Last summer we participated in our first CSA share and loved the variety of vegetables we received each week. Over the winter we learned it was the last year for that farm but found a new share that included 8 weeks of a winter share of winter storage, hot house and pantry goods so we got signed up right away.
We had almost no issue using up the veggie share last summer but I felt like we got into a rut of using vegetables the same way week in and week out so I wanted to find some new ideas for variety this winter. I was especially anticipating quite a large amount of beets and potatoes and while we love some goat cheese and beet salad I didn't want it every week for 8 weeks.
The idea of searching the internet for beet recipes each week was not all that appealing so instead I used inspiration from Mark Bittman's Kitchen Matrix and Michael Ruhlman's Roast, Braise and Saute´ books to focus on methods for cooking instead. Being the nerd and lover of diagrams that I am then made a flowchart to guide me through making a plan and using up the CSA every week.
The week one share was 1 Spaghetti Squash, 1 head of Cabbage, 1 lb of beets, 1 lb of Yukon Gold potatoes, 1 head of lettuce, .5 lb Carrots and 1oz dried mushrooms.
So let's see if this thing works:
We had almost no issue using up the veggie share last summer but I felt like we got into a rut of using vegetables the same way week in and week out so I wanted to find some new ideas for variety this winter. I was especially anticipating quite a large amount of beets and potatoes and while we love some goat cheese and beet salad I didn't want it every week for 8 weeks.
The idea of searching the internet for beet recipes each week was not all that appealing so instead I used inspiration from Mark Bittman's Kitchen Matrix and Michael Ruhlman's Roast, Braise and Saute´ books to focus on methods for cooking instead. Being the nerd and lover of diagrams that I am then made a flowchart to guide me through making a plan and using up the CSA every week.
The week one share was 1 Spaghetti Squash, 1 head of Cabbage, 1 lb of beets, 1 lb of Yukon Gold potatoes, 1 head of lettuce, .5 lb Carrots and 1oz dried mushrooms.
So let's see if this thing works:
- 1 head of lettuce - this fits into the stuff that needs dealt with early so we washed and spun the lettuce that night and included it in a salad so used it raw.
- Spaghetti Squash - Roasting this would work fine but the instant pot is the best way i've found to deal with Spaghetti Squash and it was used as a pasta sub with some pork ragu.
- Cabbage - It was a pretty large head so we ended up using this two ways. Half of it went along with some of the carrots into a slaw. The other half made its way into soup later in the week.
- Beets - These got Roasted whole, peeled and cut up for later use. Half went into salads during the week and the other half were gently warmed, tossed with EVOO and Balsamic vinegar and goat cheese later in the week.
- Potatoes - These made their way into the soup along with the half a head of cabbage and the last bits of New Years Day Ham.
- Carrots - These were combined with the Week 2 share of carrots, roasted whole and served with some ricotta and celery salt for a play on Carrots, Celery and ranch dip.
- Mushrooms - These don't really fit into the flowchart but so far I have ground up a few to make a mushroom butter and rehydrated and chopped some up in a tomato sauce to add some depth.
Nothing ground breaking in that list but some fun ways of using the produce that wasn't just salads over and over. My hope is to avoid beet and goat cheese salad for the next 6 weeks with the remaining beets and instead try sliced raw, saute´d, braised and pickled.
If you have ideas for the flow chart or find it useful let me know!
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