What I did with this week's CSA goodies

Man, today was a busy day. I would have been better if I woke up at a reasonable hour, but apparently my body told me to sleep until noon. So this afternoon has been marathon! It didn't start off well when I injured myself twice using the slicer for the beets. I never thought I would need a mandolin. I guess I just need one of everything!

Before I picked this weekend's recipes, I had some CSA veggies to get rid of. Specifically, butternut squash and beets. Everything else, carrots, onion, potatoes, spinach and mushrooms, could be eaten by themselves or simply cooked. I found a cool web site called supercook.com or something like that, where you plug in the ingredients you have and it scours the web for recipes out there using what you have. I found a nice butternut-carrot soup and also a suggestion to make beet chips (like potato chips) on the site. So here is what what cooked this Sunday:

Carrot-And-Butternut Squash Soup

This recipe asked that you shred the carrots and squash. I'm not sure how many of you out there tackle butternut squash, but the last time I did, I cursed it to hell. It's really tough and you need a really good knife, a large cutting board, and good upper body strength. Shredding is a much different animal. It also takes a LOT of time.


Look at that! On the right is what is left of an entire butternut squash. The soup is awesome. Basically onion, garlic, carrot, and butternut squash with some chicken broth, cooked and then blended. You add milk, orange zest, salt and pepper, and it's really good!


While I work on this soup, I also tried a new minestrone that used quinoa. I had never used this grain before, but it's supposed to have all the very yummy good for you fatty acids, so I gave it a try. Here's the result:


So those two recipes used much of what I had, except for the beets. I sliced them, coated with corn starch and dropped them in a hot fry daddy. I didn't know what to expect, so they came out a bit undercooked. I thought black was burnt, but apparently not. Anyhoos, they taste really good, like a fresher version of those veggie chips you can get at Whole Foods.


And then, after I rest, Justin makes dinner. Oh, you thought some of this was dinner? ha! not in this house! We used the rest of the red potatoes and the gigantic onion from the CSA and two pounds of shrimp we had on hand to make Justin's famous shrimp and potatoes (with old bay and steamed with Fat Tire beer).


Now if anyone wants recipes, that's great; just ask. This post was just too huge and I was just too tired to post all the recipes. That and tomorrow I make stuffed acorn squash for dinner and you'll certainly get that recipe. Until then, happy eating!!!