CSA Wednesday, Week 10

If I do another blog series, I've learned I shouldn't use a day of the week in the title, LOL. Things just can't always get done on the day they're intended, which for me, seems like that's the case in life more often than not these days. But I digress. Here I am, on Thursday, doing CSA Wednesday, and doesn't the produce below look like it's been kissed by a rainbow?

In this week's share...
1 basket strawberries
1 basket Maglia Rosa or Black Cherry cherry tomatoes
1 (large) bunch basil
1 lb mixed cucumbers (I chose all Lemon cukes for canning)
1.75 lb heirloom tomatoes
1.5 lb eggplant
1 lb onions
3 heads Rose garlic
2 bran muffins

This week's CSA share is looking a little... skinny... but I have no problems with that, because I just know there's another big burst of produce coming!

The tomatoes that are next to the eggplant were originally in the Trade Box, and not liking eggplant the first time we had it, I traded one of them for the two tomatoes. All of the tomatoes except for the cherry tomatoes went straight to the freezer. I will. make. sauce.

Challenges: None for this week, wow! A day after pickup, and the tomatoes are in the freezer, muffins gone, strawberries half eaten, garlic pickled, the cucumbers are up for pickling tomorrow, and half the basil was given to a friend. Onions are an easy one to get rid of, so that really only leaves the (I say in a low, raspy, slightly disgruntled voice) eggplant.

Last Week's meal highlights...
Last week was a fun week of new foods, and I had the chance to do two non-CSA food related canning sessions. I'd hoped to put up a jam involving the white flesh nectarines and peaches with the strawberries I'd purchased, but couldn't find a small-batch recipe involving the stone fruits and strawberries. I'm not experienced enough (yet) to start making up my own canning recipes, so the stone fruits were consumed joyfully. I did, however use the strawberries to make Strawberry-Lemon Marmalade (from Ball). But that's not a CSA related post, so no more on the subject or else I'll get sidetracked with talking about how deliciously awesome that recipe is, and how I never want to have plain strawberry jam again.

The huge zucchini I picked was my favorite veggie from last week's share. I left the farm decidedly against another loaf of zucchini bread, and thought I'd make a savory side dish out of it. Well, I had a hankering for something baked, and I remembered ShawnAnn mentioning Granny's Chocolate Zucchini Cake. I'm a cookie gal myself, and oatmeal cookies are one of my tops, so I hunted down this Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Zucchini Cookie recipe. Heck yeah! They hit the spot, and just did again (wiping crumbs off the keyboard). Next time I make these--oh, there will be a next time--I think I'll replace the chocolate chips with rum-soaked raisins...

I used the rest of the zucchini in fritters. They were decent... DH really liked them, but I thought they were a little too fluffy/doughy. I thought they would be fantastic with Ranch dressing, but stopped buying store-bought dressing, and didn't have any. The whole meal I kept imagining dipping them in Ranch instead of ketchup. Today while grocery shopping, I had to pick up Ranch to try with the leftover fritters. It tasted downright awful! Not the fritters (they reheated great in the toaster oven), but the Ranch dressing! LOL

Remember how I said I wasn't a big fan of snow peas? Foiled again! I was humming and hawing all week about using them, and half expected them to be spoiled when I pulled them out of the crisper today. They were perfect, as if they'd just been picked! I found a non-Asain way of preparing them, and went for it. We all gobbled the Lemon-Butter Snow Peas up, and I wish I had enough for seconds and leftovers. Guess what I'll be growing this fall?

I also attempted to make a Caesar dressing to go with the Romaine lettuce, per DH's request, but failed. I didn't have anchovies (blegh) or sour cream, and refused to use a raw egg. I'm not a fan of mayo, so it was up to him to taste the recipe I made and tell me if it was up to his Caesar standards... He ended up enjoying the Basil Vinaigrette I made for myself, LOL.