Farmer’s Choice Box + meal planning

I picked up our first Farmer’s Choice box from Ward’s Berry Farm yesterday and am quite pleased with its contents.  You might remember that one of the 7,000 browser tabs I shamefully keep open on my phone is the Farmer’s Choice Box info page.  

We haven’t been home enough to commit to a full CSA share, but I’ve been keeping an eye on the weekly boxes (a best guess at each week’s contents is posted on Mondays and you can order as late as Wednesday night for a Friday pick up at the farm), which currently cost $23.

We’re home all week and you know I love a good bunch of carrots and berries by the pint, so I got my order in right away.  We met my mom at Ward’s (word to the wise: it’s really busy there at lunch time) and I really appreciated having her there to help navigate with Grace and baby Nick.  Our first stop was the animals, or as Grace calls them, “the little friends.”

My mom and Grace picked up our Farmer’s Choice boxes at the back of the store and grabbed a table outside in the shade, while I ordered smoothies and tried my best to not knock over produce displays with Nick’s stroller.  Small life goals.  That’s how we roll these days.

Once we were outside, I couldn’t resist taking a peek in the box.

This week’s Farmer’s Choice box contained

• 1 head of lettuce
• 1 bunch of carrots
• 1 lb Romano beans
• 1 Green bell pepper
• 2 onions
• 1 lb wax beans
• 1 head of fennel
• 1 pint of blueberries
• 1 bunch of Bok Choy
• 1 lb of squash

I picked up a pint of strawberries and some new potatoes at the farm store to round our my order.

Meal planning with the Farmer’s Choice box

• Lettuce: Use in salads; lettuce wraps with black beans, corn and pico de gallo
• Carrots and Romano beans: Use in salads; as a snack with hummus
• Green bell pepper: Greek salad (I’ve been eating a simple mix of peppers, cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, feta and fresh oregano all week)
• Onions: Use in an easy summer gazpacho; and roasted with new potatoes and thyme
• Fennel: Shaved fennel salad with fresh herbs, parmesan cheese + olive oil
• Berries: Breakfast and snacks 
• Bok Choy…. I’d love some suggestions!  In the meantime, I’ve bookmarked these ideas: Chowing down on Bok Choy: 10 Ways to Love this Asian Green from The Kitchn, Bok Choy Recipes from Cooking Light
• Squash and wax beans: Handed those off to my sister

And now that I’ve worked up an appetite, it’s time for lunch.

Also On Tap for Today:

• Clark’s allergy/immunotherapy check up
• Pretty cool: 5 most incredible discoveries of the week from USA Today
• 7 lowkey ways to workout without ruining your weekend from BuzzFeed

Do you belong to a farm share?  What the heck should I do with that Bok Choy?