Pepper City, CSA

This week’s WIAW post was a little bit mellow since I showcased only one day in the life of my food, and a mundane one at that.

Today’s is going to be more stimulating since I’m sharing my most recent CSA pickup, plus what I’ve been doing with all my goodies this past week. Since mine isn’t the only box in town (say it ain’t so), make sure to stop by In Her Chucks to see what everybody else is taking home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our sixteenth week netted us beefsteak tomatoes, red and golden onions, summer squash, Romaine lettuce, kale, a green and red bell pepper, red Carmen peppers (who is this Carmen; I must meet her), apples, and some more damned green beans. Evil, evil creatures. Last week, I prayed to the CSA gods to avoid green beans at all costs. They didn’t listen and now they are sitting in my fridge, taunting me every time I open the door. So I buried them in the back of the crisper for the time being; that’ll show ’em.

I also mentioned last week, we were drowning in peppers, so I decided to spend the past week on the pepper train. You should try it sometime; it’s a tasty ride. In the meantime, I’ll take you for a quick spin.

Our tour begins at my kitchen table on Saturday night. While I’m not literally “drowning” in peppers, this is still a helluva lot of peppers for one household with just two humans.

We’ve got bell peppers, yummy peppers, Carmen peppers, jalapeno peppers, Hungarian sweet peppers, Hungarian hot peppers (do I sound like Bubba yet?), basically a boatload of peppers. Not one to back off a challenge, I got right to work.

The first thing I did was stuff ’em, so I could show them who’s boss. Better recognize! http://www.bbqu.net/recipes/310_2.html.

Then I decided to stir fry them along with some onions and toss the whole mix on a bed of eggs. I also added them to Monday night’s dinner of…red beans and rice (didn’t miss her, some knucklehead tried to dis, ’cause his girls are on my list) Sorry, squirrel moment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back on the train to celebrate the real coup, which came in the form of Sunday night’s chili. I used half the onions, broke into the tomatoes, and a ridiculously crazy amount of peppers (Take that Carmen!), and apparently I channeled Rainbow Brite. If you don’t remember Ms. Brite, you have not lived and are way too young because I am certainly not too old, and I don’t have an age complex either….ok, maybe just a small one.

After all my pepper craziness, I’m no longer drowning, but I’ve still got a handful of Hungarians and Carmens (damn you, Carmen!) remaining. I’m going to try to tap that, or dice that, or chop that, but ultimately eat that, this weekend.

Surprisingly enough, I have actually eaten things without peppers this week (although not much), and tapped into some of my other CSA morsels. I minced my tomatoes and added them to some pasta smothered in garlic and olive oil, along with Kalmata olives, feta cheese and parsley. No matter how many times I eat this dish, it doesn’t get old. The flavors are so robust and in your face, it’ll make you beg for more. No seriously, I didn’t make enough and was still hungry afterwards.

The apples got eaten as is, except for the few that made their way into a ginormous batch of Apple Pie Granola,which I munched on all week long at work. Oddly enough, I didn’t make any other snacks last weekend (turns out I spent my time battling peppers and eating truffles) so the granola was my go-to snackage when I got hungry (it’s a hard-knock life).

Last, but certainly not least, I have been drinking my Kale like a good juicer should. Will someone please tell me how it’s possible that something which looks this bad can actually taste good? I’m drinking camouflage colored liquid, and I like it. My god, what has happened to me? I think I’ve lost my ever-loving mind. Guess I’ll just have to drown my sorrows with some more green stuff.

Tell me what have you been doing with your lovely produce? Have you ever had a green smoothie, and do you want my green beans? I’m not kidding; I will give you my green beans.