Week 7: Pick-Up Day

By the time we left the Korean Church parking lot with our Week 7 veggies, the kids and I were experiencing a fever pitch level of excitement. We couldn't wait to see what was in store because we were about to take our veggies on a little road trip. Yep, our local Texas veggies were going to make their all-star debut to friends and family across the deeply southern states of Louisiana and Mississippi. And let me tell you, if anyone in America knows the value of a good vegetable, it's the southerners. Many families eat produce grown in their own gardens, but those who don't usually have friends or family who are happy to share their crops. With this in mind, I was meal planning for our trip in a major way.

Since the hubby was staying behind for the first leg of the trip, I made him an offer I thought he couldn't refuse: he could keep any veggies he wanted to cook during the week and the kids and I would take the rest. Though I know he's a red-blooded male and all, I was shocked when he literally laughed out loud at my kind gesture. He couldn't wait to be off of vegetable duty for a week and had grand plans of scarfing down burgers for every meal. Fair enough, really, since he doesn't eat nearly his preferred quota of animal matter at home. But it meant that I had to haul the veggies across three states to avoid them going bad, which brings me to a slight issue with community supported agriculture. You should know up front that your weekly lot of veggies depend on you for everything––like children, you have to be there on time to pick them up; they need to be preened, washed and toweled dry before storing; and for heaven's sake, you must engage with them or they will shrivel up and die. I'm not complaining, only stating that there are no weeks off to eat junk food without some serious guilt induced by wasting food that is literally grown from a labor of love. Unless, of course, you're the hubby and laugh out loud at the idea of cooking a vegetable meal for one.

Week 7 pick-up: broccoli, yellow squash, celery, beets, red cabbage, green cabbage, Swiss chard, white onions, green kale and purple kale.

Week 6: Broccoli Cheese Spoon Bread

Like many food-obsessed people, I often read cookbooks cover to cover like a novel. I check them out of the library, not to find recipes, but to feel inspired by the idea of finding the recipe that will one day become "the one" that my friends and family remember me for. Surely it's in my genes––my great-grandmother passed down her homemade chocolate pie; my grandmother is known for her biscuits and tomato gravy; my mother practically invented peanut butter balls and veggie casserole. It's become like a drug, this momentary burst of inspiration that comes from finding a simple recipe with a beautiful photo that I am convinced will be toted to pot luck dinners for years to come. Indeed, this heady feeling has kept me coming back to one particular cookbook for more than a decade. Each time I turn to the now-worn page I wonder, could the Broccoli Cheese Spoon Bread be "it?" Easily one of the prettiest dishes in the book, I have pulled this crisp-on-the-outside-soft-in-the-middle bread out of the oven a thousand times in my mind's eye. In my vision, I watch as my family gobbles it up and looks at me appreciatively with rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes. So, as though fulfilling a prophecy, I chopped this week's gigantic head of broccoli and followed the instructions. I popped the bread into the oven and was elated to find that 40 minutes later it was as beautiful as the book promised. With sheer exuberance, I gathered my family around the table...

I'm not sure if the decade long build-up of this recipe meant it was doomed to fail or if it was just plain bland, but my excitement turned to disappointment with the first bite. I could've added a pound of salt and this dish would still have been missing something vital. I can't tell you what and since I have already written "do not make again" in the margins of the page, I have no intention of experimenting to find out. But it wasn't a complete bust––the kids ate the bits with the cheese and the hubby and I finished the rest out of guilt and a sense of duty to our CSA broccoli. In the end, the spoon bread did technically nourish us, but its beauty (like so many beautiful things) lacked the substance and character needed to carry on a lifelong love affair. And like so many others who have been disappointed by beauty, I am left to continue my search for "the one."

Week 6: Roasted Cauliflower & Salmon

Well, it finally happened. The thing I've dreaded the most since beginning to blog about our forays into community supported agriculture––a repeat meal. That's right; we had roasted cauliflower and salmon in Week 4 and here we are eating the same exact meal––bite for bite––in Week 6. Do I feel dull? Yes. But surely no one can expect me to go to work every day, haul children to and fro and then come home and cook something new and exciting every night, right? Well, actually that would be awesome, but the bionic woman I am not. In fact, the hubby can vouch for me when I say that I often get tired and grumpy. But you know what I don't get? Bored. You simply cannot get bored with 48 quarts of fresh, beautiful produce sitting in your refrigerator week after week after week. And if we've learned one thing in the last six weeks, it's that you can steam or roast pretty much anything and it tastes amazing. So on hectic week nights––nights that my former, non-CSA food-rut self would have made a frozen pizza or taken the family to Taco Bueno––I now quickly chop up a vegetable, drizzle it with olive oil and pop it in the oven. Combined with Costco's flash frozen, wild-caught, non-endangered, pre-marinated salmon fillets and, well, bam!, we have a healthy, guilt free, delicious meal on our hands. So, yes, it may be a CSA repeat meal, but I'll take that over a food rut any day of the week.

The perk of a repeat meal? A repeat photo to replace yours that "accidentally" got erased from your camera.

Week 6: Spinach Bruschetta Pasta

While I've always liked bruschetta, I've been positively obsessed with it since my last birthday when the hubby took me for an intimate dinner at a small and rather amazing Italian restaurant. I don't know if it was the martinis or the sheer decadence of a two-hour dinner sans children, but the bruschetta appetizer altered my DNA. I've made it more times than I can count and each time, I am amazed. It's fast, fresh, basic and best of all, when I make it, I am calm. I chop, mince, toast and drizzle my way to culinary euphoria no matter what day of the week it is. Which is good since this week's grand meal plan, that originally included spinach calzones, had fallen apart by Tuesday. I understand that technically Tuesday is too early in the week for things to fall apart, but since I'd forgotten a few items on Sunday's grocery trip, there was simply no repairing the damage. While the grocery store may only be a mile away physically, it is light years away on a weekday. I cannot explain this phenomenon, but I know that the working mothers among us know exactly what I'm talking about. But still, all was not lost. In fact, the forgetting may have been serendipitous, because now I had to do something with the spinach.

My new plan was to sauté the spinach, tomatoes, garlic, basil and onion down into a pasta sauce, but once everything was chopped, it was just too beautiful to cook. And so the lovely spinach bruschetta pasta was born. I put all the veggies in a bowl, stirred in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper and poured it over warm penne pasta. Topped with parmesan cheese, it was fantastic. No doubt there are a thousand recipes out there for this same dish, but coming to it so unexpectedly on a borderline dismal Tuesday added the bright, fresh jolt I needed to turn the week around. Now that's what I call serendipity.

PS - Sorry I can't show you a pic, but I will be making this dish again and won't let the hubby anywhere near the camera until I have saved my photos.

Week 6: Portobello Cheesesteaks & Kale

I am not too proud to admit that once upon a time in my life I was obsessed with Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches. Yep, the kind with real steak from actual cows. The affair lasted only a summer but I still remember it with a fond intoxication. Probably because each time I scarfed one down, I was precisely that. But now I'm a grown-up with little people's health solely determined by my choices –– little people who will have to find Philly Cheesesteaks on their own time. Nowadays, I get most of my thrills from plant-based food sources, so when I found this recipe for Portobello Cheesesteak sandwiches, my heart fluttered with excitement. With the summer of 1994 in mind, I chuckled over how far I'd come. Not only was I making the Philly out of mushrooms and pita bread, I was actually going to serve it with steamed kale. Ahhh, life's little ironies.

Unlike it's artery-clogging counterpart, this sandwich was very beautiful. Besides richly dark portobello mushrooms, the recipe called for yellow bell peppers, sliced onions and mozzarella cheese. I went ahead and added cilantro since I had it on hand, which gave it a crisp, springtime boost. The steamed kale was superb, but admittedly took this meal into its "Extreme Makeover" phase, which many would scoff at. But to all you naysayers out there, lighten up –– I have yet to give myself over to Tofutti Cream Cheese.

PS - Since the hubby erased my photo of this fabulous sandwich, I've added the one from the cookbook so you can see how pretty it is.

Week 6: Pick-Up Day & Favorite Simple Salad

Unfortunately, I have numerous casualties to report. The first, the one I feel I should hang my head in shame about, is the cauliflower. Yes, the robust, incredible cauliflower. The only excuse I have is the strange dental-related infection that oppressed me for most of Week 5. Even though I had a slight comeback on Thursday, Friday night we really needed Chinese food. You understand. It was Friday and we could no longer think, cook, or clean up after the hurricane-like force that is our children. Why, oh why, didn't I think to freeze the cauliflower? I blame the dentist.

The next loss, it should be noted, actually caused me physical pain. The not-so-magnificent hubby, in his haste to free up camera space for what he called "adorable" kid footage, erased all the photos on our digital camera. That's right, I lost the pics of my beloved produce for Week 6. The salt in this wound? I also lost the photos of the meals I so lovingly toiled over in Week 6. For all my horror and disbelief, the hubby never showed quite enough remorse to suit my tastes. But, having been married to me for six years, he knew exactly how to make good on his mistake. Stay tuned –– my lips are sealed until Week 8.

But back to Pick-Up Day, where we were excited to see broccoli and cauliflower, purple kale, green kale, cilantro, yellow onions, purple-top turnips and green romaine. Since we were hosting friends Saturday night, I was thrilled to see the romaine. It wouldn't be a social occasion at our house without my Favorite Simple Salad. Filled with cranberries, candied pecans and blue cheese, I am overjoyed to eat my body weight in this salad every chance I get. Which is a good thing since the hubby and friends feasted on four different types of grilled venison. We also had smooth red wine, haloumi kabobs and homemade chocolate pie for dessert, making this one of my favorite meals of the year. What's that, you say? Oh yes, too bad I can't show you the photo.