It's been a good week!

This week's share gave us some happy surprises. We got some kale, more freckle lettuce and garlic scapes, green onions, some great big snow peas, carrots, and a choice between a garden fresh cucumber or yellow/zucchini squash. We just couldn't turn away from a lovely cuke.

So the freckle lettuce and green onions made their way into Zips' absolute favorite: Taco Night!! We use tvp (textured veggie protein) to make ground crumbles, tofutti non-dairy sour cream, guacamole, mexicorn, and spanish rice. Oh yeah, and LOTS of lime and cilantro. Sorry there's no horchata pictured here. Taco Night would be incomplete without it! (mmmmm. horchata goodness)

Last night I made veggie Pad Thai after a hiatus. I guess I've forgotten to boil the noodles a bit before pan frying them with the sauce. In any case, it turned out better than I've made it in FOREVER.. The csa snow peas snuck into the dish, and they were perfect.

But tonight we had SUSHI!!! Zips loves the crackle of the nori.
My speciality takes inspiration from several wonderful sushis. The summer roll at Oysy in Chicago (As they'll tell you, "OYSY means delicious") is the first sushi I ever had with fresh bell pepper and cilantro inside it. It's served with chili oil and a squeeze of fresh lime. And then one of the local sushi joints here has the best spicy mayo (you have to order it on the side if you get a veggie roll. The waiters get yelled at by the sushi chef if you ask for it afterwards). So I combined the best of both, and of course, no fish are involved (Fish are not vegetables. Pescatarians are not vegetarians!!)

It's my goal to make a batch of vegetable tempura (see my discussion of TJ's below) this summer, and try to roll it into a veggie tempura maki. I'll keep you posted on that one, though.

We're dashing off to Chicago tomorrow. I've already whipped up a new batch of cannellini bean salad for a picnic at Lincoln Park. I can't help but munch on it as I type this.

And I really want some horchata.