CSA begins ... and with it an onslaught of produce

It's been a long time since our last post. Our CSA has been providing us produce for over a month now, and while it started slow the first couple of weeks, the four of us have now been trying to figure out how to use all of the vegetables and fruit -- and especially the lettuce -- so as not to produce more food waste. So to inaugurate what I expect will be the first of many similar posts,  we run down what our family share received over the last couple of weeks, and what we did with it. 

Saturday, May 29.

• 8 heads of lettuce (choice of deer’s tounge, romaine, and/or bibb)
• 2 lbs spinach
• ½ lb arugula
• 1 qt strawberries
• Choice of 4 items: kale, collards, red radishes, and/or bok choi

Saturday, June 5

• Choice of 2 items: kale and/orcollards
• Choice 2 items: scallions and/or french breakfast radishes
• 1 lb swiss chard
• ½ lb arugula
• (Spinach was already out)
• 4 heads of lettuce (choice of green and/or red)
• 1 qt PYO peas
• 1 pt PYO strawberries

And as a bonus, on Monday May 31 and again on Friday June 4, we were able to pick strawberries at the Chesterfield location of our farm (we are members at the Pennington location) for an extra 24 quarts of berries.

So what did we do?  See the details below the break.

• Lettuce: We ate a lot of salad (Caesar salad with romaine, strawberry - balsalmic - pine nut - goat cheese salad with green and red lettuces, and feta - radish salad with the bibb lettuce). While spinach and arugula also make nice salads, we had other plans for them. If the volume of lettuce keeps up, other non-salad applications for lettuce (such as lettuce wraps) may need to be considered.
• Strawberries: Besides the strawberries that went in the salad, we made three gallons (yes, you read that correctly) of strawberry jam for the four of us, canned and shelf stable for the coming year. I personally tend to use much of mine to flavor plain yogurt, to finally get beyond the highly processed blended yogurts I have been eating for years.  We also had some extra berries, which we froze individually for later use in baked goods, ice cream, sauces, etc.
• Kale:  I blanched, shocked, and froze 4 cups of kale for use in the winter months, for use in sauteed or braised preparations such as this. 
• Arugula: On Mo's suggestion, Silvia and I both separately made arugula - walnut pesto. I based mine on this recipe and substituted walnuts for pine nuts and pecorino for parmesan. Silvia's, which used parmesan, came out a bit better than mine. I froze mine in ice cube trays and will use on pasta, gnocchi, pizza, etc in coming months. 
• Spinach: Wilted in garlic-scented oil, I added this to a pizza with caramelized onions, Griggstown chicken sausage with spinach and feta, feta cheese, and fresh oregano from the farm. 
• Swiss Chard: Sam and Silvia oven roasted the chard in the style of kale chips.  
• Peas: Shucked and frozen.