csa haul: week two

Another week, another Popeye-approved amount of vegetable matter ingested. Not to pat ourselves on the back prematurely, but I think we’ve already gotten the hang of this CSA thing! Last week, Friday night rolled around, and we settled in to cook an arugula- and basil-infused pasta dinner instead of trolling the Web for takeout menus, as is our usual end-of-the-week routine. That means a) we’re saving money for our upcoming Mediterranean vacation; b) our antioxidant consumption has skyrocketed; and c) we’re learning so much about cooking. And having fun together while doing all of the above!

I’ve been a lifelong baker, but experimentation in cooking was never my strong suit. My dinners suffered, therefore, on account of this inexperience (and combined with my crippling post-work laziness and an unhealthy dependence on peanut butter). So please excuse my self-congratulatory words, because this newfound ability to cook real weeknight meals really does deserve a gold star! And a gold star, too, goes to Ted, who singlehandedly prepared the chicken stir-fry with snow peas that you’ll drool over below.

Without further ado, here’s how we used this week’s CSA box contents, with only a bit of the cabbage and red scallions leftover to use in tonight’s vegetable stir-fry.

- Siberian kale: Crisped into addictive kale chips, which we snacked on whilst watching The Hills…and hating on Brody Jenner.
- Romaine lettuce: Salad, salad, and more salad. (Next week, I vow to spice things up on this front!)
- Chinese cabbage: Tucked into the filling of pastry-wrapped Russian pirozhki. (My knowledgeable peers cluck-clucked at me when I confused these with pierogies. Oops?)
- Arugula: Bacon-ed up into a pasta version of the BLT. The rest was tossed into salads.
- Snow peas: Brightened and crunchified a chicken stir-fry with yellow bell pepper.
- Red scallions: Mixed into the BLT pasta and the stir-fry.
- Dill: Flavored this week’s Russian dish, obviously! And added some flavor to our green salads.
- Basil: Sliced into ribbons and adorned the BLT pasta.

I’ll be picking up another delivery of Graceland Farm’s produce tonight. Can’t wait to leaf through my cookbooks again, commune with the salad spinner, and share my discoveries with you next week!