Strawberries CSA 2012

Its CSA season once again.  This year is my third summer with Golden Earthworm Farm, but my first year with a new CSA – one I helped create!  Thursday was our first pick up date and despite a few easily fixable hiccups, we’re up and running.

As always, week one included strawberries.  Unlike years past, these strawberries were bigger and firmer and more like grocery store berries then the small, more like wild berries I’d expected.  And there seemed to be significantly more of them.  Well, no complaints from me, strawberries are one of my all-time favorite foods.  

Of course fresh strawberries  also have a very limited shelf life, so I had to eat them quickly. Strawberries are beautiful, aromatic and tasty.  And they are high in antioxidants like vitamin C and high in fiber.  But they are also really high in sugar, and therefore calories, so I wanted to pace myself.

Friday morning I rinsed a few, cut off their greens and had them for breakfast with a handful of almonds.  No sugar, no salt, no anything other then farm fresh strawberries and raw unsalted almonds.  It was a great breakfast – portable (I tend to eat breakfast on the bus during my morning commute), included fiber and protein, and delicious.  And it kept me full until lunch.

Later that evening, my after work snack was a strawberry-banana smoothie made with fat free, high protein milk, raw honey and wheat germ.  A few ice cubes and good blender and it was awesome.  I know most people make smoothies with yogurt, but I prefer milk; I think yogurt had a distinct and less delicious taste.  The wheat germ adds a nice nutty flavor and really compliments the banana.  The shake would have been great with strawberries alone, but I had a banana that also had a limited life span left and this smoothie was a pretty main component of my dinner, so I put it in.  Not to mention I wanted the extra potassium as I’ve recently been kicking up the jogging regimen.

Still, I had more strawberries.

So Saturday afternoon, after a late breakfast and with plans for a late dinner, I decided a summer salad was the perfect mid-day meal.  Fresh arugula from my CSA share, rinsed and stems snapped off, chopped strawberries, walnuts and a drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette.  The perfect bite contained some of each flavor. I served it to my fiancé who was not nuts about, well nuts, at least not in a salad.  Fruit in salad isn’t his thing either.  But he tried it and even he liked it.  It probably would have been even better with crumbled goat cheese and I lamented not having any when I was making it.  But even without it was a refreshing and elegant way to break up a sunny Saturday spent doing mundane personal tasks like housework and filing.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

4-6 strawberries (fresh or frozen)

1 ripe banana

6-8 oz fat free milk

2 tbsp wheat germ

1 tbsp honey

2-4 ice cubes

Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Serve with a straw.