CSA Week 14: The To-Do List for the Week

I couldn't go pick up our farm share this Friday and with the farm having no power for a majority of the week (therefore no email was sent out with the list) so we were in for a total surprise with what was on deck.  After dividing up the share, this is what we took home

-3 ears of corn
-1/2 of a large cantaloupe
-7 good sized cucumbers
-2 bell peppers (1 green and 1 purple)
-4 large tomatoes
-1 bunch of beets with greens attached
-1/2 pound of carrots
-2 large eggplant

I knew that I had a very busy week ahead of me and in order to put everything to good use, some planning and a schedule was going to need to be involved.  You have to understand that I'm a list maker and for the most part, one that thrives off of a schedule (when you rely on metro north for a majority of your transportation every minute counts!!).  For as long as I can remember I have been obsessed with the weekly Kate Spade planners and even with iPhones and all, I still can't bring myself to give them up and even after the year is over, the past planners go on a bookshelf just in case.  So I sat down and mapped out what we got in the box, different ideas that I had at first thought with what I wanted to do with them and finally went back and started to schedule when all of these veggies would be eaten.  As you can see below, here is a peak inside of one of my notebooks:

With some veggies like the tomatoes, corn, carrots, and beets I had instant ideas on how I wanted to use them.  With some such as the peppers and eggplant I was going to have to dig deep on some new tricks because I for one have totally hit the eggplant wall and then with a quick glance at my calender to see a mostly free Sunday, it came to me what was going to take place with the cucumbers...I was going to make pickles!!!!  I love many different types of pickles but never made by own before.  I kept seeing different blog posts and recipes for "DIY" pickles at home that looked intriguing and really what else does one do with 7 large cucumbers?  So I set up my canning station in the kitchen this afternoon, used a basic pickle recipe that all I had to pick up was fresh dill and more white vinegar and within an hour the jars were filled and complete and now we just get to play the waiting game for a few days to see how they turned out. 



just waiting for their brine bath