Week 10: What's in our Basket?

If you don't know what's going on with this basket stuff catch up here:
Week 1 / Week 2 / Week 3 / Week 4 / Week 5 / Week 6 / Week 7 / Week 8

The leaves are changing colours, the air is getting colder, everything is pumpkin flavoured - fall is definitely here. This is our last basket from the summer season and based on its contents I can officially say summer is over! Every time we go to pick it up I am shocked by the amount of food we receive. I can't imagine getting a weekly full share because our biweekly half shares are always filled to the brim with delicious produce. The true mark of fall in our basket was with a giant butternut squash but there was also some confusion with these little, shelled, tomato-like items - which we later found out were tomatillos. We loved our basket so much that we've signed up for another one for the fall - and a holiday one too for Christmas, but I know, I know, too far away for excitement - however I won't be keeping up the regular basket blogs, unless they really stand out. With this basket I'm excited for veggie roasts, soups and more, here is what's in our basket:

Vegetable Half-Share:

2 red onions, a bunch of white potatoes, a butternut squash, head of lettuce, tonnes of tomatillos, one bunch of kale, on bunch of spinach, 5 turnips, 4 peppers, so many carrots and a bulb of garlic!

Fruit Share:

A bunch of McIntosh apples, one bunch of red grapes, 5 anjou pears, and 2 lemons.

Their Potential

Roast up those tomatillos for a delicious salsa verde.

The perfect autumn dish with maple, apples and what else, butternut squash.

Take a break from butternut squash soup and why not try this carrot-ginger version?

Kale and butternut squash combine to make this beautiful, sweater-weather tart.

Why choose between cake and pie when you can have them both in an apple-pie cake?

Three-tier candied-pecan cake with brown butter pears - get in my belly.

Summer is for grilling, fall is for roasting! Roasted turnips are my new thing.

Because People Like to Say Salsa

Two well-known facts about me:  I love Seinfeld (hence the title taken from this episode) and I love fajitas. Craving mexican (and fajitas specifically), and having lots of cilantro in the fridge from a previous dinner, gave me the idea to try my hand at making fresh salsa. It seemed like a simple endeavour and fresh salsas always taste so much better than the jarred-last-forever-on-the-shelf varieties. The recipe I followed resulted in a delicious salsa that's left me trying to incorporate it in every meal.

Ingredients:

2 large tomatoes

1/3 spanish onion

1 jalapeno

1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

3/4 tsp sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cumin

3/4 tsp chili powder

juice of half a lime

Dice the tomatoes and the onion into small chunks. Remove the jalapeno seeds (I left some in for extra heat) and mince. On a large cutting board with a sharp knife, combine the tomato, onion, jalapeno, cilantro and garlic, chopping it together until the pieces are as small as you like. Mix in a bowl with the sugar, salt, cumin, chili powder and lime juice. Store in an airtight container for one week. 

Perfect with chips, fajitas, black bean burgers or even scrambled eggs - salsa goes with everything. What makes it even better is being able to say "salsa" over and over again while you're making it...I can testify that I do indeed like to say salsa.