CSA Box #8

CSA box #8 has arrived!  It includes:  bi-color sweetcorn x4, tropea onions, carrots, yellow cauliflower, yellow summer squash, green beans (actually green this time), 2 green bell peppers, one small head of red cabbage, tropical melon, 2 Italian eggplant, Tuscan kale, 2 small cucumbers, 2 Korean melons, kohlrabi x3, bag of tomatillos, bag of melrose peppers (look like shishito peppers but allegedly are sweet and have no heat; one is red), okra, and 1 head romaine. 

I already tore up, washed, and bagged the kale and put it in the freezer for use in breakfast smoothies.  I peeled and cut the carrots into sticks for eating plain or with hummus.  I diced up the melons, which are delightful, especially the tropical one.  I'd never had Korean melons before, and they are white and sweet inside, but the tropical one looks (and sort of tastes) like a hybrid of honeydew and cantaloupe (yellow outsides, green insides, but with a tinge of cantaloupe color inside too), but it's more tender and flavorful than any melon I've ever had before.

My goal this week is to eat more of the produce plain without a lot of added work or added calories.  I don't know how else we can eat this much food in one week.  So we plan to snack on some of the carrots, cucumbers, peppers, and tomatillos as crudites.  Aside from that, here are the recipes:

Baked Popcorn Okra

Lemony Steamed Green Beans
Because it looks easy and healthy and I can do this with the steamer basket while my corn boils in the water below.  

Boiled corn on the cob
Three for eating on the cob tonight, one for cutting the corn off and putting it into stuffed peppers another day.

Kohlrabi Salad with White Beans & Horseradish (Vedge, pg. 38)
I've made this before.  It basically tastes like my favorite sort of creamy potato salad, minus the potatoes.  I'm going to go easy on the dressing this time because it was a bit overpowering before.  I'm planning to make these first four recipes for dinner tonight. 


Korean Eggplant Tacos with Kimchi Mayo (Vedge, pg. 171)

Red cabbage slaw

Roasted Cauliflower with Black Vinegar and Kimchi Cream (Vedge, pg. 90)

Baby Cucumber Sambal (Vedge)

 


Avocado Tomatillo Salsa Verde 
or Tomatillo Salsa Verde

Cucumber Tomatillo Gazpacho 

Ratatouille
If I only end up using one of the Italian eggplants in the Korean tacos, I can use the other one here.  I also have a bunch of yellow squash, sweet peppers, and tomatoes that could be used in this.

Stuffed Mini Peppers
I'm going to try cutting the melrose peppers lengthwise and stuffing them with different things, including but not limited to the black beans and quinoa in the link above, and in some others maybe using some vegan cheese that's in my fridge mixed with I'm not sure what yet (not sure how well vegan cheese would roast under high heat...).  I also have some mozzarella and pizza sauce and black olives and an open package of veg pepperoni in the fridge that could be used to attempt pizza flavored ones.  Stuffed peppers are reasonably forgiving and I can just put them all on a pan and roast them together.