green beans

Boxing Day, September 23

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Dear John,

We made it to the garden! It has not (yet) died. We need to do some more service hours, attend a workday. But I am feeling reasonably confident that we won’t get kicked out/will be allowed to return next year. Which is the main goal. Truly, the longer we care for the garden plot, the more grateful I am that we do not rely on our own luck and skill to provide our food.

But we do rely on our own skill to prepare most of our food. Shall we dive in?

Today’s Box

  • Bartlett Pears
  • Kiwiberries
  • Green Beans
  • Green Romaine Lettuce (Swapped one head for Golden Beets)
  • Leeks
  • Red Tomatoes

Community Produce

  • Week off

Things in the fridge

  • Sunchokes
  • Muscadines
  • Green tomato, heirloom tomato
  • Wax beans
  • Peppers
  • Fennel stems
  • Greens: Lettuce, Bok Choy, Kale
  • Onions
  • Peaches
  • Pears
  • Apples
  • Oranges
  • Kiwiberries
  • Fingerling potatoes, potatoes

In the Garden

  • Collards
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • The season’s last ground cherries
  • Tomatillos enough for one batch of salsa
  • Parsley
  • Eggplant. Some shiny. Some the yellow of overripe.
  • Assorted peppers (including jalapenos? rescued from the compost pile)
  • So Many Dahlias
  • A bit of rosemary to go with the potatoes
  • A bit of Thai basil from the communal plot to go in a curry

Open Preserves

  • Fridge still organized!
  • Fridge still not inventoried!
  • Fig jam
  • Preserved eggplant
  • Pickled banana peppers
  • Pickled fennel
  • Pickled peach
  • Fermenting curdito again

Pantry Beans

  • Yellow Split Pea
  • Split Red Lentil
  • Black Caviar Lentil
  • Garbanzo Bean
  • Buckeye Bean
  • Black Calypso
  • Good Mother Stallard
  • Pinto Bean
  • Christmas Lima
  • California Corona
  • Royal Corona
  • And maybe one more on the shelf?

Cook something. Somehow. Somewhen. Again.

  • Review last week’s post. Half of those plans have not been attempted.
  • I needed fridge space for the beets and beans. Chopped up almost all of our remaining peppers and cooked up a batch of peperonata. Let’s serve it with grits and a fried egg. (And freeze some too.)
  • Pumpkin and maple season at Trader Joe’s! I grabbed our favorite gluten free pumpkin ravoli. Cooked it up for dinner with a blue cheese bechamel and kale. Reminiscent of this recipe with next to no actual overlap.
  • Green curry with eggplant and peppers. And tofu? And tofu!
  • Do I want wax/green beans in the above curry? Maybe not. Maybe go for our standard green bean and peanut stirfry? Maybe try fermenting? Miso butter and poached egg might be quicker option.
  • I made a pear-mustard-vinaigrette earlier when I realized there was a pear getting bruised by your bananas in the fruit bowl. It was mushy, but blended up just fine. Let’s put it on salad with some slices of fresh pear. Maybe lentils. Maybe chèvre. Maybe some roasted beets. Maybe some roasted nuts.
  • We have a sweet potato, already cooked, ready to mash. I’m tempted to do the sweet potato + kale + quinoa fritters. But those aren’t good for instant eating upon walking in the door. Sweet potato crème brûlée is tempting and I do not have the time for it in this season. Sweet potato hummus or enchiladas maybe is more reasonable.
  • Potato leek soup. Right?

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, September 16

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Dear John,

I’m talking good game about meal prepping on weekends, about eating leftovers, about using the instant pot for rice pilafs, the slow cooker for soups, about scrambling eggs. But I still don’t know how to have dinner on the table ten minutes after walking in the door on a routine basis. And I think that’s what life needs right now. It’s a yet another shift to how we approach meals to adapt to our shifting needs.

I feel like I used to have a small arsenal of meals that I could quickly deploy. I remember stocking up on the Taste of Thai noodle boxes, basically a side shuffle away from ramen. Which, honestly, maybe something to consider if there’s a version that fits the other diet constraints. I’m afraid it’s meal prepping sauce or flavoring packets or full jars ourselves the weekend before. (And now I miss the fancy ramen restaurant across the street from where I lived once upon a time.)

Please share if you have specific inspiration for gluten free, allergen adaptable, vegetable forward meals that are super fast, make leftovers all week, or cook while we’re out of the house.

Today’s Box

  • Bartlett Pears
  • Honeycrisp Apples
  • Kiwiberries
  • Baby Green Bok Choy
  • Green Romaine Lettuce
  • Lacinato Kale
  • Mixed Heirloom Tomatoes
  • Yellow Wax Beans

Community Produce

  • Green bell peppers
  • Onions
  • Potatoes
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Apples
  • Oranges

Things in the fridge

  • Sunchokes
  • Muscadines
  • Green tomato
  • Peppers
  • Fennel stems
  • Greens: Lettuce, Red Cabbage, Green Cabbage
  • Onions
  • Peaches
  • Pears
  • Watermelon
  • Fingerling potatoes

In the Garden

  • Who knows! We’re overdue for a visit
  • Probably collards, dahlias
  • If we’re lucky cherry tomatoes, ground cherries, tomatillos

Open Preserves

  • Fridge still organized!
  • Fridge still not inventoried!
  • Fig jam
  • Preserved eggplant
  • Pickled banana peppers
  • Pickled fennel
  • Curdito–just a little left

Pantry Beans

  • Yellow Split Pea
  • Split Red Lentil
  • Black Caviar Lentil
  • Garbanzo Bean
  • Buckeye Bean
  • Black Calypso
  • Good Mother Stallard
  • Pinto Bean
  • Flor De Junio
  • Christmas Lima
  • California Corona
  • Royal Corona
  • And maybe one more on the shelf?

Cook something. Somehow. Somewhen. Again.

  • First, buy carrots. Second, make more curdito!
  • These tomatoes look gorgeous and should be put to yummy use. The Six Seasons tomatoes and chickpea and za’atar and yogurt dish? We haven’t make it yet this year. This weekend!’
  • I do think Taco Tuesdays. Taco Thursdays. Taco Wednesdays, Mondays, Fridays, might be our new life. Cause we can have rice and beans ready to go. We can roast a veggie (still have beets and butternut squash in the fridge and a cilantro sauce to top). Those can be microwaved while the tortillas warm on griddle. Or maybe we skip the tortillas and go the burrito bowl route.
  • Pasta is also quick. More than ten minutes from door to table because we have to turn the water on to boil. I’m eyeing the fennel stems as a pesto-yogurt sauce that could be made in advance.
  • Use the kale or collards or even the bok choy to make these tofu bowls. (Is bowls our new lifestyle?)
  • Wax beans and hopefully cherry tomatoes in a red curry. I think that’d make yummy leftovers.
  • Bok choy noodle soup. In the slow cooker?
  • The recipe card suggested a southwest sweet potato salad. Maybe try that. Maybe just chop the sweet potato, roast, and have on hand for salads or tacos or bowls of other varieties.
  • Stuffed bell peppers in the slow cooker? This seems very doable. And could let our beans and rice feel different for a day.
  • You know what. Microwave baked potatoes don’t take that long. And are a yummy non-rice canvas for toppings. Maybe we experiment. Or stick with chopping, roasting, serve as hash.

Love,

Sarah

PS We learned yesterday that we are eligible for a community food distribution program. I asked if our participation makes the program stronger or stretches resources for others. And now we have a bonus box of produce coming in. I am glad I had already started thinking about food to make before the influx of produce to avoid being overwhelmed. We should think about what donations we make with the money we aren’t spending on food. Local food bank? World Central Kitchen? Other Food for Gaza efforts?

Boxing Day, September 9

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Dear John,

I pressed publish on last week’s post. Then peeked at the predicted contents and went right on meal planning.

Today’s Box

  • Bartlett Pears
  • Mini Red Seedless Watermelon
  • Yellow Peaches
  • Butternut Squash
  • Green Beans
  • Green Cabbage
  • Green Romaine Lettuce
  • Russian Banana Fingerling Potatoes

Things in the fridge

  • Sunchokes
  • Muscadines
  • Peppers
  • Beets
  • Fennel stems
  • Cabbage: Red Cabbage, Green Cabbage
  • Onions
  • Peaches
  • Pears
  • Cantaloupe

In the Garden

  • Handful of basil
  • Parsley that turns out to have swallowtails growing on it
  • Pint of cherry tomatoes and ground cherries
  • Another pepper
  • Few tomatillos
  • Green tomatoes
  • Sunflowers! Dahlias!

Open Preserves

  • I organized the fridge.
  • But have not inventoried
  • So off the top of my head
  • Fig jam
  • Preserved eggplant
  • Pickled banana peppers
  • Pickled fennel
  • Curdito

Pantry Beans

  • Yellow Split Pea
  • Split Red Lentil
  • Black Caviar Lentil
  • Garbanzo Bean
  • Buckeye Bean
  • Black Calypso
  • Good Mother Stallard
  • Pinto Bean
  • Flor De Junio
  • Christmas Lima
  • California Corona
  • Royal Corona
  • And maybe one more on the shelf?

Cook something. Somehow. Somewhen. Again.

  • Green beans and potatoes means I want to make the Smitten Recipe. Do we have the time for it in the middle of the week? What if we use pesto from the freezer?
  • Butternut squash! I wish we had the cilantro from last week to make mole verde. Do I remember some in the freezer? Or are the leftovers? Any case, I’m thinking roasting and taco-ing.
  • On second thought, yes roast. And save some of it to go on salads! With the lettuce! And pears! Toss in some nuts! Chevre! Dried cherries or cranberries. Salad season returns!
  • Ha! More cabbage. Swap this if there’s something interesting in the box. Otherwise, let’s see how those fridge salad approach is working for us.

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, July 2

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Dear John,

It is late in the day. I am sleepy. No notes. Just noodling.

Today’s Box

  • Apricot
  • Red Seedless Watermelon
  • Blackberries
  • Collards
  • Purple Cauliflower
  • Red Butterhead Lettuce
  • Sweet Fresh Onions
  • Yellow Wax Beans

Things in the fridge

  • Celery
  • Sunchokes
  • Greens: Lettuce, Cabbage, Kale
  • Roots: Carrots, Fingerling Sweet Potatoes
  • Alliums: Garlic scapes, Green garlic, Onions

In the Garden

  • Collards
  • Carrots
  • Turnips
  • Herbs: Dill, Basil (as pinched), Zatar, Rosemary, Oregano, Mint
  • Calendula and Cosmos

Open Preserves

  • Ha! We need to do a fridge check. I’m just going to leave this as a placeholder.

Summertime sustenance

  • Wax beans are like green beans. And I’ve subbed blanched green beans for the pan cooked asparagus in this recipe with miso butter and a poached egg. Good for a light dinner.
  • Let’s see if the plum tree at the garden still has fruit. If so, try the roasted cauliflower + plum + sesame seed salad from Six Seasons. If not, more of the cauliflower steaks from Six Seasons. Both call for parsley which is so sad for us this year. I mean, last year’s parsley looks great for butterflies. But a flowering parsley that’s going to seed is for the bugs, not for me.
  • Smashed sunchokes + butter lettuce for a salad. Gonna have to debate what dressing to make for it though. Maybe a homemade ranch?
  • Is this the week to try the citrus collards? Perhaps as an dish we can take to a Fourth of July block party?
  • Time to finish off the celery. Maybe with the celery salad + dates + almond salad from Six Seasons. It’s like the salad version of ants on a log!
  • I know blueberry + peach is my family’s classic combination, but am very tempted to make an apricot + blackberry cobbler.

Love,

Sarah

PS Next time leave the collards in the swap box. We have enough!

Boxing Day, August 1

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Dear John,

It’s counterintuitive that after having all the guests over the past week we have more lingering produce than usual. But between buying extra veggies for lunch nibbles and pre-preparing dinners, there wasn’t as much focus on using up the CSA and garden food. Some chard stems and green tomatoes made a chutney that was offered on the potato bar. Cooked chard leaves were offered with the pasta sauce. Tomatillos were chopped with lime juice and a pepper to top tacos. That was about it for three days?

Now I’m having the post-visit energy collapse. It feels entirely possible that we’ll order takeout an extra day this week. Possibly pull out a freezer meal without freezing a new one. All to say, watch out. Next week may get to overwhelming amounts of produce needing to be used if we’re not intentional.

Today’s Box

  • Donut Peaches
  • Nectarines
  • Centercut Squash
  • Green Beans
  • Green Bell Peppers
  • Mixed Heirloom Tomatoes
  • Sweet Onions
  • Cinnamon Basil

Things in the fridge

  • Plums
  • Watermelon
  • Sweet corn
  • Banana peppers
  • Celery
  • Cucumber and lemon cucumber
  • Red Spring Onions
  • Fennel bulb
  • Greens: Cabbage
  • Turnips?
  • Red Potatoes
  • Green plums
  • Green tomatoes (starting to pink)

In the Garden

  • The first cucumber!
  • Early peppers. Think Cochiti but maybe Fish.
  • A couple tomatillos
  • More tomatoes. Both ours and from the neighbors.
  • A few ground cherries
  • Rainbow chard (but gave half to the neighbors)
  • All the Genovese basil
  • Flowering dill if inspired
  • Rosemary
  • Oregano
  • Calendula and cosmos and gomphrena if we want another bouquet
  • Communal blackberries and figs

Open Preserves

  • Preserved eggplant
  • Lacto-fermented blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
  • Pickled kale stems
  • Pickled fennel stems
  • Radish kimchi
  • Green tomato chutney
  • Tomatillo salsa
  • Cran-kin kraut
  • Cranapple chutney
  • Watermelon rind dill pickles
  • Probably still more uninventoried

Garden glimpse

Sad news this week. Our basil looks not great. I’m not sure if the browning is due to stress from heat and lack of hydration or a fungus.

I fear the fungus.

One plant was totally dead. I pulled it and another two that were browning. One last batch of pesto for us. And not planting basil in the same section next year out of an abundance of caution.

Team Empty The Fridge

  • Chop tomatillos + tomatos + pepper + salt + lime for the tacos that were dinner.
  • The potato green bean pesto salad
  • Cinnamon basil and lime cookies.
  • Need to pickle the banana peppers. (Just as we finished off last year’s batch.)
  • These bell peppers look good for making stuffed bell peppers. I’ve had this tab open for long enough that I forgot it existed. Calls for lamb, so we might not go that direction though!
  • I want panzanella and the spot that I picked up lunch from today didn’t have any. So expect to make that one of these days while you’re at the office.
  • I want pizza. Can we pizza? It’s hot, but not as hot as it’s been. (These are the weeks I miss apartment complexes gas grills.) Squash and red sauce and cheese and garlic. Corn and tomatoes and pesto and feta.

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, July 18

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The board looked a lot skimpier when it was just the peaches and blackberries. Thankfully, the missing vegetable share found its way back to us.

Dear John,

Let’s talk cabbage salad. Because when I said that you should take cabbage salads to work it wasn’t with the intention that you eat the same salad every day. It was the thought that shredding cabbage and a few other veggies is a fairly easy prep you can do at the beginning of the week. Mix up a few dressings, think through a few bonus toppings, and then you can choose your own adventure. For instance:

The Six Seasons Caesar with hazelnuts and croutons.

The Budget Bytes crunch with craisins and peanut dressing (yes, I realize I am mixing and matching two different cabbage salads from her)

The Pulp lentils with peaches and a dried herbs vinaigrette.

Hummus dressing with chickpea croutons

Not yet tried, but eyeing the Mediterranean Dish’s mustard dressing.

Also eyeing Leanne Brown’s Banh Mi Salad. We could prep tofu in advance, I think.

We have tried (and liked!) Smitten Kitchen’s cabbage and lime with peanuts. She also has cabbage and apple and walnuts (maybe more fall than summer) and a date + feta version.

Today’s Box

  • Blackberries
  • Yellow Peaches
  • Bicolor Sweet Corn
  • Green Beans
  • Green Kale
  • Slicing Cucumbers
  • Yellow Straightneck Squash

Things in the fridge

  • Herbs: Hyssop?, basil
  • Celery
  • Peaches
  • Bit of blueberries
  • Red Spring Onions
  • Fennel bulb
  • Greens: Cabbage, Beet
  • Carrots, turnips, beets
  • Green plums

In the Garden

  • The first ground cherries
  • Rainbow chard given away by the bagful
  • Basil leaves getting pinched with flowers
  • Flowering dill if inspired for pickles
  • Rosemary
  • Oregano
  • Calendula and cosmos and gomphrena bouquet
  • Purple plums and green apples and black berries from the shared spaces
  • Green tomatoes from the compost pile

Open Preserves

Garden glimpse

The tomatoes may need to be re-staked. They’re nearly falling over. I’m hesitant to damage roots and yet more wary of toppled over plants. (And very excited for them to come in.)

The volunbeans have shot straight up. One plant has reached all the way to the top of its pole and is coming down the cucumber scaffolding.

The peppers are looking promising. I’m hopeful that the set-up this year gets them better light and better yield.

The dahlia, planted late, is up and pinched. It will probably be a while before it starts to bloom. But it gets better light and is in better soil than the ones at our house, so it might catch up quick.

Eating now (aka clear counter space for Six Seasons)

  • Celery cucumber salad from Six Seasons (alternate adaptation here).
  • We will be eating the corn tomorrow Either as raw corn salad (alternate) or as creamed corn.
  • I really want to try the peach cornbread with coconut shrimp from Pulp.
  • We’ve been having success with the zucchini tuna melts. I think my body wants more meat. Can definitely try it with the squash instead.
  • Green beans with celery. (alternate) Does the herb patch at the garden include tarragon?
  • Probably kale instead of cabbage in a salad from above? Unless we go for the original kale salad.

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, July 4

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Dear John,

The fireworks are echoing down the street. I’m wiped from watching parade in the summer heat. You’re in the kitchen making everything neat.

Today’s Box

  • Blueberries
  • Dark Sweet Cherries
  • White Peaches
  • Fennel
  • Red Beets
  • Red Spring Onions
  • Slicing Cucumbers
  • Yellow Patty Pan Squash

Things in the fridge

  • Cherries
  • Watermelon
  • Peaches
  • Fennel bulb
  • Greens: Cabbage, Chard, Collard
  • Carrots
  • Green plums

In the Garden

  • Green beans from neighbors
  • Rainbow chard
  • Turnips + greens
  • Radish + greens
  • Beets + reds, beet + greens
  • Sad looking ending the pea season
  • All the lettuce (17 slugs, 1 earwig)
  • Basil leaves getting pinched with flowers
  • Dill flowers
  • Garlic chives weeding forever
  • Calendula flowers getting dried by the trayful
  • Rosemary
  • Oregano
  • Calendula and cosmos bouquet

Open Preserves

Garden glimpse

We pulled the peas, and planted beans to take over the tent. Two volunbeans, four from the soup pack. Harvested the last of the spring planted radish and turnips. I’m debating if we plant something else short there, or wait for the cucumber and strawberry to spread as they grow.

The beans we planted (two weeks ago?), have all popped up. The chard keeps getting thinned, so even though it’s growing, I feel like we might not be totally overwhelmed. Nevermind how loaded the bike was before we left.

I checked the internet’s horticulture wisdom and realized we needed to prune all of our tomatoes – it’s an indeterminate year.

Meals to make to celebrate summer

  • Internet browsing brought me to a newsletter with a series from Pandemic Part I. There’s this salad that looks great for cleaning out bits and ends. I made it last week and it was a hit. Not sure it’s calling me again so soon, but wanting to save.
  • It’s been so long since we made smashed cucumber salad. I miss it. We are making it this week. (I spied the first baby cucumber fruiting today. Maybe we’ll have some of our own to harvest.)
  • And the patty pan squash means it’s time for my annual making of the roasted squash and herbed chickpeas from chocolate & zucchini.
  • Green beans and tofu?
  • We just tossed fennel pesto that had gone moldy. So we can make some again. But learn from our mistakes and FREEZE it. Also, toss fennel on a salad of lettuces + peaches + toasted pecans.
  • How to use this week’s beet greens? (The beets will keep. Fine dice and roasted. Sliced on pizza. I’m not worried about them.) And what about the supply of chard? Last week brought a quiche with a mix of parm, cheddar, and gouda. Another quiche, but this time with chevre sounds potential. Honestly, it’s been a bit since we had pizza. That sounds kinda good. So does having it with pasta in a tomato sauce.
  • Last thought, if we have extra cucumbers, maybe this salad but with fennel.

Love,

Sarah

PS The wedge salad was as good as I dreamed and makes me want to get iceberg lettuce again. The toppings we used–roasted beets, toasted nuts, green onions, parsley, blue cheese dressing–feel so similar to my autumnal salads. But those are served with kale and that makes all the difference.

Boxing Day, August 30

planorcanLeave a comment
The changing seasons–when there are pears and watermelon.

Hi John,

It’s getting easier to come up with recipes for this extra low-fat regimen. I miss cheese and the ease of drizzling oil into the pan. I would’ve fried an egg instead of soft-boiling it. And I do miss the pies and ice cream and brownies. Also hummus.

But we’ve figured out risottos. And made pizza from scratch with me weighing out the cheese so I actually do go as lightly as I should. (It still beat the calzone.) Actually measuring the oil at the beginning of a recipe, and using a fraction of what the recipe calls for, has brought back the pasta dishes and fried rice. It seems worth documenting that my salad dressings have been replaced with no-fat yogurt. Yogurt with salt and lime. Yogurt with turmeric, paprika, and cumin. It’s not the same as a version with fat, but it’s working.

Today’s Box

  • Italian plums
  • Mini Red Seedless Watermelon
  • Red Bartlett Pears
  • Baby Green Bok Choy
  • Banana Peppers
  • Green Beans
  • Green Zucchini

Things I think are in the fridge

  • Peach
  • Cantaloupe
  • Watermelon
  • Nectarines (farmers market)
  • Blackberries (farmers market)
  • Roma tomatoes
  • Eggplant
  • Cranberries
  • Celery
  • Sweet corn
  • Greens: Kale
  • Spaghetti squash
  • Jerusalem Artichokes

Coming in from the Garden

  • Basil
  • Kale
  • Tomatillos
  • Roma tomatoes
  • Occasional ground cherries
  • More peppers?
  • Dahlias and marigolds
  • Papalo when we want it
  • Rosemary

Open Preserves

  • Preserved eggplant
  • Lacto-fermented green cherry tomatoes
  • Lacto-fermented blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
  • Pickled banana peppers with oregano, basil, and black pepper
  • Pickled fennel stems with orange
  • Spicy pickled fennel stems
  • Radish kimchi
  • Green tomato chutney
  • Applesauce
  • Probably still more uninventoried

Low fat ideas to eat the veggies

  • Banana peppers are already pickling. One batch in reused brine. One batch loosely following this.
  • Plums will become prunes.
  • I really want to pair the pears with nuts and cheese. Maybe wine. And while we could try poaching them, even that wants a dollop of whipped cream.
    Instead, let’s get the ice cream maker out of storage. Invite friends for a porch hang where we make pear sorbet. Molly Moon has a recipe. You decide if we go electric or hand crank.
  • Green beans and tofu turmeric-pepper stirfry! Make extra rice to become…
  • … bok choy fried rice.
  • Zucchini corn tacos with refried beans and rice.

Love you,

Sarah

Boxing Day, July 26

planorcanLeave a comment
Missing: peaches. But this week we got all the bread!

Hi John,

In the heat wave that’s been happening, I have not wanted you to turn on the oven. Last night, the temperature came down enough that we finally got to use the pizza dough that’s been sitting in the fridge, make those candied nuts I’ve been asking for, and refill my crouton stash.

I’m a bit nervous about how we’re going to use the produce this week. A cousin is bringing dinner tomorrow. Your parents are here this weekend. On the one hand it’s more mouths to make a dent in the burgeoning list of things in the fridge. On the other hand, I’m ceding the meal planning to all y’all and I don’t know your intentions. Letting go of control is hard, even when I desperately want to.

Supposedly in Today’s Box

  • Peaches
  • Watermelon
  • Cantaloupe
  • Carmen Peppers
  • Green Beans
  • Green Zucchini
  • Mixed Heirloom Tomatoes

Things I think are in the fridge

  • Blueberries (farmer’s market)
  • Peaches
  • Fennel
  • Cucumber (farmer’s market)
  • Cranberries
  • Lemon squash
  • Green bell pepper
  • Celery
  • Greens: Napa Cabbage, Savoy Cabbage, Kale
  • Black radishes, Purple Daikon radish
  • Sweet potato
  • Jerusalem Artichokes

Coming in from the Garden

  • Edamame
  • Basil
  • Kale
  • Tomatillas (just a few, but they’re here!)
  • Tomatoes (only two so far, but again, they’re here!)
  • Occasional ground cherries
  • Peppers? Soon?
  • Garlic? Perhaps
  • Dahlias and marigolds and nasturtium
  • Rosemary for remembrance

Open Preserves

  • Preserved eggplant
  • Lacto-fermented green cherry tomatoes
  • Lacto-fermented blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
  • Pickled banana peppers with oregano, basil, and black pepper
  • Plain pickled banana peppers
  • Pickled fennel stems with orange
  • Spicy pickled fennel stems
  • Radish kimchi
  • Green tomato chutney
  • Applesauce
  • Probably still more uninventoried

Meals that probably won’t get made because of that aforementioned letting others plan the meals scheme

  • I’ve dissected the cantaloupe into its various parts. Already mixed up the muesli-like cantaloupe-pulp oats from Lindsay-Jean Hard‘s book. Seeds are drying and can be roasted the next time the oven is on. Fruit is chopped up in the fruit drawer for snacking, and freezer for a papaya-melon-dragon fruit smoothie. But…if the bounty of summer fruit overtakes us, I am very intrigued by this risotto.
  • You’re making peppers stuffed with lemon squash (adapted from the Moosewood New Classics cookbook) for dinner tonight. I’m considering the Enchanted Broccoli Forest’s green pepper and zucchini enchilada filling for later. Bet it’d go well with a tomatillo-tomato salsa.
  • Green bean and pesto potato salad season!!!
  • Keep the summer slaws coming to work through the massive cabbage from last week. Maybe to top a taco?
  • The stuffed zucchini from the Moosewood cookbook (a page before what you’re working on right now) looked really interesting. Tomato-cinnamon sauce!

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, October 7

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Cabbage is playing peek-a-boo.

Hi John,

This week I curled up with a storybook. Layers of tales, echoing past each other. Before the hardback was returned to the library, I’d downloaded the audio reading.

The next book I picked up is for book club. It is not a book for Sarahs. At least not yet. We discuss it in a week and I’m thinking there’s a good chance I won’t finish it.

That switch, from the story that I want to rehear over and again to the story that I struggle to get in, is so familiar. I think it’s why the beloved stories are treasured so. Their power to imagine a world that I want to experience, to explain a part of existence, to create the actions required.

In This Week’s Box

  • Bartlett Pears
  • Empire Apples
  • All Blue Potatoes
  • Collards
  • Edamame
  • Green Beans
  • Green Cabbage
  • Mixed Yummy Peppers
  • Spaghetti Squash
  • Sungold Cherry Tomatoes

Garden Potential

  • Starfish pepper
  • Deciding how long to wait on the final jalapenos
  • Lombok peppers if we want them
  • Few tomatillos, hopefully
  • Volunbeans
  • Maybe a tomato?
  • Dahlias

Still in the Fridge

  • Apples: Honeycrisp?, Gala
  • Greens: NONE. We ate them all.
  • Herbs: Fennel tops
  • Peppers: Yummy, Lombok, Starfish
  • Squash: Delicata, Red Kabocha, Carnival
  • Sweet onions
  • Garlic
  • Fingerling Potatoes
  • Celery
  • Sunchokes

Open Preserves

  • Preserved eggplant
  • Pickled cucumber skins
  • Lacto-fermented & Lacto-fermenting green cherry tomatoes
  • Lacto-fermented blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
  • Lacto-fermenting habanda jalapeno hot sauce
  • Pickled red onion
  • Pickled banana peppers with oregano, basil, and black pepper
  • Plain pickled banana peppers
  • Radish kimchi
  • Sunchoke relish
  • Green tomato chutney
  • Sour cherry chutney
  • Blueberry peach jam
  • Apple butter
  • Quince jelly
  • Veggie stock
  • Probably still more uninventoried

Garden Update

I pulled up the cucumber a few weeks ago. Then you helped turn the compost and rescued some volunteer greens.

They tried, but they didn’t survive.

We took out a basil and a tomato that were done. Stopped by the store to get some seeds.

And now we have sprouts!

Radishes. Carrots. Spinach. Stir-fry mix of greens.

I’m not sure what will make it. The soup beans we planted mid-summer are dying instead of climbing. I put a second batch of radishes in the center of their tent-poles. Willing the roots down deep.

I’ve been thinking about Rachel Held Evans’ posts on Madeline L’Engle’s reflections on planting onions. L’Engle was talking about planting onions in the spring being an act of faith in the future when she was afraid for our planet. But I’m considering planting them this fall, and the faith it requires that we will come through winter to more growth. (Confession: I did not heed the warnings in the emails and did not reserve shallot bulbs. Maybe we see if we can plant from the garlic the CSA sent last week? Maybe we let it go for this season.)

I’m trying to save seeds, even though we can’t do the isolated crops that are recommended. Beans are obvious, easy. Just don’t eat them all. Cilantro was straightforward. Basil’s proving fiddly to separate, since we don’t have a screen. I’m currently fermenting seeds from our volunteer cherry tomato. Doing the action that faith calls forth.

Faith-filled Meals During Changing Seasons

  • Dessert first! There’s enough pears to make baked pears with balsamic and goat cheese and so we will do that.
  • Our first taste of sungolds this season! So late. Still will use the “stuff my face” method of consumption.
  • The roasted potatoes and green beans with pine nut vinaigrette the other week was good stuff. Let’s consider that for our fall green beans recipe.
  • Edamame as a side
  • I’ve held off on decreeing it soup season. But consider making a sweet potato, peanut, and kale soup only with squash instead of sweet potato and collards instead of kale.
  • Similarly, is it risotto season? Because a squash risotto is always yummy. Can use Six Seasons recipe, but be mindful about the fat if we want to dehydrate for backpacking meals.
  • Cabbage season is starting up again I see. Using the cabbage is low priority, it’ll keep. But consider the braised glass noodles when we do.
  • It might be time to quickle the fennel stems. Though maybe that’s next week’s project. There are still a few fronds to adorn salads.

~s

Boxing Day, September 16

planorcanLeave a comment
Peppers pale, peppers dark, and peppers bright.

Hi John,

Last week, was not a week when sitting down and considering ingredients actually happened. Instead we learned about iNaturalist (fun for identifying plants/critters AND the data can be used by scientists). We rode our bikes up a long hill, and later whizzed back down. We (yes, both of us) worked on a white paper about open source software licenses. (To be clear, you wrote. I revised.) Food was cooked and consumed, my only prepared food orders were pastries and bagels. It just wasn’t planned.

In The Box

  • Kiwiberries
  • Stanley Plums
  • Celery
  • Green Acorn Squash
  • Green Butterhead Lettuce
  • Mixed Bell Peppers
  • Mixed Cherry Tomatoes
  • Mixed Cornito Peppers
  • Rattlesnake Beans
  • Russian Banana Fingerling Potatoes

What We Ate

  • Spaghetti squash was stuffed with kale stem pesto, cherry tomatoes, and a gluten free white sauce.
  • Carrot cake from Flavor Flours. I tried to make Stella’s cream cheese frosting, but did not read the comments and ended up with soup. I am still baffled that mixing cream and cream cheese could end up with a texture closer to cream than cream cheese. It was just so thin!
  • The failed frosting did turn into a success though. Made a crust with pistachios, oatmeal, brown sugar, and butter. Patted into the bottom of a 8×8 pan and prebaked it. Frosting got blended extra goat cheese and a couple of eggs. Poured it into the crust and baked at 325 for a while. Topping with slices of figs from the garden. I’d probably try the drizzle of honey on top, but it’s already on the sweet side from all the sugar in the frosting.
  • I did a pepper cleanout by making a big pot of pepperonata. Some of it’s been frozen. Some went on a grits bowl. Some has teamed up with sliced delicata squash to top a pizza.
  • Variations of celery salad with chickpeas. My favorite was making a recipe from Six Seasons and adding chickpeas.
  • I wasn’t sure if the rattlesnake beans would be better served as shelled beans or string beans. Started shelling, then decided that was the wrong choice. Ended up roasting them in the oven along with potatoes (and once a hot pepper and chopped tomato). Topped with a soft boiled egg and the pine nut vinaigrette from Six Seasons.
  • Popped the plums on the dehydrator to make our very own prunes. I’m eating them so much quicker this way!

Garden Update

The rosemary’s flowering. And the basils, all going to seed. Peppers feel like they’re just getting going. The volunbeans are spreading everywhere, pulling down any pole they can reach. And, wow, does it feel like they can reach every pole.

I pulled up the cucumber plant one day. A few days later, you turned the compost and tried to rescue some kale volunteers. Placing them where the cucumber was. I was doubtful on Tuesday. But on Thursday, three of them had a sturdy-ish leaf. Wait, water, and see.

I’ve scattered carrot seed (it all fell out of the packet and just adds to the crumbly dust at the bottom of the garden bag). The are sprouts where I tried. Maybe carrot sprouts? Maybe weeds? Who can say when it’s the first two leaves.

Some of our fall beans are already producing, tiny as they are. Alas, the one that was the largest looked extra sad yesterday. We’ll see. Even if we only eat seven of its bright red beans, it’s still a miracle. I only planted three.

The tomatoes are slowing down. It may be time to pull most of them and make a green tomato chutney. Visit the local shop and see what Brassica starts they have for fall. Consider garlic bulbs or shallots or onions. Radishes or beets. We signed up for a smaller CSA share for fall so we shouldn’t be overtaken by the produce. Which means we can plant even more!

~Sarah

Boxing Day, September 2

planorcanLeave a comment
Confession: The cherry tomato box was half-filled from our garden before the CSA’s topped it off.

Dear John,

It’s been another week. Another food pantry distribution date. Another protest to stand in solidarity.

Another game night. Another book club. Another small group meeting.

Another tour. Another storm. Another meal to feed body and nurture soul.

In This Week’s Box

  • Bartlett Pears
  • Red Seedless Watermelon
  • Artisan Mixed Cherry Tomatoes
  • Cubanelle Peppers
  • Green Beans
  • Green Kale
  • Jalapeno Peppers
  • Mixed Sweet Peppers
  • Orange Carrots
  • Yellow Tomatoes

Garden Potential

  • Ground cherry
  • Few tomatillos
  • Volunbeans
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Roma tomatoes (The Amish paste plant is doing better than the San Marazano)
  • Sad-ish eggplant
  • Jalapenos as we want them
  • Bell pepper
  • A final cucumber (or two?)

Still in the Fridge

  • Blueberries
  • Figs
  • Canary Melon
  • Green Chard
  • Centercut Squash
  • Kohlrabi
  • Herbs: Fennel
  • Onions: white and red
  • Celery
  • Sunchokes
  • Spaghetti squash

Open Preserves

  • Preserved eggplant
  • Dill pickle
  • Lacto-fermenting green cherry tomatoes
  • Pickled red onion
  • Radish kimchi
  • Plenty of others that I just haven’t inventoried

Make something with it all.

  • Red curry with tofu and green beans and cherry tomatoes adapted from Dinner (but online version here)
  • Pickled jalapenos? Just a question of doing it in vinegar or lacto-fermenting them. Maybe some more peperonata with the cubanelles. The batch from last week was delightful on corn mush and on eggs.
  • Carrot greens! Let’s do the carrot top walnut pesto from Scraps, Wilts, and Weeds. (Just because the granita took us forever to use up last time. It was good though.) Carrots themselves are being saved for your birthday cake.
  • Spaghetti with cherry tomatoes for a sauce! Six Seasons has a recipe.
  • Speaking of, do we have enough tomatoes to make a sauce? Do we want to make a sauce? A salsa? (My tomatillo salsa verde last week was too little for the blender, so I’m waiting for more tomatillos than what we have so far.)
  • Gonna roast that eggplant and blend it up. Baba ganoush style? Hard to be too sad with roasted eggplant.
  • Some of the centercut squash from last week got roasted for tacos. Repeat of something like that? Or roast it with zaatar and serve with hummus?
  • Kale starts feeling like we might be heading toward salad possibilities again. Let’s try cooking some of the dried volun-beans to go with it.
  • I picked three figs from the community tree. Pair them with pears for a tart. It’s that or make a fancy looking cheese tray with some of the pickles to round out the meal.

Love,

~Sarah

Boxing Day, July 22

planorcanLeave a comment
One watermelon. Two cucumbers. Three peaches. Three eggplant. Three peppers. Three onions. Three kohlrabi. And many, many beans.

Happy Saturday John!

I started planning for this week on Wednesday, after we received the predicted contents email. Thursday I was focused on doing the things in the kitchen. Yesterday, as you just reminded me, I was too busy looking up bike parts for you.*

So here we are, easing into the weekend. Me planning meals and you debating which dessert we should make for tonight. Later we’ll go kayaking and bike to an open house. Sometimes, having three bikes actually feels reasonable.

In This Week’s Box

  • Apricot
  • Little Baby Flower Watermelon
  • Yellow Peaches
  • Fresh Sweet Onions
  • Green Beans
  • Malabar Spinach
  • Mixed Cherry Tomatoes
  • Mixed Specialty Eggplant
  • Purple Bell Peppers
  • Purple Kohlrabi
  • Slicing Cucumbers

Garden Potential

  • Ground cherries, sometime soon I expect them to be coming in for real. Not just one at a time.
  • Volunbeans–let’s keep picking as they come. Except for the ones closer to the rosemary. Those I still want to see how they cook up as shellies and how they dry.
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Cucumber surprised me last Sunday. Two appeared seemingly overnight. I didn’t notice any yesterday, but five days from now? Who knows
  • Tomatillos, maybe before next week. Probably not. But maybe.
  • Basil! Thai or lime or purple or Italian
  • Cilantro/Green coriander
  • Blackberries from the communal briar patch

Still in the Fridge

  • Blackberries
  • Peaches
  • Blueberries
  • Herbs: Fennel, Dill
  • Greens: Savoy Cabbage, Lacinato Kale
  • Onions: white, red, sweet
  • Carmen Peppers
  • Asian Cucumbers
  • Zucchini (only half a zuke left. But half a zucchini left)
  • Centercut Squash
  • Celery
  • New Red Potatoes
  • Beet
  • Sunchokes

And now for some bean sprouts

Last week we stopped by the garden store and picked up a packet of dried soup beans. Our first intentionally planted beans in this plot! The packet said 7-10 days to germinate, and here they are.

The carrots, planted on the same day, have not yet appeared. But we’ll keep trying to plant those every few weeks until frost is nigh.

Meals for now…and for later

  • You just said that the apricot pistachio squares look interesting. Though we may still do a peach tart from Flavor Flours or Baking. That is, if I can remember what I baked when Kathy stayed with us two years ago.
  • The smashed cucumber salad was a hit last week. We did not try the other cucumber salad recipes. And I do believe we are going to be eating it again.
  • Slicing cucumbers are the ones we’ll use to actually go back for the celery and cucumber salad in Six Seasons
  • More green bean pesto potato salad! Or the green bean fennel salad!
  • Purple bell peppers, huh? I think the idea of stuffing them is the right idea. I’m not as big a fan of bell peppers, so I don’t know what to do with them beyond top salads or pizza or stirfy. Especially when we don’t yet have tomatoes. There is the roasted pepper panzanella in Six Seasons that would use some pepper and red onion and some oregano. Which may make it enough of a winner right there.
  • My memory of the malabar spinach is I didn’t love it raw. Let’s cook it with some rice and beans and use it to stuff the bell peppers. Maybe with some roasted centercut squash.
  • Oh! I bet we can dehydrate zucchini for backpacking. For a pasta recipe. Maybe something like this or a peanut noodle dish? Actually, maybe we toss the rest of the cabbage in the dehydrator while we’re at it. I’m sure we could use it in a stirfry this week, but maybe let it be a backcountry experiment. [Edit: dehydration complete!]
  • Especially since we can slice the kohlrabi for another salad this week. Saute the last of the kale and you’ve got my old favorite.
  • Speaking of the kohlrabi, see all those leaves in the picture? I cooked them up with some lentils, garlic, onions, and spices. Squeeze of lemon, handful of raisins. Served on rice for dinner on Thursday. Leftovers are already dehydrated for us to use as a cold soak salad for a backpacking lunch.
  • Our other dehydrator experiment this week was a smoothie. Yogurt + peach + a little bit of banana + frozen mango + some fresh ginger = My delicious breakfast this week. Poured into the dehydrator the fruit leather it turned into was yummy. Crumbled into the spice grinder and turned into a powder that smells divine. We’ll see next month how rehydrating on the trail actually fares.
  • The eggplant is beautiful. Dining In has a recipe for fried eggplant with harissa and dill and honestly, that sounds like it could be amazing. And we have dill that needs to be used.
  • If we buy an avocado, we could probably make a green gazpacho pretty easily
  • Watermelon by itself. Watermelon with feta and pickled red onions and basil. Mmmmmm watermelon.

I have no plans for the cherry tomatoes. They are already half eaten. They are summer’s gift and my belly is happy.

~s

Baby cuke do dooo do do do doot

* It is a sign of how much Covid messed up supply chains that the bike shop told you that they don’t expect to get the part for you bike for a year. My internet sleuthing suggests they might be overly optimistic–the supplier’s website says the inventory system is wrong and that they expect more of this $30 part in 2023.