CSA Sharin'

I've never signed up for a CSA share, mainly because I fear receiving a mystery box of produce each week would take away my freedom of choice at the farmers market. I like choosing which fruits and veggies to buy rather than having them picked out for me.

That being said, for a couple of weeks this month, I'm sharing a friend/co-worker's CSA share while she's in Germany. I picked up my first bag of produce from Downing Hollow Farm last Wednesday. Inside the bright green reusable tote were potatoes, shitake mushrooms, slicer tomatoes, multicolored heirloom cherry tomatoes, green beans, Swiss chard, basil, mint, and dill. Maybe this CSA business is alright!

On Friday night, I used some of the cute little tomatoes for this Swiss Chard and Rainbow Tomato Whole Wheat Pasta Toss:

This is one of my favorite quick summer meals — whole wheat spaghetti tossed with steamed chard, raw heirloom cherry tomatoes, roasted garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and cracked pepper.

Tonight I used the shitake mushrooms in this Tom Yum Soup:

The soup base is from a jar of veggie tom yum paste I picked up at an Asian market. Other ingredients included fried tofu, dried lemongrass, shitake mushrooms, bok choy, carrots, and rice noodles. Yum yum!

On the side, I had a Whole Wheat Steamed Bun:

I was so excited when I found whole wheat steamed buns at the Asian market by my house. I love these things, but so often, they're made from nasty old white flour. This wheat roll tasted so much better, and it was much healthier.