New Veggie-Only Box

I was starting to feel overwhelmed with getting a new produce box each week, so I switched us to a slightly larger box with delivery every two weeks.  I also switched from the mixed fruit and veggie box to one with all vegetables.  Right now there isn't much fruit in season and we were getting overwhelmed with apples and pears that frankly weren't that great.

Since Rob doesn't like pears I realized the fruit was mostly what made me feel overwhelmed.  Every week felt like "Oh no, more pears?  We still have all the ones from last week!"  Also, I don't feel like I need help buying apples, pears and oranges at the regular grocery store while I do need help buying vegetables. It seemed like it made more sense to stop the fruit delivery for now, at least until it gets closer to summer.  We'll probably switch back so we can get all the berries, cherries, peaches, and other great summer fruit that the Northwest has to offer!

In the meantime, here is the delivery we received this week:

Kale - 1 bag of mixed kale pieces (different varieties!)
Mushrooms - 6 oz
Lettuce - 1 head of what looks like green leaf lettuce
Cilantro - 1 bunch
Broccoli - 1 bunch (2 smallish heads bundled together)
Green Bell Peppers - 2
Avocados - 2
Bok Choy - 2 small heads
Leeks - 2 small leeks
Green Onions - 7
Green Cabbage - 1 head
Yellow Onion - 1
Garlic - 1 head
Rutabaga (or Turnips?) - 3
Potatoes - 11 small
Rainbow Carrots - 6 medium sized

These are listed roughly in order of how long I think they'll stay good in the fridge.  I always try to use the most delicate items first (like kale and lettuce) and figure the hardier items will last at least two weeks (like the potatoes and carrots).  In fact, we still have a few potatoes left from the previous delivery…I'm debating on whether they're still good.

Here's how we are going to use the produce:

Steamed kale with Roasted Chicken

Pasta with Prosciutto and Lettuce - Recipe by Mark Bittman.  I substituted frozen asparagus for the frozen peas.  Next time I would let the frozen asparagus cook for a few minutes before I add the lettuce to give it some time to thaw.  We had it last night and it was fantastic!

Mushroom, Leek, Chicken Sausage and Tortellini Soup - Recipe by Jane Lightle.  We made this a few months ago, the last time we got mushrooms in our produce box and I'm looking forward to making it again tonight!

Kale Salad with leftover Roasted Chicken and maybe the potatoes from several weeks ago.  This will use up the rest of the kale.

Cilantro Chicken with white rice - Recipe by Lori Lange.  This will use up half the cilantro.  I'm probably going to make the marinade and then freeze it for later this week.  I'm just concerned the cilantro will go bad before we make this recipe.

I'll probably also freeze the rest of the cilantro using this method:  Salsa Hack (Freezing Herbs).  I've been wanting to give this a try.

Other recipes we might use:

Crunchy Bok Choy Slaw from the Eating Well website.  I'd like to try this but we might also make Brothy Chinese Noodles again (also from Eating Well).  Or I may make the noodle dish using the green cabbage.

I want to do something Mexican with the bell peppers, avocados, and cilantro, but we won't have time until next week.  I cut the bell peppers into small pieces and froze them last night because I'm getting nervous they will start to go bad.  I'm still waiting for the avocados to get ripe.

The last thing we'll probably do is use the potatoes, rutabaga, and carrots in this stew recipe:
Slow Cooker Beef Stew.  We've made this before once with turnips and another time with parsnips.

I just need to figure out something to do with the green cabbage.  We made cole slaw last time but I'm not sure I want to do that again so soon.  The onions, garlic, and carrots go with several of the recipes so we're sure to use those up without much trouble.