Survivor CSA

It usually takes about a week for me to go from thrilled about my CSA (behold the beautiful vegetables!) to panicked about figuring out how to eat it all before it goes bad. Every year I have to remind myself of my hard-earned survival strategies; this year, I thought I'd share them with you.

1. Pasta salad, a.k.a. the kitchen sink
Nothing swallows up veggies you don't know what to do with or don't particularly care for like pasta salad. Pasta (or tortellini) + armfuls of nearly any veggie + dressing (I usually use the packets) + maybe some beans for protein, and you've got yourself 4-plus tasty meals.
See also: stir fry.


















Pasta salad... a tasty foil for broccoli, garlic scapes, kohlrabi, summer squash, leftover corn on the cob, asparagus, going-bad celery, and peapods, pictured here.

2. Pureeing, a.k.a crispy no more
As much as I like crunchy vegetables, after awhile I long for a different texture. Pureeing veggies for soups or sauces is a great respite and also makes some of your less-than-favorite vegetables seemingly disappear.

3. Add chocolate
My trusty zucchini muffin recipe* has turned summer squash from my least favorite CSA find to one of my most coveted. Centuries of desperate farmwives have paved the way for us; enter your loathsome veggie into any search engine and be rewarded with inventive recipes.
*Via http://everybodylikessandwiches.blogspot.com. Also works with summer squash. Not the prettiest muffin but very tasty.

4. When all else fails, preserve! Blanch and freeze (again the internet has handy directions), can, dry, pickle, whatever--I always feel such a relief when I remember that I don't have to eat it all! And nothing feels cooler than pulling out your own put-up veggies and cooking with them.