One Year... and then some.

What does one say after a sixteen month hiatus from blogging?

"I'M BACK!!" is one obvious option.

Lots has changed in the months that I haven't been writing and I'll spare you the details. One of the only things you need to know about, and one of the things I'm certain you'll hear a great deal about, is that we now get a CSA box weekly.

For those that are not aware of what CSA stands for: Community Supported Agriculture. What it means to get a CSA box is a little different. Essentially, every week we go and pick up a box that is filled with produce, a half dozen eggs, and some kind of cheese. The picture that is now at the top of my blog is of our very first box. Now this sounds cool except for a small catch; you don't get to choose what produce you get. You can opt out of one item and the group is happy to accommodate alergies (our box typically comes with bread, but as we are both gluten intolerant we have obviously opted not to have such a thing arrive at our home). The lack of choice is the draw back for most people, and after a couple months of box pick-ups, I can see their point.

We've identified three families of plants that we have difficulties with. The first is beets. The sheer quantity of beets I've eaten in the last two months is more than I had ever eaten in my life beforehand. We've found a few creative recipes for them, my favorite being a chocolate beet cake that calls for a large quantity of pureed beet. Desserts seem to be the best dishes to make from beets and this week I plan to make a a beet take on sweet potato casserole.

The second is greens: Kale, Mustard Greens, Chard, Spinach, Lettuce, etc. Everything but the lettuce has an easy option for preparation: oil, onion, garlic, wilted greens, done. I even found a recipe that would combine this preparation with pears (of which we currently have an abundance). We've attempted Kale chips with little success, in fact most of our attempts to dry produce in the oven have been predominantly unsuccessful. Our only real victory in that area was making raisins last week for a beet chutney recipe that didn't work out as well as we'd hoped it would.

Third, and lastly, mushrooms...

These were the first members of the box to be identified as a difficulty. We get some variety every week, some more easily consumed than others. Chantrelle mushrooms are by far the least offensive mushroom to be consumed, and we have readily found a delicious (but heinously unhealthy) recipe for Golden Chantrelle Puffs which are little mushroom biscuit type things. The recipe calls for a stick of butter. As for the Portabellas and Criminis? The best success we've had is to simply saute them in some sort of animal fat. Bacon is best.

This week, our box was filled with all three of these items. On top of these, we also received another bunch of spicy peppers which I perpetually lack a use for, but have every intention of finding one. We also got a very large celery root with which we plan to make a type of hashbrown cake with carrots and potatoes. This will be eaten with a large quantity of greens (and maybe mushrooms).

When I look at that last paragraph, I think it sounds like I'm complaining. I'm not, not really. The challenge is a little enthralling! Every week its a mad dash to create a creative and cost effective menu that uses the mystery items in the box, and every week there are triumphs and disasters. Every week I learn something new about food and cooking. Its tiring and trying at times. After the beet fest we had last weekend, seeing another bunch of beets come our way forced me to take a deep calming breath. All in all, though, I think its a lot of fun and even when I put a stick of butter in my chantrelle puffs or crispy beet casserole, I still feel like I'm eating more plant matter than I would without the box.

Maybe that only counts for something in my mind, but that's enough for me.