Perfectly Imperfect Produce

This summer we have been splitting a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box with a family friend, and it has been a fantastic experience.  We have received everything from kohlrabi and garlic scapes, beets and potatoes, and  now on to swiss chard, cauliflower, and carrots.  The day I realized how much I loved our Featherstone Farm CSA was one of the first mornings I tried out my new frittata making skills on Ryan.  I was washing and ripping up some kale to be sauteed in butter, when I noticed little holes in some of the leaves.  It warmed my heart to know that this produce was so perfect and nutritious, that it was now imperfect.  How often have you found holes in your store bought spinach or beet leaves?  Not to many thanks to pesticides.

Like so many other CSA members, each week we are faced with the question, "what do we do with it?"  Here's what we've been making:

Breakfast Frittatas with kale, chard, or spinach.  Then topped with Goat Cheese (not from CSA).

Sauteed Kohlrabi with garlic and lemon

Yogurt Veggie dip with CSA diced onion, garlic and dill,  eaten with CSA snap peas

Stir Fry and Curry with zucchini, snow peas, and cauliflower

Salads...no brainer for the leaf lettuce

Roasted Beets and Broccoli

Dilled Potato Salad  and German Potato Salad

Beef Pot Roast with CSA carrots and garlic

Cucumber, Tomato, and Sardine salad with olive oil and lemon juice vinaigrette

The produce we receive from Featherstone farm is so precious to me, I hate to waste any of it.  Not only did I roast the beets, but the greens found their way into several morning scrambles.  Not wanting to even waste the cauliflower leaves, I discovered that both cauliflower and broccoli are related to collard greens.  Therefore you can cook their leaves in a similar fashion.  Unlike collards which have very little flavor, the cauliflower leaves still retain their very distinct flavor when simmered for 45 min.
The summer is already half over, and I'm sad that soon we will no longer be receiving our perfectly imperfect produce.