Freezing Frenzy

So, I am now working two jobs, editor by day and English instructor by night.

Which leaves few evenings home to cook. And I hate buying lunch, though I love going out to eat.

Anyway, I bravely ordered myself a CSA box from the South Central Farmers' Cooperative.

Which contained:

That would be: 4 zucchini, 2 yellow squash, some kind of round summer squash, a pint of cherry tomatoes, 3 other tomatoes, 4 green peppers, a million chili peppers (note: the yellow ones are hot as hell), 2 cucumbers, 1 bunch Tuscan kale, 1 bunch regular kale, Chinese long beans, 1 bunch basil, 1 bunch cilantro, a passel of okra, a watermelon. For $20. I know. Amazing.


Anyway, I picked this box up on Saturday. And on Sunday, for lunch, we had a salad with the cherry tomatoes and the cucumbers, and some spinach we already had.

And then I made:
Self's Vegetable Lasagna, sort of. I couldn't find whole wheat lasagna noodles so I used whole wheat orecchiette and made a casserole. It was delicious, and I used one of each squash, as well as two peppers and some basil. Bill, a squash hater, loved it. And I packed up the remainder into four for-a-later-date portions, two for the freezer, two for the fridge.
     And then, for lunches/freezing, 101 Cookbook's Buttermilk Summer Squash Soup. I unloaded one more of each squash, as well as a chili pepper. I ended up with seven servings (4 of which I froze, 3 in the fridge for lunch this week), one of which I ate today (delicious!), alongside another spinach/tomato/cucumber salad.
     And then, I made a loaf of zucchini bread. And that was the end of the squash. And thanks to Bill's hearty appetite, the bread has barely survived the first twenty-four hours.  
    And then tonight, I made a stirfry with a pork chop, some long beans, two green peppers, a chili pepper, cilantro, and some other stuff I already had (broccoli, carrots, garlic, ginger). One leftover serving, in the fridge for lunch tomorrow.
     And then! I made this Spicy Kale and Chickpea Stew from Gourmet. One serving in the fridge, five in the freezer (I halved it). Used up both kinds of kale and the remaining green peppers. And of course, I added a chili pepper.

That leaves me with some more cucumber, a million chili peppers (which I figure I'll be throwing into everything from here to eternity, including perhaps the freezer), a watermelon (which I'll cut up for my lunches this week), some cilantro and basil (I'm thinking a pesto, or maybe an herbaceous hummus), and some long beans I'll be eating later in the week. And OK, I unloaded the okra at work, because I'm afraid of its slime.

I have 11 meals in the freezer, and enough in the fridge to get Bill and I through the week! If everything coming out of the freezer tastes as good as it did when it went in, I'll be a happy, happy girl.

Salad week, day 6

Lunch today was a truly delicious steak & arugula salad from the dearly departed Gourmet via Epicurious. In an unusual spin, I followed the recipe exactly.

And it was quite tasty. Tangy from the reduced vinegars and the arugula.

Alas, that was my only salad today, because this evening we celebrated my friend Melanie's birthday with some Brazilian food and ice cream and beer.

Some links: what's in season

While I'm a regular at my local farmers market, I'm sometimes overwhelmed with doubt about what to buy. I want to buy what will taste the best, what's in season, what the best value is, but I often find myself buying the same easy-to-use staples: tomatoes, onions, lettuce, kale, carrots, herbs. These items are available basically year-round (tomatoes from only a couple hot-house growers in the winter), and while in the summer, I add more berries and stone fruits to my list, I don't vary as much as I probably should.

As I plan to basically subsist on fresh veggies for a week (not so dramatic of an undertaking, I know), I figure I should push myself to try new things, and I should probably let the seasons be my guide.

Granted, summer is the easiest season to be a farmers market devotee. Still, I will try harder. And I will let the following links be my guide.

For all y'all:
Epicurious's peak-season map.

For Los Angelenos:
The LA Times' Market Watch
The LA Weekly's SquidInk Blog's Farmers Market Section
Evan Kleiman (she of the delicious Angeli Caffe and KCRW's Good Food)

The Mediterranean Diet on Epicurious

Just today while researching what to do with some lemon cucumbers I acquired, I came across a post linking to a study about the effectiveness of the Mediterranean diet (which is what the Sonoma Diet is based on). Good news, the diet "improves functioning of the critical cells lining of our blood vessels." Works for me!

Epicurious also has a breakdown of the different major diet concepts, and a sample day on the Mediterranean diet. That's a wave one or two day, Sonoma Diet folks, but a mighty delicious-sounding day if I do say. Yum.