Local Produce Box: Week 9

Our first produce box after our vacation was a real treat: cucumber, potatoes, green peppers, grape tomatoes, field tomatoes, zucchini, corn, onions, beets, carrots, cantaloupe, cabbage, and chum.

Have you ever heard of chum? I hadn't, so I did a little research and learned that they are a hybrid of plums and cherries. They have a pit inside and a very bitter plum taste. I was not overly keen on them, but the girls loved them.

The cantaloupe was absolutely delicious, perfectly sweet. I did not even know that they grew cantaloupe in Canada. Many years ago when we were in Costa Rica for vacation we saw fields and fields of cantaloupe growing under the tropical sun and I never would of thought that these melons would grow here in the north. Thank you produce box for teaching me something else about local food.

I was happy to be back in the kitchen this week cooking up delicious meals for my family. Here is what I made:

(from left to right)

1. Cabbage and Carrot Coleslaw - one of my own creations. I cut up the cabbage, shredded some carrots, and diced up a little onion, mixed it all together, and dressed it with Honey Chive Dressing (recipe from The Forest Feast cookbook). 
2. Carrot "Noodle" Salad - recipe courtesy of The Forest Feast for Kids. The recipe calls for the carrots to be cut into "noodles" using a spiralizer (which I just bought and was trying for the first time). Unfortunately this tool seems to work better with fatter carrots, and with the exception of one carrot, the carrots that came in the produce box were too thin. I will try making this salad again when I have fatter carrots on hand, but have to say that even though the presentation was a little off, the salad was delicious.
3. Tomato and Cucumber Salad with Basil - another one of my creations: tomato, cucumber, fresh basil from the garden, all dressed in olive oil. The girls gobbled it up.
4. Quinoa Zucchini Fritatta Muffins - recipe courtesy of The Forest Feast (where else?). These muffins are a little bit of work - you have to cook the quinoa and shred the zucchini first - but they are worth it...

We are right in the thick of the summer bounty now, with such great things coming in our produce box and from our garden....I'm so thankful for all these fresh fruits and vegetables...