watermelon

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, September 2

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Dear John,

I’m stressed. Last week was hopeful excitement of new routines. This week is the exhausted anxiety of disruption.

Admittedly, hormones probably don’t help. And national politics definitely don’t help. The implications of those politics on personal and local affairs don’t help. The news covering the implications of those politics on the global scale is even more horrifying. It’s hard to stop the spiraling.

The disrupted routine makes it feel like there’s no time to plan. Less time to cook when I expected more. Less time to rest and reset.

I think we need to lean into the super-quick meals. Or meal prepping the night before. Or over the weekend. I also have no idea what that looks like with our actual dietary needs and produce usage.

I don’t know. Please share your ideas.

Today’s Box

  • Bartlett Pears
  • Moon & Stars Watermelon
  • Little Sweetie Cantaloupe
  • Fennel
  • Green Kale Shishito Peppers
  • Red Carmen Italian Peppers
  • Yellow Onions
  • Cilantro

Things in the fridge

  • Sunchokes
  • Muscadines
  • Pepper
  • Beets
  • Cabbage: Red Cabbage, Green Cabbage
  • Peaches
  • Pears

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.

  • Pasta with sardines and fennel
  • Smashed beets with green sauce from Six Seasons
  • Roast the shishito peppers. Serve as a side with, uh, stirfry? Cabbage salad?
  • It’s an assortment of other peppers. Maybe we make pepperonata? But also, the Six Seasons recipe calls for four pounds and it’s not nearly that much. Nor do we have the tomatoes for it.
  • You picked several green tomatoes. Do we want to see how long it takes to ripen? Make green tomato chutney?
  • I don’t know when we make more curdito with the cabbage. Maybe it should be used in stirfry? Or maybe it’s make a big fridge salad and eat on it all week long?

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, July 9

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Dear John,

I’m trying to spend down our fridge stash. And freezer stash. And pantry stash. It goes against so much of my instinct! I don’t know why I’m like this, but I know it’s not just food. I mean, I think the pom poms in my craft tackle box are the ones originally in it when my parents gave it to me. When I was eight years old. I was saving them for….the perfect craft? Inspiration? Just admiring them? For thirty years? I don’t really know, but endeavor to use the craft stash too.

On top of that saving tendency, add in that my first out-of-college home was a half hour drive to the nearest grocery store, an hour to the better grocery, and I stocked up on foods (like more variety of yoplait yogurt flavors) when I was in a “city” with a Walmart 100+ miles away or visiting an actual city a day’s drive away. I didn’t want to run out of a favorite ingredient! Or lemon yogurt.

Then, just after a year of living with you, there was the shutdown where we tried to minimize the frequency of our shopping trips. And since then we’ve had two and half years or so of trying to stock food when we have energy in anticipation of exhaustion or sickness or life reducing our capacity for cooking another day.

Layer on the ever increasing interest in not wasting food. Plus a hobby of preserving that started when I learned to make jam in high school.

Mix it together and you have a kitchen very full of ingredients. Some prepared (the zucchini we roasted last week). Some, like the pom poms, serving as inspiration (the squash powder that I totally want to try incorporating into a pie crust). Some, also like the pom poms, taking up space they maybe shouldn’t any longer (the watermelon rind ferments that are in the back of the fridge and no longer taste quite right).

So I’m cooking with pickles. Baking cookies from dough frozen last summer. Tossing frozen cubes of cucumber guts into a smoothie. Flavoring popcorn or roasted chickpeas with the curry powder mixes that we bought to support a local spice shop. At some point, I fantasize in the near future, we should do a fridge audit and clear out the jars with just a little bit more vinaigrette that are cluttering the shelves. Nevermind the other mysteries.

Today’s Box

  • Mini Red Seedless Watermelon
  • Yellow Peaches
  • Bicolor Sweet Corn
  • Gold Grape Tomatoes
  • Green Leaf Lettuce
  • Green Zucchini

Things in the fridge

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

In the Garden

  • Collards
  • Green tomatoes from pruned vines
  • Herbs: Dill, Basil (as pinched), Zatar, Rosemary, Oregano, Mint
  • Plums and grapes from the communal sections
  • 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

  • Zucchini, tomatoes, and corn. High summer is here. (I mean, from the heat we’ve been having, it’s done been here. Now the produce tastes like it.)
  • I’m thinking of the Half Baked Harvest corn and blueberry salad. But this week doesn’t have blueberries. Let’s do a corn and tomato salad from Six Seasons instead. I think he has one recipe in the corn section and another in the tomato section. (Or, um, not. I wrote this before seeing the box and there’s aren’t that many tomatoes.)
  • Pivot to corn on the cob and a succotash salad.
  • Peach jalapeno cornbread with coconut shrimp from Pulp.
  • Is it cool enough to roast the zucchini one night? I kinda think not. In which case, we should make pasta instead.
  • Time to make another pot of beans to go with greens. So many greens.

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, June 25

planorcan1 Comment

Dear John,

Two years ago, the Stir-Fry Greens mix was successful, especially the kale. Last year, we grew rainbow chard. This year, the greens of choice are collards.

I grew up in collards country. They’re a frequent side in the meat and three menu, where macaroni and cheese counts as a vegetable. But I didn’t grow up with them at home. New Year’s! Not everyday.

I do love the Lee Brother’s Four Pepper Collard Greens. Especially on a grilled cheese sandwich. And a simple sauteed side is always good, especially with a pot of beans and rice like we had for dinner tonight. Or as a topping on a greens and grits bowl. Here’s some preemptive brainstorming for other ways to use them:

Today’s Box

  • Blueberries
  • Red Seedless Watermelon
  • Gold Beets
  • Gold Zucchini
  • Purplette Onions
  • Thumbelina Carrots
  • Red Kale

Things in the fridge

  • Broccoli
  • Celery
  • Cauliflower
  • Kohlrabi
  • Sunchokes
  • Greens: Lettuce, Cabbage
  • Roots: Fingerling Sweet Potatoes
  • Alliums: Garlic scapes, Green garlic, Onions

In the Garden

  • Collards
  • 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.

Forever trying to keep the cooking cool during this heat. But cooler this week so maybe we can do a roasting night?

  • The beet greens ended up with some collards for dinner tonight. (Last minute plans having friends come to dinner is the life I want to live. It was not a fancy meal. But it was delicious. And, hey, rice and beans is their toddler’s favorite food!)
  • When I picked up the box, another woman was getting her veggies. She commented on the carrots and I said I’m excited for the greens. Time to pull out Scraps, Wilts, and Weeds and make carrot top pesto! I don’t have any specific plans for the little knobs of carrots though.
  • I was serious about trying the zucchini with collard greens pesto. If we can brave turning on the oven.
  • That roasted beets with avocado and sunflower seeds from Six Seasons was yummy AND made a dent in our pickled peppers. Maybe let’s do that again! Else the beet slaw with pistachio butter on the previous page.

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, August 29

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Today’s Box


  • Fruit
     *Black Muscadine Grapes – NC
     *Little Sweetie Cantaloupe
     *Yellow Seedless Watermelon


  •  *Bicolor Sweet Corn
     *Green Beans
  •  *Mixed Yummy Peppers
     *Spaghetti Squash
     *Yellow Straightneck Squash

Things in the fridge

  • Watermelon
  • Plums
  • Peaches
  • Celery
  • Greens: Cabbage, chard
  • Green plums (might want to check on them)

In the Garden

  • Habaneros, jalapenos, fish peppers, other peppers, many peppers
  • Tomatillos
  • Tomatoes
  • Ground cherries
  • Rainbow chard
  • Dill seed
  • Parsley if we want
  • Rosemary
  • Oregano
  • Calendula and cosmos and gomphrena for the table
  • Communal figs if we want

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

We are having pepper success this year! Maybe we bought more plants? (I’d have to go back to the garden journal to check.) But more importantly we have them in an area where they aren’t being overshadowed by the taller plants.

Maybe we can add eggplant to that section in the future?

Cooking things down, before we leave town

  • So, with lots of hot peppers, comes lots of hot sauce? I have a pint jar with ~cup of peppers fermenting on the table. I made a serious eats hot sauce. And we still have a five cup container of peppers in the fridge.
  • It’s a lot of green beans. I’m copying from last week. Maybe the usual way with tofu. Maybe a variation. Oh! Maybe in a curry. It’s been a while since we’ve done a curry and now I want that. Add some peppers and some squash?
  • I was wondering how to do the corn and then looked at smitten kitchen and now I know. (Though corn enchiladas sound good too.)
  • I grabbed an extra spaghetti squash. You know how I like the baked spaghetti squash bowls. Bet we could do one with chard?

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, August 15

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Today’s Box

  • Italian plums
  • Yellow Seedless Watermelon
  • Athena Cantaloupe
  • Cubanelle Peppers
  • Italian Eggplant
  • Red Cabbage
  • Sungold Cherry Tomatoes
  • Yellow Wax Beans

Things in the fridge

  • Watermelon
  • Plums
  • Peaches
  • Grape tomatoes
  • Bell pepper
  • Celery
  • One lemon cucumber
  • Fennel bulb
  • Greens: Cabbage, kale, collards, chard
  • Green plums (might want to check on them)
  • Green tomatoes (starting to pink)

In the Garden

  • Neighbor’s zucchini
  • Habaneros, jalapenos, and a few more peppers
  • Tomatillos
  • Tomatoes
  • Ground cherries
  • Rainbow chard (didn’t harvest on Saturday, but it’s there)
  • Dill seed
  • Parsley
  • Rosemary
  • Oregano
  • Calendula and cosmos and gomphrena for the table
  • Communal figs if we want

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

Saturday we had a garden workday–focusing our efforts on the communal areas instead of our plot. We did a quick harvest before we left. (I didn’t pick a bouquet, nevermind deadheading for the flowers.) When we got home from the garden, we weighed the produce we picked from our plot. Not quite ten pounds! The water from the tomatoes and tomatillos adds up. Good thing some of our cooking shrinks it way down.

Cooking things down, before we leave town

  • I made two types of salsa this weekend. Please note that when they are pulled from the freezer, they would both benefit from some cilantro.
  • I also made this ratatouille over the weekend. We got more eggplant today and I intend to make more ratatouille tomorrow. That should make a dent in our tomatoes and peppers and zucchini as well. Last time I added one habanero that was threatening with some bad spots. The oil was surprisingly spicy. Do it again!
  • We’re just about to finish off the last cabbage in lunchtime salads. Hurrah! Let’s do it again with this one.
  • These are the plums to dry for prunes. Because we have plenty of other fruit and enough other veggies that I’m not buying cauliflower to try out the recipe I want to test from Pulp.
  • Beans and tofu. Maybe the usual way. Maybe a variation.

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, August 8

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Dear John,

Our next home project is on the horizon. (Pun intended.) As I finish brainstorming meals, you’re reaching out to different contractors to see about getting quotes for solar panel installation. As a child of the 90s who read and re-read 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do To Save the Earth, as an adult who now attends climate action protests, hopefully as an elderly adult far in the future, it feels really exciting to be able to make this visible step toward taking care of the planet.

It’s weird to enter the pricing process with a clear favorite, but part of me hopes that the bid through our community’s Solar Switch group is the clear winner. I really like the idea of group purchasing! I like feeling like part of a bigger effort, even if I’m not meeting with the other neighbors buying this year. It’s the type of action that gives me hope. And as I keep being reminded, the way through this is hope-fueled work.

Today’s Box

  • Orange Seedless Watermelon
  • Plums
  • Yellow Peaches
  • Banana Peppers
  • Collards
  • Green Bell Peppers
  • Italian Eggplant
  • Red Grape Tomatoes

Things in the fridge

  • Cinnamon Basil
  • Plums
  • Donut Peaches
  • Nectarines
  • Peppers: Green bell, banana
  • Bottom halves of Centercut Squash
  • Celery
  • Cucumber and lemon cucumber
  • Fennel bulb
  • Greens: Cabbage, kale
  • Red Potatoes
  • Green plums
  • Green tomatoes (starting to pink)

In the Garden

  • Early peppers. Another couple Cochiti and fallen Habanero.
  • Tomatillos
  • Tomatoes are here!
  • A few ground cherries
  • Rainbow chard
  • Dill seed
  • Parsley
  • Rosemary
  • Oregano
  • Calendula and cosmos and gomphrena for the table
  • Communal 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

Tomatoes are here!

Team Tomato

  • If this keeps up, we’re going to need to make some tomato sauce/paste to can/freeze. But for this, the first week of tomato bounty, we are savoring them. The classic tomato sandwiches. The spiced tomato salads. Panzella made with cornbread so you can enjoy too. In tacos. With eggs. On sunchoke burgers pulled from the freezer.
  • Speaking of the freezer….tomato ice cream? This feels like the time in high school when we were thing to figure out how to use up a bunch of cushaw. Turns out pumpkin ice cream is really a thing. Why not tomato?
  • The cherry tomatoes are tempting to go ahead and pickle. Copy the copycats of a restaurant dish that I still dream of?
  • Two weeks worth of bell peppers getting stuffed. (Adding extra tomatoes and chickpeas to the Greek filling mix from Help! My Apartment Has a Dining Room.)
  • Banana peppers finally getting pickled. If there are extra, stuff them with cheese?
  • The cinnamon basil-lime cookies were good. Make more and freeze the dough.
  • I think there’s a good chance we’ll pick some zucchini from our neighbor’s plot while they’re out of town this week. If we do, I want to use the eggplant for ratatouille. If we don’t, the eggplant tomato cheddar stacks from Simply in Season.

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, July 25

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Also grabbed a savoy cabbage and some banana peppers from the swap box.

Dear John,

It’s a week of visitors. We’ve got plans for a pasta bar night, a taco bar night, and a potato bar night. Dips and crackers and veggies for lunches. And letting the hotels cover continental breakfasts.

We’ve got a red sauce and a green sauce (pesto from the basil above). Squash and corn taco filling. Black beans cooked up. Chard sauteed. Hummus hummed and dips ready to blitz.

Today’s Box

  • Athena Cantaloupe
  • Little Baby Flower Watermelon
  • Plums
  • Bicolor Sweet Corn
  • Gold Grape Tomatoes
  • Lemon Cucumbers
  • New Red Potatoes
  • Sweet Basil

Things in the fridge

  • Herbs: Hyssop?, basil
  • Celery
  • Cucumber
  • Red Spring Onions
  • Fennel bulb
  • Greens: Cabbage, Kale,
  • Turnips?
  • Green plums
  • Green tomatoes

In the Garden

  • First of the tomatoes!!
  • Maybe a couple of ground cherries
  • Rainbow chard
  • Basil leaves getting pinched with flowers
  • Flowering dill if inspired
  • Rosemary
  • Oregano
  • Calendula and cosmos and gomphrena bouquet
  • Communal blackberries

Open Preserves

Garden glimpse

Dahilas and mint from a neighbor. Mixing up our bouquet.

I picked the first of our tomatoes, the Oaxacan Jewel. They weren’t beefsteak size, but they are a pretty gold.

Meals between visitors

  • Melon + cucumber + chickpea salad from Pulp
  • Spiced tomato + white bean and onions + yogurt herby cucumbers salad from Six Seasons
  • Raw corn + tomato + herbs salad from Six Seasons

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, June 27

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Dear John,

The days where it rains, those are fine. We can sit on the porch and still feel a bit of space from being outside. The days when we’re sick, not great. But being inside feels appropriate then. And we can sit on the porch and feel sun on our face. (Can you tell I like having a porch?)

But these days where it’s smoky. When the haze obscures the view down the street. When we put on masks to go outside, and try to stay indoors. They get hard.

The concerns of climate change continue to mount.

We advocate for change at a structural level. We have conversations and try to model small shifts at a social level. And we do what we can to care for each other. To share abundance with it comes and to buffer blows as we are able.

Today’s Box

  • Red Seedless Watermelon
  • Yellow Peaches
  • Fava Beans
  • Green Cabbage
  • Iceberg Lettuce
  • Thumbelina Carrots
  • Sugar Snap Peas

Things in the fridge

  • Blueberries
  • Watermelon
  • Cherries
  • Radishes
  • Peas
  • Fennel bulb
  • Greens: Cabbage, Chard, Collard
  • Green plums

In the Garden

  • Rainbow chard
  • Turnips + greens
  • Beets + greens
  • Peas for the sampling–snap, snow, and shelling
  • Lettuce, when we’re ready
  • Basil leaves getting pinched with flowers
  • Dill flowers
  • Calendula flowers getting dried
  • Rosemary
  • Oregano
  • Calendula and cosmos and oregano bouquet supplemented by Black Eyed Susans someone tossed in the compost

Open Preserves

Garden glimpse

We’re wrapping up the turnip and radishes from the spring plantings. They’ll be back in a couple of months. Expect we’ll be pulling the pea plants soon, so we can be a second batch of beans in the ground. (The first batch have all sprouted! And there was rain so I think we’re looking promising.)

Meals to consider and pickles to prep

  • Good news. I pickled a pint of cherries and that salad only used a cup, so we get to have the snap peas and pickled cherries salad again.
  • Last week’s watermelon rind + dill flowers + garlic have started a slow ferment down in the basement. It was so easy! The hardest part was peeling the rinds. They taste like dill pickles! Expect more experiments all summer long.
  • Toast + almond butter + chevre + cherry halves
  • I snuck a leaf of the iceberg lettuce that had fallen loose in the box. And promptly spent the whole walk home day dreaming of a wedge salad with a good blue cheese dressing. Maybe we can roast some beet lardons to be a topping instead of bacon?
  • Fava bean pistachio pasta. (Make stock with the pods?)
  • Grits ‘n greens
  • Carrot top pesto
  • We may keep using the cabbage as easy grab and go salad fixings. But if we need a heartier dinner, I’m leaning toward caramelized cabbage noodles.

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, June 20

planorcanLeave a comment

Dear John,

Summer means interns. And this year, interns in residence (vs remote). So for the first time since March 2020, we have five days a week working separately. I was so stressed out when work-from -home began. Too much together time! This side I was anxious about the time time apart. What can I say? Change is scary.

Spoiler: It’s been fine. We need to make sure you take salads to the office so we don’t get too much of a backlog of produce. Buying your favorite of carrots and celery is just too much with the CSA and garden plot producing.

Today’s Box

  • Dark Sweet Cherries
  • Mini Watermelon Seedless
  • Broccoli
  • Green Zucchini
  • Red Romaine Lettuce
  • Sugar Snap Peas

Things in the fridge

  • Blueberries
  • Breakfast radishes
  • Fennel + stems still waiting to get pickled
  • Lettuce
  • Greens: Cabbage, Chard, Collards, Kale, Lettuce
  • Zucchini
  • Green plums

In the Garden

  • Rainbow chard
  • Radishes + their greens
  • Peas for the sampling–snap, snow, and shelling
  • Lettuce, when we’re ready
  • Basil leaves getting pinched
  • Calendula flowers getting dried
  • Beets if we want them
  • Rosemary
  • Oregano
  • Calendula and cosmos and oregano flowering for a wild bunch of a bouquet

Open Preserves

Garden glimpse

As I type this part, on Wednesday, the window is open to the porch and the cool breeze that accompanies rain is teasing round my shoulders. We need the rain. The plants were doing better than I expected when I last got by to water them with the hose. But spigot is not the same as a good, daylong sprinkle.

Meals to consider and pickles to prep

  • Between the CSA and the garden, I think we’ve tipped the line to a chard bounty this year. We’re pickling some stems. I asked some friends for their favorites to add some variety and got suggestions for green shakshuka and quesadillas on the stove to maximize crispiness. I saw a recommendation for a chard salad a la the kale salad that Joshua McFaddan popularized. There’s also chard hummus, but I wasn’t especially impressed with the white bean and beet green dip last week, so maybe we save that for later in the year.
  • This week’s zucchini looks young and tender. Perfect for eating in a salad where it’s mandolined, salted, and dressed. Use the basil flowers that I pinched at the garden.
  • And we could combine the chard and the zukes if there’s time for a more involved cooking project.
  • A mix-up meant that we didn’t get our cherries last week. So we got a special delivery of two weeks worth of cherries this week. We could devour them by the handful, no problem. But I’m excited for the excuse to try the snap peas and pickled cherries salad.
  • While we’re mixing the pickling brine, go ahead and make a batch of radishes. They’ll be great on tacos later.
  • Maybe time for the oven roasted broccoli with lemon and feta? Though, tossing it all in a blender again is still a quick and easy way to consume a lot, fast.

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, June 6

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Dear John,

Happy Birthday! It was around this time two years ago that we got our garden box built and filled with the starts we got from the neighborhood seedling shop. Which makes me feel better about not yet having gotten a cucumber start yet this year (hopefully we’ll find one soon!). Or bought poles for this year’s bean tent. Nevermind, plant the beans around the tent. We do however have peas coming up around their tent. So, y’know, there’s plenty going on.

Today’s Box

  • Cherries
  • Mini Red Seedless Watermelon
  • Strawberries
  • Broccoli
  • Green Romaine Lettuce
  • Green Zucchini
  • Green Chard

Things in the fridge

  • Breakfast radishes
  • Fennel (I think just the tops)
  • Some bitter greens from the neighbors
  • Red Lettuce
  • Collards
  • Scallions, Green Garlic, Garlic Scape. Honestly not sure what all is in the green alliums bag
  • Green plums

In the Garden

  • Lettuce, so pretty, so many slugs
  • Radishes + their greens
  • Turnips + their greens
  • Baby rainbow chard
  • Calendula flowers gracing our table
  • Rosemary
  • Oregano

Open Preserves

Garden glimpse

The peas flowered! And they formed pods! We might get to eat some! Maybe!! Not many mind you. But any is still exciting.

Meals to consider

  • Chard + chevre omelettes
  • Chard spaghetti a la Six Seasons. And with the goal of having enough leftovers to make the frittata.
  • Fennel salad dressing to go on salads of lettuce and turnips. Perhaps with some diced watermelon tossed on top.
  • I see the zucchini and the Six Seasons tuna melt is gonna happen. So many other good things to do, but that one is calling.
  • Meanwhile, I’m not immediately yearning for one broccoli recipe or another. It’s the time of year when I’ve often done the velvety broccoli and feta pasta. So maybe that that’s the way.

Love,

Sarah

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, August 23

planorcanLeave a comment
More peaches! More melons! More kale!

Hey John,

Low-fat diet continues. I’ve been microwaving popcorn without oil (and learning, ah, that’s what diet popcorn tastes like), roasting chickpeas with abandon (and spicing them with abandon too), baking tofu (because we realized the store brand wasn’t gluten free, so it’s on me to eat), and eating no-fat yogurt (like I’m a smiling lady in an advertisement). We haven’t ended up back at the doctor this week, which I’m counting as a win. Even though there were a couple of times when maybe we should’ve gone? Managing new health conditions is a challenge!

Today’s Box

  • Little Sweetie Cantaloupe
  • Yellow Peaches
  • Watermelon
  • Green Kale
  • Ping Tung Long Eggplant
  • Red Tomatoes
  • Spaghetti Squash

Things I think are in the fridge

  • Fennel fronds
  • Canary Melon
  • Peach
  • Nectarines (farmers market)
  • Blackberries (farmers market)
  • Roma tomatoes
  • Tomatillos
  • Cranberries
  • Edamame
  • Yummy peppers
  • Celery
  • Sweet corn
  • Centercut squash
  • Greens: Kale
  • New Potatoes
  • 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

  • Fruit salad with honey yogurt dressing (~1 generous tablespoon of honey for each half cup of fat free yogurt)
  • Rice-stuffed tomatoes (reducing oil in the cooking)! Is it risotto in another form? Yes. But I NEED other forms of my rice porridge right now. Do you know how much congee I ate last week?
  • Kale from the CSA, huh. Hahahahaha. So much kale this season! How about the braised beans and greens Dad made. Or maybe go the pasta route.
  • I expect we’ll keep making tacos with roasted veggies or scrambled eggs. There’s brown rice in the fridge. Beans already cooked. Let’s roast the tomatillos to make some salsa and the meal will be ready for quick prep whenever we need it.
  • I don’t especially want to try spaghetti squash with kale and beans and marinara and no cheese. It should keep for a couple of months. Let’s see when the surgery is scheduled and maybe save until then.
  • I love eggplant! With oil.
    *cue the sad trombones*
    I may decide to roast the eggplant and mix with yogurt and spices. Or may say this is perfect time to make more preserved eggplant from Six Seasons to ration throughout the rest of the year.
  • A final note, not for using up produce: Last week, my loaf from the Neighborhood Bread Lady’s monthly subscription was an apricot sourdough with fennel and coriander and maybe some other spices. When my friend picked up our loaf, NBL said to “think of it like a cheeseboard.” It was amazing. I have found a recipe for apricot fennel bread that I may need to make. Even though it won’t be sourdough and I’ll use dried apricots instead of fresh.

Love you,

Sarah

Boxing Day, August 2

planorcanLeave a comment
Golden reds and oranges and yellows in the peaches and tomatoes

Hi John,

Saturday we walked to the garden, a feat unto itself. We pulled up some weeds and nibbled on berries from the common area. And we harvested. Edamame! Kale! Tomatillos! Roma tomatoes! And, some beautiful beefsteak tomatoes. That night, I snuck into the kitchen and cut the tomato into thick slices. Sprinkled with salt. Set on plate with knife and fork in hand. One of the moments of sheer, summer perfection.

Today’s box makes it clear that we are IN tomato season. And honestly, a few more meals like that Saturday night snack sounds just right.

Actually in Today’s Box

  • Yellow Peaches
  • Red Seedless Watermelon
  • Bicolor Sweet Corn
  • Malabar Spinach
  • Mixed Cherry Tomatoes
  • Mixed Heirloom Tomatoes

Things I think are in the fridge

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

Coming in from the Garden

  • Edamame
  • Basil
  • Kale
  • Tomatillos
  • Aunt Ruby’s German Green (Beefsteak) tomatoes
  • Roma tomatoes
  • Occasional ground cherries
  • Shishito peppers
  • Jimmy Nardello pepper
  • 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

Snacks for now and meals to share

  • Lacto-ferment the green cherry tomatoes that we rescued from a pruned stem (no need to have them ripen on the counter forever and ever)
  • Blueberry-peach pie!
  • The corn, basil, blueberry salad from Half-Baked Harvest
  • Israeli-Spiced Tomatoes and chickpeas from Six Seasons
  • Cucumbers and papalo from Six Seasons
  • BLTs. Grilled Cheese with tomato slices.
  • More of the rosemary-spiced nuts
  • Watermelon-basil agua fresca
  • A meal of appetizers/sides. Edamame. Blister the shishito peppers. Maybe this tomato salad (note the ginger substitution). Or maybe the tomatoes and eggs. Side of rice.

Love,

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

Boxes from June into July

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Dear John,

It’s been month with you doing the bulk of kitchen duty and me being too otherwise occupied to menu plan in advance. And, spoilers, I’m guessing that’ll hold for the next month too.

We’ll hang out in the air conditioning–letting you take quick trips to the garden and I’ll do a stroll around the neighborhood in the breaks we manage. Now is the time to let friends come visit us (instead of trying to get to them). To spend time together relaxing (as best we can). And to eat whatever you make (or order)!

Predicted for the Next Box

  • Celery
  • Slicing Cucumbers
  • Sweet Fresh Onions
  • Yellow Patty Pan Squash
  • Red Seedless Watermelon
  • Yellow Peaches

Things I think are in the fridge

  • Blueberries (farmer’s market)
  • Cantaloupe
  • Watermelon
  • Fennel
  • Cranberries
  • Greens: Stirfry mix, Napa Cabbage, Lettuce
  • Black radishes, Purple Daikon radishes
  • Potatoes: Sweet
  • Jerusalem Artichokes

Growing in the Garden

  • Edamame
  • Dahlias
  • Basil
  • Tomatillas (maybe ripening soon?)
  • Tomatoes should start to come in this month
  • Peppers? What are the peppers doing?
  • Garlic? How’s it looking? Will I make it to the garden again anytime soon to see for myself?

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
  • Sunchoke relish
  • Green tomato chutney
  • Applesauce
  • Cranberry orange marmalade-ish
  • Probably still more uninventoried

Meals that you can maybe make in the coming days (slash weeks)

  • Salad with blueberries and cucumbers. Lettuce and shredded beets and blue cheese and walnuts. Watermelon, feta, and basil. Cantaloupe, fresh mozz, and basil. The celery salads from Six Seasons.
  • Zucchini tuna melts from Six Seasons. Zucchini butter spaghetti. Zucchini tacos. Squash and beans.
  • Saag Feta. Aloo Saag. Beans and greens.
  • Fennel and Kale Pasta from the greens cookbook I checked out of the library. Turn the leftovers into a frittata/spaghetti pancake by adding egg, cheese, and raisins.
  • Spring rolls to eat salad in another form.
  • Agua fresca with watermelon or cantaloupe
  • Smoothies with all the fruits. (Just don’t dehydrate them and try to rehydrate….)

So much love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, September 9

planorcanLeave a comment
I plum forgot the plums. Whoops

Hiya John,

So turns out that preparing on Thursday to go camping on Friday leaves little time for considering what to eat in the week ahead. It also turns out that wild cranberries and wild huckleberries and dehydrated apples combine to be an amazing oatmeal for breakfast prepared on a campstove. So not complaining. Just know that tomorrow’s still in the fridge list will probably be long.

Speaking of, since I don’t remember what was in the fridge last Thursday, we’re going with what I think is there now.

When this is how I wake up, I’m not complaining at all.

In This Week’s Box

  • Stanley Plums
  • Yellow Seedless Watermelon
  • Banana Peppers
  • Beauregard Sweet Potatoes
  • Delicata Squash
  • Italian Eggplant
  • Red Bell Peppers
  • Red Grape Tomatoes
  • Red Kabocha Squash

Garden Potential

  • Ground cherry
  • Few tomatillos
  • Volunbeans
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Roma tomatoes (The Amish paste plant is doing still thriving)
  • Jalapenos as we want them
  • Dahlias

Still in the Fridge

  • Pear
  • Watermelon
  • Greens: Carrot
  • Peppers: Cubanelle, jalapeno, bell
  • Green Beans (which I, for one, had forgotten about until now)
  • Kohlrabi
  • Carrots
  • Herbs: None (because I tossed the fennel out)
  • Onions: white and red
  • Celery
  • Sunchokes
  • Spaghetti squash

Open Preserves

  • Preserved eggplant
  • Dill pickle
  • Lacto-fermented green cherry tomatoes
  • Lacto-fermenting blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
  • Pickled red onion
  • Radish kimchi
  • Quince jelly
  • Peach jam
  • Veggie stock
  • Corn stock
  • Plenty of others that I just haven’t inventoried

Schemes for the things

  • There was a twitter thread asking for favorite quick, pantry meals. (I submitted dragon noodles, pasta e ceci, and enfrijoladas.) Most of the suggestions were meat that we wouldn’t eat. But the Mediterranean Baked Sweet Potato caught my attention. Adapted to do the 8-minute sweet potato linked to at the bottom of the post. And using the miso-tahini dressing that’s already made. And subbing carrot greens for parsley. So, y’know, totally the same dish.
  • We’re getting so many tomatoes! More pasta with cherry tomato sauce!
  • More tomatillo salsa. When the oven’s already turned on.
  • I’m nervous that this might be the last eggplant we get this season. Nevermind that the eggplant in the garden has two babies. The beans have shaded them and I just don’t trust that we’ll get the fruit I want. I’m mostly craving the soba noodle eggplant, but I want the soba noodles that you can’t eat. Roasting for a spread seems reasonable too. I dunno.
  • Pickled banana peppers? That’s what you do with banana peppers, right? Unless they go in a salsa with the tomatillos….
  • I’m leaving the squash inspiration for tomorrow’s self to come up with.

I’m still not sure what dinner’ll be tonight. Probably a squash dish just to spite myself.

~s

Boxing Day, September 2

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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, August 25

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The melons and the squash are the same yellow. The tomatoes and the peppers are the same red.

Hi John,

A week ago, we pulled over at a rest area for our final meal of the vacation. You pulled out the pocket knife to slice an apple. I unburied the last of the cheese and celery from the cooler, found the peanut butter and crackers in the food box. We took in views from the shade and then climbed back in the car for the rest of the drive. Home again, home again. To indoor plumbing, clean clothes, and freshly cooked meals.

But first, the garden…

The garden plot is even better at rooting us in community than I would’ve hoped. We don’t see our actual neighbors all that often, but there’s one family where the dad’s seen me headed to the garden a couple of times. The next time we ran into the mom, she asked about it and we encouraged them to go ahead and sign up for the waitlist.

When we were writing a note with the email address of the garden, I realized we could ask them to look after our plot while we’re gone. We haven’t seen them yet, but the thank you card they left convinces me that they appreciated doing us the favor.

The volun-beans are taking over whatever they can reach. We’re cutting them back to give the peppers and eggplant more light. I really hope that the tripod design for the soup beans works better. Dahlia looks like it’s budding. (But then it looked like it was budding two weeks ago and I don’t see any blooms.) The basil mostly went to flower while we were gone. We’ll have to decide whether we let it go to seed from here or try to cut it back.

In This Week’s Box

  • Canary Melon
  • Red Seedless Watermelon
  • Centercut Squash
  • Green Beans
  • Green Chard
  • Italian Eggplant
  • Lemon Verbena
  • Red Carmen Italian Peppers
  • Red Tomatoes
  • Spaghetti Squash

Garden Potential

  • Ground cherry
  • Few tomatillos
  • Volunbeans
  • Cherry tomatoes for days
  • Roma tomato if we want
  • A couple of lombok hot peppers
  • Jalapeno or three
  • Bell pepper or two
  • Maybe a cuke

Still in the Fridge

  • Blueberries
  • Carmen Pepper
  • Herbs: Fennel
  • Onions: white and red
  • Celery
  • Sunchokes

Open Preserves

  • Preserved eggplant
  • Dill pickle
  • Pickled red onion
  • Radish kimchi
  • Plenty of others that I just haven’t inventoried

Considering the options

  • I think I’m feeling cheesy eggplant tomato instead of a roasted eggplant dip. It’s a debate between the eggplant tomato towers from Simply in Season or eggplant parmesan.
  • Though there is ratatouille.
  • Half Baked Harvest’s approach to stuffing spaghetti squash and then baking it was my best success with the vegetable last year. Maybe pop cherry tomatoes in whole and let them pop til they sauce? Maybe cook up the chard to a green sauce?
  • Lemon verbena to tea now. And maybe straight to the dehydrator for tea later.
  • There are some potatoes remaining from when I bought at the store before the CSA delivered more. So green bean potato salad. Maybe something more vinegary this time.
  • We should do something with the peppers before they start to pile up too much. Peperonata from Six Seasons?
  • Before we left, I ended up blending half the watermelon with mint and basil. Poured into yogurt containers and popped in the freezer. Letting them spend a morning thawing, before blending again has been a lovely agua fresca. Bet we’re doing more of that.
  • There are some green cherry tomatoes on the stems I cut back. Time to try lacto-fermentation with the special lids you gave me for my birthday!
  • Smoothie of the moment: bit of coconut milk, splash of oj, handful of frozen cantaloupe (from before we left), and a bit less of frozen papaya. Served with whole blueberries.

~s

Boxing Days, July 29 + August 5

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July 29: Purple peppers and cucumber disguised as a very ripe mango.

Dear John,

This August is our month of summer adventures in the time of covid. Hosting family who it has been far too long since we’ve seen. Backpacking in the hills. Visiting friends with kids who are at ridiculously different life stages than when we last saw them. Attending the burial for the funeral we tried to livestream months ago. Paddling in our local rivers. Looking for parts for bicycles*. Finally, meeting our plot neighbors at the garden.

A couple of weeks back I realized I probably wasn’t going to be comfortable with the plans to eat indoors during our travels**. We talked it over, set a threshold for case rates where we’d push through the discomfort and take the risk. Then, we checked the numbers for the county in question and went on a dehydrating spree. It worked for clearing the leftovers out of the fridge at least. And for keeping us from eating in situations where we don’t feel safe. Somedays it feels like enough.

Off-camera, an extra cantaloupe and bonus bunch of beets bequeathed by the guy picking up his veggies at the same time as me.

In This Week’s Box

  • Athena Cantaloupe
  • Nectarines
  • Orange Seedless Watermelon
  • Anaheim Peppers
  • Bicolor Sweet Corn
  • Fairytale Eggplants
  • Mixed Heirloom Tomatoes
  • Purplette Onions
  • Red Beets
  • Red Grape Tomatoes

Garden Potential

  • Ground cherries!
  • Volunbeans–Yesterday, I harvested the two bean pods I was letting dry. Now we get to cook nine beans and see what we think.
  • Cherry tomatoes!
  • Cucumber
  • Tomatillos, haven’t been picked yet. I think they’re still growing.
  • Basil! Thai or lime or purple or Italian
  • Cilantro/Green coriander
  • Figs from the community tree

In Last Week’s Box

* = In the fridge right now

  • Athena Cantaloupe
  • Donut Peaches
  • Little Baby Flower Watermelon
  • *Indian Cucumbers
  • *Islander Pepper
  • *Italian Parsley
  • *Red Potatoes
  • Red Tomatoes
  • *Sweet Onions
  • Yellow Straightneck Squash
  • *Jalapeno Peppers

Still in the Fridge

  • Blackberries
  • Peaches
  • Blueberries
  • Herbs: Fennel, Dill
  • Onions: white, red, sweet
  • Kohlrabi
  • Sunchokes

Meals for now (and maybe then)

  • Raw corn salads. Picnics using each of the corn salad recipes in Six Seasons. One with tomatoes and one with walnuts and peppers. Both with all the herbs.
  • Cold soups! Gazpacho from Simply in Season and maybe another chilled cucumber number
  • Cucumber noodles? Or eggplant noodles?
  • Or pickled eggplant?
  • Potato tacos
  • Beet greens in a red curry with the remaining half block of tofu
  • Blackberry white chocolate mousse from the Chocolate cookbook
  • Cherry tomato sage pasta, inspired by this favorite
  • Cantaloupe jelly from Food in Jars cookbook
  • Watermelon salsa

While I’m writing this, you’re working on the letter to friends who will look after our garden plot. I confess, I’m a little jealous of the produce they’ll get. The eggplant might ripen! And the jalapenos! And the paprika! They’re just starting to blush.

But, I know there will be more when we return. And besides, food is better when it’s shared.

~s

* A different bike than last week!

** And that Olive Garden at the mall wasn’t going to be the place that does outdoor dining. Though there is take-out.