Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Basking In The Produce

(Edited to add  a link to Annie’s Buying Club page since a few of you have been asking about the co-op.  I know it is far from many of you…but you can see how it works and what to look for in one.  I am very very happy with Annie’s!)

Yes…yesterday was that time again…Monday’s produce delivery and I looked forward to it with my usual anticipation!

It seems like there was a lot of fruit this time but everything as usual was just delectable!

Presorting:

 DSCF6434

My portion (not the pumpkin…he is left over from Halloween and getting ready to become some pies! but he looks pretty cute there, doesn’t he?): organic produce coop  DSCF6437

And what do I get to work with for the week?  I just knew you would ask!

Well, I got:

  • Yummy Broccolini
  • A package of Grape Tomatoes
  • A gorgeous Orange/Yellow Cauliflower!
  • Fresh Green Beans
  • A bunch of spinach
  • A Florida Avocado
  • A head of Green Leaf Lettuce
  • A few Beets (Yum for juicing!)
  • 2 Red Peppers
  • Red Grapefruit
  • A container of Strawberries that smelled divine, ripe, and ready to eat!
  • A Honeydew
  • A large Pineapple
  • Tangerines
  • Bananas (we can never get enough of these in this house!)
  • Blackberries
  • Raspberries
  • Fuji Apples
  • Florida Mandarin oranges

Now dinner last night was a hit with everyone….except FabHubs who didn’t have any second helpings and gave me THE LOOK!  Boy…I really hate that look!  He is NOT a veggie lover and while he doesn’t complain as much as FabPreteen…he is proving hard to win over.

Instead of going into this week’s produce I tried to finish off some stuff from last week!  We still had some collard greens and zucchini and lemons left. 

I went to A Veggie Venture and found a recipe for braised collard greens and lemon roasted zucchini. 

 DSCF6438 braised collard greens lemon roasted zucchiniSomehow the picture-taking process got lost around here and I even forgot to take the pictures of dinner!

The greens had a sweetish taste to them and were great (Unless you are FabHubs and seriously missing the ham hocks in them!).

The zucchini was GORGEOUS!  It was browned and crispy on the outside with a good flavor…there were no leftovers of either.

I rounded out the meal with some leftover brown rice which I heated up and topped with crumbled feta cheese.  YUM-O!!!

For dessert we did hit the box….the berries go bad fast so we usually try to eat those within two or three days max.

I had razzies, blackberries, and strawberries.  This time they were a little tart!

organic berries

I just sliced them up and put a tiny drizzle of Agave syrup on them…something I don’t normally do but since I had my two new berry converts open to eat them (FabHubs and FabStepson…TWO SERIOUSLY MAJOR victories here on this front!!!!) I didn’t want to turn them off by them being too tart!

sliced berries raspberries blackberries strawberries

After dinner we lit the Menorah (I know…a little late in the evening but we are casual Jews!)  I have had presents for the kids all week so far but I didn’t tonight….but boy did they have a gift for me!

 Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate The chocolate was delicious….but the true gift was my kids!  (Sniff, Sniff).  I had absolutely NO CLUE! 

They had snuck off when FabTeen picked up FabPreteen from school for me, stopped at CVS, and gotten a surprise something for me!!!  (OK…they got one for FabHubs too, he was special also). 

They did well!  I LOVE dark chocolate! 

But not as much as I LOVE my kids!

6 comments:

Beckstrom7 said...

Ok I just have to ask. How do you gt produce delivered like that. My family isnt huge on vegetables but love friut and I love vegetables. And I just have to say wow on all the healthy eating not sure I could get away with that in my house. We are a meat and potatoes type family lol.

M and A said...

I have to ask also...how much does your produce cost each week? it looks WONDERFUL! I hate the selection of "sale" produce this time of year! BORING!!!

Jewel said...

I googled a few terms to find one near me, such as organic buying club, organic produce co-op, etc. I tried several variations of the terms, adding in the name of my area to the search.

I ended up joining Annie's Buying Club which has locations to pick up weekly all over Florida and is very flexible. The produce is all certified organic and I get it at wholesale prices....I hardly buy produce anymore in our grocery unless I run out of something I really need (bananas...carrots!). Even though we are eating organically our grocery bill has gone down!

Really it only is delivered to me because I became the coordinator for my neighborhood....for a very deep discount I receive the produce delivery once a week and sort it for other people who also joined...and then they pick it up from me.

Before that I went to another coordinator to pick it up...not too far from my neighborhood.

I completely understand the meat and potatoes thing....we are/were a totally meat and potatoes family. FabHubs is having some difficulty with this...but I have put on some of the movies I watched (Food Matters....watch it online!) and I read stuff to him all the time so he gets that this is good for us, even if he isn't thrilled with the menu. He does still hit up Mcdonalds during lunch though!

This has been totally a gradual process, not an overnight change...fueled by tons of healthy living reading I am doing!

And yes...I definitely have to work creatively to make sure we use up what I get...we really end up eating tons of veggies! (The fruits are easy!)

Hope that helps some!

Jewel said...

Hey WWMama...the box I get is a full share box for $45 and I also order the $20 add on fruit share. There are other options for other prices as well.

I very rarely buy chips or cookies (except Girl Scout cookies!!!) or other boxed or bagged type snacks so I save my money there on the processed packaged stuff. When the kids are snacky I make them eat fruit! Sometimes with peanut or almond butter smeared on it so the fat and protein will help satisfy them.

Because I receive and sort and have the people pick up from me, I don't have to pay the whole $65 though.....and as I mentioned to Megan...our grocery bill is really reduced even though we are eating organics. I think it is mostly the reduction boxed and bagged items AND the meat of course!

Beans are cheap!

Jessie (Vegan-Minded) said...

Hi Jewel, first I want to say thanks for stopping by my blog. :) Second, it's such a small world because I actually picked up my CSA from you last Monday!! After you left me the link, I came over and started browsing on your blog, and recognized you from your photo. Remember, I came to your house with my boyfriend and we were the ones who wouldn't buy Girl Scout cookies since we are vegan? It's great to know I have another health conscious blogger right here in my own neighborhood! I will see you on Monday for the pickup. :)

Jewel said...

Oh that is funny!

Of course I recognize you now...I didn't recognize your name because it was in your boyfriend's name, he had set it up and I had talked to him most of the time.

From your blog I knew you were in SoFla but I had no idea just how close! LOL...it surely is a small world.

Wow that box looked beautiful when I looked at it from an objective completely unbiased point of view!

Hope you enjoyed your produce...see you Monday!