Here’s how to make it:

Chop and combine the following veggies, all measurements are approximate.

• 1 cup red cabbage slices
• 1 cup green cabbage slices
• 1-2 carrots
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• 2 tbs black sesame sees (optional)

Then mix in the following flavors, again all is approximate.

• 2+ tbs olive oil
• 1-2 tbs rice vinegar
• scant 1 tsp honey or agave
• salt and pepper to taste

Let the mixture mingle for about 1/2 hour before serving. This will keep for a few days in the fridge.

Here is my mushroom patch. It is in the rubbermaid bin to keep spores from dirtying the carpet. The mister bottle is to the right. The plastic beyond the mister bottle is a humidity tent, and the skewers in the patch help hold the tent up. You can see a new mushroom at the right of the far end of the patch.

Here is one shiitake mushroom that I clipped from the patch.

The kit came with a number of recipes, but so far I've just been sauteeing the mushrooms in a bit of oil or butter. It's delicious.

I have read that the stems get too tough for cooking, so I boil the stems for soup stock. I then freeze the stock for future use.

Here’s my shitake cooking recipe so far.

Ingredients

• fresh shiitake mushrooms
• oil or butter

Directions

• Wash the mushrooms
• Cut off their stalks, save for boiling in water to make soup stock
• Slice caps in half, then cut into sections
• Heat oil or butter in pan on medium-low
• Add mushrooms
• Sautee until done.  The color will change and they will cook down.
• Serve hot

Mmmmmmm…..

I did learn that tomatoes will ripen in your house just as easily as on the vine. The taste is not quite as good, but still far superior to store bought tomatoes.

I ended up with about 6 boxes of tomatoes and have been enjoying them since.

Here are some tips on freezing corn.

• The first step is to get some good ears. Get to know your vendor. Choose ears that have been kept cold. Avoid ones with “dry” cut ends. With fresh corn, the silk will still be moist. It should be brown, but not black. The husk should feel tight.

• DO NOT PEEL THE HUSK BACK! This is a big no no because it ruins the ear for anyone else. If you feel the need to peel it back — buy it. The husk keeps the kernels moist and fresh.

• Ask WHEN it was picked. (You want to hear “last night” or “early this morning.”) Keep it cold. Bring a cooler and take it directly to your fridge.

• Before I get to husking, I get organized. I like to husk outside, so I pile up all my ears next to a clean pan for husked ears. I use a wheel barrow to throw all the husk and silk in.

• When I peel back the husk, I think the most efficient way to do it is to split the silk at the top and grab at least 1/3 of it firmly, then peel it off. Repeat this until you have it all off. If you just pull on the green parts, it will take forever. Grabbing from the silk ensures you will get most of that off at the same time.

(Make sure you keep an eye on your dogs while all this is happening.)

• While I husk, I put my biggest stock pots on the stove to boil. This time, I broke the ears in half before dropping them into the water. This allowed me to get 3x as many ears in the pot.

• Blanch the ears for NO MORE THAN 3 minutes.

• Take them out and drop them into cold water to stop the cooking. I use one half of my sink. (Make sure it’s sparkly clean.)

• Beside the sink, I have another set-up: a cutting board with a towel on top. The towel does a pretty good job of keeping the “corn juice” from bouncing all over the place.

• Make sure you hone your knife. In the 40 ears I cut, I stopped to clean and hone my knife three times.

• Try not to eat too much of your cut corn. It is y u m m y !

• As I cut, I transfer corn into a large bowl. I don’t bag it until the very end because I feel it is more efficient (unless you have a little helper that is willing to bag while you cut.)

• Bag in small freezer bags (just enough for one dinner), freeze and enjoy!

The first thing I did was stop by some cherry trees I’d noticed earlier in the week on a bike ride. I’d talked to the residents and they’d said I could grab as many cherries as I wanted. These were not as sweet or as big as cherries you’d get from the store, but still very edible.

After that, I got a cherry pitter and some scissors. I took the scissors to my garden and cut most of my normal basil (I have some cinnamon basil with which I’m still trying to figure out something to do). I made pesto:

• basil (stems are fine as long as you can chew them)
• olive oil
• parmesan cheese
• pine nuts

Stick it all in the food processor, chop it up and pesto you have! I forgot to put in some garlic, but it was still pretty good. You can see I only got about a 1/2 pint, but now it is in the freezer for some winter day when I want to spread it on toast.

After that, I made breakfast from some things I’d gotten from the CSA. This is stir fried zuchinni and onions, with some chard remnants tossed in at the end.

For lunch, I made pizza-dillas.

• tomato sauce
• shredded cheese
• dried salami
• tortillas

Place all ingredients on tortilla, heat in toaster oven until cheese is melted. Mmmmm.

I also tried a recipe from the CSA handout–baked kale:

• kale
• olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees wash the kale. Remove the stems. Mix enough olive oil with kale in bowl to coat kale lightly.  Spread kale on a ungreased baking dish. Make sure that the kale is only one level thick–I burned my kale because I put too much in it (some pieces were not crispy, so I left it in too long). Stick it in the oven, checking every 3-5 minutes for crispiness. At the end, it tastes a bit like a healthy potato chip. My SO suggested mixing the kale with bacon, which would of course make it taste better.

And finally, I pitted all the cherries. Originally, I was planning to dry them, but laziness got the better of me and I stuck them in jars in the freezer, to be enjoyed in a pie or on ice cream in the future.

What a day!

Here is what I do with some delicate vegetables:

• Cilantro – Put cilantro stems down in a mug with water, wrap a plastic produce bag around the outside. If you get the cilantro fresh, it could last for 2 weeks.
• Cucumber – Wrap the cucumber (either whole or in progress) in paper towel, then put it in a plastice produce bag or in a sealed tupperware. One of the more delicate veggies, this will probably only keep for a week.
• Mixed baby lettuce – Place a 1/2 paper towel on the bottom of one of the plastic storage containers the baby lettuce comes in from the store, or your own tupperware. Put the lettuce on top, make sure the leaves are loose. Put the other half paper towel on top, and seal the container.

You can also make some hearty vegetables last longer too!

• Cabbage – Wrap cabbage head in paper towel, then put in a plastic produce bag or in a sealed tupperware. This will keep the cabbage, including cut wedges, good (no brown spots!) for atleast 3 weeks.

If you try any of these at home, you can also use a clean lint-free dish cloth instead of a paper towel.

Tomato/Mozzarella Salad
4 ripe roma tomatoes, sliced 1/4-inch slices
4 balls of fresh whole mozzarella, sliced 1/4-inch slices
Fresh Basil
Balsamic Vinegar
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Arrange tomatoes, cheese and basil in alternating order around serving plate. Lightly drizzle oil and vinegar and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Serves 4.