Hmm... it appears I haven't updated in a while. Maybe the blog has been a little ambitious of me seeing as I do have a lot on my place. But, let today be somewhat of a renewal. Here's whats happening in my mystery box today:

I stopped by my local CSA and they have a new box design!
This week's contents are a bit of a renewal and the return of some staples.

- Kale
- Grapefruit x2
- Strawberries
- Broccoli
- Spinach
- Cauliflower
- Maui Onion


A bouquet of kelp

Caulifower, Spinach, Broccoli

Big mamma jamma

Sometimes a cigar is only a cigar

First box of strawberries from Tanaka =D

I'm going to consider what I can make with these foods but with the kale, I think i'm going to try to make kale chips.

Two days ago

Two days ago I made a Broccoli and Potato soup for dinner as well as a stir-fry of that crazy fractal broccoli.

The Broccoli and Potato soup I've made before. What you do is you cut up the potatoes into smaller cube and boil them. While you're doing that, you but up the broccoli and drizzle with olive oil and salt/pepper and put it in the oven on a baking pan. Letting it roast in the oven for 10 minutes gives it this nice (not sure if i'm describing it right) smokey taste.

I ended up cutting the stems and tossing the bushy part of it into the blender (saving some as a garnish). I figured it would be best to have some kind of flavored stock, but I didn't have any veggie stock so I ended up tossing the broccoli stems and the cut up romanesco broccoli into a pot with water and boiled for 5 minutes. I then used that water (just a bit), put it into the blender, and tossed the potatoes in there. Once its blended, you'll get this thick creamy pesto looking mixture and I just toss it back into the pot that i'm boiling potatoes in. Toss in some chopped garlic, the rest of the broccoli tops (i like the chunkiness of it), and add salt/pepper to taste. Delicioso! I liked it with bread and I just put on on top of some english muffins I had =3.


Adding a little grated parmesean is good too.

I hate leaving food to waste or throwing away stuff so I try to use all parts of what I have. I was going to stir fry the romanesco but decided to chop up the broccoli stems and toss them in there too. Just some olive oil in a pan and toss in chopped garlic (Garlic... *drool*) and toss the veggies in. Salt and pepper to taste, but I also toss in the Maggie Sauce. If you've never had it before, you now know what is missing in your life.



All in all, this meal was quite tasty. I still have the soup as leftover =D.

Extra dollars for this dish: $1.99 for the bag of potatoes.

Now to figure out what to do with the celery, carrots, and lettuce.

Lunch and Dinner

I tried my best to figure out what to eat for lunch today. I remembered that I had left over frozen shrimp from having hot pot for Chinese New Year. But that by itself wasn't enough. I made some rice as well, and I really wanted to use a veggie from the box and figured I can use the lettuce as wraps. Here's what it looked like:


I pulled out some leaves and washed them. Rice was made in a rice pot and I cooked the shrimp on the pan with some minced garlic. Mmmmmm, garlic



The wrap. I didn't put any hot sauce because I just wanted to taste how they were naturally, but I think it would complement the wrap.

Tonight's dinner involved some leftover rice, chicken I bought at the store, and an awesome recipe for Swiss chard I found online. I came out really well though I should watch how much salt I put on.


The recipe was simple. The only ingredients you need are the Swiss chard, some salt, pepper, Parmesan, and a tablespoon of cream. The only thing I needed to get from the store was the cream as I stole the Parmesan from my housemate =D.

All it took was a series of visits in the oven and I ended up with some delicious veggies. It tasted savory and buttery, but didn't ask for much which is awesome.

Extra dollars for this dish: $1.99 for the cream.

I wonder what I'll make tomorrow =D

Breakfast blend

Last night I just wanted a smoothie for some odd reason and couldn't let the idea go so this morning I picked a lemon from the backyard (oh wonderful SoCal backyards) and got an orange and an apple. I figured that it might be too tart tasting with the ingredients I already had so I also cut up two stalks of celery. The lemons I squeezed before I tossed them in and added just a bit of water. Here's the result:





It is still a bit tart but it is still good. Maybe a little too sweet too... hmmm. I figure there are a few solutions for next time. I should either add more water to it or add some milk. I would also try yogurt or more celery, but I think the texture with the last two ingredients would make the smoothie much thicker (That's the ex-Jamba Juice employee talking in me).

Produce used:
- Apple
- Orange
- Celery
- (Lemon)

Others:
- Blender
- Water

Extra dollars for this meal: $0.

Support your local farm!

CSA Roundup (2nd box)

This is my second time getting the box as the first time I just wanted to see if this CSA thing was worth it. I am sticking with it for now and already there are some interesting things I've never tried like Swiss Chard. Here's what I got this week in picture form:


The box! Thanks Farmer Tanaka.

Apples and oranges =D

Carrots! Organic carrots are smaller, but no less tasty.

Swiss Chard.

Lettuce XD. Delicious leafy greens

Broccoli. Last time I made a soup with it. Awesome.

New this time, celery =)

And finally, a romanesco broccoli! It's a natural fractal! So rad.

Suffice to say I am fairly excited about this week's coming meals. The apples are always delicious and crisp but the oranges need a little more sitting time. If you read this, give me ideas as to what I should make. I'll be looking up recipes for sure and post if I make something yummy (If I remember).

Support your local farms!

CSA Intro

So i've been interested in this thing called CSA ever since my friend (A.) told me about it. CSA stand for Community Supported Agriculture and its purpose is to keep local farms sustainable, available, and running. How they do this successfully (from what I can tell) is through produce boxes that they sell (though their hard work, diligence, passion, and response to the community that is interested is a major part as well.

These boxes contain produce from the local farm/farms and are at time a mixed bag of different veggies and fruits. You pay a certain amount and get their (organic) produce. The local farm from where I started to get my produce boxes is Tanaka Farms.

Why I am fascinated with this concept of the produce box is that I am paying money to not only get fresh organic produce, but I am also supporting a local farm that seems to really care about their quality as well as their community. It also helps that the city and residence have clout. The only possible risk is that if the farm isn't doing well, it is reflected in the produce you get. But I see this as being able to understand the difficulty of what it must be like to farm and depend on hard work, but also the luck of nature.

I am currently getting a small box (It's actually a good amount of stuff) for about $20 bucks once every two weeks. The reason I started this blog was more about the mystery of what produce I will get to eat and make things with. I am always looking for a way to make my meals cheap and tasty (healthy is a bonus) so I will post not only about the things I get, but what I make with them. With that, i'll make my first post!