There were leeks in our bag this week.  Not leaks.  Leeks.  And they kind of remind me of a certain Muppet. 

See what I’m saying?

This week’s newsletter announced that our CSA farm is close to having 600 CSA members.  They’ve been working to build their membership levels and have even cut down on some of their wholesale accounts so they can focus on putting good things in our weekly bags.  It’s really neat to be a part of this local food movement, and it’s wonderful to see it take off like this.

They keep talking about the triticale crop in the newsletters.  I had no idea what triticale was, but it sounded magical.  I pictured some sort of brilliantly colored leafy green, like a kale or chard, only unlike kale or chard it would taste amazing and I’d love it and want to eat it all the time, and it would, of course, have insane health benefits.  I thought triticale would change my world.  I finally looked it up.  It’s some sort of wheat/rye hybrid.  Boring.  And I can’t eat it anyway.  Sigh.  How could anyone give something as boring as a wheat/rye hybrid a name cool and vibrant as triticale?

Here’s what’s in this week’s bag:

• Tomato Berries - These guys are so cool!  They are strawberry shaped tomatoes that are slightly larger than cherry tomatoes, and have the taste and texture of a big old juicy beefsteak tomato.  I made a great salsa with them, some of my cherry tomatoes, onion, garlic, some long red slims (peppers) from my garden, a poblano pepper from my garden, and a bell pepper from the CSA.  We ate this enormous batch of salsa in two days.  It was awesome!
• Cucumbers - More cucumber salad.  Just a little oil, salt, pepper and lemon juice over sliced, seeded cukes.  So simple, and so good!
• Zucchini - I made some zucchini muffins with Gluten-Free Pantry Spice Cake Mix and about a cup and a half of shredded zucchini. And also added some to the garden vegetable baked ziti we had last night.
• Yellow Squash - Ziti
• Leeks - Ziti + there are 2 left that I’m considering slicing and putting on the dehydrator to see what happens.  I think the slices would be good in soups this winter, or if they turn into powder, I can use it as a seasoning, like granulated garlic or onion flakes.
• Green Bell Pepper - We got two.  One went in the ziti and the other went in the salsa.  Hoping to get more next week to stuff.
• Hungarian Banana Hot Peppers - Salsa.  These were so hot!  And they had such a nice heat to them.  I like them better than the long red slims I’m growing.  I think I might try to grow these next year.
• Broccoli - We’ll probably have this as a side dish tonight.
• Green Leaf Lettuce - Salad
  
• Red Leaf Lettuce - Salad
  
• Swiss Chard - I left the chard out on the counter after I photographed it, and it wilted big time.  I composted it.  I feel bad for wasting it, because I could have given it to a neighbor or friend.  I don’t love chard, and I’m getting tired of it.

I didn’t have a recipe for the ziti.  I just made it up as I went along with food we had around the house and, thankfully, it worked out really well.  I cooked half a bag of organic gluten-free brown rice ziti.

I chopped up one leek, a large zucchini, a yellow squash, three cloves of garlic, the Hungarian banana hot peppers (there were two of them), the bell pepper, and a small can of diced tomatoes in the food processor.  I also picked a bunch of herbs from my garden - Greek oregano, thyme, parsley, and basil - made something of a pesto with them, and mixed that into the slurry of veggies.  I sprinkled it with salt, let it sit for a few minutes to draw out the water, drained it well, and cooked it on high heat in a heavy pan sprayed with canola oil until the veggies softened a bit.

After I turned the heat down, I mixed in an almost full container of low fat ricotta.  Then I layered it in a casserole dish, starting with a layer of the veggie ricotta mixture, then a layer of ziti, some shredded mozzarella, etc., and baked at 350 until it was bubbling and the top was slightly browned.  We had some for dinner last night, lunch today, and I’m freezing the rest for an easy meal after our growing season is over.