Planning out my produce

Enjoying my new organic pears from
Boston Organics.

I felt like a mother rushing home from work yesterday to pick up my Boston Organics box. But my veggies had to be taken care of before my weekly Tuesday meeting. A girl's got to have priorities...

And it was like Christmas, my produce all wrapped up in my reusable green box. This week's "dogma box" included pears, apples, an acorn squash, sprouts, carrots, chives, collard greens, gold beets, Napa cabbage, red leaf lettuce and lots of potatoes.

I dropped a pear while cleaning the goods and loading up the fridge, so I had to eat it. And I followed it with a carrot dipped in hummus. Thus far, I've thoroughly enjoyed everything. It's the stuff that needs to be cooked--the squash and the beets, especially--that I'm struggling with the most.

So I checked out Boston Organics' recipes page. There's a recipe on there for baby greens with roasted beets and potatoes, which should utilize the red leaf lettuce, potatoes and beets. Then there's another on Allrecipes.com for stuffed acorn squash halves.

For the acorn squash recipe, I'm thinking I'll nix the brown sugar; I'm not a big fan of the sweet and savory combo. And I'll use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth (I've been pretty good about being vegetarian). But here's hoping that it turns out well. Dinner, anyone?

One of the things I thought I would struggle most with is being sure to use all my produce. But I think the best bet is to plan ahead. I note what veggies I have, then I research recipes and storage tips and take note of what I need to get the next time I go grocery shopping (like bread stuffing). Produce delivery in no way absolves my need to grocery shop, but it helps me save money and forces me to be adventurous, try new foods and plan my meals.

And when all else fails, I can always pawn them off on my roommates, neighbors and friends.