We'll see how long this lasts...

...but I thought it would be fun to chronicle my cooking now that I've started a CSA share. rob and I signed up for the CSA with One Straw Farm along with Sharif & Joanna. I've been increasingly dissatisfied with the produce at our local Safeway - it seems to get more and more expensive, quality is not great, selection is often meh. I'm by no means a food activist, but I like the idea of eating locally/seasonally and supporting local agriculture. I also thought perhaps I'd be eating better if I was "forced" to eat a box of produce every week. I don't think I've ever bought kale at the grocery store, but now I'll be eating it! I also love reading cookbooks and food blogs--and while I get ideas from them, I really don't cook as much as I'd like to. It's hard to find the time, blah blah blah...but now I've gotta work my way through what I get each week to get my money's worth! It can also be difficult & expensive to find good ingredients for all the cooking I'd like to do...but at least with the CSA I've got a lot of the veggies covered.

So...after some research, it looked like One Straw would be a great fit for us. They have pickups all over the area including right in Catonsville. A 24-week share was $570 (next year it may be even less if we do the early bird deadline), which we're splitting 4 ways. So at just under $6/week per person for lots of fresh, local veggies...it's a great deal!

We got our first box on Thursday:

Sweet potatoes, broccoli, green & red-leaf lettuce, garlic scapes (had to look that one up), strawberries, and [not pictured] spinach & kale. Half of this went to Sharif & Joanna. rob's away this week, so I have to manage our share myself.

Friday I made spinach-cilantro pesto (needed to use up some cilantro) which I threw in the freezer:

I lightly toasted some sliced almonds and threw those in a blender with our half bunch of spinach, a big handful of cilantro, 2 cloves of garlic, some lime juice, olive oil, salt & pepper. I'll put this on pasta at some point, maybe somethin' else...

For Friday's dinner I made a stir fry:

Broccoli & a couple of the garlic scapes (these have a mellower garlic flavor and some were a little fibrous, but still tasty). I stir-fried those first, then added chopped ginger & garlic, then shrimp. For a simple sauce I mixed together soy sauce, a dab of orange marmalade & ketchup (sounds weird, but it works), and some rice vinegar, sesame oil & hot sauce. Served with Trader Joe's harvest grain blend.

Was planning to have the strawberries for dessert with whipped cream, as I thought I had some heavy cream in the fridge. Turned out not to be there, but we had some Cool Whip in the freezer--so that would have to do. I halved the strawberries & mixed them with a wee bit of Triple Sec. Ate it all before I thought of getting a picture. So tasty - these little berries have nothing on supermarket strawberries.

Saturday breakfast I diced up another garlic scape and sauteed it in butter, then scrambled some eggs in with a dab of cream cheese. Also home fries with my new love, smoked paprika. Sorry, no pic...too hungry in the morning!

Saturday dinner I had some of the spinach-cilantro pesto over tortellini:

Whooo! Garlicky and potent...I cut it with some half & half but it still packs a punch. Really good though. That quart-size bag should last awhile! Next time I make basil pesto I'll probably add some spinach - keeps it nice & bright green.