The CSA Bounty Gets Bigger

This week when I picked up my CSA share, I was surprised to realize that I should have brought more than one bag to haul home the goods. The first few weeks, the harvest was a bit sparse, but this week my bag was jam-packed with homegrown, organic goodness. Of course, some of that was thanks to others who passed up the goodies...but that's just their loss and my gain. Here's what I brought home.

• 2 large bunches of kale
• 1 bunch of chard
• 2 heads of a new kind of lettuce
• 1 small bunch of scallions
• .02 lbs oregano
• 1 bulb of new garlic
  

As always, I'm looking forward to making something new with chard, which looks like this:

(That was for P, who wasn't sure what it looked like.) On the other hand, I'm going to have to find some kale recipes, because I've never eaten it before. I'm assuming it's like all the other greens I've had and that I do similar things with it, but any suggestions are welcome.

There's been plenty of oregano, and I was overwhelmed by it for a while, but I'm learning more about its flavor and what I can use it for. I've only ever used the dry stuff, and to be honest, I think this fresh oregano tastes completely different than any oregano I've ever had. It actually has a bit of a spicy, peppery kick to it. I used it under the skin of a roasted chicken, tossed it with my salad greens, added it to a chard sauté and sprinkled some on a tomato salad (which I'll post about tomorrow). I dried some, too, but now I'm hoping we have a few more weeks of the fresh stuff coming in our shares. I'd like to experiment some more before its all gone.

I'm getting behind on my scallion use. Probably because I'm using spring onions a lot these days. I need to figure out how to use up a bunch of them over the next few days. (Again, suggestions are welcome.) Maybe I can find a recipe that uses kale and scallions...kill two vegetables with one dish.

Too much lettuce has had me a bit sick of the stuff, but now that the lettuce season is winding down I'm finally getting more creative with my dressings and toppings, which is making the lettuce much more bearable.

Hope you're eating well this summer!