Week 10 and it's hot again...

So I'm getting a little punchy with the silly little rhymes... but indulge me :>)

Hi everyone,
August already! It's hard to believe- but we're right in the thick of summer, and I'm loving every hot, sweaty minute of it. Nothing is quite as satisfying as harvesting and packing a CSA at the peak of the season after working hard for months to get all these different vegetables to the stage where it's good to eat them. We've had to coax them along, but now we're reaping the benefits, literally.

Your bags are beautiful this week- so beautiful we took a few pictures (see below)
Salad mix
Tomatoes
Cherry Tomatoes (all colors are ripe and ready to eat; green included!)
Beans- green, yellow and purple
Carrots
Summer Squash, many variteties
Onions
Garlic
Peppers- green or purple (both are ready to eat, and taste like a typical green pepper)
Some people got an eggplant- we're keeping track and everyone will get one as they ripen.

So pretty! And tasty, to boot. :>)

I've decided this is the year of the purple veggies. We have these nifty Purple Royalty beans, purple lettuces, gorgeous purple peppers (called "Islander"), some incredible purple eggplants of various hues and a new purple-y/black plum tomato called "Indigo Rose." They taste kind of like a plum, too. It's making me want to paint rooms in my house a deep, luscious purple; I'm in love with the color right now.

I don't have any particular recipes to post right now, but just about anything you make with these vegetables will be delicious. Two things I've been enjoying lately are zucchini and yellow summer squash sliced in long strips, grilled, and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. Very satisfying.

And I've made this meal a few times lately: Couscous with garden veggies and garbanzo beans

Saute some garlic and onion in a skillet, add the veggies of your choice, in the order of what takes the longest to cook to the shortest. I use some combination of sliced beans, diced pepper, zucchini, roasted eggplant (it does help to roast this separately before adding it to the mix) and cherry tomatoes. Be sure to use some garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas) because they really add to the flavor. Some coriander, oregano, a dash of cayenne pepper, salt and pepper, and it's tasting really good. At this point, or somewhere before adding the roasted eggplant and tomatoes, I put in 1 1/4 cups water, bring to a simmer, and add 1 cup of couscous (and now add the eggplant and tomatoes), cover, remove from the heat, and allow to set for 5 minutes or so. Take off the lid, and voila! A beautiful, healthy couscous with garbanzo beans and veggies.

That's all for now-
Have a great week!
Sarah VanNorstrand
for Lucky Moon Farm