Kitchen Baskets

I began collecting wire baskets.  Some of them I bought at places like the Dollar Store and Wal-mart for a few bucks.  Some of them I picked up at the local thrift store for even fewer bucks.  Some were the wrong color and I hit them with a little spray paint.  (Oil-rubbed bronze to be specific.  Click here  to find out how much fun I had with that stuff.)

Then I began hanging these wire baskets on the wall of my kitchen nearest my cook top.





Now I enjoy the convenience of having many of the things I most often use in my cooking -- onions, garlic, peppers, potatoes, lemons and limes -- easily within my reach.  It's simpler for me to keep track of what I've got and what I need to replenish.  The food items, which do not require refrigeration, benefit from a little air circulation.  It's easy to see and remove anything that starts to look a little mushy.  The baskets are hygienic and easy to keep clean...

Honestly, need there be any better reason for mounting a wall of wire baskets in the kitchen?  Oh, here's one:  they're cute, too!  




It's really easy to do this.  Take any basket you want to mount on the wall, place a piece of masking tape along the top, and mark where you want the hangers to affix.  





Place the masking tape on your wall and adjust as needed.  Measure to make sure the marks are centered or positioned as you want them... hold up the basket and see if you like the way it looks in that spot...  use a level to ensure straight placement...  Basically, you can play around with the masking tape without marring your walls or driving yourself crazy.

Once you have everything positioned exactly the way you want it, then it's time to break out the hammer and nails.  Or if you prefer, use cup hooks.  They screw easily into the wall, and they hold the baskets a bit more securely than nails.

And voila!  Pretty and practical.

Here.  Have another look:

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Mizuna, Pack Choy and Green Garlic

So... rather than post yet another laundry list of all the fruits and veggies I got in my CSA box, let's just get to the good stuff.  Lately I have received several items that drove me to the internet in a semi-panic because I JUST DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THEY WERE!  (But isn't that what makes this whole CSA adventure fun?  Trying new things?  Remember those sunchokes, for example?)

Ever heard of mizuna?  Green garlic?  Pack choy?  Not me.  But I got a bundle, a bunch and a head, respectively, in my Happy Box.  Aren't they pretty?

So, here is what I learned:

Sunchokes Three Ways

One of the fun things about participating in a CSA program is discovering things you never knew existed... in massive quantities!  For instance...

These babies are sunchokes.  Also known as Jerusalem artichokes, which is a curious name for them, as they are neither artichokes nor from Jerusalem.  In fact, they are the tubers from a type of sunflower, and they were first cultivated by native North Americans, long before Europeans arrived on the continent.  You are starting to like them already, aren't you?  Good!  But let's not stop there.  Here are more things to like about them:

• They contain a good amount of protein, no fat, and surprisingly little starch.
• They have a mildly sweet flavor from fructose, so they are a better choice for people with type 2 diabetes than grains or other starchy vegetables.
• They are a good source of many important nutrients, including potassium, iron, fiber, niacin, thiamine, phosphorus and copper.  Not to mention loads of fiber!
• They are a great plant to place in your garden:  easy to grow and super pretty!
• Finally...

Happy Box Week 2

Another week; another Happy Box!  Here are the organic goodies Fulton Farms sent me yesterday:

• more spinach (hooray!)
• a bag of Romaine lettuce
• a bag of carrots
• several potatoes
• several bananas
• two tomatoes
• two cucumbers
• a green pepper
• a mango
• a pile of monkey brains

Okay, they didn't really send me monkey brains, but they did (as they often do) send me stuff I've never seen before, don't know what it is, what it tastes like, how to cook it or how to eat it.  I LOVE THAT!  Seriously, I have discovered so many great things to eat through this program that I may never have tried on my own.

Anyway, the "monkey brains" are actually sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem artichokes.  They are not actually artichokes, but relatives of the sunflower family.  They were first cultivated by the native Americans, who called them "sun roots."  They are supposedly a great substitute for potatoes, with a similar taste and texture, but with far less starch/sugar.

Like potatoes, you say?  In that case I scrubbed them really well (since they also say not to peel them) and threw them in the crockpot with the brisket I made for dinner tonight.  They were good.  The best way to describe them would be, if a potato and a carrot got married, this would be their baby.  Okay, maybe that's not the best way to describe them, but it's one way.

Adding sunchokes to the list of things we like to eat...

Happy Box Week 1

And so it begins!  Yesterday I received my first weekly CSA “happy box” delivery from Fulton Farms.

Here is what my first box contained:

• 1 big bag of spinach
• 3 Roma tomatoes
• 1 head of lettuce
• 1 head of red cabbage
• 3 stalks of broccoli
• 2 green peppers
• 3 red apples
• 3 green bananas
• 2 oranges
• 1 mango
• 1 lb. of strawberries

Later in the season my deliveries will consist of 100% locally-grown organic produce, but right now in the Ohio Miami Valley, the only things growing are a few really hardy cold-season crops like spinach.  So my first few boxes will also contain organic produce from a trusted wholesaler.  (I would have been okay with an entire box full of spinach, but it’s cool.) 

My mission this year is to utilize every bit of produce that I receive in my CSA deliveries all season long.  I hate to admit that this was not the case last year, which was my first year with the program, but you live, you learn. 

So last night I made broccoli salad to serve with skillet pork cutlets and balsamic tomatoes...

• I blanched the 3 stalks of broccoli, boiling them until they were bright green and still somewhat crispy.  Then I plunged them in cold water to stop the cooking and retain the beautiful color and texture.  Then I chopped the broccoli into bite-sized pieces and threw them in a bowl.
• I added 3 slices of chopped, crispy bacon.  (Tip:  I use kitchen shears to snip bacon into small, evenly-sized pieces.)  I also added ½ cup of golden raisins and ¼ cup of roasted, unsalted sunflower seeds.
• I mixed up a sauce using 1 cup of homemade mayo, 2 tablespoons of citrus vinegar and 1 tablespoon of agave nectar.  (You can also use honey.)  Then I just tossed it all together. 

It was delicious.  I hope I get more broccoli in my happy box next week.  

As for the rest of the meal, I simply rubbed thick slices of pork tenderloin with my favorite all-purpose dry meat rub and browned them in a skillet.  In another skillet, I sautéed a large onion until soft, then added a 10 ounce package of grape tomatoes and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and cooked on medium-high heat until the tomatoes burst and it all got a bit caramelized.  Yum!

I'd say things are off to a great start.

Fresh, Organic, Seasonal, Local.... This is why I started this blog!!!

Last year I participated in a community-supported agriculture program, aptly called "The Happy Box."  Throughout the growing season, I received weekly deliveries, straight to my door, of produce raised organically and fresh-picked by a local farmer.  And let me tell you, people:  there ain't nothing better than that!

"My farmer" is Milan Pajev, a Bulgarian horticulturist who first came to this country in 1998 through an international fellowship program at The Ohio State University College of Food, Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.  A few years later he was joined by his wife Tanya, and together they pursued their dream of building an organic agriculture program in Ohio's Miami Valley. Starting with only 6 customers, the Happy Box program of Fulton Farms began!

From the first week of March until mid-December, participants receive a weekly delivery of, well, whatever is ripe and ready!  Beautiful, fresh herbs, greens, fruits and vegetables, lovingly and locally grown.

Heck, yeah I'm signed up for the 2014 growing season, beginning the first week of March.  Every week I plan to share the contents of my box and what I do with it!  My goal this year is to cook, preserve or utilize every item with no waste.  (I admit, I lost a lot of my produce last year due to unfamiliarity: some things I didn't know what to do with; sometimes I didn't know what the dang thing was!)

Get ready for some good cooking!