Eat your veggies!

We have been getting weekly vegetable boxes from our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), Red Goose Gardens for the last three summers.  Starting about mid-June until the end of October, we get a big box full of assorted veggies every Wednesday. Early boxes may include honey or granola to supplement the strawberries, lettuce and spinach.   Later boxes are overflowing with  cucumbers and zucchini.  This time of year, the season is winding down.  The good weather has kept the tomatoes and peppers going strong in addition to the more seasonal cabbage, beets and squash.  While the quantity of vegetables every week can sometimes be overwhelming, I try to freeze and can what I can't use quickly.  In addition, things like cabbage, kale, peppers, carrots, onions and beets keep for a long time in the refrigerator, so I just put them in a baggie and use them as I can.  

This weeks box (week 15 of 18) contained, from left to right, kale, parsley, beets, spaghetti squash, tomatoes (heirloom), tomatillos, peppers (serranos, poblanos and bell) and cabbage.

While it looks like a lot, I have some plans....I will blanch and freeze most of the tomatoes, make and freeze salsa verde with the tomatillos and give away some of the cabbage (I now have 6 cabbages!)

One thing I do with some vegetables is roast them....

On the left is roasted eggplant.  Last week we got a ton of tiny eggplants, the last of the season, so I cut them up into small pieces, drizzled them in olive oil then sprinkled with salt and pepper.  Once cooked, I divided it into baggies and threw them in the freezer.   I will use the eggplant for pasta and maybe pizza. 

On the right is roasted acorn squash, carrots (yes they're purple) and onions.    I cut up a bunch of carrots, an onion and cut a squash in half and seeded it.  I drizzled all with olive oil, sprinkled with salt, pepper and fresh thyme (from the freezer from last year).  I baked all of the veggies at 400 for about 45 minutes, until they started to brown.  These I roasted for a recipe for Acorn Squash and Carrot Soup.  It was amazingly delicious, but it turned out brown because the purple and orange carrots mixed with the yellow squash is not a pleasant combination.  Needless to say, I will not be posting that recipe.

I love getting the boxes of vegetables every week and miss them desparately in the winter.  I count down the months and weeks until we get fresh, locally grown vegetables again.  In the meantime, I try to slowly portion out the zucchini, eggplant parmesan, herbs, pesto, salsa verde and tomatoes so they last as long as possible.