In last week’s CSA box, we received: two bunches carrots, one kohlrabi, one bunch collard greens, one cabbage, one bunch parsley, one bunch cilantro, one tiny pumpkin, one bunch broccoli, two onions, two heads garlic, two beets, one bunch spinach, one acorn squash, one bag potatoes, one bunch green onions, two leeks, and one head romaine lettuce.
I’m crossing my fingers that kohlrabi season is almost over, since we only got one kohlrabi last week. On the other hand, it was a monster kohlrabi, so perhaps I’m speaking too soon. We’re still managing to eat them roasted and mixed with beets, carrots, and onions, but I can’t say I’m loving the experience. I keep hearing that people either hate or love kohlrabi—I guess there’s no longer any doubt about which camp I fall into.
I did bring home the parsley last week, since we were planning on making Italian meatballs and parsley always goes well in those. I still have the rest of the bunch left, though…hmm. Maybe I’ll get Jesse to make us some juice? He is supposed to be “juicing Jesse” here (because I hate making juice) but I’m terrible at actually remembering to ask him to make any. 
It was great getting two bunches of carrots, rather than just the usual one. We eat a lot of carrots and the ones from the farm are delicious. At some point they’ll be out of season and I’ll be back to buying organic carrots from the store—they’re a decent price but they just don’t compare to these super fresh ones.
Isn’t that little pumpkin cute? The sticker on it says that you can actually eat it, but I can’t imagine that you’d get much out of it so we may just leave it around for decoration.
Speaking of squash, I still need to track down good acorn squash recipes to try. Last year we got a lot of acorn squash so I’m sure there’s more on the way. While I love butternut squash enough to just eat it as a simple side dish, I’m not as fond as acorn so I’m thinking it might go better in recipes featuring other flavors. Any ideas?
I used the leeks to make a leek chicken soup. It was only all right, though, because I got overenthusiastic with the leeks so the soup ended up being very strongly leek-flavored. Next time I will not try to put two big leeks into only four servings of soup. It’s possible that I may just be oversensitive, though—I just don’t like leeks as much I like regular onions.
Remember how last week I said that it was the week of big produce? Well, that trend has continued. That cabbage we got is the biggest I’ve ever seen. I didn’t think that first picture would quite do it justice, so I made Jesse model with it:
It’s almost as big as his head! And I don’t think that Jesse has a particularly small head. I’m not really sure what to do with it, especially since I just made a bunch of sauerkraut. I need to come up with something soon, though—it’s taking up a ton of space in my fridge!
I haven’t talked about lettuce in forever because I never do anything exciting with lettuce. We pretty much always eat it as salad with tomatoes and/or cucumbers and dressed with my homemade salad dressing. Now that tomatoes and cucumbers are out of season, though, we’ve just been eating the salads plain, which isn’t nearly as tasty. If you have any ideas for great fall salad toppings, please share!
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What local foods are you eating this week?
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My kids love cabbage just sliced and sauteed in a little bacon grease, oil, or butter. Or thrown in with an Asian noodle stir fry, but they prefer it simply sliced and sauteed–with salt!
Those beets are massive!
kirsten@FarmFreshFeasts recently posted..Eat More Veggies! (Allison’s November Blitz Challenge)
Thanks for the idea, Kirsten. I will have to try that.
And yes, I think that was also one of the biggest beets I’ve ever seen. I keep telling Jesse that I think I could bludgeon someone to death with all of the massive produce we’ve been getting, haha.
Try this for the acorn squash – it is delicious!
http://goodlookingcook.blogspot.com/2011/10/gaps-moroccan-spiced-stuffed-acorn.html
Thanks for sharing, Michele–I will check it out!
Sunday was the last day of our farmer’s market, so I went to pick up bargain squash. Score – $1 each, for BIG butternut & buttercup & spaghetti squash.
My Grandpa used to fill acorn squash with bulk pork sausage before he baked them. Not bad! You can add onions or apples to the sausage, too.
I like to cube, season & roast squash for salads this time of year.
Ahhh….I’m super jealous. $1/lb is a good price for organic winter squash here. I can’t imagine $1/squash!
I am so jealous of your box. Thanks so much for sharing the veggie goodness:)
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Come say hi!
Eliza
Eliza recently posted..Foodie Penpals: October 2012
It’s interesting to see what you get in your CSA in Colorado! I get one in Pennsylvania, so it’s somewhat different. No kohlrabi. I don’t know if they don’t grow well here or our farmers just don’t like them.
We also feel inundated with lettuce. Our best suggestion for it is to put the main dish on top of it and just eat some lettuce with every bite. This works particularly well with fancied-up canned salmon.
‘Becca recently posted..Four Weeks of Pesco-Vegetarian Dinners (late autumn)
Thanks for sharing, ‘Becca! I’d feel happy about the lack of kohlrabi if I were you…