Ok.  I've been slacking in writing about this stuff.  We've also been traveling a bit and it's been fantastic.

Full CSA Share Week 8

Full CSA Share Week 9

The last 2 weeks have been populated by peaches, plums, apples, melon, and blueberries.  All of which we ate raw and at once.   I actually supplemented our fruit supply with storebought fruit as well.   Just leave it on the table and it disappears.


We made raw salads out of the lettuce, and cucumbers and green beans during week 8.

The leeks (3) and red potatoes and onion were used in a version of Manhattan Clam Chowder.
I modified the recipe to contain Leeks, canned clams and juice (I KNOW!   it was a weeknight!) and 3 or 4 HUGE heirloom tomatoes (more about those in a moment).
 

I also made another batch of Borscht out of the beets and grilled up the japanese eggplants and broccoli.

So guys.  Here's the thing:  I'm finding that I'm happiest when I supplement my CSA share!  "Using it up" as a family of 4 has never once proven to be the challenge that I was hoping for.   Don't get me wrong.  I LOVE the idea behind a CSA membership and being surprised each week with a variety of produce, but it just isn't enough to keep me inspired.   I'll keep updating with photos of the CSA hauls for the rest of the season, but I'm thinking most of my inspiration will be coming from elsewhere...


And with that:  I was feeling uninspired.  Didn't want to cook the same old stuff.  Didn't want to write about it. 

Then Mom went on vacation and let me loose in her garden...  I came home with this:


HEIRLOOM TOMATO GLUT!!  And fresh herbs and carrots and onions and cucumbers and flowers.

THIS is what I'm talking about.

I immediately responded with a tomato/basil/cucumber salad with a simple balsamic vinaigrette.  It was amazing in a way that only fresh heirloom tomatoes can be:

 To go along with the clam chowder (or so I told myself, Actually this could be a meal unto itself) I made a Crostata out of heirloom tomatoes, fresh sage, parsley and basil, and fresh picked caramalized onions.

These ingredients were actually enough for 2 Crostata!

With Easter rapidly approaching, and 2 little kids at home who can't wait to have an Easter Egg hunt tomorrow morning, I absolutely had to dye some eggs.  We just did a dozen this year, but we dyed them the natural way because I really want to eat them, not just look at them.  And, quite frankly, those dye pellets they sell in the store scare me more than a little  bit...

We get our eggs from our butcher.  We usually get a dozen or two gorgeous brown jumbo-sized ones (free-range, collected by the guys that work at the butcher shop).  Today I bought 1 dozen of my usual brown beauties, and 1 dozen white eggs (still local, but from about 1 hour down the road) for dying.  I usually prepare my eggs as a meal by themselves.  No meat needed...  which is how I justify including them in out weekly food budget.

In my late teens and early twenties I did a lot of traveling (Yes!  With an anaphylactic food allergy!... but that's another topic for another blog).  One of the trips I took was to Costa Rica for an ecology class. Unforgettable trip. Changed me forever.  Changed me so much that it affects my buying habits every. single. week.  at the grocery store.

If I only buy one organic item from the store (read: if we can only fit one organic item into the budget for the week),  it is bananas.  I have a house full of little kids and banana lovers... and with winter on it's way they become a fresh-fruit staple.
So, here's why we do organic :

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/09/24/225793450/global-love-of-bananas-may-be-hurting-costa-ricas-crocodiles

not only are rivers and wildlife affected but THIS was once rainforest...

http://mongabay-images.s3.amazonaws.com/cr/600/costa-rica-d_0192.jpg

This obviously isn't my own image, but I have a book of similar photos at home.
you get the point.

Or maybe not?   This is not high-desert.  It's rainforest.  It's the world's lungs and it's supposed to look like this:

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/costa-rica-photos/#/santa-helena_10967_600x450.jpg

Soooo  we should all pay $.40 extra a lb. for bananas.

Oh, and the carbon footprint is HUGE compared to locally grown produce. The least I can do is not let the last couple sitting up there on the shelf rot and be thrown away (ok, composted... but still they didn't make the trip all the way to NY from Central America just to be thrown on a compost pile).