Going Green: CSA Baskets

CSA baskets are an awesome way to not only save money on fresh produce, but also a unique way to "green" your lifestyle. For those of you who may not know, CSA stands for "Community Supported Agriculture." It's generally a group of people who "pool" their money to buy produce that is as local as possible and generally comes from small farmers. This keeps costs down and makes our carbon footprint as small as possible! As part of our goal to eat as natural as possible we bought our first organic basket (in the past we've always bought the traditional basket). It's always a surprise as to what our basket for the week might contain and it's almost like Christmas when we get it home and go through it! Here's a picture of the different fruits and veggies we got:

As you can see we got quite the selection! The best part is that everything was 100% organic! Included were peaches, plums, bananas, mangoes, watermelon, chard, radishes, celery, cabbage, artichokes, strawberries, grapes, and carrots. To use our basket effectively we wait to go grocery shopping until after we go through the basket and then find recipes that call for the different fruits and veggies included. This week we plan on making a veggie soup, making a cabbage/ramen salad from my sister's blog, and pureeing some of the fruits for Jackson's baby food. Below are two baby food recipes using food from our basket. If you're interested in getting your own basket and live in AZ, ID, WY, NV, TX, UT, or WA go to http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/. Enjoy!

Pureed Carrots

Steam one bag of organic baby carrots for 30-35 minutes. Place steamed carrots in a food processor and puree until finely ground. Add water, breast milk, or formula to thin the carrot puree to a consistency your baby can handle. Pour puree into baby food cubes or a silicone ice cube tray. Let cool to room temperature before transferring trays to freezer. Freeze until solid. Puree will remain fresh for up to 3 months.

Pureed Plums

Steam six juicy plums for 4-6 minutes or until soft. Remove skins and discard. Place plum flesh into food processor and puree. Add rice cereal to thicken the texture of the puree to a consistency your baby can handle. Transfer puree to ice cube trays or baby food cubes and place in freezer. Puree will remain fresh for up to 3 months.