And what about those CSA boxes, anyway?

I started this as a way to track what I'm receiving from my local farm's Community Supported Agriculture share, but I've been so busy getting this up and running, cooking, and generally trying to keep my life together that I haven't gotten around to listing what we've been receiving, or what I've been making with it.

Week 1, we were in New York City on Thursday (our veggie day) and I forgot to go pick up until late Friday afternoon. The CSA I joined is attached to a large farm that also has a retail store, so one of the clerks took me backstage, so to speak, to find my produce. I was so late that my share had already been disassembled, but he was kind enough to piece together most of what I would have taken home. I found myself with two large bunches of dill, a bunch of turnips, a head or two of romaine lettuce, some rainbow swiss chard and probably a few other things I'm forgetting.

To use the dill, I made a delicious potato salad (ok, so I bought potatoes and red onion at the store, sue me.) The turnips joined carrots and parsnips in the chicken stew that is the basis for my chicken and biscuits. The chard went into a version of the lentils and kale with sausage (yep, made and ate it twice, it was that good) and also a pasta with sausage, raisins and pine nuts. Good salads, too, thanks to the flavorful, crisp romaine.

The second week, variety increased. More chard, a big bunch of beets, a bag of fresh peas in the pod, some garlic scapes, parsley and loads of fresh spinach. We missed our fruit share the first week, but just as well, because last week and this, the fruit was strawberries. This week's went into another batch of frozen yogurt. The scapes, chard and beet greens went into a delicious pasta with local goat cheese, the parsley was combined with basil left from my strawberry picking/farm stand excursion in a wonderful pesto, and I am planning on making spinach quiche to freeze tomorrow. Maybe some gnudi, too, if I can find good ricotta.

Recipes for all to come. Promise.