I believe this is week 11 or 12 on my farm pickup.  Picture is clickable if you want to see the purslane closer.

Starting at the top clockwise we have Raspberries and Strawberries, our fruit staple.  Then there is Arugula, Green Beans, Lettuce, Purslane*, Yellow Squash, Red Radishes, Basil, Peppers, Radicchio, Potatoes (Yellow Finn,) Cucumbers, and small Leeks.

I linked Purslane to some info on it.  Don’t get it mixed up with spurge….white sap = bad.  However, Purslane has the highest in Omega 3′s than any other leafy vegetable.

Now, I want to like purslane.  I love arugula, when a lot of people don’t.  I was hoping the purslane would taste like arugula as it is suppose to have a nutty like taste.  However, I found it to taste more lemony and I don’t particularly care for it raw.  I might try and sautee it.   It also makes me nervous that purslane grows near a look alike, spurge that is poisonous.  Do I trust that the farmworker didn’t get spurge in my mix?  Do I need to break every stalk to look for white sap?  Hmmm…

Around the Corner:  In the upcoming weeks I am going to change the structure of my blog.   I will talk about the farm veggies on Tuesday and Friday, do a cooking/food post on Wednesday.  Then on Thursday will highlight something fitness related.  On the bottom of every post I will keep a running tab of calories inputed and calories burned.  Monday I will leave open to either cooking/fitness related/update on the weekend/ or a weigh in post.  I will do a weigh in at the beginning of the month.  I will probably do all of this in a week or so after my house company has left and I have time for the blog.

Also, if you are looking for me on facebook, I have taken a short hiatus.

I got my sneak peek into Friday’s farm loot!  Arugula, Asian greens (Tatsoi), Beets, Carrots, Cilantro, Green beans, Kale, Baby leeks, Potatoes, Radishes, Spinach, Summer squash or cucumbers, Strawberries, Raspberries,  and Santa Rosa Plums.

I am excited to be getting plums, yum!  We will be getting a lot of green beans, that is new.

I did some terrible eating over the holiday weekend.  Ice cream cake dessert and big juicy steaks.  I excused it because I don’t eat like that daily.  On the way home, my husband and I “junked out” on chips and candy.  We came home feeling terrible and I woke up with the worst back pain, dehydrated and feeling hung over.  I had a junk food hangover.  I am looking forward to healthier eating this week with a lot of greens.

I might stop at the farmer’s market in Santa Cruz tomorrow to buy some salad greens and supplement what I haven’t been getting in the box.

I have noticed a few things.  The first is bad eating occurs around holidays.  The second is that bad eating occurs when I am around my family.  The third is when I am on a long car ride and have not prepared myself with food for the ride.  I can evaluate and learn from it.

I am kid free this week.  Tomorrow I am going to head to the gym and enjoy a workout without kids.  I would go today but my back is killing me, I am sunburned and badly dehydrated.  This is just a bad combination to workout at the gym.  I will be ready tomorrow.  I am looking forward to it.

I can’t believe I am already thinking of what is in the box on Friday.  I still have quite a few veggies left of the box I just picked up, which is good.

On Friday, I will be getting Arugula, Asian stir-fry mix (Mizuna/Tatsoi), Red Beets, Brocolli, Carrots, Kale, Onions, Potatoes, Radishes, Spinach, Strawberries, and Raspberries or Blackberries.

Oh, this Wilted Tatsoi Salad looks good!  I think we will be trying it.

Not a whole lot to report.  I stepped on glass yesterday in my kitchen which made for a late dinner.  I didn’t do a lot of cooking today, due to not wanting to be on my foot, though I did eat a Massaged Kale Salad tonight.  Yum!  I love Kale!

I think tomorrow I am going to try some Yoga at home with the girls.  We will see how that goes.  Happy Monday!  (so glad you are over, ha ha!)

Here is our CSA share from Live Earth Farms!

6 baskets of Strawberries, 1 basket of Raspberries, Green Cabbage, Onions, Green Lettuce (in bag),Radicchio, Beets w/ greens, French Breakfast Radishes, Red Potatoes, Red Lettuce, Broccoli, Basil, Collard Greens, Carrots (one purple one), Carrot Greens, Green Garlic

I look forward to this day.  This is my 7th week of joining the farm.  Joining the CSA has changed my life, my families, how we eat, how I cook, how I shop, and we view food.

I have always hated grocery shopping.  It has become more tolerable now because I don’t have to do a lot of shopping, just get some basics.  Funny though how I hated shopping, but love farm day.

There is a little bit of work once I get get home with my loot.  I sort through the strawberries.  I pick out the ones that need to be eaten right away and then they all go in tupperware containers with paper towels in them to absorb moisture.  I have learned that all the baskets of strawberries will last an entire week using this method.  Of course we eat them and sometimes fast on the weekends, so they never last an entire week.  Just putting the baskets in the fridge, they will start to go bad within a few days.

The other thing I have done is bought these stay fresh bags for veggies.  I don’t know what they do, but with the veggies in the bags they do stay fresher.  They are bigger than regular ziplock bags.  Even a salad mix will last an entire week in these bags.

Speaking of salad mix, I wash all of the lettuce, spin them with the salad spinner, and then make a mix of the different lettuces.  While it takes time to do it when I get home from the farm, it saves me time during the week.  Then, I can have my daughter make the salad and she just has to pull out how much of the salad mix to use.

The other veggies go into the bags unwashed.  I could wash and spin dry them all, but it is more time consuming and some of that stays a bit longer when it isn’t wet.  I should make a note that all of the vegetables have been washed at the farm.  I just do a second wash because sometimes there is still dirt on them or a few dead bugs.  For most veggies I just fill the salad spinner up with water and soak the veggies.  Then I pull the basket out and all of the dirt is on the bottom.  I dump it and then will spin the veggies dry.  Root vegetables I will scrub more, though I don’t have a scrubber.  I have seen those, though.

I didn’t know what to do with the potatoes, so they are sitting in a couple of strawberry baskets on my counter.  Do I refrigerate them or not?

So, you would think this loot would be enough, right?  No, I had to go down to the farmer’s market and look for Kale.  I love Kale.  I also got a couple of peaches, some more lettuce, some more basil, and cherries!  I know we have a lot of fruit, but I was talked into this huge container of cherries for $4.  We have been eating them tonight for our dessert.