CSA Week Eight. Reason 2153 why I like vegetables from the farm more than take out.

It is a very good thing that work slowed down because it has become increasingly difficult to leave my house in the morning. I mean, how can I stop staring at this?

But Karl's Farm never rests. Week Eight brought the following:

• zucchini
• blue and white potatoes
• green beans
• sweet onions
• green pepper
• yellow squash
• cucumbers
• cherry tomatoes

I decided to get all boring. I pulled out some chicken boobs and added my favorite Penzeys for chicken -- lemon pepper (a shout out to my dad!) and Old World seasoning, then fired up the grill.

I stared and stared and stared at the bounty, feeling zero creativity. I finally went with the squash, pepper, onions, and cherry tomatoes...

... chopped the pepper, sliced the onions ....

... and, to show you I am not limited to dark and stormies or Stella, cracked open a chilled zero-calorie raspberry Steaz, the other Tupper Butler house favorite.

Made with green tea! Fizzy! And look at all those B vitamins!

Then I chopped and washed some dino kale recently picked up at the Whole Foods -- albeit a bit reluctantly. I love my farm delivery, but I needed some leaves.

Dino kale is short of dinosaur kale, apparently due to the texture of its leaves:

I like dino kale as it is easier to clean, but it usually comes in a smaller bunch. I do NOT boil dino kale first, not even for a minute. It cooks very quickly. So, with the kale washed and cut, the vegetables cut, and the garlic minced, I readied two pans with olive oil: one with garlic for the kale, and one with the onions and peppers for the squash. 

With the chicken on the grill and the hour getting late (does that really say almost 9 o'clock?!?), I pulled out my secret ingredient for cooking vegetables quickly.

I added the squash and Penzeys MURAL OF FLAVOR, which, as my dear friend Abbey taught me, makes absolutely everything imaginable more delicious. I stirred it all together a bit, then added enough broth to cover the bottom of the pan. This is an excellent trade off for avoiding oil calories, mind you.

In too went the kale to its pan, with water from its bowl washings remaining on the leaves.

Meanwhile, the chicken breasts (which had been flipped) were ready, so off the grill with them.

The kale was ready in about five minutes, while the squash took the longest (poor planning on my part), but eventually began to break down, so I added the washed cherry tomatoes and a lid to allow the steam to break down the tomatoes while the squash finished cooking.

About 5 to 8 minutes later, I sliced a farmer's market tomato and an avocado, and dinner was ready, with only about half an hour passing from unpacking the CSA basket to staring at this on my plate.

And that, my friends, came together faster than one could have take-out delivered.