olive oil, pulsed some….repeat, repeat, repeat. Once it reached a nice, little bit chunky consistency, I added fresh grated Parmesan. I refrigerated the pesto overnight and enjoyed it over spaghetti the following night.

Tomatoes – Caprese Salad – My first tomatoes of the season became a wonderful Caprese salad lunch. With sliced tomatoes, sliced mozzarella, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper, the dish looked like summer!

Week #10 Pickup

The last CSA basket of spring held the bountiful delights of summer. With twelve ears of corn, two tomatoes, five apples, and a bunch of green beans, I knew I’d need to share a bit of my basket with my parents. I gave Mom and Dad six ears of corn and two apples since I already had a bowl of Fuji apples. The featured photo for this post shows the corn and apples that I kept. Posting so late in the week, I already know how I’ve used some of these goods, but I will save those juicy details for next week.

I have a couple of hours before my next summer houseguest arrives, so I thought I would hop online and give my CSA update. I just picked up my week #9 basket. Next week will be the last basket in the Spring CSA, so I signed up for the 10-week Summer CSA when I picked up this week’s basket. Obviously, I’m very happy with the my local CSA through the Paris-Bourbon County Farmers Market.

Week #8 Update

Here is how we used last week’s basket.

Carrots – Roasted Carrots – We peeled the carrots and cut off the tops and bottoms. Then we tossed them in olive oil, salt, and pepper and roasted them at 450 degrees for 30 minutes. We served them with butter on top.

Green Beans – Sauteed Green Beans – We cut off the tops and bottoms of the green beans, chopped them in half, and sauteed them over medium heat with olive oil and chopped garlic until tender.

New Potatoes – The new potatoes will be used at a later date. They are resting in their paper bag.

Blueberries – We snacked on blueberries all week.

Week #9 Pickup

Week #9 shows the first sign of summer…MATERS (um, tomatoes). I have been looking forward to the tomatoes and corn season. This week’s basket features two small tomatoes (hey, it’s a start!), spring onions, green peppers, turnips, basil, and cucumbers. I have only chopped turnips in salads, so I’m going to try something new. The basil is screaming to be pesto, which I’ve never made. The cucumbers might dive into some Skyline Chili Dip (a favorite of my visiting friend). The onions and green peppers might need to become fajitas this weekend. I’m excited about the new adventures ahead with this week’s basket.

This past week was a blur. My friends from Philly visited with their 13-month old daughter, and I spent my week in guest prep mode and entertainment mode. We were able to put last week’s bountiful CSA basket to good use, and I’m still working on utilizing some of it.

Week #7 Update

Here is how I put (or plan to put) the week #7 goodies to use:

Yellow Squash & Zucchini – I made two dishes.

• Dish 1: Parmesan Roasted Assorted Squash – I tossed sliced yellow squash and zucchini in olive oil, salt, and pepper. I spread the slices on a baking sheet and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. I roasted the dish for twenty minutes at 425.
• Dish 2: Squash Casserole – I love squash casserole, so I tracked down this recipe with rave reviews. Of the dishes I made, I should have taken a picture of this one, but I was busy with guests. It turned out well, but I think it could have used more seasoning.

New Potatoes – Again, I made roasted potato wedges (see previous post). This time I served them as a side dish (with ketchup!) with burgers.

Blueberries – With a small child in the house, blueberries were a huge hit at most meals. We managed to eat the whole container of blueberries.

Kale – I plan to make kale chips in the dehydrator today as I did a few weeks ago.

Cabbage – I have a feeling this cabbage will wind up chopped and drenched in Marzetti’s cole slaw dressing unless I make that taco skillet dish again.

Ciabatta Bread – I really thought we’d eat the bread with our guests, but we did not. I have kept it in the refrigerator and plan to eat it poolside with fancy cheeses this weekend.

Although I haven’t made it through everything, I do feel good about using (or planning to use) everything from week #7’s basket so that no food goes to waste. I do apologize for the lack of pictures of dishes for this week.

Week #8 Pickup

Last night I took one of my visiting friends to pick up the week #8 CSA basket. I was so proud to show off our little Farmer’s Market. This week’s basket contained green beans, carrots, blueberries, and new potatoes. I already have plans to roast the carrots and saute the green beans. I plan to do something new with the new potatoes (ha, ha…pun intended).

For the rest of this CSA season, I’ll be doing combined posts with the previous week’s update and the new week’s pickup in the same post. My summer has started getting busy, and it’s easier to combine posts at this stage. Now, I’ll get down to it.

Week #6 Update

I put the delicious goodies from week #6 to good use with some new and fresh dishes.

Broccoli – Low-carb Broccoli Salad – I love broccoli salad, but most recipes call for 1/2 cup of sugar in the dressing. I wanted to cut down on the sugar but still keep a lot of the flavor. I found this recipe, and I used about half of the stevia sweetener recommendation. The dish tasted good, but I’ve never been a fan of the stevia aftertaste. I think I’ll try it next time without sweetener.

Red Spring Onion – I used some of the red spring onion in the broccoli salad, and I chopped the rest and tossed it into the freezer.

Spinach – Frittata and Salad – I chopped up and sauteed the spinach in a frittata along with chopped cherry tomatoes, feta, and grated mozzarella and provolone. I used the remainder of the spinach in a salad with blue cheese dressing.

Rhubarb – Rhubarb Strawberry Crunch – When a recipe has 852 reviews and 4.5 stars, I take notice. I made Rhubarb Strawberry Crunch for my in-laws this past weekend. The recipe took very little time to make, and I baked it up while we ate Father’s Day dinner. This was the first time I ever used rhubarb, and it was a huge success, especially when served warm with vanilla ice cream.

Blueberries – We ate the blueberries on the side with meals, including our frittata.

New Potatoes – Roasted Potato Wedges – I used the previous week’s new potatoes as a side dish. I made roasted new potato wedges with cajun seasoning and served them with chicken.

We enjoyed week #6, and we continue to be happy that we signed up for the CSA.

Week #7 Pickup

On Tuesday night, I picked up our week #7 CSA basket. With houseguests arriving this Saturday, I was hoping for a bountiful harvest, and this week’s basket did not disappoint! The basket contained yellow squash, zucchini, kale, blueberries, new potatoes, cabbage, and ciabatta bread from Lacey Bread Company. I’m planning to make kale chips, roasted new potatoes, and squash casserole for my friends to enjoy. This should be a great week!