Another week has come and gone. Where does the time go? And yet there are times that Wednesdays can’t come soon enough because I want my surprise box full of veggies! I can’t believe we are on week 13. If feels like we should still be at the start of summer instead of back in school already. AND again, at the same time I feel like I haven’t been inside a grocery store in months.

Speaking of grocery stores… The kids have asked me when the next time is we need to go to the store. I couldn’t believe they kept asking me, but then I realized that it’s been quite a while and they REALLY love looking at the seafood in the Asian Markets! Wow! What a great problem to have… not visiting the grocery store frequently enough!

AND we still have a few more weeks! And the option for a Winter CSA with a drop at our place again! The winter CSA is pricey, but there is meat included and it’s delivered once a month for 4 months. There will be green house greens, and root veggies that have been put in cold storage along with some apples! So the excitement will continue!

So here is what we got this week and some ideas I plan on using this week.

Tomatoes – We got LOTS this week and I’m planning on making a big batch of tomato sauce. I usually puree the tomatoes skins and seed in the [amazon_link id=”B008H4SLV6″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]VitaMix[/amazon_link] and then cook it for a few days on low in the crock pot. Sometimes I’ll cook it long enough it becomes tomato paste. I don’t usually add any spices, but will do so depending on what I plan on using the sauce for. I just used some that I froze last year to make some Veggie Rogan Josh which was FANTASTIC, super simple, cheap, no meat and used lots of veggies I had on hand!

Cucumbers – We LOVE these! Each afternoon after rest time we have tea time and a small snack. Sometimes it’s something simple like a few crackers and some cucumber slices or pepper slices. We enjoy our tea together while I read a few chapters out of a book we are reading together. It’s a great time! Before the farmer left today he gave us a taste of some corned beef that the farm processed and it was delicious! He said there will be some in the winter CSA box! THAT on CUCUMBERS would be an AWESOME tea time snack! My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Red potatoes – These the farmer said were just harvested today and should be still warm from the ground! They were pretty dirty! if you received some DON’T clean them. They will go bad much more quickly. We had some home fries tonight for dinner and they were super tasty. I typically peal and chop and then broil for 40 minutes, but stir and switch racks every 10 minutes since I usually cook two trays at the same time. I used the potoatoes from last week to do this, but you don’t have the peal the red potatoes!

Onions – I think sauteed is the BEST way to eat these! They are so so so super fabulous! Dear friends of ours fed our family of bottomless pits this past weekend and made burrito bowls for dinner. I don’t know why I’ve never done this! It was fantastic and so simple! I LOVE Chipotle, so why wouldn’t I have done this before?!?! What a great way to use the tomatoes, peppers, onions and other veggies! It was a sure hit with my family!

Zucchini – I would have usually said these are getting old, but since we don’t get to each much pasta around here, making zucchini noodles out of them has been paradise! The kids really love them… only down side is they don’t fill them up well enough. Maybe this week I should add some meat balls. Hmmm… that might work!!!

Broccoli – This is one of Tonchi’s favorite veggies. He can’t get enough of it! Usually if he seems me chopping it up he and his siblings are BEGGING for raw pieces. There have been times they’ve eaten so much of it raw that I was afraid I was going to have to come up with a different side for dinner! Their favorite way of having it is roasted with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder on it or roasted with garlic and lemon.  I’ve also made a broccoli stir fry which is really good too!

Broccoli leaves – I think it was week two that I made the mistake of thinking the collards were broccoli leaves… but now I KNOW these are broccoli leaves… for two reasons! The farmer told me… and they are still attached to the head of broccoli! 😉 Can’t really mess that up! You can cook these like you would collards or swiss chard. I think last time I posted a video of a farmer cooking these up and it made me laugh, so I’m going to share it again! It’s at the end of the post.

Green peppers – Usually we just have these for snacking. Sometimes as a treat we will have lunch meat with some hummus spread on it and then place a few cucumbers, tomato slices, maybe a slice of carrot and peppers in the middle and roll it up. Mmmm… so yummy. Not super filling, but it sure tastes good!

Peaches – How can you go wrong with these? I don’t even want to can them or freeze any. They are so delicious fresh and juicy. I just want to enjoy the last flavors of summer and then look forward to a repeat next year! I NEVER buy them at the grocery store, so these are a big treat and so super taste…. besides the ones at the grocery don’t even compare. They aren’t even worth eating compared to these! This is the last week for peaches, so enjoy!

Plums – Some of these are very ripe and some are a bit firm…. but that’s perfect for me! We will start with the soft ones and by the time we are ready to eat the firm ones they will be soft too and sweet and ready to eat! Xanthie already ate two of them (including a seed ;() While we were unloading boxes… don’t worry… if she grabbed one out of your box it got replaced! She sure loved them!

Apples – Can’t go wrong with these apples either! They are so crisp and juicy… I feel like I keep saying the same thing, but eat time I take a bite it’s sweeter crunchier and juicier than the last bite! And the next apple is even better! Farmer Byron was so sweet. My kids LOVE helping him unload the truck when he arrives, so he gave them each an apple off the truck as a thank you for helping and you should have seen their faces! It was like Christmas! Or like having dessert before dinner! They were in heaven!

So there it is.. .Another week of produce ready to be enjoyed! If you are interested in the winter CSA and you haven’t gotten an email from me about it, then let me know and I can pass along the info!