Loooong Day Dinner

Let's say that it's Monday night. Let's say that it's the kind of Monday night that makes you wonder if there's any way to make it through the rest of the week that doesn't involve hard drugs or playing hooky. Let's say that it's the kind of Monday night when the thought of working hard for a meal is the WORST THING YOU CAN THINK OF, and when a salad for dinner is definitely not going to cut it.  Take a deep breath, open a beer, chop up some bacon and toss it in a pan. The bacon, not the beer. You are drinking the beer. Ahhhhh. Aren't you feeling better already?

This is one of my go-to-lazy-night-but-gotta-use-some-of-those-CSA-veggies meals. Leave a little bit of the bacon grease in your pan and throw in a sliced onion. Let that sucker simmer along with some red pepper flakes, whatever herbs you're feeling, and enough garlic to make your house smell like heaven. And while it simmers, start up a big pot of pasta. When your onion is beautiful and caramelized and making your mouth water, toss in a nice big pile of chopped greens. Chard is my favorite, but half of your CSA can probably go in here - kale, beet greens, spinach, collards! After your greens wilt, pour in a tablespoon or two or balsamic vinegar and however much salt and pepper you need, and let the whole thing simmer for a few more minutes.

Toss your pasta with some olive oil and then dump it into your pot of greens. Throw in those crumbly bits of bacon and give it a stir. Grate a boatload of parmesan on top. 

Ahhhhh. You're going to make it through the week after all.

tonight's adventure...

included: sautéing green and wax beans to save, boiling potatoes (to make potato salad tomorrow), and drinking a beer while making a crazy rice dish with everything else in my veggie store.


to keep a CSA without wasting vegetables, ya gotta go for the rule of three (brain-child of l.koenig):

- cook
- keep
or
- share

*Cook is pretty self-explanatory: Ya cook it! or else make a plan for your meals in the week. *Keeping can be trickier-- this is where you preserve said vegetable somehow to prevent it from rotting. Your kept food is to feed yourself at a later date (possibly web it's too cold for fresh veggies arriving in bushels on your doorstep). *Sharing may be the best on the list. Also pretty self-explanatory, this is where you gce your lovely local fresh veggies away (and spread the fresh/local food movement, by proxy).

Tonight I went for cook and share. the remainder of my CSA this week will go to my adorable Portuguese grandmother to become all manner of delicious; though, probably with more meat!

Now I just gotta learn how to keep!

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Tonight's rice dish: