CSA Standard Share Week 13: End of Summer

With the cool, rainy weather today and the summer cold I am battling, it really does feel like the end of the summer. Luckily the CSA box still has some summer goodies for us this week.

Potatoes
Tomatoes
Green beans
Garlic
Onions
Sweet Corn
Peppers
Cucumbers
Zucchini

Potatoes- With the cool weather today and this cold, I am feeling like something hot. Mashed potatoes may be just the trick! To make easy mashed potatoes: cut them into similar sized pieces, boil and mash with a flavored butter or roasted garlic. You won’t even miss the milk.

Tomatoes- Between the tomatoes from the CSA, from our garden and from our neighbor’s garden, I am feeling happily overwhelmed with tomatoes. Manatee is voting for a homemade tomato sauce and I am pulling for a tomato flatbread. I think we will have enough for those two dishes plus stuffed tomatoes and easy peasy caprese salad.

Green beans– I love steamed green beans. I am going to do a shameless plug for one of my favorite kitchen gadgets. It’s a Pampered Chef microwave steamer. Throw fresh vegetables in it with a few tablespoons of water and in 2-4 minutes, you have steamed vegetables. Steamed vegetables doesn’t take a lot of time but it takes even less with this. I am embarrassed at how often I use it. It’s been a godsend for the CSA.

Sweet Corn– After discovering the joys of grilled corn last week, I was super excited to see corn in our CSA again.

Cucumber– I have been loving fresh cucumber slices with ranch dip. Gina at Skinny Taste just did a recipe on low fat buttermilk ranch dressing and I am excited to try it.

Zucchini– I haven’t decided yet if we are going to make grilled zucchini boats again or if I will make a clean baking style zucchini bread. Since the zucchini is the size of my thigh, I may be able to do both.

Peppers– With the all the tomatoes, I suspect that there may be salsa in our future.

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Have a happy Labor Day weekend everyone!