Farm Box Adventures #6

This week's bounty:

• Cantaloupe
• Avocados
• Sweet onion
• Zucchini
• Carrots
• Corn (given away)
• Tomatoes
• Green beans

Box #5 Report

Again, I stayed mostly out of the kitchen during these past few weeks of hot Southern California heat. Box #5 didn't get the love it deserved.

The cantaloupe and grapefruits were the first ones consumed.  Brandon is a big fan of the melon and it's so refreshing to eat, cold out of the fridge. As for the grapefruit, I experimented with a new cocktail recipe to great success. Who knew St. Germain and grapefruits were made for each other! I will post that recipe very soon.

As the only consumer of avocado in the household, I use a whole one as "spread" for my turkey sandwiches during the week, mashing them up with garlic and onion powders and the awesome Bacon Salt. Yum, yum, YUM!

I wasted broccoli and lettuce this time around before I can get to them.  I managed to save carrots, green beans, and zucchini before they expired though. Carrots were glazed to go with store-bought rotisserie chicken.  Green beans were once again blanched and froze.  Zucchini was saved by the college football season as I tossed them with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and a little salt and pepper and garlic powder and took them to Psychogate, my usual tailgate hangout with Roy "USC Pyscho", to get grilled off.

Meal Ideas for This Week

You'd think I'd have more ideas for simple ingredients like this box. But I have to tell you, I'd rather like getting the "mystery" vegetables! LOL

With this batch, I probably will make French Onion soup with the sweet onion again. And I might be able to be creative with the zucchinis.  Not much to get excited about, really. *sigh*

What about you? What have you cooked up lately that is new and exciting?

Farm Box Adventure #5

This week's bounty:

• Lettuce, of course
• Broccoli
• Zucchini
• Carrots
• Green beans
• Avocados
• Grapefruits
• Cantaloupe

Box #4 Report

The challenge with the last box was the cabbage.  I attacked that with a summer kimchi recipe I found.  Being a lazy bum that I am, I didn't get to the Korean market to purchase the actual Koren chili powder (gochugaru)--I experimented with my own blend with arbol chili, chili powder, cayenne, and paprika. It was a success to a degree, but after I portioned it out for a few folks to try, I decided to toss it out. Just not up to my standard. Next time, full scale recipe!

I did make colcannon-- sauteed cabbage mashed in with potatoes--with frozen cabbage from a few weeks before to go with the bangers I got.  I never knew that cabbage and potatoes would take THAT good mashed together!

However, Southern California weather had heated up considerably these past few weeks. I barely cooked anything! The green beans and the carrots ended up getting blanched and frozen because I just didn't want to slave over the stove in this heat.

Meal Ideas for This Week

I am going to test out a new cocktail recipe for the grapefruits. As tasty as the margarita has been, it's time for a change. :)

I will definitely re-do the awesome beef and broccoli recipe again. This time I will take a picture of the end product and will post recipe...eventually.

The carrots will get glazed. The green beans will get steamed. I'm unsure of what I'm going to do for the protein yet but that's the game plan so far.

Zucchini is this week's contender.  I have done zucchini soup two ways before, so I might revisit the hot zucchini-leek soup as I wasn't a big fan of the chilled one.

Do you have any good zucchini recipe that does not involved turning on an oven?

Farm Box Adventure #4

I was so happy that I didn't get any cabbage last week. I knew that it was too good to be true...

This Week's Bounty

• Tomatoes
• Carrots
• Green beans
• Oranges
• Watermelon
• Cilantro -- already given away so it's not pictured here.
• Lettuce
• ...*sigh*... Cabbage

You gave away cilantro? Aren't you Asian and supposed to love that stuff?

I do like cilantro. Cilantro/Coriander is almost Thailand's national vegetable! We incorporate the roots into marinades and curry bases (yes, back in our country, they sell them WITH roots.). The leaves are used like parsley here, sprinkled onto a dish or used as garnish.

Heck, we even have a saying based on cilantro! When you do something poorly but you make it looks nice and presentable, Thai people call that "sprinkling cilantro on top". (ผักชีโรยหน้า)

Unfortunately, Brandon doesn't like cilantro. Well, not liking is a part of it. He is also one of those people to whom cilantro tastes like soap. Some studies said it's a genetic thing. Some people are sensitive to a certain aromatic chemical of the cilantro. And so on.

I just settled at the fact that he doesn't like it. My next door neighbor was very happy to take it off my hands along with a fistful of green beans.

Before we discuss this box, let's talk about the last one.

Box #3 Report

Box #3 was not too big of a challenge to cook. After all, it didn't have cabbage.

I gave one avocado away to a friend visiting from Colorado who has missed California avocado so much she was going to smuggle some back on their drive home. The other, I made a ghetto guacamole for a snack by mashing it with chopped tomatoes and a pinch each of garlic and onion powder, cayenne pepper, and salt, and a splash of rice wine vinegar because I didn't have any lime on hand.

Tomatoes are also one of the things Brandon doesn't eat. To my delight, actually. All the yumminess is mine! Muwahahahah! :-D I have been cooking up a whole tomatoes with eggs for breakfast on my Meatless Tuesday for a great and filling meal.

Beef and broccoli was also a major success. My dad back in Thailand sat our family's housekeeper down to get her recipe for the beef marinade. He even typed it up for me himself--a feat for someone who actually doesn't know how to type ("That's what my secretary is for!")--so I can make dinner that same night. And boy, was it worth the trouble. While I did take some pictures for you guys, I did not take picture of the finished product. We were hungry. So very, very hungry...

Also as planned, I made Caesar salad, French onion soup, and that cabbage soup with some green beans and carrots in it. And I still have a quarter of frozen cabbage left.

I used the carrots to make carrot cake instead because Brandon was craving some. I bought a few more carrots just in case but I actually didn't need them. I even had extra! I use Tyler Florence's carrot cake recipe for the cake which turns out super moist and NOT overly sweet at all, and the cream cheese frosting from Nigella Lawson's Guinness Chocolate Cake recipe. Should've made double batch of the frosting as my filling was a little bit on the skimpy side. But over all, it was yummy.

Box #4 Meal Ideas

Carrots and tomatoes are never a challenge around here, and lettuce and green beans are not too hard to figure out either. This time around, though, I'm going to introduce Brandon to tuna-less Nicoise salad since I have some lovely brined olives from the farmer's market in the fridge.

Aaaand we're back to the cabbage. I'm starting to feel like the Cabbage Guy in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Instead of losing the cabbages, I keep getting them!

I did buy some pork bangers on sale from Whole Foods today. So I grabbed a couple of potatoes so we can do bangers and mash with a side of sauteed cabbage. So that'll take care of half of one. I can probably throw the other half in the freezer...to join yet another quarter of cabbage...for future soup making enterprise.

I also wonder if  I can make kimchi out of the non-Napa cabbage.  I need to do a little research on that.

Any thoughts on what else I can do with cabbage? Please don't say cabbage roll. I read that recipe to B and he made a face. LOL

Farm Box Adventure #3

Box #3?! But you just wrote about the boxes for the first time a few weeks ago?!

True. But remember, that box was box #2 already. I just didn't write about the very first box. Are you on the same page now? Good!

This Week's Bounty:

• Romaine lettuce
• Tomatoes
• Avocados
• Carrots
• Broccolis
• Green beans
• Sweet onion
• Grapefruits

What makes getting CSA box more adventurous for my household is that Brandon is a particular eater--not picky per se but specific. He can eat just about anything as long as he doesn't have to eat things he doesn't like, like fresh tomatoes, raw onion, most mushrooms, corn, and avocado.  So, when I get a box like this, I have to figure what I can do that he can also enjoy.

Yes, meal planning can be a challenge around here sometimes. But Brandon does embrace the culinary adventures we're embarking on, and is game to try something different.

For example, guacamole is out of the picture for him, but that will come in handy for me on Meatless Tuesday.  I never cook with the giant sweet onion before, but I know for sure Brandon likes French onion soup. Alton Brown actually uses sweet onion to make his version. (But it's so hot...I don't know if I'd want a bowl of gooey, melty cheesy soup!)  Brandon also said that he'd be game to try a stuffed onion. So we shall see.

There will be some interesting experiment with this box, I can tell ya!

Box #3 Meal Ideas

Caesar Salad. Glazed carrots. Steamed green beans. French onion soup or perhaps stuffed onion? Broccoli beef.

Yes, I'm cooking Asian food. Those of you who've been following along a while know that this little princess does not do much Thai or Asian food in the house.  I'm calling up my nanny/housekeeper in Thailand for her recipe. Her beef marinade is pure magic!

As for the grapefruits, we both don't care for them. I guess I'm going to make margaritas...

Report from Box #2 

We did good with the last box. Fortunately for me, I threw a barbecue for our little apartment complex and we got to grill the summer squash and made Jamie Oliver's cucumber and olive salad.

I also put some cucumber slices into a pitcher of water so I have flavored water to drink all week. And the last little bit of it went into Rachael Ray's tomato and cucumber salad a few nights ago.

The kale was a bit of a challenge. I looked up a few recipes and went with my own take of a beer-braised kale with bacon. While I couldn't stop eating the thing, Brandon didn't care for the fibrous leaves. I think I undercooked it a bit.

The cabbage, surprisingly, was the last one to go.  I used half in a pot of mixed vegetables (cabbage, carrots, baby potatoes, green beans, and green peas...again, a la Jamie's) with a side of my "ghetto aioli"--mayo, a few cloves of crushed garlic, a little squeeze of lemon, and a little drizzle of good olive oil.  I still have half a cabbage left that I finally tossed into the freezer. If I have any green beans left, I'll probably bring that out to make chicken vegetable soup adapted from a Weight Watcher recipe I got from someone's mom years ago.

But where are the pictures?

I know! I know! I promise I will start blogging the recipes soon. I'm still getting used to a new schedule I'm setting myself on. I will try to get them up as soon as I can.

And now, share your thoughts! Do you have any good stuffed onion recipe?

Let the Farm Box Adventures begin

Community supported agriculture (CSA) is a new concept to me, having heard about it from watching Food Inc. a few years ago.  According to LocalHarvest.org, the program has been around for over 20 years. 

Here are the basics: a farmer offers a certain number of "shares" to the public. Typically the share consists of a box of vegetables, but other farm products may be included. Interested consumers purchase a share (aka a "membership" or a "subscription") and in return receive a box (bag, basket) of seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season. (Read more here.)

I have been looking for a program that has a pick up schedule that would work for me, but for a while I couldn't find one. They were all in the mid-afternoon at some schools. Not at all convenient.

Then a friend signed up for one that delivers to your house.  Just as I was looking into that service, my other friend Wyatt posted about Tanaka Farms CSA boxes on his Facebook.

Most of us Orange County residents have grown up knowing of Tanaka Farms for their strawberries and their farm tours. When I first visited the U.S., my aunt took my mom and I to their farm stand down the street in Garden Grove. I had never seen strawberries so BIG in my life! For many years, I would smuggle containers of strawberries and cherries back to Thailand as gifts.  Long story short, Tanaka Farms is the name I trust when it comes to good produce.

And then I found out that they have pick-up location at Long Beach Whole Foods from 4-8 p.m. on Fridays. Talk about a perfect match!  I signed up almost right away for a small CSA box, every other week.

My first box was picked up at the end of June. I didn't know what to expect but yet I was very excited of the possibilities.  For a household of two, the small box every other week was more than enough.  I had to throw a few things away because I couldn't get to them fast enough, and I traded/gave away a few other items that Brandon doesn't like to eat. e.g. corn.

No knowing what's coming in the box keeps you on your toes for sure. And it also makes grocery shopping and meal planning exciting.

For example, there were some Red Russian kale in the first box. I didn't know what they were except that they looked like kale. So I had to look them up.  Then I looked up a recipe to cook them because I had never cooked with kale before.  Voila! We found out that we DO like kale around here!

As I picked up my 2nd box today, I thought I should probably bring you guys along my cooking adventures. The photos may not be perfect and the results might be disastrous. But at least I can keep you guys entertained.

And hopefully, I would inspire you to join a CSA program in your neighborhood.

Without further ado...

This week's bounty

• Kale
• Cabbage
• Lettuce
• Carrots
• Cucumbers
• Summer squash (aka Pattypan squash)
• Oranges
• Corn -- will be given away...so don't worry about that

Tonight's dinner: Roasted carrots and pork chops. (Jamie Oliver's recipe).

Tomorrow night's dinner: Chicken Caesar salad. (Another Jamie's recipe. Yes, I'm just a wee bit obsessed with Jamie these days. Don't get me started on the 30 Minute Meals series. Hee.)

Veggie I've never cooked before: Summer squash.

What would you do with this CSA box? Do share some good recipes and ideas...especially for the summer squash. lol