I’ve been all but smothered by tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, corn, and arugula. I love it.
Week 9 CSA goodies -
In the festival that was my birthday last week, I failed to post my CSA snags. Here they are, folks.
Week 10 CSA goodies -
Somewhere along the way I think I missed a week. My weekly newsletter says week 11. Hmm…
I’ve decided the only way I really eat all this food is if I prep it all for the week on Sunday night. So, what is NOT pictured here is a honking bunch of beets I prepped peeled-style (Tim’s idea) and froze. I also spent my much coveted $20 Stilly’s coupon on 4 quarts of blueberries. I cleaned them and froze them so in freeze that is a New England February, I can enjoy the joys of this summer.
I also got a little silly.
I also have had the pleasure of eating from the jungle garden. I have disregarded my poor 10’x20’ plot of weeds for quite a while now, and when I went up today to the community garden, it was disgraceful. I had waist-high weeds infringing on teeny peppers and rotted tomatoes. I have to admit, my lack of gardening has not been because of my dislike for it; rather, I’ve been trying to fit in training runs here and there for the half marathon I plan to run in two weeks, juggling 3 or so jobs plus a private practice client here and there, TRAVELING, and the like. By the end of the day, gardening is still on my list, but hard to do by the light of the moon.
I did, however, harvest enough tomatillos for some mean Salsa Verde. My first introduction to Salsa Verde was Trader Joe’s. I pretty much ate the entire jar myself (on more than one occasion). The stuff is delish. Here’s my version of Salsa Verde:
25-30 medium tomatillos, diced
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1/2 cup water
sea salt to taste
1 Tbsp fresh cilantro
1 tsp cayenne pepper (or jalapeno peppers, but I didn’t have any)
splash of lime juice
Heat 1/2 cup water in a large pot, and simmer tomatillos with onions and garlic until soft, or about 15 minutes. Put mixture into food processor and pulse until slightly chunky. Pour back into pot and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Add cilantro, salt, cayenne pepper, and lime juice. 
I plan on putting mine in ice cube trays to freeze, and then pop a few out when I want chips and salsa or huevos rancheros. So excited my first batch of salsa verde was a success!
CLEAN FOOD Giveaway
I was so very impressed with the responses to the CLEAN FOOD giveaway. If you haven’t done so already, check out what “clean food” means to A Fete For Food readers here.
And the randomly chosen winner of the CLEAN FOOD Giveaway is…
Response #3.
Clean food to me are non-processed, whole foods. Most of the good things found around the perimeter of the grocery store (better yet, the local organic farmers market) and not from a box.
Joanna, email me your contact info and mailing address at afeteforfood@gmail.com for the CLEAN FOOD Cookbook! And, if you twitter, thank @terrywalters for this great book that is furthering our mission as local food eaters and consumers!
What I’m reading…
On another note, I was sent a book/tribute from Jan Pogue (Twitter: @janpogue) of Vineyard Stories. It’s called Morning Glory Farm, and is a recollection of a family’s work to feed an island is a beautiful one. I have a full review of this book to come, but I’ll just tease you with some recipes perfect for New Englanders like me.
- Summer: Fresh tomato dill soup
- Fall: Sweet Life’s Hubbard Squash Soup with Shrimp Toast and Pumpkin Seed Oil
- Winter: Baked stuffed winter squash
- Spring: Curried Asparagus Soup
Looking forward to doing some “research” on these recipes!
Question of the day: If you have excess food, how do you deal with it? Freezing? Canning? Tossing?
I try to freeze as much as I can. I don't can or jar very much but I will depending on what it is (granola, pasta sauce) but I usually just throw things in the freezer in smaller servings, mark what it is and how many servings it is, and pop them in for a rainy (or snowy) day. The salsa verde looks awesome!
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