Hi John,
This week the house’s internal network is being rewired, we’re getting quotes for replacing the lead service line, and we’ve reached out to a couple of companies for advice about whether to get quotes for solar panels before or after we replace the roof. Home ownership is fun?
[Edited to add that the one of the plumbers who we gave a quote for the service line advertised discounts on additional services done at the same time. And our home inspector did say that we should replace the water heater soon. So, we have also been researching the merits of electric tank vs electric tankless vs heat pump aka hybrid water heaters. All the contractors are pro-gas tankless, but anti-electric tankless. The hybrid is more expensive up-front, but our calculations show that the energy cost savings should be substantial. And the warranty is four years longer.]
In This Week’s Box
- Cremini Mushrooms
- Garnet Sweet Potatoes
- Green Garlic
- Mixed Specialty Lettuce
- Red Radishes
- Red Russian Kale
- Rutabaga (not turnip like you think)
Still in the Fridge
- Cranberries
- Celery
- Greens: Green Cabbage
- Carrots
- Parsnip
- Black radishes, Purple Daikon radishes
- Turnips
- Potatoes: Sweet
- Onions
- Jerusalem Artichokes
Open Preserves
- Preserved eggplant
- Dill pickle juice
- Lacto-fermented green cherry tomatoes
- Lacto-fermented blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
- Lacto-fermented habanda jalapeno hot sauce
- Pickled red onion
- Pickled banana peppers with oregano, basil, and black pepper
- Plain pickled banana peppers
- Pickled fennel stems with orange
- Spicy pickled fennel stems
- Radish kimchi
- Sunchoke relish
- Green tomato chutney
- Freedom berry jam
- Cranberry orange marmalade-ish
- Probably still more uninventoried
Successful meals we’ve made
I’m late posting this week, which has the benefit of knowing what we actually ate. (If not the help of figuring out what we could eat.)
- Salad greens + radish + avocado + grapes + toasted walnuts + goat cheese + either balsamic dressing or simply rosemary olive oil = a happy salad (It would’ve been great if there was still broccoli for it, but that has already been finished in twice baked potatoes.)
- Kale + pinto beans + radish + carrots + sweet and spicy vinegary dressing = a solid salad
- Spinach + quick cook sweet potato + black beans + radish + homemade ranch = the salad I kept eating last week.
- Sunchoke burgers used half the mushrooms
- Spaghetti with mushroom marinara use the other half. (And honestly would’ve been better with more mushrooms, but we were out. Need to go to the Asian market and stock up on dried mushrooms too.)
Less success
- Rutabaga rosti. I’d seen a video that talked up potato rosti the week before. So when I looked for ideas with rutabaga and saw a post about rosti it sounded like it’d fill a craving I hadn’t known I’d had. But cooking in the cast iron skillet and otherwise trying to follow the video, well, it was a less successful dish. I kept burning the bottom layer and it never really stuck all together. Next time, let’s consider going closer to latkes. They can still get topped with sour cream and the green garlic.
Yet to come
- More sweet potato! (This time at least we only got a single three pounder.) I’ve been going through our frozen gnocci stockpiles, so maybe more there? More roasted on tacos and salads? Thai curry with radish greens?
- Actually make that root vegetable lasagna that I posted last time.
- Finish off the cabbage. More of the shaved salad with lemon garlic parmesan dressing?
- Eventually, I really should try to pickle those black radishes.
Love,
Sarah
Planning Inside The Box 