Another week another CSA delivery! Although I’m sure this post will be hardly read since there are quite a few on vacation.  I fact, this must be a popular week to be gone as school is on the horizon and people need one last week away from home! This week there were only 10 of 16 boxes delivered! Quite a bit less than usual!

Those of you who didn’t get deliveries probably aren’t reading this post, but let me tell you… you are missing out! These boxes were HUGE this week… actually more like two boxes! There were probably 2 dozen tomatoes, 5 peppers, 2 eggplants, 5 squash, two pints of plumbs, 7 ears of corn, 10 peaches, 4 pints of cherry tomatoes, a dozen potatoes and two cantilope! That is A LOT of food! We will be hard pressed to eat all that this week! I think we still have 2 cucumbers and 2 ears of corn left from last week! Time to get moving and cooking!!!

Here are some of my ideas for the upcoming week… and yes… as some of you have said today… I will have more eggplant ideas!!!!

Corn – We REALLY enjoyed our corn on the cob last week! It’s is so good with a pat of butter and loads of salt! Brian isn’t much of a fan, but the rest of us love it! Even Xanthie likes to chew and suck on the cob! Brian tried putting some corn in his friend rice. Aisling really liked it, but I, for one, did not! Definitely not the right consistancy. I remember my mother making corn fritters for dinner in the summer and even though we LOVED pancakes, NONE of us like corn fritters! For me I think it was the consistency of corn kernels in my pancakes… however, maybe it’s an idea you might enjoy! Won’t be on our dinner menu anytime soon!

Habenero pepper – These are VERY hot. Some of you got them in your boxes and others didn’t. PLEASE be careful with these! I can add one, to a LARGE bowl of salsa and it will be quite hot! Brian likes to add these to eggs, fried rice, meat, and just about anything. I know these are not always welcomed by many! Last year I strung some up on dental floss and hung them in the kitchen window to dry and we still have a few left. It’s a great way to preserve them, not take up a lot of space and super low maintenance!

Green pepper – Not sure at all what I’m going to do with these this week. I did freeze the ones from last week to use in soups and chili in the upcoming winter. As I said last week I much prefer red, yellow or orange peppers for eating. I haven’t tried giving them to the kids though. We do have a little hummus left, so maybe I’ll give it a try and see if they like them more than I!

Eggplant – You need more recipes!!! Here are additional ideas!!! I have sliced, salted and grilled these babies and used a buns for a hamburger which turn out really well. They don’t get too messy and really help hold the burger and topings together. Just tonight we had our grilled eggplant, tomato, feta and basil and enjoyed each bite! A few of you were lementing the fact that you had no idea how to cook it or what to do with it. READ LAST WEEKS EMAIL… there were LOTS of ideas, which I’ve tried and like!!! But… here are a few more as well! I LOVE Indian food and veggie rogan josh is simple, cheap and easy. This recipe doesn’t have eggplant in it, but peal it, dice it and throw ½ of an eggplant in and you won’t know the difference! And since we are touring the world, Mafe  is a West African dish which is similar to veggie rogan josh in that, it is cheap, simple and easy to prepare. And back to the USA Pizza… who wouldn’t want pizza!  This recipe shreds the eggplant and you pat it into a pizza crust! It really is good! Believe me! Try some of these and let me know how they turn out for you!

Squash – If you are a 100% paleo eater, then squash, sweet potato and sausage hash isn’t a strange breakfast meal at all! It is acutally quite good and filling, and will actually hold my crazy kiddos til lunch! I think yellow squash latkes  sounds really yummy as does marinated and grilled, or on kabobs. Also this squash salad with fresh herbs sounds fantastic as well!

Tomatoes – LARGE heirloom tomatoes! Thick, solid and juicy, but not watery or grainy! I’m planning on making a HUGE batch of fresh salsa for a birthday party we are going to this weekend. We also had some on our grilled eggplant that we all LOVE! The kids and I like them sliced with some salt and pepper or a little fresh basil on top!

New Haven peaches – We had some of these for dinner… actually after dinner for a dessert and we all had juice running down our faces. THAT, my dear firend, is the sign of a perfect peach! I do have to be honest though and say that some of them were definitely riper and juicier than others. But we have a few more to savor later this week when they reach perfect ripeness. Occasionalling in the summer I will purchase a large box of seconds and make canned peaches and peach preserves. I still have some left from last year, so I probably won’t attempt it this year… but we shall see!

Stanley plums – More plums! These aren’t quite as tart as last week and are purple instead of a golden color. They are really tasty! I’ve always wanted to make a plum pudding, but I’ve never given it a try. I’ve never really wanted to spend money on fresh plums just to cook them. I found this paleo recipe and it looks amazing! I’m hopefully going to give it a try this week. Please note however, that the plums in this recipe are quite a bit larger, maybe 3-4 times larger than the ones we have, so take that into consideration!

Cantilope – I’m not sure how else you would eat this besides fresh… I like a little pepper sprinkled over mine! I also think I may try freezing some and making a paleo ice cream. I did find this recipe that looks promising. However, this recipe  looks pretty simple and quick in the [amazon_link id=”B008H4SLV6″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]VitaMix[/amazon_link]… and super yummy too!

So there you have it! Another week!
Enjoy!