How To Empty Your Box – August 26/27

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Each week, we send you a new box, with items that you may or may not be familiar with.  The Chef Box can take some recipe research to figure out how to use every ingredient.  Our Garden Box however is our most accessible option.  Most of the ingredients you don’t even have to cook.  Here are some ideas on how to use the Garden Box delivered August 26-27.

Gala Apples:

The crisp beauties we’ve been sending just need a quick rinse before you gobble them down.  Or, you can slice, dunk in nut-butter and eat. If you’re craving something different, try our take on baked apple chips.

Corn: 

Summer corn doesn’t need much prep to be delicious.  Once you clean off the husk and silk, simply boil in a pot of water while the rest of your dinner cooks.  Or, you can make a corn salsa, like this one here.

Hanover Tomatoes:

Slice ‘em and put them on a sandwich.  No bread?  Top with basil, mozzerella, olive oil and balsamic for an easy and crowd pleasing caprese salad.

White Potatoes:

Wrapping in aluminum foil and baking until soft is as easy as it gets!  If you have a grater handy though, why not try home made hash browns?

Green Beans:

Sautéed with garlic and olive oil until tender, or if you’re feeling more ambitious, how about Crispy Baked String Bean Fries?  They’ll have you forgetting all about french fries!

Yellow Peaches:

Wash and eat!  Or, if you’re able to resist long enough, how about a homemade peach sorbet?

Hydroponic Bibb Lettuce:

Lettuce doesn’t usually pose much of a challenge, just chop up for use in a salad or use the leaves on a sandwich.  Extra time?  You can sauté vegetables and a protein of your choice and use leaves as lettuce wraps, an example can be found here.

How to Empty your Box

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Garden Box delivered August 19-20, 2015:
containing
Loose Carrots
Gala Apples
Green Beans
Yellow Squash
Mixed Color Bell Peppers
Yellow Peaches
Hydroponic Bibb Lettuce
Easy and moderate ways to use all the ingredients in your box this week.
Loose Carrots
  • Easy:  Wash, peel, and chop.  You can eat these chopped up on salads, or cut into carrot sticks and dipped into hummus or some other dip.
  • Moderate: Wash, and then turn into garlic roasted beauties using this recipe here.
Gala Apples:
  • Easy:  Wash and eat!  Or, wash, slice, dunk in nut-butter and eat.
  • Moderate: Baked apple chips.  A simple example recipe can be found here.
Green Beans:
  • Easy: Sautéed, recipe here.
  • Moderate: Crispy Baked String Bean Fries, recipe here.
Yellow Squash: 
  • Easy: Sliced and Roasted
  • Moderate: Brownie Bites, both recipes here.
Mixed Color Bell Peppers:
  • Easy: Wash, slice and dunk in dressing or hummus.
  • Moderate: Stuffed peppers, recipe here.
Yellow Peaches:
  • Easy: Wash and eat!
  • Moderate: Peach sorbet, recipe here.
Hydroponic Bibb Lettuce:
  • Easy: Chop up in a salad or use the leaves on a sandwich.
  • Moderate:  Sauté vegetables and a protein of your choice and use leaves as lettuce wraps, an example can be found here.

“I Am Too Busy to Cook”

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There are 24 hours in a day.  For a typical person, 8 of those hours should be spent sleeping.  At least another 8 usually go to some form of work, be it in an office, at the house, chasing kids, or some other commitment.  That’s two-thirds of your day that are accounted for.  Plus, there are appointments, traffic, errands and day-to-day obligations that keep us busy.  Oh and Americans?  We fill our days more full than most other industrialized countries.  Don’t even get us started on how busy days are for parents.  Kids bring along their own set of time commitments; playdates, soccer matches, swim practice, homework, meals, etc.  So, that means when dinner rolls around, many of us are already exhausted.  That’s why we regularly hear from folks that they’re forgoing fresh food from us because they “are too busy to cook.” Prepared meals or fast food is often easier.  Yes, we won’t argue.  We also know that you care about feeding your family healthful, fresh and tasty food, but sometimes doing so seems like such a hurtle.  Take a deep breath and keep reading, we’re here to help.

First, try a basic basket.  Pick items that you’re relatively familiar with to get your feet wet.  Slice cucumbers for dipping, tomatoes for sandwiches, and our fruit just needs a rinse!

Second, try these time saving tips to have the best of both worlds. This is especially true because our food is local and in-season.  It automatically has more flavor which means it takes less effort on your end.

–Plan.  When our menu comes out on Friday, sit down and make a list for the week.  It doesn’t take long.  Jot down the meals that most of the family will be at home for.  Start, by plugging in the vegetables that will arriving on delivery day.  Then, finish off the meals with the protein of your choice (you can skip the store entirely by doing so from our list of extras.)  This may seem silly, but planning on the weekend when you have more time will save you loads of time during the week.  Driving home from work or a long day is not the time to think about dinner for the first time.  If you already have it written down, you can go through the pre-planned motions once you get home rather than having to start from scratch.

–Prep – Have two recipes that call for diced onions?  Dice all of your onion at once and store the extra for the second recipe.  Why pull out the cutting board twice?

-Look up easy recipes.  We love Pinterest, and our Pinterest page has recipes organized by basket item.  Everyone is busy, and thankfully there are some wonderful folks who have shared their easy (and often kid-friendly) ways to cook fruits and vegetables.  Don’t forget that you can substitute ingredients if the recipe calls for something you don’t have on hand.

-Love thy crockpot.  If you can wake up just a few minutes earlier, you can have dinner finished before you even leave the house.  Soups, dips and stews – oh my!  Plus, you can cook in bulk and freeze any left overs for the really busy days.

–Recruit Your Kids (or spouse, or roommate) – Cooking in the kitchen can be a great way to bond.  Young kids can wash the produce, and older ones can peel and chop.  Oh and spouse/roommates?  Delegate!  Two chefs are better than one, and that way cooking doesn’t feel like ignoring quality time, it just becomes part of it.

One final note: using our service actually saves you time in the long run. We narrow down your options by offering only what’s in season, which means you don’t have to do the typical brainstorming which often consists of “So, how about green beans again?” Plus, you’ll be in and out of the store quicker, only buying what you need to supplement your basket items.  Want more ideas on how to save time in the kitchen?  Check out this article  from life hacker.