Saturday, November 12, 2011

I've got to get over my aversion to kale

I follow a local news reporter on Twitter, and around a week ago she tweeted a story about a relatively new business in the area, called NeighborGood Foods.

I was like, this is what I have been waiting for my entire life.  Organic, (mainly) local produce, delivered right to my doorstep.  It sounded too good to be true.  I thought, there's got be a catch.  This can't really be so many ways of perfect.

I decided to take a chance.  I ordered the smallest box ($25).  I figured, there will be like a piece of wilted kale in it and maybe a mealy apple.  But whatever.  I just wanted to see.

I didn't even have to talk to anybody.  I placed the order online, and then texted with the guy to narrow down a delivery time.  That part was pretty easy, since Rob works at home so he is pretty much always here to go and answer the door.

So they came yesterday afternoon.  When I got home from work there was a gigantic box of produce waiting for me.

Produce-11-11.jpg

 

Are you ready for a list of what was in the box?

Here goes:

1 Bunch carrots

1 Green pepper

1 Purple pepper

1 Onion

4 Potatoes

3 giant radishes

1 bunch curly mustard grees

1 bunch Russian kale

Several bunches of Spinach

2 tomatoes

1 head Red leaf lettuce

3 giant turnips

Head cauliflower

Bunch broccoli

1 Spaghetti squash

Large bag of Green beans

3 apples

1 orange

Parsley

Sage

Thyme

Mint

 

Seriously!!  If I had bought all of that at the grocery store-- even if I'd gone with conventional produce and not organic or local-- it would have probably cost at least $40.  Okay, actually, I don't really know how much it would cost, but I'm just sort of estimating how much I think each item would cost and adding it up. And I think I'm lowballing the estimate in most cases.  Plus, if I'd gone out and bought all that stuff on my own, it would have taken time and energy that I don't have.

This is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me.

Besides William.

And Rob.

And my NSF grant.

We ate salads last night (made from this produce) with our dinner (leftover quinoa and beans).  Will wasn't too excited about any of it, but he did take a a few bites out of one of the apples:

 

I am in vegan heaven. Believe it or not, I have never actually worked with turnips before, so I am trying to figure out what to do with them for dinner tonight.

And I am actively trying to forget what it is like to repeatedly throw up kale. In defense of this kale, it is a lot more delicate than the kale that I have previously thrown up. I figure, worse case scenario, I can drizzle it with olive oil and bake it in the oven to make kale chips. I think I could keep those down.

Feeling a tiny bit more at home in St. Louis.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

AWESOME!!!!!!!! LOVED WATCHIN PRINCE WILL EAT HIS APPLE!!!!!! BLESS HIS HEART!! he was doing a good job!! SO happy you found these 'wonderful 'produce people!!! what a BOX of lovely looking veggies....... believe me IF YOU would have bought that much ORGANIC in the store, it would have probably been MORE like twice that amount !!! KEEP THEM ON SPEED DIAL!!! ENJOY the delights,,,,,,, Kale chips sound good!! start by trying it that way....... boil the turnips, then mash them. and season>>>>>>> wonder if that would be enuf?? have fun~~~ Uvvvv U-- mamanan

Rixa said...

I totally vote for kale chips. We all eat them like they're candy (well, that's not really true, since I hate candy and love kale chips).

Katrin said...

That really seems like a great price for local and organic, not having to leave the house, and the abundance!
I had expected way less produce for the price. I wonder where the orange is from though ;)

Rachael said...

We had a major overrun of Kale with our last box - 1-2 pounds every week for a whole summer, and it was always bitter. I salvaged it by chopping finely, sautéing, and mixing with a fair amount of ricotta cheese and sometimes an egg or two. A little salt, pepper, olive oil. Then I would bake the whole thing until it got firm. Frequently, I mixed in other greens (spinach, whatever), sautéed onions, etc. I called it Green Pie and it was super yummy. I'm not sure if you guys are doing dairy or not, but you could try something in that realm with pureed silken tofu instead of ricotta

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