Eat Your Veggies

We had kale for dinner last night. Kale. I've never bought kale before. I've never cooked kale before. I'm not even sure I like kale...although, the stuff we had for dinner was pretty tasty. I hear it's really good for you, too. So, why, you ask, kale? Yesterday we received our first order of veggies from Annie's Organic Produce, a buying club that recently came to our attention, and as you may have already guessed, there was kale.

We joined the club last tuesday after seeing someone else's box of produce. It looked good, so we thought we'd give it a try. We picked our box up at a near-by health food store and this is what was in it:

• Strawberries
• Black Mission Figs
• Ginger Gold Apples
• Green Goose Pluots
• Bananas
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Slicing Tomatoes
• Baby Chioggia Striped Candy Cane Beets--traded out for an extra tomato!
• Lacinato Dino Kale
• Broccoli
• Red Peppers
• Green Leaf Lettuce
• Brussels Sprouts
• Scallions
• Parsley
• Celery
• Garnett Sweet Potato Yams

I was disappointed that very little of the produce was locally grown. The bananas were from Ecuador. The strawberries, figs, and cherry tomatoes were from California. I'd like less miles on my food, but I understand the Florida growing season has hardly gotten started. Overall, the produce was fresh, in good condition, and everything we've tried thus far has been delicious. Now, the challenge lies in planning meals with what came in the box. The kale made a great side dish to a couple of balsamic vinaigrette marinated chicken breasts. I looked at Bobby Flay's recipe to get me started and then improvised. Tonight, I'll be stuffing a couple of the peppers with leftover chicken, whole wheat couscous, and various veggies from the box. Jeff nor I really like sweet potatoes, so it'll take a little creativity to make them edible...but I already have an idea. For detailed recipes, check out my other page: What's for Dinner?