Week 1: A Green Beginning

We picked up our box of produce this afternoon and found it much heavier than expected. Considering the price of food at the farmer's market, this is going to be a good deal.

The pick-up site is really convenient, at a house just down the street. The homeowner introduced herself — and her little girl who waved from inside. I have to say, the process of pick-up is pretty simple. There is a clipboard where we check off our names for the week, then grab a plastic tub filled with our allotment of produce, and take a weekly newsletter with details on what to do with each ingredient and some news from the farm.

Two-thirds of this week's products are green!

So, here's what came in the box this week: a bunch of red radishes, a bunch of basil, a bunch of arugula, a large head of red leaf lettuce, one foot-long cucumber, at least 3 lbs of Yukon gold potatoes, one head of bok choy, a bunch of green garlic (which I will write about later this week, since it was a new ingredient to me), and a carton of strawberries.

As soon as I got into the house, I popped open the carton of strawberries — they looked too good to wait! According to the newsletter, these strawberries will pale in comparison to those we'll get in a few weeks. If that's the case, we're in for a treat. These are perfectly sweet and juicy.

Already, I am planning to make either a green garlic or a basil pesto, as well as stir-fried bok choy and maybe a cucumber salad. A book that I find incredibly helpful so far is Elizabeth Schnieder's Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini. If you love cooking with fresh and new produce (and are a bit of a foodie), I highly recommend it. More posts to come later in the week!