It's Here! It's Here! - Week 1

       

So let's start off today's post with a shameless plug!  I am on Twitter and Instagram! 

Feel free to follow me for extra photos/vines/insights into my CSA experience.

Oh friends!  I am only one day into my CSA (and subsequent blog experience) and I've already realized the folly of my ways!  My original plan was to blog my CSA arrival, list the contents AND document my cooking adventures for the evening all on the same day...but by the time I actually sat down to eat last night it was already 9pm and I am old and cooking is exhausting so it didn't happen.  So...rolling with punches, I have a new and even better plan! Moving forward I'll post a shorter entry on Wednesdays with an inventory of my weekly CSA and my Veggie Person of the Week and hold off on sharing my Wednesday cooking adventures for a Thursday post.

Now onto important things!!! 

My very first CSA of the season arrived on Wednesday and caused me to do a happy dance around my office (look at how excited I am).  One of the incredible benefits of my particular situation is that my office building is a pick-up location so I don't have to go anywhere special to bring in my haul, which I know can be a difficult and stressful situation for a lot of CSA participants.

I get a half share each week and it comes in a cute little reusable box.  You could smell the contents before you even opened it up and I couldn't wait to rip it open and see what was included!  As is typical in June, there were a lot of greens, which I figured would make it easy to find some fool-proof recipes and get me started on a high note. 

The share this week included:

• Lettuce
• Kale
• Escarole
• Oregano
• Green Garlic w/ Garlic Scapes
• Scallions
• Broccoli
• Lemon Balm (what!?!)

The green garlic smelled incredible and before you know it my whole office started to smell amazing making my office mates hungry...and jealous!

I mentioned in my first post, the tradition of turning one of the items of my CSA into a Veggie Person each week last year and everyone was excited for the return of the mid-week silliness.  It was a tough decision between broccoli and kale, but my colleagues rallied around the kale and I made it happen.  Here's a Vine video of its creation! Kasey Kale's portrait is also available on Instagram :)

I spent my evening commute trying to figure out what I could cook with items from my share.  Lettuce was a godsend since a nice salad with fresh lettuce is a beautiful thing that requires no cooking whatsoever!

Since I've had some experience with kale and broccoli I thought it might be wise to find a recipe that uses those ingredients and decrease the odds of screwing up my very first cooking attempt.  I took to Google and found mostly recipes for Kale and Broccoli Soup (no thanks) and stir-fry options.  I like a good stir-fry as much as the next guy, but I wasn't really feeling excited about it so I kept digging. 

I turned to Pinterest and finally found what looked like a quick, easy and interesting recipe - Quinoa, Broccoli, Kale and Chicken Casserole (link and notes below).

Here is where I make an embarrassing confession.  Quinoa (How fun is that to say? Keeeenwaaaaah) is all the rage right now.  You can't turn around without someone extolling the virtues of this superfood, but until last night I HAD NO IDEA WHAT QUINOA WAS!  I thought it was some variation of a root vegetable...like a turnip.  Turns out it's a grain! Who knew? (Everyone, but me apparently).

Anyway, after a trip to the gym and a visit to the grocery store to pick up some addition ingredients I got started.  The recipe itself only takes about a half hour to prepare so this is a great dinner to make if you don't have a lot of time, but the veggies from my share are only quickly rinsed prior to packaging so I had to do some serious washing when I got home.

Here's the link to the original recipe.  This one does not include kale, but was modified by a blogger to include it - see the modified recipe here.  I've also started a Pinterest board to capture the recipes I use throughout this journey so you're welcome to follow my board as well.

I followed the recipe pretty closely (after all, I'm not really sure what exactly I'm doing), but I did make a few small modifications.

1. My share included green garlic and I decided that chopping some of it up and adding it to the

   

   Green Garlic Cloves

   chicken, broccoli and kale saute would give it some nice flavor (and I was right!).
2. I used fresh broccoli from my share, not frozen as suggested in the recipe.  I'm not sure why anyone would use frozen instead of fresh to begin with - having to thaw it alone takes up extra time and the flavor (I would imagine) isn't as good.
3. I threw the broccoli and kale into the saute pan shortly after the chicken.  I was afraid the chicken would be overcooked if I waited for it to brown before adding the veggies - this ended up being a good instinct since the chicken in the end product was really moist and yummy.

The only thing I would change if I made this recipe again (which I absolutely will) is to double the panco/parmesan topping.  The crunchy top really added some nice texture and the parmesan added some great extra flavor.

THE RESULTS!

This dish was DELICIOUS!  I was so excited!  My boyfriend (the resident cook) loved it and has already said he wants me to make it again (even with leftovers still in the refrigerator!!!).  Here is some photographic evidence of my success :)