thoughtful consumption

Usually I report the contents of my CSA delivery within a couple of days, so this post is over a week late. Whoops. But the delay lets me describe what I really did with the produce instead of my sometimes out-sized hopes and dreams.

The final delivery of 2010

garlic, green onions, and hydroponic lettuce

I now have a bag and a half of green onions in my crisper. I’m pleased with how well they’re holding up; I’d thought they would get slimy quickly. We’ve loved them chopped in salads and added to pretty much any meal. Go, green onions!

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turnips and broccoli

The broccoli florets can be steamed a few minutes for a quick and delicious side dish. You can either steam the stems a little longer or save them for another meal. If they’re in good shape, don’t throw them out! The stems have just as much flavor as the florets if they’re cooked till tender (and not till mushy).

Here’s a trick for turnips: slice, brush with butter and salt, and put them in a 300 degree oven until they’re brown at the edges (maybe 30 minutes for thin slices). I was surprised at how good this was. The turnips got all melty-tasting and downright palatable. The smaller Asian turnips can be diced and tossed in salads. You can add any turnip pieces in stir-fries and casseroles. Be sure to cut them up small and add them at the beginning so they’ll cook enough.

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Bordeaux spinach

We ate this as a salad with hot bacon dressing using green onions and diced Asian turnips. I wish we’d added a chopped hard-boiled egg. Hot dressing is a good trick for spinach that is not baby spinach or not completely gorgeous and fresh-looking. The dressing wilts the spinach a little so no one can tell what it looked like before.

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beautiful, delicious eating apples

These apples are delicious for eating. We’ve been eating one a day, and it’s been awhile since we’ve spotted a doctor around here. (Lots of squirrels, though.)

Stacking the apples this way made me want to build an apple fort, so I commandeered four more apples from our stash to create Applehenge.

Not nearly as stable as its namesake.

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Sweet potato casserole makes me sad

We also got five sweet potatoes – not enough to make the sweet potato casserole I’d been assigned for Christmas dinner. So I roasted the five sweet potatoes plus two from the previous week and an enormous butternut squash from earlier in the fall. I followed this recipe somewhat, doubled, using 6 eggs but cutting the sugar 75% (and it was still plenty sweet). I baked everyone for about an hour in the oven at 400 degrees.

Is it just me or is this butternut squash nursing a litter of sweet potatoes?

When the sweet potatoes were done, I took everyone out, chopped the squash into three pieces, and returned it to the oven in the hopes it would bake a little faster. It did, and after another half-hour, the peel just fell off,

Long oven-baking made it very easy to scoop all the squash and sweet potato goodness into a bowl.

sweet potato casserole

The casserole turned out okay,

(This is unbaked. I dropped it off at my Aunt's house the day before so she could put it in the oven and I didn't have to worry about being on time. One of my smarter moves of 2010.)

it had a nice praline topping,

but I learned one important lesson:

Don’t make sweet potato casserole.

What a waste! Sweet potatoes, eggs, and butternut squash are some of my favorite foods. Making them into casserole removes everything interesting about them. Blech. Never again.

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Back to the delivery

Here’s the gourmet upgrade and the half-dozen egg upgrade.

cilantro, salad dressing, eggs, and popping corn

The dressing is good for tender lettuces. It’s bright, vinegary, and comes out of the bottle a lot faster than the dressing I used last.

I’m tending the cilantro as a covered bouquet in the fridge. I replace the water in the glass and turn the bag inside out every other day or so. It’s been a week, and it still looks good. I’m hoping it will hang on until I get through more leftovers and have time to make something cool with it.

We made popcorn Wednesday night and watched The Karate Kid. First, we put 1/3 cup loose kernels in a bag (We had some older loose kernels; you can also just put a cob in the bag.)

Then, we microwaved the bag for about 90 seconds.

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Finally I made an order from the online store for bread, garlic, and duck eggs.

We’ve been eating so much rich food this month that I’ve failed to make egg custard in a while. After the first of the year, we’ll be due for a week or so of veggie suppers with duck egg custard for dessert!

Happy New Year, everyone!