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!

Recipe Smorgasborg

Here are my favorite recipes from this week's recipe search, involving cabbage, cauliflower, turnips, and radishes. I'll expand on it a little later if I can.

Hearty country soup
Spicy ginger cauliflower cabbage and potatoes
Tofu, cauliflower, cabbage, and onion stir fry with coconut peanut sauce
An assortment of broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower recipes
Sweet and sour cauliflower and cabbage salad
Cauliflower and potato curry (crockpot recipe)
Cool and crunchy radish and spring turnip salad
Radish cabbage coleslaw
Pan-Fried Fish and Tomatoes With Cabbage Radish Slaw

For now, gotta take my little one to Sunday Dinner!

Radish Curry and Greens Quiche

This week in our CSA boxes, we got:

• corn
• sweet potatoes
• Chinese cabbage
• peppers
• lettuce
• apples
• radishes

Ordinarily, I would be swapping with our share partners so that we can have all the radishes - but this time, there were enough radishes for my favorite radish dishes without having to keep them all! (Here's one I like: radish-potato curry - mmmm!) I think I'll "bank" the radishes, though - they'll keep, and I'll do something fun with them in weeks to come.

The radish greens, though, when put together with the mustard greens and Swiss chard from past CSA boxes, will make enough greens for my favorite garden greens quiche - a tried and true favorite that works with any combination of greens I have ever thrown at it. Even with a storebought pie crust instead of fresh, and cheddar and mozzarella cheese instead of Swiss, this is simply delectable - and it freezes!! If I manage to keep our paws off it, I will give it to my sister-in-law, who's moving to our area in a few weeks.