Make a backup

One thing I have learned is that if you are trying something crazy, like making spaghetti with apples in it, for instance, it is good to also prepare a backup. That way you aren't left starving if your experiment goes horribly wrong. A backup we like is artichokes. The CSA keeps giving us really tiny ones, so we saved them up until we had a lot. I think maybe 20-25, although I didn't count. I popped them all in a big pot and boiled them up. I like to make a mayonnaise based sauce to dip them in, that always includes lemon and garlic, and then also has whatever is on hand thrown in. In this case, scallions and rosemary. We each ended up eating at least 10 of the little guys! Yum!

How to know if it is monday around here

We belong to a CSA from a farm called Grant Family Farm. Monday is our veggie pick up day. This means we have a goal to try and get through everything from one week before the next monday rolls around. On monday nights, we usually cook a bunch of vegetarian things, mostly to try and use a bunch of our haul while it is the freshest.

Last night we made this:

To start with, there are candied carrots that I made using brown sugar and water. Next is eggplant, which we sliced and then grilled. We made a chinese type of sauce that we got off of a copycat recipe for something at P.F. Chang's. It is good sauce. I liked the eggplant this way. Well I should clarify, that I like the japanese eggplant this way. Regular old fat eggplant isn't something that either K or I can seem to enjoy, no matter how we make it. Lastly, I made sauteed and then broiled some potato slices with onion, and eventually added a bunch of spinach, which I wilted. All I added to it was some olive oil, salt, and pepper. I somewhat mashed the potatoes when they were cooked, and it turned out really well. This would be a delicious thing ti add eggs to for a breakfast.

Everything we cooked here, including the salads we had on the side, came in this weeks CSA box. And there is still a lot more things! We are in the summer bounty, for sure.