Farm Box: Week 5

This week's farm box contained:

3 lbs Satsuma Mandarins (Much better quality again than a couple weeks ago)
2 lbs Navel Oranges
1 bu Carrots
1 bu Collards
½ lb Romanesco
1 lb Broccoli
1 bu Scarlet Queen Turnips with greens (these are the small red ones that look like radishes)
3 lbs Assorted Roots (this included parsnips, rutabega, and large white turnips, all without greens)

The romanesco was gorgeous. It tastes like a cross between broccoli and cauliflower, and has this amazing fractal pattern. Like this:

It was a tough week for using up the produce for a few reasons. First, 5 lbs more freakin' oranges! I hadn't even finished last week's oranges! I love getting fruit in the box, but I kind of wish I was getting a mix of citrus or some apples too, instead of all oranges. Also, Josh was out of town for 3 days. And the weather was really warm, which made me not want roasted veggies -- not so great for a week when the box had a ton of root veg.

Wednesday: We had stir-fry, based on this recipe from the Pioneer Woman, using broccoli from the farm box, along with some carrots. The broccoli this week was absolutely delicious. Very fresh and so green tasting. Yum! I ate this stir-fry leftover for lunch the next day, too.

Thursday: I was feeling a little under the weather Thursday, so I made healthy comfort food -- greens and broth. I sauteed thin ribbons of collard and turnip greens, and then tossed in homemade veg broth, cooked white beans, some parm cheese rinds, garlic, and ginger. Let it all simmer for a while and then slurped it up. It was exactly what my body needed.

Friday and Saturday: I confess, I didn't touch stuff from the farm box either of these nights. Friday I was really craving this pasta, which I make with pork sausage rather than the spicy salami. So I made that for dinner Friday night, and ate it as leftovers for Saturday lunch and dinner, with salad on the side. Carbo loading before my big race on Sunday!

Sunday dinner: I ran a half marathon Sunday morning, so I was pretty freakin' exhausted by Sunday night. And since J. wasn't home from Aspen yet, I was on for my dinner. I had roasted romanesco from the box (tossed with olive oil, salt, sumac (which has a lemony flavor), and a touch of chili powder), a Trader Joe's chicken sausage and a salad. It was all I could manage.

Monday dinner: We did roasted lamb sausages with a root veggie gratin (potatoes from a couple weeks ago, turnips, rutabaga, parsnip, all sliced thin, parboiled, then combined with garlic, onions, milk, flour and cheese. Baked at 400 or so for 30 minutes. YUM! ) and also sauteed kale, since J. had it in the fridge already.

Tuesday dinner: Red curry noodles with broccoli and collards along with other veg I had around the house -- mushrooms, shallots, garlic.

This week, we still have a lot left over from the box, unfortunately:

-- Nearly all of the oranges from last week
-- about half of last week's root veggies
-- 1 or 2 scarlet queen turnips
-- nearly a full bunch of carrots
-- That cabbage from a couple weeks ago