Veggie-Palooza

In this post, I shared my intentions toward a fun-filled trip to our new local food co op. In short, it rocked. See my loot? $15 for the whole she-bang, and supports small farms. Yay.

Spinach, little gold potatoes, green beans, acorn squash, turnips,
tomatoes, summer squash, bananas, oranges, apples, pineapple,
and mangoes, 

 The Baboos (and a spare we picked up from the neighborhood) were thrilled with the loot, although the two shorties arrested me in the driveway when I arrived during a rousing game of cops. I cut the pineapple they were eating wearing actual handcuffs, until we could track down Special Agent to set me free. Frown. 


You can see how upset the kids are at my being detained. 

I thought cops were supposed to eat doughnuts.

I am proud to announce I have toiled to prepare and eat ALL of the fruits and veggies in the co op baskets, much to the chagrin of the fam. The only items we didn't eat were the mangoes, which were a little weird and squishy once the pretend cops ate all of the pineapple I intended to use to make a pineapple-mango salsa. They were trashed after they got soft and brown spotted. The summer squash and baby potatoes are still on deck.   

I made the Acorn Squash using this Recipe from The Pioneer Woman. It was met with mixed reviews. While the flavor was pretty good, there was a consistency to the squash that was stringy and weird. 

The turnips were last night and were interesting enough. I heard from a friend that they were good sliced thin and baked with olive oil, salt and pepper. The friend was right. If you squinted, they were almost like fried 'taters. 

I have thrown the spinach bunches in with potatoes and the turnips. Spinach disguised as turnip greens. It was good wilted in everything.

I also bought five loaves of 9-grain bread for an extra $10. Great toasted w PB. Served with the bananas whose peels never quite turned yellow, but were very fresh and good on the inside. 

The tomatoes went into some guacamole, and a sammie to two. They are a little gourd-y, so I say "small farms-small farms small farms" when i eat them to remind me. 

A little balsamic vinegar can cure anything.

If you are interested in a food co op in your area, check out www.bountifulbaskets.org. Say The Onion sent you. :-)

Farm fresh, that's me. 

Or just fresh.