Recipe Reviews and CSA Week 3

It occurred to me after my last post about CSA goodies, that I probably should have let you know what I thought of the recipes I tried. So here goes.

Rhubarb Pickles
This recipe I got from a magazine. It was ok. A little heavy on the cloves for my taste. But it was a nice change of pace from the usual rhubarb goodies. If you want the recipe let me know and I will get it for you.

Rhubarb Crisp
I LOVED this recipe. A lot of sugar, so of course it's good. :) I liked that there was the crumb topping on the top and bottom. I made this recipe again this week with our newest batch of rhubarb. This time I used coconut oil instead of butter and added 3 T of ground flax seed. I know that doesn't make this a health food, but it doesn't hurt to sneak in some good stuff.

Lettuce Wraps
This was ok. I didn't have mushrooms or water chestnuts,  but I doubt that made a huge difference. It tasted basically like teriyaki. Not exactly what I was going for. But it was fine.

This week we got lettuce, rhubarb and eggs for our CSA. I miss the asparagus already. As I mentioned, I used the rhubarb in another crisp. The lettuce... well, I've been meaning to eat it, but it's just been pretty busy around here since we got it. But I will be eating it soon. I'm sure just as salad. But if you have a tasty recipe that you would like me to try out, I would be more than happy too.

Chicago, Maverick Style

This past May we went to Chicago for a Maverick event. It was awesome that it was in Chicago because I got to spend some time with my sister while Ben attended the work sessions. I joined in on the fun stuff though.

Wednesday night was so much fun! And we almost missed it. Ben met my mom, the kids and I at the airport and went with us to my sister's. We left on the train to head back into the city. Well, there were signal issues on the tracks. The engineers had to manually change the switches, which took a long time. It started to get frustrating. We were literally 200m from the station, but we couldn't get off. And by the time we got to the station we had to RUN to the hotel to make the event. Luckily it was one where we were supposed to wear comfortable clothes. So glad we made it! It was a roller derby event. And since it was Mavericks, it was us doing the derby. We spent some time doing drills and learning how to safely fall and stop. Then we split into teams and had a few rounds. So much fun! I would almost think about joining a team. Almost.

Thursday morning I headed back on the train to my sister's to spend the day with her and Asher and my kids. I had a fun time with them. After dinner, Krys brought me to the station so I could head back into the city for some more Maverick fun. As we were approaching the station, I saw that the arms were down. Uh-oh. So I raced from the car, ran around the arms, raced towards the station, tore open the doors to the train and launched myself inside just as the train started to leave the station. Talk about excitement! But I made it.

Thursday night we were instructed to show up in costume. Usually there is a theme. Not this time. It seemed like you could dress up like anything. When we were dressed up (me in a school girl costume and Ben as a coach) we headed down to the lobby. And there the theme was revealed - zombies! They had hired make-up artists to come and make us all into zombies. Then we hit the town. It was so much fun! A little freaky, but fun.

Friday we had a lake tour and then went and played whirly ball. Another fun day. I love Maverick trips.

CSA Fun Weeks 1 & 2

For years we have been saying it. Now we're actually doing it. This year we have joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). We picked one that had a pickup at our local Farmer's Market. Not only is that close to us, it will also help us to visit the market weekly.

This year has been a slow start for farmers here in MN. Therefore, our CSA boxes have been pretty light so far. But it has been yummy! Both weeks we have gotten asparagus, eggs, rhubarb, and lettuces.

Here's what I've made with our goodies:
Rhubarb pickles
Rhubarb Crisp
Lettuce Wraps

Asparagus and eggs we have just eaten as usual.