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!

Pat on the Back

I give myself a little pat on the back today. First, I kept my plans from yesterday and ended up having a nice time chatting with friends. I think I was immediately rewarded for that: A and I stopped by Trader Joe's on the way home and picked up some yummies!

Second, when I woke up early this morning, I was still thinking about my gardening plans - no, nothing I have blogged about, probably ever, but something I've spent a bit of time thinking about this week - and had a bunch of ideas. Yesterday, A was not very receptive to the idea of helping me with the garden. I think (hope!) that it was because he was wiped out at that moment and not that he doesn't want to help ever. (Especially since he talked about doing the gardening if we ever open a BnB, which has been a dream of mine for a while now!)

So, instead of throwing all my early morning gardening plans at A, I kept them to myself and I think that's pat-worthy. It was hard not to bombard him with all my ideas, because in the end, it's actually about simplifying and I just want someone to hear and acknowledge my minor genius.

It's hard in general not to bombard him with my ideas - I am very aware of the areas in our home that could be re-organized or sorted or clutter cleared or cleaned - and I have lots of ideas about how to make our home more beautiful and functional, but I generally keep them to myself. I think when I have weekends off, it'll be easier to spend a short amount of time working on these kinds of projects together instead of trying to do them when we're both tired after work and looking for entertainment.

However, I think I'm going to keep working on this gardening idea - a few shady plants in the back yard, a couple of pots of veggies in the front - nothing too outrageous, but I don't like to see the desolate and untouched garden strip he made for me last year and I want to grow something that I can eat!