Exam Finished, Now What?

I wish that were true, but I know what I must do:

• Clean bathroom x 2
• Clean kitchen
• Change sheets in bedroom and guest bedroom
• Vacuum/sweep entire house, including spider webs
• Dust entire house
• Make raw dog food, buy dry dog food
• Start sauerkraut and pickles
• Start kombucha
• Start sprouts
• Blanch and freeze green beans
• Find a recipe for fresh garbanzo beans and make it
• Shred and freeze zucchini
• Make yummy raw borscht
• Figure out how to make beet green palatable
• Make eggplant rawvioli and eggplant dip
• Plan meals for the rest of the week, including brown bag lunches for A and I!

And that all depends on which of the veggies have gone rotten in the fridge. I'm giving away two heads of lettuce today, because we just can't keep up - we're salad'ed out! If I end this week with no fruits and veggies in the bin, I think I'll actually be a happy woman!

Squirrely Day

I started my day with a "meeting" which could really have been a 5-10 minute phone conversation and a hand off. It was also social, though. Not sure how I feel about that since I'm trying to keep my social obligations nil this week.

Keeping social obligations nil this week, because I'm studying hard for my last board exam. I just worked for 2.5 hours straight then broke for a late lunch and after this post, I'm back at the books for another 2.5 hours.

A misheard me Sunday night when I told him and some other friends that I wouldn't be out much (socially) this week due to my exam next Tuesday. Somehow he heard me say that I had an event at the Siam Society this Tuesday and we went around and around for hours before we figured that out, because I swore that I didn't know anything about an event at the Siam Society.

The CSA weighs on my mind. I haven't been blogging what we get because I just don't know. I haven't been keeping up with knowing what we get or doing anything with it. I know we get lettuce every week and I think that two grown salad-eating adults with healthy appetites should be able to get through a head of lettuce every week, but I've had to start giving it away. I'm making pickles and sauerkraut this weekend (and freezing green beans) to try not to lose everything. We also got a beautiful eggplant, with which I look forward to making rawvioli.

So, it's back to the books now for me and the window out of which I hope to spy the little squirrel that I watched rolling around in the dirt while I ate my lunch. I grabbed take-out and drove back to the library, parked in the shade and listened to my book on CD while I ate. He was little and really cute and I wished I had a video camera to film his adorable antics. That and some food will have to sustain me a couple more hours while I finish my studying for today.

This Week From The CSA

This week's CSA bag includes:

• lettuce
• green beans
• a fresh-cut herb - if we're lucky enough for this to be basil, I'll be making B's Basil Balsamic Mashed Potatoes with that and the Yukon Gold's below - they're just so good, you have to try them!
• summer squash - probably eat these shredded with a little cheese or nut cheese again or maybe grilled in our new grill wok
• cucumber - mmm...sliced with some tomatoes and beans, a little rice vinegar...refreshing
• Yukon Gold and/or Red Chieftan potatoes - whatever doesn't get mashed, I'd like to roast in the grill wok with some rosemary
• leeks - might try a raw Cream of Leek soup - looks pretty good
• blueberries - always good raw for breakfast

We haven't used much from the last bag, except we ate the fruit fresh right away. I'm hoping to make some Scrumptious Green Beans tonight from my Anti-Inflammatory Diet and Recipe Book maybe with last week and this weeks green beans. We'll definitely do a big salad each tonight, too to finish off the lettuce from last week. Seems we're always playing catch up with the food from the week before. It's too hot to cook much, so as much as I can do raw, we'll do raw. Hoping to clean the kitchen, make some food and take the dog to the dog park tonight before going to a social outing at the local roadhouse pub. Ambitious schedule, but I feel pretty energetic after a morning taiji session and a 16 ounce double shot latte.

This Week From The CSA: Thank God, it's FRUIT!

Went nuts cleaning out the fridge last night - we ate salad with garlic roasted fava beans, zucchini hummus with pita and loads of pea pods raw. Delicious and just in time for another bagful of produce from our CSA. I'm really not keeping up, but I'm doing my best. This morning I made us a savory veggie tofu scramble (including cabbage, carrots, onion and zucchini from the CSA) which we both enjoyed. It was weird eating it with toast, but somehow it worked.

This weeks bag includes:

• lettuce - salad, maybe taco tonight?
• a legume of our choice (pea pods or green beans) - probably cleaned and eaten raw as snacks again - they travel well and are delicious
• fava beans - will be roasted with garlic again, they were yummy.
• blueberries - yum!
• Kotata blackberries or gooseberry or jostaberry - yum!
• black cherries - yum!
• fresh cut chives - these will go well with the potatoes I've been craving
• summer squash - if it's zucchini, more zucchini hummus - it's so good - or shredded and lightly cooked with a little cheese - like mac and cheese, only I feel slightly less guilty

Note: the CSA recommends cooking the three types of berries we're getting into a cobbler and I say, no way. These babies are going to be enjoyed fresh and raw! I may like cooking, but I have to say that the raw food movement has definately taught me that some things are best enjoyed in their natural state and berries are one of them! I can't wait to give myself a sweet treat tonight - hope A doesn't eat them all before he gets them home!

This Week From the CSA

I went through the fridge last night and cleaned house. We still haven't touched the cabbage, but that'll keep a little longer. I made a chili with some of the dried beans, but though soaked, they hadn't cooked last night - I'm hoping the day in the slow cooker will do the trick, because I'm looking forward to a bowl of warm chili this afternoon. I threw in a bunch of peppers that I got free at the market, some of the onion from last weeks bag, some corn off the cob and a tiny bit of broccoli I found in a bag hiding in the fridge. It might seem weird to put broccoli in chili, but the best chili I ever made was thrown together with bits I had in the freezer once when I was poor and hungry and included a whole bag of frozen broccoli. Spiced it all up with a little chili powder, some cayenne and a lot of chipotle powder, because I just can't get enough of it.

We had taco salads for dinner last night using Fantastic Brand black beans - they were delicious and a great addition to the salad despite being pureed. If no chili tonight, then bean dip! Used up most of the remaining lettuce and decided to cut and clean the lettuce immediately as it arrives for easier usage. It's hard to want to make a salad in the evenings after work when I know it involved cleaning cutting so many veggies.

So far, what we have left from previous weeks includes:

• rhubarb - going to make another pie, just need to get some berries
• lettuce - just a bit, probably eat today as side salad
• pea pods - these got lost in the fridge - we'll probably eat them raw because they are sweet and delicious
• onion and dried beans - these will last a while
• cabbage - need to make saag one of these nights - that'll make it go quick. If that doesn't happen, then I'm making sauerkraut
• zuchini - raw pasta makings! Or raw zuchini hummus. Or dog food. :)
• carrots - general use and A keeps eating them raw which is great!
  

This week's bag includes:

• lettuce
• pea pods
• fava beans - never eaten this!
• cabbage
• blueberries - I've been eating blueberries as a nice light breakfast and it seems to be quite nice.
• summer squash
• a fresh cut herb
• sedum - never heard of this! It appears to be a garden plant and NOT necessarily edible. So far the other two plants are still on my kitchen window ledge, but A says he's got potting soil somewhere and I know we have pots, so I'm planning on digging in the dirt a little later today!

We'll see what we end up doing with this bounty!

This Week From the CSA

I haven't had a chance to even look at this weeks bag. A brought it home and put it away and our fridge is getting very full with all this produce. It doesn't help that I did a pretty good sized shop or that the top shelf and door of our fridge are relatively unusable because of a delicate seal. So, in my effort to plan and not waste as much as possible, here's my ideas of how to use this week's produce:

• lettuce - to be made into salad hopefully before it browns! Taco salad? Tomorrow!
  
• cabbage - mmm...Indian cobi saag - should make this in the morning or evening and eat as leftovers.
  
• broccoli - more?! I love broccoli, but I can't keep up!
  
• a sample of the first of the summer squash - where is this?
  
• edible pea pods - eat raw?
  
• rhubarb - another pie, probably
  
• orange carrots - guess I shouldn't have bought that 5 lb bag!
  
• an herb plant (mint) - still needs to be repotted

This Week From the CSA

This week's bag contains and was used to make:

• rhubarb - Rhubarb Daquiri
  
• edible pod peas - eaten raw as snack
  
• lettuce - used as a wrap for garden burgers, perfectly sized small leaves
  
• onion - saved for later use
  
• dry mixed beans - saved for later use (maybe chili?)
  
• beets - steamed greens and beets (not very successfully); plan on finishing beets cold in salad
  
• broccoli - steamed greens and ate with macaroni cassarole; ate "tree" part separately
  
• cauliflower - Broccoli Bisque soup from Blossoming Lotus cookbook, modified for cauliflower
  
• a potted marigold flower - needs to be re-potted, still sitting on my windowsill dying
  

This Week From the CSA

A and I are excited to have purchased a share in a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Farm. This means we paid a fee to the farm up front and receive a share of the harvest each week through the growing season as well as free seconds, discounts at the farm stand and a few open farm days to U-pick. A has charged me with making sure that we don't waste our CSA dollars and that we eat up all the yummies we get each week, so I'm going to be blogging about what we get and what I make with it each week. Bon apetite!

This week's bag contains and was used to make:

• lettuce - Taco salad, mmm...
  
• rhubarb - Raw Strawberry Rhubarb pie
  
• strawberries - gifted to a friend
  
• pinto beans - dried, on hold for later use
  
• onions - saved for later use in soup
  
• bok choy - didn't get to this until it was already turning; edible peices cut up for dog food
  
• a calendula plant - gifted to a friend
  

So far, so good. Hope we get bigger bags as the summer goes on.