• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Fitness Fatale

Fitness Fatale

Conquering Fitness Goals One at a Time

  • About
    • Press
  • Blog
    • Archives
    • Workout Program Options
      • 21 Day Fix Resources
      • P90X Resources
    • PRs & Race Reports
    • Pregnancy
      • Twin Pregnancy
    • Recipes
  • Coach Business Mentorship For Runners
  • Beachbody Accountability Groups For Runners
  • Show Search
Hide Search

CSA Box Spoils!

I finally signed up for a CSA Box (I chose Eli’s Farms). For those that are unfamiliar, a Community Supported Agriculture Box is a box full of fresh produce (and even eggs and meat if you’d like) from a local farm. Often, as in the case of the CSA farm that I chose, the produce is organic.

My First CSA Delivery
My First CSA Delivery

I had a few motivations for finally signing up for a CSA box after talking about it for so long.

  1. I want to support local organic farms. San Diego County has more small farms than any other county in the US! Yet, I often purchase my produce from Costco or Trader Joes. I try to buy organic, but sometimes at Costco the food we like to purchase in bulk to keep costs down (we eat A LOT!) isn’t organic and definitely isn’t local.
  2. I’m getting bored of my usual fruits and veggies. The contents of your CSA box changes week to week, and even more so, season to season. You won’t be getting butternut squash in the Spring or strawberries in the Fall. Since switching to a mostly plant based diet over 2 years ago, I’ve learned to enjoy a wider variety of veggies, but I find myself buying the same ones over and over (and cooking a lot of the same recipes). Since starting up with the CSA box I’ve experimented with new recipes with ingredients I probably wouldn’t have picked on my own.
  3. It’s convenient. Depending on which farm you use, you either will have to pick your CSA box up from a farmer’s market or designated pick-up area, or you can have it delivered. I chose to have ours delivered for a fee of $5 per box. Every other Wednesday, I come home to a big box of produce! Even better, Eli’s Farms sends an email earlier in the week with the contents of your box so that you can plan meals in advance if you’d like.

I’ve had a lot of fun making new recipes with the ingredients in my CSA. Each of my 3 shipments has been different in some ways, but in general they are fairly similar. I’m sure once we enter a new season they will change again. For now, I’ve been getting a lot of zucchini, fresh basil, fresh parsley, eggplant (a couple different varieties), tomatoes (also different varieties each week), oranges, limes or lemons, avocado (one of the best I’ve ever had), and pomegranates.

Caprese
Caprese

The first night we got the CSA, Mike and I had planned a date night to make pizza. I had purchased mozzarella for the pizza (something we don’t typically have) and we got a big, juicy heirloom tomato in the box as well as fresh basil. I quickly made us a delicious caprese appetizer. I also added some of the zucchini, basil and tomato from our box to our pizza.

Rataouille
Roasting the Veggies for Ratatouille
Finished Product!
Finished Product!

I wasn’t sure at first what to do with the eggplant. I’d only cooked eggplant once before and it wasn’t that great. I also knew you have to salt them in advance to get rid of the bitterness. The little eggplants we got were different than the one I cooked in the past. I googled some vegan eggplant recipes and found this amazing recipe for a Chickpea Ratatouille with eggplant. It also happened to call for basil and zucchini, which were also in our box! This was one of my favorite new meals and I actually made it again tonight for dinner!

Green Beans with Black Bean Spaghetti Squash
Green Beans with Black Bean Spaghetti Squash

My favorite surprise of the CSA box was our last shipment – we received green beans. I’ve always hated green beans. They are soggy and gross and taste like feet! I don’t even like them in that green bean casserole everyone raves about at holiday parties. But we got fresh, organic green beans and I boiled them and then sautéed them in olive oil and garlic and they were DELICIOUS! Seriously amazing! I’m a green bean convert!

Have you heard of CSA boxes? Do you have one? What is the best thing you’ve found in your CSA that you never would have known you like? 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

October 17, 2014 By fitnessfatale 7 Comments

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: community supported agriculture san diego, CSA box san diego

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anna

    October 17, 2014 at 12:37 pm

    Love the post! I live in North Carolina and we have something similar called the Produce Box. Like the CSA, you can add on meat, eggs, cheeses, other produce, and even artisan products like tortilla chips and bagels! It’s a little more expensive than Trader Joe’s or Costco, but much fresher and I like the fact that I’m helping local farmers. Plus it’s nice to come home on Wednesdays and have my Produce Box at my door. As for the eggplant, I wasn’t excited about that either, but we grilled ours. I sliced it and soaked it in warm salt water for about 15 minutes before spraying with olive oil and grilling. Then added some tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese for a healthier eggplant parmesan 🙂 Yummy!

    Reply
  2. Valerie

    October 17, 2014 at 1:44 pm

    Fresh green beans are amaizing… next time to save a step go straight to sautéing and you don’t have to clean an extra pan. Cook on low in a little olive oil. When they’re done add a salt, fresh ground pepper, the squeeze of a lemon and if you’re feeling crazy some freshly grated parmesan.

    *Note with green veggies lemon/lime/orange go great with it… but add it when you’re at the end of cooking otherwise it will turn your veggies brown. They’ll taste the same but won’t look as pretty.

    Reply
    • FitnessFatale

      October 17, 2014 at 2:37 pm

      Thanks for the tips!!

      Reply
  3. The Padre

    October 18, 2014 at 3:18 pm

    This post makes me smile from ear 2 ear!!! Keep this in mind, every dollar you spend at the CSA you remove 2 dollars from the conglomerate corporations!!! Good On You!!! We have a few CSA’s out here on the Western Slope of Colorado and they are impressive. Field To Fork is the main one I support and completely believe in, they also offer picking, tours, etc, and every Fall they have an appreciation BBQ. Our Mesa County Land Trust, local live musicians, and other nonprofits come out in force to simply host an incredible event, which is family friendly, as a way to give back to the community. You are right, sometimes the box of goodies can become repetitious so canning becomes the easy option and is one of my Christmas gifts. Meaning, canned green beans with fresh dill and fresh garlic with some fabric under the ring makes other rather pleased. And the big rule that you are breaking, YOU ARE NOT BUYING INTO THE IDEA THAT M.G.O.’S ARE THE FUTURE!!! You Are Awesome AND You Are Making The Difference!!! So enjoy the creative dinner planing, the freshness of flavor, and enjoy being you. Big Hugs to you and Mr Mike. Cheers

    Reply
  4. Abby

    October 19, 2014 at 11:59 pm

    I’ve been debating a box for years but have yet to take the plunge- no idea why other than leaving produce outside in winter once it’s delivered and before we get home from work.
    Love all the recipes you tried! We also get stuck in ruts and buy the same veggies and make the same suppers. You may have inspired me!

    Reply
    • FitnessFatale

      October 20, 2014 at 1:00 am

      You should do it! You can also do a pick up location but that does require you to be available at that time/day which can be inconvenient.

      Reply
  5. Leslie @ Triathlete Treats

    October 30, 2014 at 6:01 pm

    I got a CSA book for a while a while ago. Now that the farmers markets are dwindling away for the season i was thinking about getting another one! They are definitely good for different stuff. I remember getting rhubarb once and i had no idea what it even was! 🙂
    Green beans are the best when they are fresh from the garden! I am so glad that you got to experience those!! I am sad they are pretty much out of season now! I love ratatouille too!!!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Let’s Get Stronger, Healthier & Faster Together!

I am specialize in working with runners to help them incorporate strength training & nutrition into their running routines.

I am passionate about mindset and love to help people find more joy and success in their running by breaking through mental barriers.

While weight loss is a result of our programs, women in my groups often find that they are running faster, are less injury prone, and have more energy and confidence!

I am the founder of Team Run the World, a group of BODi coaches who love running! I provide mentorship, support and training for women who want to start their own coaching business from home and work flexible hours.

I would love to help support you in reaching your goals!

Archives

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011

Footer

Copyright © 2023 · Fitness Fatale

 

Loading Comments...