I’ve decided to keep a running tab on my CSA shares every week. I’d like to keep track of how I used the produce, if I wasted anything and what kinds of delicious recipes I whipped up. AREN’T YOU ALL SO EXCITED FOR THIS?! YES? AWESOME. (IF YOU’RE NOT, SHUT UP. GO AWAY.)

Last week’s share was the first of the season! And as promised, was pretty pathetic. We were alerted that it’s especially rough due to the cool spring. So, many vegetables are going to take longer to ripen, etc. Wah wah, no tomatoes for weeks and weeks, booooooooo.

That being said, I walked away with:

* black beans

* one small head of lettuce

* kale

* pint of strawberries

* asparagus

* a pineapple

JUST KIDDING. How amazing would it be if you could grow pineapples on a Long Island farm? For real, man. But everything else is for serious.

I stupidly put the head of lettuce in my vegetable drawer in the fridge and by the next day it was wilted and inedible.

Um. Someone help me out here? Should I have put it in a bag? Kept it out on the counter? Eaten it right away? WHA HAPPINEDD TO MAH LETTICE?

I decided to cook the asparagus and kale in a Cashew Cream Sauce. I doubled the recipe because I had a lot of food and somewhere, it went horribly wrong. It got very watery and I cried buckets and buckets of tears. I salvaged what I could but it was still sort of runny and VERY cashew-y…or something?

It tasted delicious at the time regardless. It looked gross. But it tasted good. I wouldn’t serve it to my boyfriend if I had one. That’s all I’ll say. BUT IT TASTED GOOD. That night, anyway. Not so good heated up as leftovers the next day. In case you were wondering.

I roasted the asparagus before adding it to the sauce and lightly steamed the kale. I also threw in some whole wheat rigatoni and sun-dried tomatoes, two non-CSA items. (Well, and the cashews of course.)

I need to tweak that recipe for next time. I didn’t add the wine they suggested and perhaps that could’ve helped. I normally don’t use soy milk in my cashew cream sauce but did this time and maybe that’s where I ran into problems? I think just water and cashews in a food processor works best, with a touch of olive oil. WHO KNOWS.

I did many different things with my pint of strawberries. Things like, eat them for breakfast, eat them for lunch and eat them for a snack. My CSA sent out a warning that the strawberries tend to go bad pretty quickly but mine lasted about five days before showing any sign of mold. Or maybe I just didn’t notice. So who knows, now I might have some awesome moldy strawberries in my stomach. WAHOO! They were so delicious though! Ripe and red and juicy and everything you could ever want in a strawberry. If only they added money to your bank account every time you took a bite. THAT WOULD INDEED BE THE MOST PERFECT STRAWBERRY.

As far as the black beans go, I have not yet touched them. They are sitting in a paper bag on the counter. Do they go bad?? Anyone? Frankly, they are weirding me out. I’m assuming I have to shell them? And then soak them? I have not done either of these things before considering the only time I eat black beans, all I have to do is open a can, rinse them and shove them in my mouth with the rest of a burrito. THANK YOU, GOYA! So, thoughts here? Black beans? Wha?

And so goes Laura’s CSA Extravaganza Week #1! I don’t know if this will feature will be back next week as Alayna and I are going to see the Indigo Girls in Central Park tonight and I’m not sure I will be around to pick up my share. Allegedly, I am only missing more kale and asparagus and some oregano. My food might have to be donated this week but hopefully, Tuesdays will be free going forward.

GOING FORWARD. Listening to me getting all corporate and shit.

Coming soon: The Garden I Am Planting On Mah Windowsill! Possibly with pictures! Our first victim: BASIL! I have not killed it yet! Only because The Roommate keeps watering it for me!! THANK YOU ROOMMATE.

And now, am off to the Park to get mah Chick Folk Music on. I am a girl obsessed, peeps. Gimme your ideas for recipes! For black beans! For not killing lettuce! I am all ears. Unless you yell at me. In that case, LA LA LA I CANNOT HEAR YOU, LA LA LA.