First box = Success!!

I have to be honest. Though I've been reading up on this for months and trying new recipes to get prepared, a part of me is still completely nervous that I am going to end up wasting so much food, or gagging trying to force myself to eat veggies. Or as my husband says, "I don't want to be eating this just for the sake of eating this." However it is only Sunday, just a few days after my first pickup, and I've almost used everything in my box already. Woohoo! And not only that, but everything I made was pretty much delicious. Of course now I just have to wait until the actual season starts now.

So here's what's left: the very center of what was a large head of buttercrunch lettuce, about 1/2 bag of spinach, the kohlrabi, and somehow about a cup of strawberries has survived (though they will not make it until tomorrow- some yogurt is calling my name tonight!). Surprisingly the first thing that was used up was the dreaded radishes, yet every meal I made out of them we enjoyed. Thanks to the AA facebook page for the recipe suggestions! (By the way, AA stands for Avalon Acres, not Alcoholics Anonymous. Glad we got that clarified.)

Here's some of the recipes we used in the past few days. I apologize in advance if I do not cite the source correctly; I'm pretty new to blogging and still figuring out the etiquette.

Radish Top Soup: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/radish-top-soup/detail.aspx
This is basically a creamy potato soup with the greens from the radishes cooked in. The whole soup gets put through a blender so it turns a pale green color. Honestly, it's ugly. If someone handed me a bowl without telling me a thing about it, I would frantically try to find a way to dump it into the nearest houseplant without being seen. But it is FABULOUS. Probably the best recipe I tried this week. I tried it first as the recipe is written, b/c I firmly believe any well rated recipe should be tried once as it. However, I can't leave well enough alone, and I love to be creative with my food, so the second go round I made a few changes. I used both green onions and a vidalia onion, I added some spinach in with the radish greens, I used half and half instead of cream to make it a little lighter, and I tossed in a handful or two of sharp cheddar. I also served it with this bread: Italian Supermarket Bread I think this will make a great soup base for a variety of greens if I end up clueless what to do with them.

Just look at all the green!!

I told you it wasn't pretty. Looks can be deceiving.

 Grilled Dill Radish Packets: http://sarahscucinabella.com/2010/07/20/grilled-radish-packets-recipe/
This was an AA gem (Thanks Mary Grace!). Since I wasn't grilling on this day, I just threw everything in foil as directed, but put it in the oven at about 350-375 for 20 minutes, then let it sit for 5 out of the oven as suggested. The radishes were surprisingly tender, and had good flavor. I did accidentally leave out the vinegar, and I think that caused them to have a bit of a bitter aftertaste, but now I know. One of the AA members said if she didn't have fresh dill, she used dried dillweed. She also said she tried it with some butter and red wine, and it tasted great. So go crazy!

Strawberry Pie: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/strawberry-pie/detail.aspx
This took care of a good bit of my strawberries. Even though the pie was pretty good, I kind of regret using my strawberries for this. They have been excellent in smoothies, mixed in with yogurt, sliced on cereal, and just plain good. I think I'm just going to have to go strawberry picking ASAP, b/c I'm not done craving them yet! Here's hoping the crop at AA is still going strong!

Three Cheese Semolina Bread: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/three-cheese-semolina-bread-recipe#fragement-2
Now, this isn't an AA recipe, but I did make it this week and it was a great bread. I am obsessed with all things King Arthur Flour, and I check their website almost every week to try a new bread as well. This one would be great with some italian food, particularly something with a strong tomato taste to it. I added some garlic powder and italian seasoning to it. I forgot to take an after shot, but look how pretty the dough is!

Look at all the fun bubbles!

We used our lettuce for salads. Spinach in salads and smoothies, and yes, my kids still drank them. I use onions in just about everything. Oh! And I almost forgot! Today I used our grill on some AA pork ribs. We put a dry rub on them and slow cooked them for about 3-1/2 hours. They were easily the best ribs I have ever made. It was a great start for our meat, especially since that's the thing my hubs is so excited about. Doesn't that sound just like a man? Screw the veggies, bring on the meat! Hehe.

Before being slathered in BBQ sauce. Sooo good.

I told you they wouldn't make it until tomorrow. Nom nom nom!

So now I just have my kohlrabi to roast, and a couple of salads to eat and it will be all gone. No waste or food thrown away, and I am completely satisfied. Actually, more than that, I am thrilled. It wasn't even hard. Here's hoping the rest of the season goes so smoothly! Although my daughter, K, summed up her feelings pretty quickly the first day, "I want to eat vegetables! I want to eat vegetables, Mom!" (sees strawberries) "Uh, I just want strawberries."

Lastly, I know there's not much on it yet, but I have started a board on Pinterest (sigh/yay!) for CSA recipes to try. I also try to keep my cooking boards updated for things I want to cook, or reviews for pins I have cooked. Feel free to follow me and check it out: http://pinterest.com/sammieb81/ Alright, I'm off to bed! I probably won't post again until after our next delivery on May 9. See you guys then! I'm already excited!

-Sam

So... Just How Do You Cook a Radish?

I spent a decent amount of the girls naptime on Wednesday researching how to cook radishes. I have never bought radishes in my life. From time to time I would see them shredded in salads and deftly pick them out. Yet as I was sifting through my very first CSA share I saw 2 bunches of radishes and thought, "Oh, buddy, here we go!".

Let me back up a little. More than likely if you're reading this, it's b/c you're my friend on Facebook and I posted a link saying, "Hey, check it, Sam's got a food blog!". However, on the off chance someone else is reading I'll fill you in. This year I've decided to take my family on a new eating adventure. I've got 2 toddler girls and they have truly inspired me to take better care of myself, and of them.

I grew up with my wonderful Mom fixing us homecooked meals. I've known my way around the kitchen since before I was in middle school. Dinners were good, easy, with simple ingredients. Grab that can of veggies (mainly corn and green beans) and open it up, throw it on the stove! Want a casserole? Grab some cans of cream of this and that, some meat here and there, mix it all up and bake it! Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not being all high and mighty mocking canned goods. You will never hear me say that my parents didn't take excellent care of us. My point is that I had no idea where my food was coming from. Sure, I knew it was grown, somewhere on some farm with some dude and a tractor and a field. But I had no idea or concept of how it was grown, how it was picked, what it was treated with, basically anything that occurred before I dumped it out my can.

Since my girls have been born my creative outlets have been slightly more limited. Scratch baking has become a hobby. I've gotten sucked completely in. Fancy breads, bagels, pastries, cakes... Definitely cakes. Anyone who knows me knows I get carried away with those. As I started studying the sciences of baking, the chemical that reactions that occurred between different ingredients, I became more aware of the quality of products I needed to have to have that truly decadent dessert or that light, airy bread with a crispy crust. So I started reading about eggs, butter, flour, milling, churning... Did you know you can make your own butter? It's pretty easy actually. Anyway, that's for another post. The more I learned, the more I wanted to know. Why is it better to make my own bread, than have the preservative loaded one at the store? Why are whole grains so important?

All of this studying and curiosity made me think about my other foods as well. I have definitely been on a produce kick since I first got pregnant in '08. I even had a fairly successful garden last year. Well, if you define success by having too many tomatoes to possibly count and some zucchini the size of a baseball bat. We definitely didn't capitalize on all the food possibilities we had. That zucchini had so much flavor though. So much more than any I had bought at the grocery, even when in season. The tomato sauce I made from those tomatoes, sooo good. I'll take it over Prego any day. But I wanted more. I wanted fresh foods. I wanted to know where my food was grown. If I had a yard big enough, I'd end up with a massive (probably out of control) garden. The farmers market was an option, but I am lazy. Definitely not a morning person, and I think trying to shop weekly with the girls in a place like that might just reduce me to eating Spam.

Then I heard about CSAs. In short, it stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Basically it's a farm, or group of farms, that you commit to buying from for a season. Some places you pick up, others deliver, some are weekly, some are biweekly, but the gist of it is you pay farmers to grow your food for you. No grocery, no middle man, from the field to you. You get fresh, in season produce, at the peak of its nutritional value. It sounded completely ideal to me. The more I researched, the more I was convinced I wanted to do it. The hubs wasn't quite on the bandwagon yet though. He wanted to know is it worth the money? Will we actually eat the veggies we get? And just what in the world is a kohlrabi?

So I searched around until I found the farm I thought would be best for us. There are many choices out there, and so many with great reviews that it was difficult. But in the end, we chose Avalon Acres because they do pasture raised meats and eggs, as well as produce. They also have a very active Facebook community, and that was important to me so I would have a place to go for tested recipes.

I started watching the Facebook page, noting weekly what people received in their share packages. I started buying the same produce items at the store and learning how to cook them one at a time. I learned when in doubt, saute it, if that's gross, roast it. I tried vegetables I had never heard of or eaten before in my life. And my kids seemed to enjoy it. Well, my 18 month old is a bottomless pit who will eat anything, and I consider the 2-1/2 yr old not throwing her food across the room a success. My hubs was enjoying my new occasional cooking style. So I crunched the numbers, showed him the plan, and we decided to go for it. He kept me grounded, which he does well, or else we'd probably have not only a giant unruly garden but 6 chickens running around as well.

Which brings us to the present. The official season will start May 9, but I picked up my very first CSA share yesterday. I was seriously so excited. Almost the equivalent of Christmas stocking excited. It is beautiful! A giant head of lettuce, a bag of spinach, radishes, onions, kohlrabi, 2lbs of pork ribs, and the best strawberries I've ever had. I am still excited. And though I was stumped on the radishes, I threw some in a salad, roasted some in the oven, and even made a delicious soup out of them today.  

So now you know the story. This blog will be chronicling an adventure for us. Learning about new foods, trying new recipes, and a place for other people to chip in. It definitely won't be your typical "look at my pretty food photography!" blog, and I imagine several pictures will be an afterthought camera phone pic, but I'll do what I can. I hope you enjoy!

Oh! And if you have any other radish suggestions, feel free to comment. I have a feeling there will be plenty of times I need help with this!

-Sam :)