I Love Mondays!

That is one phrase I thought would never pass my lips willingly….that and “I don’t eat meat”  or at least “I don’t eat meat much.”

Ahh…but how quickly things change over a period of a few months. 

So Mondays.   I still hate having to get up early!  I still hate the back to the grind feeling.  I still hate the Monday morning rush…and the mad dash to the school bus for one, to the freeway for the next, and to school for the third.   And most Mondays (unless he has been particularly grumpy that weekend, in which case I am relieved) I even hate that FabHubs has to leave me and head off to work.

But for the past six weeks, and especially the past four I am loving Mondays!  Because that is the day my produce delivery comes!  And every Monday feels like Christmas!  Did I really say that?  

Mondays bring fresh, flavorful, organic fruits and vegetables….more than I know what to do with most days.  But my tastebuds tingle, and all sorts of ideas for combinations and possibilities to use these up begin to flow.  

Oddly enough, even though I know what is coming because it is posted on the website by the co-op owner every Friday….there is something fabulous about having it in my hot little  hands…ready to be cut, chopped, cooked (or not)  and devoured.

What has happened in my life that I am excited by a weekly delivery of not roses, not chocolate, not diamonds…(okay…I am not that dumb, I will take  any of those too) but vegetables.  Of course the vegetables seem to come a lot more often than the roses, chocolates, and diamonds (and the blog doesn’t provide hints…he may be a fabulous guy…but he doesn’t read it!).

In small ways you have already been sharing the fruits (and veggies) of my Mondays with me!  Yep…pretty much all of what I have been cooking and posting about has come in the box.  And because of that, and because I am so darned excited about my Mondays in general, I have decided to start showing you what I am getting each Monday….and how over the next week, or two, or sometimes even three (yes…I have taters and squashes from three weeks  ago, patiently waiting for their time to come)  weeks after the box comes in, how I incorporate this glut of fresh organic nutritional heaven into our diet.

First, the delivery….it comes to my house and I sort it into shares for those signed up to my location who get a share that week. 

This is what yesterday’s delivery looked like:

  

Everything is in bags and boxes…I have never seen such a huge bag of onions!  Next I have to take the list sent to me and  make sure everything is distributed evenly and fairly.

Since we are serious fruit fiends in our house (even Ms. Picky, FabPreteen, will gorge herself on fruit!) I always order extra fruit shares.

And here is what I got for the week: (ACK!  Ignore my awful  pink countertops and back splash….to be gone one day, but not today)

  

I bet you are dying to know just what is in that huge pile!

Well, I got:

• mangos
• avocado
• a GIANT cuke (in FabPreteen’s lunch for the week)
• zukes
• collard greens
• broccoli
• parsley
• sweet taters
• white taters
• red onions
• lettuce
• red bell peppers
• spinach
• grape tomatoes
• lemons
• raspberries
• blackberries
• gala apples
• honeycrisp apples
• mandarin oranges
• kiwi
• bananas

Hmmm…I think that is it but I am not sure off the top of my head!

Think you can handle all that?

I have never been a fan of spending the money on organics before.  I always dismissed it as not being worth it.

But since starting this about six  or seven weeks ago, I have found:

• I feel great about juicing and feeding my family pesticide-free food that has not been chemically ripened or enhanced.
• The taste is fantastic!  I can’t even begin to describe how sweet the fruit is.   It tastes like fruit!  The veggies are out of this world as well.
• Look at that amount of produce I got!  Buying it as a share in a co-op  makes it so much more affordable….way cheaper than my Publix’s organic section and Whole Foods.  (Sadly I have no Trader Joe’s or Earth Fare in South Florida….and Fresh Market is not worth the drive….I know, I know…you are all feeling pitifully sorry for me right now, especially about the Trader Joe’s..but a girl can continue dreaming!)
• Look at the amount of produce I got!  (Have you heard that before?) We have now been forced to dramatically increase the amount of fruits and vegetables we are eating or be faced with watching our money go rotting into the compost pile outside. ..and that is not going to happen!
• Speaking of my compost pile…it is being fed daily…by leaps and bounds.  Not by rotting produce, but by the peels, cores, seeds, and excess cuttings.  I now have one of the happiest compost piles on earth.
• Oh boy do I have to be creative to constantly come  up with fun and delicious meals that both use up the produce and don’t have my family complaining…too much….but while we have had some failures…this has also led to some new discoveries, fabulous finds, and delicious successes.

All great things I think!  And the bottom line is I am now a convert and do thing that the organics are definitely worth it…besides, they have turned me into a Monday lover!

Stay tuned for what I have done with my delectable selection so far this week…….