CSA Week 1: A Vegetarian Week

Last week was the first week of the Sandy Spring CSA! In our boxes, we got:

• asparagus
• rhubarb
• salad mix
• a head of lettuce
• spring onions
• baby spinach
• regular spinach
• radishes
• mint

The CSA pickup is now on Wednesdays, so my menu planning now starts midweek, rather than on a Monday the way it did last year. It's a little odd, but we'll adjust.

In trying to shave a little off our grocery bill this week, I made it an all-vegetarian week.

• Wednesday - shell pasta and spaghetti sauce and green beans

I needed a quick dinner, and this let me use up the green beans, which were the last of the farmer's market veggies (had to clear the decks for CSA veggies!)

• Thursday - Indonesian squash and spinach soup (Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant) with a dollup of sushi rice, plus some (vegan) sour cream

I had butternut squash cubes left over from an earlier dish. I halved the recipe, and saved 1/2 c of coconut milk for the curried tofu on Sunday.

• Friday - [date night]
• Saturday - asparagus, carrot, and egg maki, plus green salad topped with asparagus, egg, and strawberry slices

This used up the leftover sushi rice from Thursday, as well as 3 old nori wrappers that had been hanging out for far too long. Everything was a big hit with J!

• Sunday - coconut curried shrimp with radish wedges, over white rice

I had no shrimp, so I used tofu, which I marinated for a half hour in 2 T olive oil, 3 T lime juice, 1 t curry powder, and 1 t soy sauce while I prepared the other ingredients. I didn't have quite enough radishes, so I sliced up a carrot, and threw in the last of the steamed asparagus from the sushi. It was tasty, but very lime-heavy; next time I'll add another flavor to the sauce - maybe fish sauce, or peanut butter, or mandarin oranges, any of which would fit the Thai-style curry. On the positive side, J ate the tofu and every radish piece we could give her - hooray for adding another vegetable to that slim repertoire of hers!

• Monday - [preschool potluck]

I did make a greens quiche to take to our friends P and V, who just had their baby girl - that used up the scallions and the rest of the spinach quite neatly.

• Tuesday - curry-spiced lentils and spinach topped with chopped tomato and mint and (vegan) sour cream, served over half a baked potato, with green salad

This is a crockpot recipe that I cooked in the solar oven, on Monday actually. I added in 2 oz. chopped fresh spinach at the end, rather than 10 oz. frozen spinach at the beginning, so it was a good deal less spinach-y than was probably intended. The tomato and especially the fresh mint changed the dish from ho-hum to extraordinary!

So, after working furiously to clear the decks for the next load of veggies (especially since we're travelling this weekend and next weekend), I have a little lettuce and salad greens left, and all the rhubarb, which hopefully will keep a little while. Whew!