Yay! The season has officially begun!

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I have been. All week long I purposely avoided buying produce at the store, anxiously awaiting Wed. when I would get my first official box of the season. I actually had dreams (yes, multiple dreams) about it. Really they started on Sunday when some of the folk in the Nashville area received their deliveries and I still had to wait DAYS for mine.

So Wednesday I headed over to the Discovery Center pickup site a little earlier to give the girls some play time at the playground while we waited for our truck. They pulled in right on time, and I wasn't quite expecting the swarm of people that got quickly in line. There are a lot more people doing this than I realized! I wanted to stick around and see if I could find any familiar faces, but my youngest had smacked her ear pretty hard on the playground and she was at her limit as it was. So anyone reading this that picks up at the Murfreesboro location feel free to introduce yourself since I haven't seen anyone I know as of yet! I'm the one there with 2 very rambunctious toddler girls. :)

Anyway, the food right? That's what you're really reading this for. Look at this:

Seriously. Is that not GORGEOUS? I could hardly keep the girls away from the strawberries. Here's a list in case some things are harder to identify (and if I'm wrong about something feel free to correct me since I'm still learning all this): (from left-clockwise) 1/2 dozen eggs, radishes, broccoli and cauliflower, choy, red romaine lettuce, 2 massive kohlrabi, a whole chicken, 1 lb ground beef, red and white spring onions, garlic scapes, and finally strawberries. This is what comes in a standard meat and produce package, with the exception of the ground beef which is a standing special order for us. All that for $38. And it is so delicious.

So where to begin with this first box? The first thing I did was obviously unpack like a giddy child on Christmas morning waiting to see what Santa brought me. After that I immediately decided I had to use some of it for dinner. And the easiest quickest way to get it in my belly was to make some omelets and roast some veggies.

I know at some point when I was a child I had farm fresh eggs at my grandmother's house. I know this because I remember being rather afraid of being pecked to death by chickens when she asked me to help her go collect eggs. I don't remember much else because she sold her chickens when I was still pretty young, but I know I couldn't appreciate them then like I do now. You're probably going to get very tired of hearing me say this, but that was one of the best omelets I had ever had. The yolks were so much richer, and it had such a nice flavor without being too rubbery and, well, eggy. I don't get too carried away making omelets, I just threw some onion and a smidge of minced scapes and a healthy dose of black pepper in there with some monterey jack cheese, but it was so good! I may have to bump up my order and get more of those each week, especially since I just picked up my box last night and my eggs are now gone.

Having eaten all my eggs already that gives me one less food I have to figure out how to store. I don't think I can possibly go through all my onions so quickly, and the stems on the scapes and a couple of feet long a piece! So now comes the part where I am forced to learn about preserving foods. I know at some point I will attempt canning, but for now I am fortunate enough to have a big upright freezer in my garage, and I will be prepping and storing plenty. First I am going to need some reusable containers, but my quest begins this weekend! I'm not going to let that go to waste!

Now, one thing in the interest of full disclosure because I know some of you have to  be wondering is all the food really that good, and in good condition? I share this, not to talk ill of Avalon Acres, but to praise them for going above and beyond. I will admit when I began inspecting my veggies that I noticed some rather slimy spots on my choy. Thinking it had just gotten bruise and damaged and the dampness caused it to be rather yucky, I figured I could salvage it by removing the outer leaves and just using the inside. However, the very middle core of the choy was the same way, and it smelled like fish. Obviously, no veggie should feel or smell like that.

Not knowing what to fully expect, if this just happens from time to time (I know everything in my own garden isn't always in the best condition if I'm not paying attention to what I pick), I almost just chalked it up to an "oh well, crap happens" kind of deal. However, I asked a long standing member what I should do, if they would want to know or not. She suggested I email them, so I wrote customer service and this is the response I received: "We never expect you to get substandard food  ...  We want your box to sing the glories of God when you open it and if it’s not we aren’t hitting the goals of delighting our customers. I am terribly sorry that your food was not absolutely the best that you have ever experienced. We will make this right for you and then some." This wasn't from some generic customer service guy, it was from one of the owners, Tim Bodnar. How awesome is that? I didn't write expecting compensation of any sort and I would not have asked for it. However, I know they will take care of me as a customer. And to say food can "sing the glories of God"? I simply LOVE that. Love it. What a wonderful perspective. I hope he doesn't mind me sharing that, but I thought it spoke volumes about their operation and service. God does provide!

And in the interest of keeping this post from turning into a mini-novel, I'm going to call it quits here and just share 2 recipes I made from this past week. I will definitely be posting again soon so I can share on the meal we're planning for tonight, but you'll just have to wait and see what that is. Thanks for catching up with me! I promise all my posts won't be this long... maybe. :)

-Sam

 

Recipe #1 Bacon Mushroom Honey Dijon Chicken

I've made this twice now, with subtle changes each time, and it makes for some very juicy, well flavored chicken. My biggest change was adding red bell pepper in with my mushrooms and onions. The first time I made it I used some of the green onions from my AA box. The second time I was out of those so I used a vidalia onion I had at home. Also, I cooked the bacon in the skillet first, left about 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease, browned my chicken, then sauteed my veggies in the same skillet. It's easy to fix, though a little messy looking, but it was a good way to use up some veggies and have some flavor.

About 1/2 an onion, 1/2 a pepper, a 4 oz of mushrooms

Make sure not to overbrown your chicken!

My oldest daughter wants to help out in the kitchen all the time. :)

Onions are just started to caramelize...

I told you it looked like a hot mess. Loaded up and waiting for cheese.

Tada! I need fancy plates for pictures.

Recipe #2 Strawberry Sweet Biscuits

Bisquick Shortcake - I typically am trying to make most everything from scratch these days, but I just haven't found quite anything that replicates the texture and flavor of this, So I until I do, this is the recipe I use for the shortcake portion only.
I bake the above shortcakes, and while those are in the oven, I make some sugar sauce. I take about a cup of regular white sugar, a couple of tablespoons of flour, and whisk in about 1 cup of half and half. You could use water if you wanted to cut back on some calories, but I like the creaminess of the half and half. Turn your stove on a med-high temp, put your saucepan on the stove, and whisk frequently until it hits the desired thickness you want. I like mine to coat a spoon and drizzle slowly off, and that takes about 7-8 minutes, which is just enough time to be wrapped up by the time your shortcake buzzer goes off. Drop the shortcakes in a bowl, slice some strawberries on top, drizzle your sauce over it and PIG OUT. 

Yes, the strawberries are really that red. :)