thoughtful consumption

Ever notice the change in color between May and June? Sometime in May, spring ends and summer begins. The change comes in color as much as temperature. The landscape shifts from playful spring green, colorful blossoms, and budding oak trees to the serious-business green of summer.

That intense summer green is what my box of produce makes me think of. (Maybe it shouldn’t because almost everything here is a spring crop. But it does.)

• leeks
• peas
• eggs
• celery!
• lettuce
• cucumbers
• fennel
• Savoy cabbage
• chocolate-raspberry-pecan muffins
• stevia
• mint of some variety
• Leiden cheese

Before I put everything away again, I turned the plastic bags inside out. The bags were wet on the inside, so it seemed like a good idea.

Beets

In addition to my regular subscription, I also ordered a pound of beets from the online store. Aren’t they beautiful?

Celery

I love celery! What a nice surprise! I don’t think of celery as a Georgia plant.

This celery has really nice leaves on it. Celery leaves are great to chop and put in tomato sauce, soups, and salads. I use them instead of chopped celery in recipes that need the celery flavor but don’t require any crunch. And, of course, celery sticks make great snack food.

Garlic scapes

Check out the chaos that is garlic scapes.

I’m going to look for something other than pesto to make with garlic scapes. Pesto will be the fall back if nothing pans out.

Herbs

Although I couldn’t read what my herb mix was this week, the smell and taste made it very clear. One of the herbs is a very nice mint although I’m not sure which kind.

The other herb I didn’t recognize until  I took a tiny nibble. It was incredibly sweet and unmistakably stevia.

In fact, stevia’s so sweet that the taste reminds me more of Sweet N Low than sugar or honey. I could sweeten my tea with it for sure, but I’ve got enough mint syrup to keep me going for a while. I found a recipe for making an extract from dried stevia leaves. I always have a problem air-drying herbs. Nowhere in my kitchen is ever really a cool, dry place. So I’m thinking about hanging these in my bedroom closer to an air conditioning vent. If my stevia leaves dry right, I’ll keep you posted on the extracting.

Muffins

We’re always happy to get more chocolate-raspberry-pecan muffins.

Yep, they're as good as they look!

I’ll be back with ideas for fennel, cabbage, and more tomorrow!