Our First Month of CSA Boxes And What I Did With ALL those Fresh Vegetables

 We tried something new this summer, a Community Supported Agriculture program (called CSA) through one of our local farms. We pay up front and then get 17 boxes of fresh produce throughout the summer and into fall. 

Box 1: Along with some butter lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes, and peas we also got some garlic scapes and a lovely hanging basket of flowers. 

I used the veggies to make a salad and tried to use the garlic scapes to make pesto but the entire family thought the pesto was much too garlicy for us. 

Box 2: Lots of cucumbers both large and small and same with tomatoes. There was another head of lettuce and some squash and zucchini too. 

our boxes-- I return it each week and pick up the next one that's all ready to go

I used the lettuce, mini tomatoes and small cukes in our salad. I made some sauteed squash and zucchini as a side dish. We used the big tomatoes and cukes for BLT sandwiches and side dishes.

I would often slice a cucumber (or 1/2 of one) with a large tomato and an apple or peach and dunked the veggies in plain hummus for lunch.

Box 3: Even more cucumbers and tomatoes, some red lettuce this week, lots of zucchini and yellow squash and some golden beets. 

I peeled and sliced the yellow beets and mixed them with the zucchini and squash and some onion, red pepper, and mushrooms I had on hand to serve with our pasta and sauce (and then I ate leftover veggies with my eggs for breakfast). I used the red lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes in our salad. 

We had so much squash and zucchini that I made 2 small 8x8 dishes of my favorite squash casserole. 

Box 4: We had a huge bunch of kale, fresh basil, more zucchini, cucumbers, and tomatoes and green beans. We also got a couple of spring onions with greens attached. 

I wash, chopped, and froze the kale to use in soups and stews in the winter (we are not fans of  raw kale). We used the cucumbers and tomatoes for lunches and on sandwiches and had the green beans as a side dish with our steak dinner one night. I made pesto with the basil.

I froze some shredded zucchini for zucchini bread and had lots of fun with onion greens adding them into everything. We used the actual onion bulbs in our chicken fajitas and our kabobs one week. 

One day I mixed the onion greens into cream cheese, spread it on bread and filled my sandwich with lettuce, tomato, and cucumber. It was delicious!

I made zucchini fries to go with my sandwich one night; I just cut a zucchini into triangle shaped wedges tossed them together with some homemade breadcrumbs and popped them in the air fryer on air fry for 10 minutes; switching the racks 1/2 way through.

Box #5: Had cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, red lettuce, onions with the greens again, potatoes, & a clove of garlic.

I used the garlic, onion greens and potatoes all roasted together at 450 for 45 minutes as a side dish to go with our chicken. 

I used the tomatoes and some pesto to make this delicious chicken dish-- baked in the oven and topped with cheese.

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