Well, we picked up another CSA box this week.  If you missed last week's pickup, you can read it HERE.  This week we received:

• Blueberries – Sustainable*
• Broccoli – Sustainable
• Lettuce – Sustainable
• Radishes – Sustainable
• Kohlrabi – Sustainable
• Turnips – Sustainable
• Currants – Sustainable
• Raspberries – Sustainable
• Kale – Sustainable
• Collards – Sustainable
• Cherries – Sustainable
• Cauliflower – Sustainable
• Green Beans – Sustainable
• Onions – Sustainable
• Yellow Squash – Sustainable
• Cabbage – Sustainable

Here at Crest Cottage we loooooove smoothies.  98% of the time they have a leafy green base, so they don't always LOOK as appetizing as they taste.  This particular smoothie concoction was developed after I was reminiscing on the black forest milkshakes I used to drink in high school.  There was a Carvel next door to my school (the my best friend worked at for a while, bonus!).  Some days we would walk over and pick out something sweet to enjoy.  I ALWAYS got a black forest milkshake without whipped cream.  This smoothie has similar flavors, and is delish!

All of our smoothies start with leafy greens.  Lately I've been favoring spinach, especially if the finished product has no banana.  I mix the leafy greens with the liquid first.  I've found that helps them break into the smallest pieces.  Maybe someday we'll have a Vitamix, but until then, doing it this way works.  Once the spinach is broken up, we added in frozen cherries and cocoa powder.  The cherries were sweet enough, so we didn't need to add any maple syrup or honey.  Then, we blended it up and enjoyed!

Jemma helps by:

• Filling the  blender with spinach
• Turning all the buttons on and off (she's three, buttons are super fun!)
• Adding the cherries and cocoa powder (she needs extra supervision here... unless we want it to be alllllll cocoa powder)
• Pouring into the cups

Adding Spinach

Blending spinach and water

The spinach/water base is ready!

Adding frozen cherries...

... and cocoa powder!

I may have mentioned in the past that we get our produce through a CSA (Community Supported Agruculture) Box for a good portion of the year.  Our favorite is from Alstede Farms.  We have occasionally tried others, but we have found this farm to offer the best value.  The season is long (31 weeks!), the produce is varied, and the price is reasonable for the amount of produce included.  There are also occasional bonuses thrown in, like extra lettuce or jars of honey!

The only challenge in getting this huge variety of super fresh produce is finding a way to use it all!  With that in mind, I would like to share what we receive each week, and what I plan to do with it.  Hopefully this will keep me organized, and help inspire others in the same situation.  I didn't think to do this earlier, so I am starting with Week 10.


This week we received:

• Blueberries – Sustainable*
• Cauliflower – Sustainable
• Peas – Sustainable
• Green Beans – Sustainable
• Spinach – Certified Organic
• Lettuces – Sustainable
• Kale– Sustainable
• Collards – Sustainable
• Cherries – Sustainable
• Garlic Scapes – Sustainable
• Kohlrabi– Sustainable
• Cabbage – Sustainable
• Tomatoes– Sustainable
• Raspberries – Sustainable
• Squash – Sustainable
• Basil – Sustainable
• Dill - Sustainable

Do you participate in a CSA?  Any tips for using up the yummy produce or favorite recipes?

For more information on Alstede Farms, please visit alstedefarms.com
This post was shared at Real Food Forager's Fat Tuesday!