Locavores delight

Boxes awaiting pick up

This week when  I went to my Green Cay CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) to pick up our vegetables, I took along my camera. Each member of the CSA who picks-up (as opposed to gets delivery) finds a labeled box on the table with their share for the week. The boxes are kept on tables under a canopy to help keep them fresh. 

The crop just beginning to grow looks like corn to me and I am getting excited by the thought of some really fresh corn. Although we have had delicious corn from The Boys Market,  I am sure that corn picked in the morning and driven 2 miles to my house and cooked for dinner will be the best we have had since we left Central New York. My house would not really be 2 miles from the pick up spot, if we could cross the canal and travel in a straight line through the fields. My house is just over the canal behind the silo in the back of the photo.

Once again, the heirloom cherry tomatoes were outstanding. We also received regular tomatoes, zucchini, broccoli, romaine, carrots, and bell peppers. J has discovered how good fresh raw vegetables taste with hummus, so the veggies disappear from the refrigerator. Although the weather has slowed the output a bit for this time of the year, we are still getting more than enough vegetables to last us until the next box arrives. In fact, there is the usual surplus of zucchini. Did you ever hear of a farm that didn't have lots of zucchini? I think I will have to make and freeze more zucchini muffins to be sure that I don't waste the food.

Too many bananas!

Here in Delray Beach, The Boys Farmers Market is famous for the outstanding selection of produce, the high quality prepared foods and baked goods, and the insanity of the crowds in such a small space. Outside The Boys, there is a stand where they sell their overstock and over-ripe produce for $1 a bag. Jerry always stops and checks it out to see what kind of bargains he can find. And they are bargains, perfectly usable food - if you can consume them right away. Often there are bananas in bags there and we do eat a lot of bananas. But, with half a dozen bananas waiting in the freezer to be used, this most recent purchase may have been too many bananas. I am trying not to waste food, which means I have to use up those overripe fruits today!

Breakfast was the first meal of my attempt and although we usually eat a lighter breakfast, this morning we had banana pancakes. My neighbor just yesterday gave me a copy of "La Dolce Vegan" by Sarah Kramer. I always try to research recipes on the Internet as well, and found several sites with recipes for banana pancakes, supposedly from the same book. However, the recipe in the book varies significantly from the recipe online attributed to Sarah Kramer's book. I have rewritten a recipe as I made it this morning.

Banana Pancakes

1 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
dash of salt
1 cup “milk”
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 banana
2 tablespoons sugar
maple syrup
fresh blueberries

In a medium bowl, stir the flour, baking powder and salt together. In the bowl of a food processor, add the milk, oil, banana, and sugar and buzz until smooth. Pour the wet mixture into the flour mixture and stir gently until just combined. (About 20 circles around the bowl with a spoon.)

Heat a non-stick griddle or lightly oiled or non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Using a 1-cup measure or ladle, pour about 3/4 cup of batter for each pancake onto the pan. Be sure to leave enough room for the pancakes to expand and for flipping them over. Cover the pan and cook over medium heat until the centers start to bubble. The bottoms should be golden brown. Flip the pancakes over and cook on the other side for a couple of minutes. Keep cooked pancakes warm and repeat cooking process until the batter is gone.

Serve with maple syrup and a garnish of fresh blueberries.

Now what else am I going to do with nearly a dozen bananas?