CSA Week 12

This week we got: 8 ears corn, 2 lbs tomatoes, 2 Concho jalapenos, 2 lbs Austrian Crescent potatoes, 2 fresh sweet onions, 1 red onion, 1 head Spanish Roja garlic, 1 bunch Cylindra beets, 1 bunch carrots, 1.5 lb zucchini, 2 patty pan squash, 4 cucumbers, 1 lb green beans, 1 lettuce, 1 bunch flat leaf parsley, 1 bunch basil (I also picked up a couple eggplant)

They said everyone looks forward to the corn, but this is just getting ridiculous!

Here's what we did:

Ratatouille (again, but this time I cubed everything instead of sliced; worked better) with Israeli couscous (PomPom loves this stuff). After we ate our fill, I added some veggie stock and tomato paste, cooked it until everything was completely soft and blended it into a pasta sauce.  Froze that

Black bean, beef, and veggie chile (tomatoes, jalapenos, sweet onions, squash, carrots) with Jalapeno corn bread (used fresh jalapenos and fresh sweet corn in this; it was tasty but didn't hold together)

Roasted green beans with lemon zest and sliced almonds (made this before; brought it to a potluck)

Tomato-beet salad (recipe below) to go with bahn mi that my father in-law brought (yum, thanks!)

Grilled flank steak and corn on the cob and my aunt's potato salad

I've got to use up the bits and pieces to make a salad for lunch tomorrow, which will be perked up by the next box!

I'm grating and freezing carrots (for carrot muffins) and sauteeing cut carrots and freezing for quick side dishes

I'll cut and freeze the corn remaining

I shredded and froze zucchini for zucchini bread and fritters

Tomato-Beet Salad

1 lb scrubbed Cylindra beets

2 lbs tomatoes, preferably heirloom

1/4 cup crumbled feta (used chevre, which I think is probably better than salty feta)

1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped fine

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil (you want to go for the EVOO here; I used less than 1/4 cup, just drizzled to coat)

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400. Seal beets in a foil packet.  Roast on a rimmed baking sheet until tender, about 75 minutes.  Cool completely. Rub beets to remove skins; slice (once again, I cubed for ease of eating rather than slice for presentation). Slice/cube tomatoes (halve cherry tomatoes, if using).  Arrange slices or toss together cubes of tomato with beets.  Top slices or gently toss cubes with feta, parsley, and olive oil; season with salt and pepper.

Aunt Lana's Potato Salad

Potatoes, boiled and cubed

hardboiled eggs, chopped

radishes, chopped fine

celery, chopped fine,

onion, chopped fine

mayonaise (my aunt uses Lite, but I use full fat; you could also try subbing greek yogurt for some of the mayo)

seasoning blend (my aunt uses a seasoning salt, like Lowry's; I used a salt free seasoning blend from Costco and added salt)

lemon pepper

Use quantities to your taste and gently fold all ingredients together.  Chill and serve.

This is the only potato salad I like!

Note: If you've been paying attention, I haven't used ANY of the cucumbers the past few weeks.  Those things taste like poison to me and I can smell them across the room, so I've been giving all the cucumbers to a friend.  :)