Week 15, Vegetable Identification Test

We didn't get a list this week, so I'm on my own with veg ID, as you will see!

a cute little bitty watermelon, red and seeded
corn!
string beans, yellow and green mixed
tomatoes, one must be some kind of fancy heirloom variety because it's a funny color
little orangey tomatoes
three kinds of summer squash: green, yellow, and round!
a bag of mixed greens (not sure what all is in there, but I had them for lunch and they're yummy)
eggplant
cucumbers
potatoes, I think Gerry said they're yukon gold?
onions like the ones from last week
sweet peppers
HOT peppers, a few varieties
oddly colored beets, one is white and two are golden

Mellow Yellow

I broke into a wide grin when I pulled into our driveway Tuesday evening and saw a watermelon on the picnic table! Gerry said we had a choice of a few different kinds (red or yellow, seeded or seedless), so of course he picked the strange one: yellow.

It tastes the very same (I knew it would), but Gerry says he's a little disconcerted. He keeps seeing it in the fridge and thinking, "Yum, pineapple." Somehow I don't think we're going to be getting pineapple from the CSA anytime soon! I had some for lunch today along with another slightly twisted fruit, the Saturn peach. What else could I add to my wacky fruit salad?

Sprouts

The last time I went to the farm with my camera, Neil showed us some flats of squash seedlings that some of the members had worked on. I don't know if it was the sheer number of them or what, but I noticed something about the leaves that I've never noticed before:

The leaves on the little sprouts aren't all the same shape. Like a dummy, I said something about it, and Neil explained about how the first two leaves are some kind of special ones that emerge before the plant's true leaves. Of course I forgot everything he said by now, but I looked it up! They're called cotyledons, and they have something to do with how the seed is fed, etc. (Click the link to read more.) I've probably seen this a hundred times, but it never dawned on me that those first leaves are DIFFERENT! Wow!

Vegetable List, Week 14

Every week, we get a hand out from the farm. Sometimes it's just a list of what we're getting, and sometimes it has recipes. Anyway, today is the first time I noticed it says "Vegetable List" at the top, and it struck me as so funny. Vegetable List. Why is that cracking me up?

ANYWAY, Gerry and I aren't too excited about our vegetables this week. There's nothing wrong with the vegetables, but I'm just getting over a stomach thing and Gerry...well, he's, um, doing colonoscopy prep tonight, so....

Salad mix, all washed and ready to go
wax beans
watermelon
corn
tomatoes
eggplant
potatoes
cucumbers and pickles
summer squash assortment
bell peppers
bull's horn peppers
hot peppers

There were apparently ALL kinds of hot peppers from which to choose, but Ger limited himself to a few jalapenos, for, um, later in the week.

Not for the Superstitious, Week Thirteen

salad mix (all washed and ready to go)

cipollini onions

peaches (Red Haven or Jim Dandy)

sweet corn (White Out or Sweet Rhythm)

tomatoes

eggplant (Italian or Japanese)

red skin potatoes

cucumbers and pickles

summer squash assortment

sweet bell peppers

sweet Italian bull's horn pepper

Hot peppers were optional again. Also, extra corn was offered, but my brother just gave us some, so we passed.

CSA Lunch

I feel like a slouch, because there haven't been many "Look what we ate!" posts, but we've been eating much of our stuff unadorned. Corn on the cob, tomatoes, cantaloupe--it's all delicious just the way it is!

Today's lunch, which I'm eating right now, is a sliced peach, a handful of endive and pea tops with some cucumber slices, and a piece of zucchini bread. Our handout from the farm this week suggested using the endive/pea top mix as an addition to other salad greens, but it's what we had in the fridge, so I'm just eating it as-is. Surprisingly, I'm not balking at the endive's slight bitterness like I once would have.

I am thrilled that we're getting cucumbers again! They were such a treat in the first few weeks, and I was sad to hear they'd been invaded by pests. Neil showed me some babies on the vine a few weeks ago. Can you see this one? It was about an inch long!

The Dish Suggested It

I heard Ger banging around in the kitchen tonight, so I yelled, "Are you making something I should be taking pictures of?" "Probably," he said. So, here ya go...



"What's it gonna be?"
"A squash and eggplant thing."



"Where'd you get the idea for this?"
"From the dish."
"The dish?"
"Yeah, the dish suggested it to me."

"Ooooh, I see, you're doing layers."
"Yep, veg, garlic, peppers, cheese, sauce."

"You want the breadcrumbs?"
"Sure."
"Plain or seasoned?"
"Oh, give me the seasoned."

"That's pretty."
"Thanks."

P.S. I know it doesn't look radically different cooked. Humor me.

What'd Ya Bring Me?

Isabella has to see what we've brought her each week. No beet greens or chard for the kitty this week, but...

...corn husks seem to do the trick!

Week 12

peaches

sweet corn

tomatoes

eggplant

red skin potatoes

cucumbers

summer squash

sweet peppers

hot peppers (optional)

cantaloupe

endive/pea top mix

Look at all that corn! And potatoes! This is my week!

Everyone Has a Recipe

Okay, I wouldn't exactly count this as eating zucchini, but people keep mentioning it, so we made...

...ZUCCHINI BREAD! Despite it being so common, this is the first time I've had zucchini bread. I asked around for recipe recommendations, but Gerry got up and made it this morning before I could share them with him, so he used a really basic one from the Better Homes and Gardens New Baking Book. Many of the suggested recipes called for ingredients we didn't have on hand, anyway, like pineapple or applesauce. Ger also substituted Goodall's "mixed spice" from Ireland for the cinnamon and nutmeg in the recipe.

In case you're curious, mixed spice includes cinnamon, coriander, cloves, fennel seed, ginger, and bay leaves. I think we bought it for making Christmas pudding or his cousin Mary's apple cake or something. It's nice.

So, how's the bread? Lovely and delicious. Very tasty. And it didn't need butter or anything--I just thought it looked good in the picture!