Farm Share, week 1

I've got to say, I was SO excited this week to pick up our farm share. I may or may not have taken off work 30 minutes early to make sure I was there RIGHT AT 4. I'll never tell.... 

This is a photo of our weekly share. As you can see it's mostly the typical summer vegetables. Tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, etc. The purple squiggly things are Japanese Eggplant. The things in bags are green beans and new potatoes, and onions. The large green thing in the back on the right is a zucchini! I didn't know they came that huge, I'm used to the tiny things in the store!

This week I really wanted to concentrate on making recipes that really let the flavor of the produce come through. Because that's one of the main reasons we're doing a share, right? To get the kind of produce we grew up eating. So here's what we did!

Can I also mention how hard it was on Thursday not to just slice up those wonderful tomatoes and eat them for my lunch? Torture, I tell you. 

Tuesday: I sauted the squash very simply as a side dish. Just squash, a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. 

Wednesday: Is it bad that I don't remember what I made? I remember the main dish but nothing else. Sad.

Thursday: Oh, man. Thursday was the creme de la creme of amazingly tasty produce night. I found a recipe for a roasted eggplant caprese salad (you know, the classic tomato, mozzarella, and basil salad). I sliced and roasted the Japanese Eggplant, sliced the tomatoes, and splurged at the grocery store for the mozzarella in a ball that they make at the store in the cheese department. Salt, pepper, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. 

Friday: I again sauted the squash the same way I did on Tuesday. S, while normally willing to eat anything and everything HATES yellow squash. While he did not become an instant convert, I can report he happily ate his portion. I also sliced up the cucumber and put a little sweet n sour sauce on top. Not so much a big hit. I'll have to research better things to do with this veggie. 

Sunday: I roasted the bell pepper and zucchini and put it on some homemade pizzas. A big hit with the kids and with H. He took what veggies didn't make it onto the pizza and dried them for his hot sauce project. 

Monday: I roasted the green beans after tossing them with some balsamic vinegar and mushrooms. While this used to be one of our go-to veggie sides, it was not as well received as it had been in the past. Hmm.

Tuesday: I roasted some potatoes (red, white, and blue (purple)) with rosemary and thyme and then poured some balsamic on them at the last minute. Which was amazing.

That used up most of our share, except for a few onions we have left over. Good thing those keep for a while, huh? I'm looking forward to share with you what we did with week 2 of our share!