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.

Using the Bounty: Tomatoes

In my last post I mentioned the Bountiful Baskets we got on Saturday. When I ordered, I got a few add-ons to the conventional basket: the Mexican, the Agua Fresca, and the organic Beefsteak tomatoes. Fifteen pounds of what I was expecting to be large, red, fragrant tomatoes.  No such luck. They were small and pale-ish. I was disappointed.

Turns out, I needn’t have been. By Sunday morning, they were a bit redder, so I thought I’d take a chance and whip up a Caprese salad to take to Mother’s Day lunch with Greg’s family. I cut the first one, took a little taste, and was pleasantly surprised that they were, indeed, flavorful. The salad was well-received and only about a quarter of it came home with us. Greg made homemade pizzas for supper, so I used that leftover salad to make a margherita pizza.

A little garlic olive oil on the crust, instead of sauce, then fresh tomato slices, fresh mozzarella slices, and some fresh basil. Greg took it out to the grill for a few minutes, then I popped it under the broiler in the oven to brown up the cheese…

Oh my, it was delicious. The crisp was crusty on the bottom and edge, but the pizza was light and flavorful. And check out this cheese pull:

I love when the cheese is like that! I also love that we were able to use up the leftover Caprese salad right away in such a delicious manner. The heat brought out even more flavor in those tomatoes.

I see a blt with avocado in my future, and a tomato and avocado salad for supper one night. Perhaps a batch of sauce as well?

What would you do with them? I’m open to suggestions!

Week in Review

One of these days I’ll get a real blog post done – when I finally get a project done. Until then, these week-in-review posts remind me that while I may not be completing all those projects, which I very much enjoy doing, my time is well-spent nurturing grandbabies. Our situation may be out of the ordinary, and admittedly is sometimes overwhelming, but I truly feel blessed to have those babies here. They’re happy kids who dote on each other most of the time. No delusions that it’s all sunshine and rainbows, but the good far outweighs the challenges.

Here is Silas with the “Litter Bug” he created in preschool. He learned a lot about recycling and keeping our Earth clean when they studied Earth Day. He’s writing a story in this pic, but don’t ask me to recall it. His imagination makes for wild tales full of adventure and Super Hero feats of saving the world.

We are able to contribute for a Bountiful Basket every other week, and when I ordered on Monday I went a little nuts and got three add-on packages. There was no way there was enough room in the frig for what was coming. Layla was really good one day and between her napping and happily sitting in her high chair watching, I was able to deep clean the frig in shifts. Take in the beauty. It was fleeting. Sigh. (Yes, that is a half-eaten apple, courtesy of Silas.)  (Does anyone else have so many condiments? I need a frig just for those. Sheesh.) (Also, too, doesn’t showing the inside of the refrigerator seem really personal?)

For Valentine’s Day, Greg purchased and installed Minecraft on his Kindle for the boys. Silas likes to pretend he’s playing, but Brad actually does spend some time each week creating in the game. He likes to watch Minecraft videos on YouTube, then try out new ideas in his own game. He’s usually allowed just a few hours each week, so it’s a special treat to get to play. He also is required to wear headphones. It’s way too much audio stimulation for this Grammy to deal with otherwise!

Miss Layla was sick through this week, but she was a trooper. There were still lots of smiles and snuggles and slobbery kisses.

Aaaand, here’s our haul from Bountiful Baskets that we picked up Saturday morning! Jess and I did some meal planning this afternoon centered around all this deliciousness. There are some new-to-us items that will take some research to learn to use, like tamarind and dried hibiscus flowers. I’m pretty excited about the tomatoes. This time of year I start craving fresh ones, and while these don’t look too red and ripe, they actually have good flavor. The multi-colored carrots will be fun to sample as well, and I’ve never given the boys fresh apricots. I like apricots, so we’ll see how that goes.

We pick up our basket at 7 a.m., so usually have some time to get everything washed before putting it away. Not this day, since Brad and I were attending a private showing of the new Avengers movie, and had to be back in town almost right away. I had time to unpack and inspect everything, make sure Jess got a good pic, then we packed that clean frig full. It is once again bursting with bounty, with nary a spare inch for any leftovers. Good thing we have a second refrigerator in the garage!

You may have noticed the pretty flowers on the table in the background. Bradley picked those out for me when he was shopping with his mama the other day. Grampy sprayed the dandelions in the yard, so those were in short supply this week.