Baskets of Bounty

We’re so fortunate to be able to take advantage of Bountiful Baskets every couple of weeks. This is a photo of the haul we brought home last Saturday. It’s a combination of a conventional basket and an add-on basket called “Tour de France”. The conventional basket is always 50% fruit and 50% vegetables. The add-ons differ each time and they offer several things to choose from if you wish.

So far, since Saturday, we’ve eaten one of the cantaloupes (it was juicy and sweet and perfect), one of the oranges, all of the cucumbers, all of the mushrooms, some of the tomatoes, the onion, and a couple of the apples. I blanched the green beans to use in a salad later this week, and chopped and froze the green onions.

They were frozen in a flat layer on parchment paper, then packed into a quart jar and tucked back into the freezer. Now I can use them straight from the freezer for cooking.

Last night, a couple of the cucumbers were used in this recipe for Cilantro Lime Cucumber Salad. No photo because we chowed it down so fast. I foresee this one being a favorite summer dish.

Tonight we enjoyed the baby bok choy in a stir-fry. I’ve never purchased bok choy, and didn’t really know how to use it. One of the fun things about getting these baskets is that sometimes we’re able to try things we haven’t had before. On Sunday I cleaned the bok choy and tucked it into a plastic bag with some paper towels. It has stayed crispy and lovely all week so far. There were several loose stalks that I just chopped up (including the leaves) and tossed into our green lettuce salads.

We all enjoyed the dish, and I will make it again. The inspiration recipe is here, but I did change it up a little by adding onion and mushrooms, and skipping the wine. Then I added a bag of defrosted cooked rice and scrambled some eggs in it as well. I really liked how the chicken worked – slicing it while still partially frozen meant I could get nice thin slices.

There are still several things to enjoy from the baskets, and I have recipes pinned to help us do that. Most of the fruits just get eaten fresh with lunch, or for afternoon snacks. There is that bag of cherries, though, that I haven’t decided what to do with. Some rosemary and thyme were in the Tour de France pack, and I just pull it out of the frig and sniff it during the day. It smells like it needs to be herb bread, I think.

Even with gardening season upon us, I think we’ll still indulge in the baskets. They offer so much variety, as well as introducing new produce we wouldn’t necessarily purchase ourselves. Plus, the price is right, and as long as we use up what we get (as opposed to letting it spoil and tossing it), it’s much less expensive than the store.