Hello Everyone!

Here we are, in the middle of the summer session of River Road Gardens CSA, and it's too hot to cook. We are enjoying luscious tomatoes, squash, eggplants, herbs, onions, melon and peppers from the farm distributed each week by Jon and Emily and Carman. Weekly recipes had been part of the routine earlier in the spring, with gentle reminders of volunteer opportunities, but with the advent of the warmer weather and the more familiar vegetables, I let that slide. But I've been thinking about my vegetables, and the way I use them. I'm not a formal cook: most of what I prepare is cobbled together from what I have on hand. I don't read cookbooks and prepare my list from recipes before I go to the store: I cook what I have. So, instead of providing formal recipes to the CSA membership, I decided to start a blog that describes how I used the vegetables I received in the distribution from the previous week. Since the distribution is similar from week to week, you should be able to try some of my ideas if you like them. I'll try to describe my concoctions clearly, but keep in mind that everything I cook, and probably everything you cook, is to taste. You might decide to leave out certain ingredients in favor of others. I hope to provide mealtime ideas as a springboard to using up that extra zucchini. One detail: I'm vegetarian. I use cheese, milk and eggs, but no meat. I don't even know how to cook meat. So, if you use meat, you'll have to know from experience how to work it into the meals you create. Happy cooking, everyone, and see you at the farm!