Inspiration from my CSA box

While I was at the post-race expo for the Girls on the Go Half Marathon at Mission Bay, San Diego I visited the booth for Farm Fresh To You, a locally based CSA. For those who are unfamiliar with the concept of a CSA or Community Supported Agriculture, Local Harvest's website has a good explanation:

Here are the basics: a farmer offers a certain number of "shares" to the public. Typically the share consists of a box of vegetables, but other farm products may be included. Interested consumers purchase a share (aka a "membership" or a "subscription") and in return receive a box (bag, basket) of seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season.

In my first box, delivered on Monday I received the following:

I paid $25 and the produce was of amazing quality!  If you are in the area, I suggest that you look into this CSA and you can use my code JURI6685 and get $10 off your first order! 

The produce I got inspired me to reach out of my comfort zone to try a few recipes.
The gold chard was a new vegetable to me, and I wasn't certain how to cook with it.  A quick internet search later and I found a ham and swiss chard recipe.  The swiss chard was delicious but had a slightly slimy texture to it.  I think I'll try making soup with it the next time it comes in my CSA box.  

Ham with Swiss Chard

I ate the fruit and avocados as they were, sharing some with my family.  Others, like the cantaloupe were almost TOO GOOD to share, but I'm lucky that I'm the only one in the house that likes melons!  The german butterball and squash were eaten tonight, in a big weekend dinner.  I made PaleOMG's bacon meatballs , Oven Roasted German Butterball Potatoes with roasemary (recipe from Carpe Cibus who ALSO recieved their first german butterball's in a CSA box!) and followed the recipe for Roasted Yellow Squash from Skinnytaste.com.  

Bacon Meatballs, potatoes with rosemary and roasted squash

All three recipes used the oven, but it was a cool spring day in San Diego so I could risk letting the house heat up a little.  I also minimized the oven time, but starting the potatoes first (roast for an hour) and then half way through their cooking time I put in the meatballs (20 mins in the oven) and the Squash (15 mins).  The oven was on for only 1 hour.

I have not cooked like this in a while, due to an increased work, school and volunteer load.  But with summer approaching and all the wonderful vegetables that come between now and fall I feel the siren call of the kitchen again.  I think this CSA will be the inspiration I need to start cooking!