Lufa Farms basket – Sept. 13, 2016

Today was the big day, my first Lufa Farms basket! Here’s a link to my meal plan and prep for this basket. So what did it look like when it finally arrived? Glad you asked! Behold!

And now, because it’s me, a wall of text about the above:

Here are my reflections on what came in my basket:

• Swag tote bag (free) — Because it was my first order, I got a free swag tote bag. I’d brought some bags with me, which is good, but it’s a nice little promotion and a good-quality bag.
• Red cabbage ($3.75) — Nice size cabbage, tasty, enough for my potluck meal on Friday and probably 3-4 servings of the warm salad I made tonight (more on that later).
• Toasted coconut slices ($3.50) — A fun snack, or could be a nice salad topper! The bag held about 2 cups of pieces. Definitely concentrated coconut taste, so a little goes a long way. It’ll last me for a while.
• Yellow peaches ($2.90) — A bit of blemishing on the top, but otherwise firm and ripe. They’re pretty huge, so one pound was two peaches, of which we’ve already eaten one. Oops.
• Paula red apple (free sample) — Very nice apple! Ripe, crisp, and sweet. Definitely would order this again.
• Orange pepper ($2.50) — A huge orange pepper, firm and perfectly ripe.
• Surprise herbs ($3.00) — This turned out to be a bag of mint. While the package was pretty big, it was already kinda wilted and about a third of it wasn’t really useable. I had enough to make some yogurt dip (more on that later) and probably 2-3 cups of tea.
• Cherry tomatoes ($5.00) — These are actually really tasty. Marc and I started snacking on them right out of the container. I’m trying to decide if $5.00 is too steep for me to want to order them again.
• Surprise microgreens ($2.75) — These leaked in my bag on the way home. (Oops.) In any case, they came still planted in soil but I harvested them all today so I could take them to work. There’s about a half-cup of greens in there. I have no idea what type of microgreens they are, but they’re fairly bitter.
• Goat cheese ($6.90) — It’s only 175 g (6 oz), but a little goes a long way. It’s really good.
• Spring mix ($3.75) — Not so much a mix as all of the same type of green, which I haven’t quite been able to identify. It’s fairly mild and has quite a lot of stems. I had to pick out some wilted leaves, but otherwise the quality seems pretty good. Should serve me for at least two lunch salads.
• Not pretty, but quite tasty ($3.00) — Nice haul! We got a pint of absolutely delicious cherry tomatoes, two yellow zucchini (a little soft but otherwise fine), three small unripe tomatoes, one extremely overripe apple (unusuable — I threw it out immediately), and an orange pepper (a little soft but still perfectly edible). Definitely a great deal at $3.00, given that the pepper itself is $2.50, the zucchini is $2.75 each, and the cherry tomatoes are $5.00. So even if I don’t eat the apple and unripe tomatoes, I’m still getting $13.00 of food for $3.00. Great deal!

So that’s what I got. I brought everything home by 5:30 and spent the next hour and a half in the kitchen doing… stuff. I’m sure I could have been faster, but I was a little overwhelmed and also trying to make recipes I’d never done before. Here’s what I did:

• Searched for recipes for what to do with the zucchini and unripe tomatoes. Hit upon this dip recipe for the zucchini and mint, still no clue what to do with the tomatoes.
• Repackaged the coconut in a tupperware to take to work.
• Pulled the leaves off the mint and set on a paper towel lined plate for drying.
• Harvested the microgreens and put them in a container with a paper towel to take to work.
• Picked through the spring mix for wilted leaves and put the rest in a container with a paper towel to take to work.
• Cut the two orange peppers into strips for crudités.
• Cut the two zucchini and roasted them with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Sadly, I discovered that a roasting time of ten minutes is far too long and I kinda burnt the first tray.
• Cut up the cabbage and set aside half for my potluck on Friday.
• Cooked this warm cabbage salad recipe for supper tonight.
• Prepared this dip to go with all the veggies.

I feel I could have made more productive use of my time. Still, not bad for a first attempt. Note that all the above prep made a lot of dishes. My sink was overflowing! Also, I think I used up well over half my tupperwares, and the fridge is really full right now. Ah, well. It’s a good problem to have. (Except for the dishes. That’s an annoying problem to have. Also, I need to buy more tupperwares.)

Recipe review #1: Warm red cabbage salad 
This recipe was incredibly tasty. I only used half the cabbage so we got a more “stuff” filled salad than was perhaps intended, but that’s perfectly okay in my book. Marc and I were both surprised at how filling it was. I’m keeping this one, with one caveat…
Warning: do not add the balsamic vinegar according to the directions in the link!
The recipe calls for you to heat up oil in a sauté pan and then add balsamic vinegar and garlic. Do not do this! The balsamic vinegar acts like water, and you will get hot oil spattering everywhere! (I should have seen this coming. I wasn’t thinking. Mea culpa.) Don’t be like me, people. Add the balsamic when you add the cabbage.

Recipe review #2: Zucchini, mint, and yogurt dip
Also very tasty! A little thinner than I expected, but hopefully it’ll firm up in the fridge a bit.

I figured that since I had the zucchini and some mint anyway, and a ton of crudités ready for eating (cucumbers from Friday’s “good food market”, orange pepper, cherry tomatoes, etc.), I might as well use what I had to make an extra dip for them. I used all the tiny mint pieces that were too small to make good tea, the zucchini I accidentally roasted too long, and some Baltic-style yogurt because that’s what I had on hand. Also a squeeze of lemon juice instead of lemon zest, because I didn’t have fresh lemons. Very easy to make in the “food processor” attachment of my immersion blender. Made about a cup of dip.

So that’s where things stand. Will I do another Lufa order? Probably yes. But I’m definitely gonna make some changes. The microgreens and “surprise” herbs probably aren’t worth it, and I’m not sure if I’d do the spring mix again. On the other hand, the “not pretty, but tasty” basket is a great deal and I would do that again in a heartbeat. Maybe even two orders’ worth.

And now, to collapse and write stories. Until next week!

Tagged: batch cooking, lufa farms