This week's produce box, 23 June 2011

I ordered the organic box for this week which contained broccoli, leeks, green beans, 5 ears of corn, a honeydew melon and blueberries. Things have been so busy lately that I haven't had time to cook as much as I like. To help me clear out my fridge a bit, I invited my family over last night for dinner. On the menu: broccoli salad, cabbage salad, ratatouille with brown rice, corn on the cob and a blueberry, peach and cherry cobbler. To be hones, the cobbler would have been better as a crisp as the gluten-free version ended up being rather gooey and not terribly flavorful. It was edible though. I think I'll stick to crisps from now on. Everything else turned out quite nicely and I now have some leftovers and more space in my tiny Euro fridge.

This week's produce box, 16 June 2011

Today I've laid out the contents of this week's produce box because everything was transferred into my cooler instead of leaving a box. 1 huge savoy cabbage, 6 ears of corn, 1 pt. of blueberries, precious baby eggplants, 3 cucumbers, a huge head of garlic, large cherry tomatoes. This week's newsletter had lots of good ideas for things to do with the cabbage. It's my birthday weekend (30!) and I probably won't get around to cooking much until next week. Good thing everything's so fresh that it will last!

This week's produce box, 9 June 2011

This week's Produce Box: blueberries, 6 ears of white corn (hopefully super sweet), 3 zucchini (one is hiding behind the corn), 2 cucumbers, fingerling potatoes and amazingly sweet and delicious cherries. I'm tempted to make a blueberry/cherry cobbler, but on the other hand am certain that could easily just eat up all the cherries in one sitting. They are soooo good!

Blueberry Sunday

An O'Neal bush at Creekside Farm
loaded with berries.

Just about 10 minutes from my house is a blueberry paradise - Creekside Farm is bursting with blueberry bliss from May through August - acres and acres of multiple varieties starting with the early sweet O'Neals to the amazing gumball sized, super sweet Powder Blue in late summer. I discovered the farm at the Clayton Farm and Community market last year, picked twice last summer and am absolutely hooked on these berries.

Washing the berries

Washed and ready to eat

Yesterday I drove over for my first pick of the season - O'Neals are in season right now - a sweet, average size berry that the farm owner says is a real challenge to grow because the bushes will die for no reason at all. More than other varieties, this bush is very sensitive to soil conditions, temperature, weather. Fortunately Creekside Farm seems to be doing it right as they have managed to keep several rows of the O'Neal variety alive - and they are loaded with sweet berries. I picked for about 45 minutes yesterday - naturally testing each bush before I picked - and got about 3.6 lbs of berries.

When I got home I washed and de-stemmed the berries and put them in the refrigerator to munch on at my convenience. Blueberries make for the perfect summer snack!

I had 1.5 pints of blueberries left from my Produce Box. They are good, but they can't beat the ones from Creekside Farm. I already had a plan in mind for my Produce Box blueberries - a delicious blueberry crisp! I got the recipe from Yankee Magazine (and halved it for 1.5 pints). The lemon juice and lemon zest along with the oats and cinnamon really give this crisp a great flavor. I used Bella Gluten-Free All-Purpose Mix instead of flour. Those sensitive to oats can substitute certified GF oats, but I just used regular ones. Needless to say, my Sunday started and ended with blueberries - delicious from start to finish!

**I should add that blueberry picking makes for a pretty good thigh workout - my thighs are so sore today from all the berry-picking squatting and knee-bending!**

Fresh out of the oven, blueberries still bubblin'.

A nice portion!

Bowl-cleanin' good!

Cool summer salads (vegan and gluten-free)

Napa Cabbage Salad and Shoepeg Corn Salad - both vegan and gluten-free

I met up with friend Andrew for a potluck picnic on the lawn while we watched the Béla Fleck concert at the NC Museum of Art last night. My contributions to the potluck were two cool summer salads: Napa Cabbage Salad and Shoepeg Corn Salad - delicious separately, but somehow they complement each other so well that they are even better when eaten together.

I got the basic recipe for Napa Cabbage Salad online (http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/napa-cabbage-salad) - the Napa cabbage courtesy of the Produce Box - and embellished it with shredded yellow squash, shredded carrots and diced cucumber. I also added the juice of 1 lime to the sauce. Other than that I followed the directions. It was delicious!

The Shoepeg Corn Salad comes courtesy of my friend Brandi - who got it from her mother-in-law. This salad is to die for and I didn't change a thing about the recipe! The only thing I changed in the recipe was that I cut the sugar in half - the canned shoepeg corn already had sugar in it, so I figured it would be fine to cut back on the sugar for the sauce. I also highly suggest nibbling on it to check the taste before the recommended "overnight" period is up, because it is irresistible! I doubled the recipe.

2 cans of shoepeg corn
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion (I used sweet Vidalia onion)
3 stalks of celery (chopped)
2 oz. of pimento (drained)
Marninate overnight in:
1/4 cup vinegar (apple cider)
1/4 cup oil (I used canola)
1/2 cup sugar (I used half this amount)
1/2 teaspoon of salt (I used freshly ground sea salt)
1/4 teaspoon of pepper (I used freshly ground pepper)

This week's produce box, 2 June 2011

This week's produce box contained Napa cabbage, tomatoes, strawberries, blueberries, red potatoes and yellow squash. The cabbage is so big that it is almost covering up the squash and tomatoes, but I think they are visible enough. This weekend I'm going to an outdoor concert with friends and can't wait to make up some cold salads to take to our potluck picnic. Definitely will be making a Napa cabbage salad, a shoepeg corn salad and maybe a sweet potato/potato salad. Great weekend plans ahead (getting a head start tonight). Can't wait!