CSA pickup

Here's our latest CSA basket from Sugarfoot Organic Farms. This week, our small fruit share was more delicious muscadine grapes. Our large vegetable share included tomatillos, jalapenos, cucumbers, purple potatoes, eggplant, sweet bell peppers, squash, zucchini, and green beans. I was glad to see sweet peppers today; they were super crisp and delicious! Our shares come out $41.95 per week. I think that's a great deal for super-fresh organic produce! Here are a few plans of mine for preparing these items this week:

Muscadine grapes: Eat raw, the whole thing. Most of the antioxidants are in the skins and seeds.
Tomatillos: (already gone) Keith charred most of them, chopped and blended, and cooked them down along with 2 lbs of beef for a refreshing beef stew dinner. The rest were blended and added to some store-bought salsa for yesterday's taco salads.
Jalapenos: These have been placed in the fridge, along with banana peppers from previous baskets, in vinegar. They are hot! If anyone has ideas for them, please let me know!
Cucumbers: (already gone) I sliced and refrigerated for easy snacks and salads.
Purple Potatoes: I usually spread these throughout the week, probably two batches of homemade potato chips and a batch of hash browns. These don't seem to bother any of us (starch-wise) when we eat with plenty of fat.
Eggplant: I'll probably spread these into 2-3 different meals as well: either grilled/baked/sauteed with coconut oil, an Italian-style meal like lasagna or spaghetti, or peeled and sliced for mini pizzas.
Bell Peppers: (gone) I chopped the green pepper into quarters and topped with chicken salad for an easy lunch. The girls loved their "boats". The yellow was chopped and added to salad.
Squash: I love these roasted and have been adding them to our breakfasts and/or lunches: cut off ends, slice lengthwise, brush with melted coconut oil, pepper, bake 450° for 20 minutes, flipping halfway through, and salted afterwards. We all seem to enjoy these more as larger cuts, maybe because each side gets nice and brown. The coconut oil gives them a buttery taste, yum!
Zucchini: I'll probably roast this with the squash, unless Keith eats it raw first.
Green Beans: We enjoy these two ways: raw and baked. I went ahead and washed and snapped the ends on the first day, storing them in a ziploc bag with paper towel and in the fridge. We alternate between the raw and roasted, whatever we have time for or are in the mood for. I roast these pretty much the same way: brushed with coconut oil, s&p, 450° but for only 15 minutes, tossing every 5 minutes til done. I've also been adding these to our breakfasts.

I am finding more and more that I enjoy vegetables added to my first meal of the day. The girls and I are satisfied for longer and do less snacking throughout the day. This is one of my breakfasts from last week. It includes my usual bacon and eggs, but on this morning I added leftover grilled eggplant and leftover steamed okra and tomatoes on top, side of avocado. It was quite wonderful! So each day I've been adding some type of vegetables in the a.m., whether it's roasted squash or green beans, raw green beans, or leftover veggies from the night before. I feel better knowing the girls and I are getting more vegetables in our day.