CSA Week 2

Got a slow start on cooking my way through week 2 of my produce box from Groundwork Organics. But that doesn't mean that we had a slow start eating!

Here's what I picked up on Wednesday:


We got Italian parsley, kale, carrots, beets, potatoes, zucchini, shelling peas, salad mix, broccoli, and strawberries.

...The carrots were munched and crunched away by my hungry kids.

...I ate the strawberries that afternoon at work.

...My co-worker got the broccoli, since I'm violently opposed to the stuff. (Please don't tell me to smother it with cheese. That would be a waste of perfectly good cheese!)

...I'm going to make these brownies with the beets. Then I'm going to give one to my co-worker's husband, since he's violently opposed to beets. Shhh...

...Giada says I should make this with the kale. But the "Cooking Away My CSA" gang says I should make kale chips. I haven't decided yet...

...Tonight I made a great pasta dish that included the zucchini, peas, and potatoes. Everyone loved it, including the picky teenager.
The thing is, when I cook something like this I tend to go with my gut. I know what makes a decent pasta dish so I work with what I have instead of a recipe, and I cook by taste and don't measure ingredients. But the problem is when it goes well... I don't have a recipe to work from in the future (or share with y'all). So here's my best guess at how I made dinner tonight...

Pasta with chicken & fresh veggies
olive oil
1 small onion, sliced^*
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt & pepper
garlic
crushed red pepper
chopped basil^*
oregano
5 Yukon Gold potatoes^*
small handful chopped parsley^*
1 cup fresh peas^*
1 cup sliced zucchini^*
1/2 cup milk
1 cup chicken broth
2 T worchestershire sauce
1/2 cup fresh mozzarella, cubed
1/2 cup ricotta salata, crumbled
lemon juice
1 lb pasta, cooked
parmesan cheese

Cut chicken into bite size pieces. Heat olive oil in skillet. Add onions and cook until softened. Season chicken with salt & pepper, garlic, crushed red pepper, basil, and oregano. Add to skillet and cook until slightly browned.

Meanwhile cook pasta until al dente. Drain and set aside.

Steam potatoes until slightly softened (3-5 minutes). Add potatoes and parsley to chicken and stir, allowing potatoes to brown. Add zucchini, peas, milk, chicken broth, worchestershire sauce, mozzarella, and ricotta salata. Stir well until cheese softens and liquid simmers. Cover and simmer about 3 minutes.

Toss pasta with a dash of olive oil (to prevent sticking). Add lemon juice to the chicken mixture immediately before serving and stir. Serve with grated parmesan cheese.

Starred ingredients are from the CSA box!

CSA Week 1

Drat! Week one was actually last Wednesday... I'm already a week behind!

So here's the deal. In the interest of eating healthier and trying new things I purchased a CSA share from Groundwork Organics. Actually part of it is also due to general laziness and fear of crowded places (i.e. the Farmer's Market). And technically? I bought half a share, since I am sharing with a co-worker. Since this is a new thing that seemed safer somehow. I would hate for all the beautiful vegies to go to waste. Also? Broccoli and cauliflower are evil and should be abolished from the planet. Ick! Luckily my co-worker doesn't share my opinions about broc and cauli, but her husband is violently opposed to beets. So looks like it will all shake out in the end.

This is what we picked up last Wednesday:

We got red leaf lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, snap peas, basil, sweet onions, garlic whistles, ‘Red Gold’ new potatoes, cauliflower, and strawberries.

Here's how we used it up...

...Lots of good little munchie snacks - I washed and trimmed the carrots, snap peas, cauli (some for Stinky, the rest for work), and the berries. They were all gone by Friday.

...The potatoes went into a batch of Chicken & Dumplings. Looking back this was probably a waste, as they would have been delicious on their own.

...The cuke went into a sunomono. Yum, it was a great little salad!

...The garlic whistles were chopped up and added to a batch of skillet potatoes. Good flavor and crunch.

...I still have some lettuce and one onion. We just don't go through a ton of lettuce, and the RHPB prefers the iceberg variety anyways.

...The basil went into, well, a little of everything. But I'm most proud of this "Caprese Pizza" I made. It was delicious, and Stinky went back for seconds.


So... I think I'm off to a good start. We picked up the Week 2 box today. I'll be cooking with kale and beets this week... a new experience for me!

HAILyeah!

Over the weekend we finished setting up some raised planter beds. I filled them with dirt and planted a few things I had grown from seed along with my booty from the OSU Master Gardener plant sale. When I left this morning things looked good. The plants I had been growing inside were starting to perk up, and it looked like everything was getting the right amount of water from the sprinkler system. YAY!!

Then the storm came. First there was some rain. And then, BOOM! Hail, thunder, more hail, lightning, and a CRAP-LOAD of hail.

My dad would have had a field day with this. Today would have been his 68th birthday, so timing couldn't be better. I can just hear him laughing and calling me a wuss for growing my garden in one of those girly raised flower beds. Didn't he teach me anything?!

Sigh...

Anyhoo, we are planning to celebrate him tonight. Fajitas and margaritas are on the menu. Hopefully the weather will hold up long enough for me to cook the steaks outside on the grill.

Umm... Dad? Do you think you can help me out with that? Thanks, old man!!

Up...

This is Boo.


She likes to be silly.


She likes to swim.


She likes to try on hats.


And (to my dismay) she LOVES to climb.


We had a great girls' weekend in Ashland!

Salmon Run

Today I ran the Salmon Run 5k with some girl friends... Melinda, Kate, and Shannon. It was breezy and cool, but we warmed up quickly once we started running. I was definitely grateful for my new arm warmers! I did better than I thought I would, especially since training for the last week has been a little erratic for me.



Melinda, Shannon and I have been running together on a fairly consistent basis. It's nice to meet up with friends for a workout, and it's definitely motivating to know that someone else will be there. After the 8 mile hike in Kauai I gave myself a few days off from running, and it definitely came back to bite me during my first few days back in training.

Despite this I managed to run almost the entire 5k, slowing for a 3-minute walk break after about 30 minutes. I ran the last 5 minutes, and I finished slightly faster than I did for the Light of Hope 5k last month. I definitely didn't feel as strained. So... some progress is definitely showing.

In a few short weeks it'll be time for the "goal race" ... the Pacific Crest 5k at the end of June. (And, my 35th birthday.) We're already talking about what to do after that race. Shannon's talking about a 10k in September. Hmmm...