Bountiful Baskets, week 2

It was still dark out when I was driving out of my garage this morning to go pick up my Bountiful Baskets stash this morning.  Yes, I was thinking I was crazy, but after I picked everything up, it was worth it.  I just need to make sure I get a nap this afternoon.  I also remembered to take pictures this time!


Regular 50% fruit/50% veggie basket:

• 1 cantaloupe
• 2 tiny Bosc pears
• 1 bunch of bananas (7) - not as ripe as last week
• 7 nectarines
• 1 bag seedless green grapes
• 2 bags of carrots
• 6 ears corn
• 1 bunch broccoli
• 2 tomatoes
• 2 green peppers
• 2 heads romaine lettuce
• approximately 1.5 lb of white potatoes

I also got some extras this week - sourdough bread (5 loaves), and a Mexican Pack:

• 1 bunch cilantro
• 2 yellow onions
• 1 head of garlic
• 2 Hass avocados
• 4 poblano chilis
• 5 jalepenos
• 10 small limes
• 11 smallish tomatillos

Right about now you're probably saying to yourself, what the heck are you planning on doing with all that food Miss Mindi?  I have plans!  Some of the bread is getting given to one of the young guys I work with, and maybe some of the other produce if I'm feeling generous.  He and his fiancee are getting married in a couple of months, and their budget is hurting a bit.  Especially since their 7 month old puppy was at the vet all day yesterday and its looking like he might need surgery to remove a blockage.

There's also a BBQ I've been invited to tomorrow, so I'll take a salad, using up a fair amount of the romaine (since I still have some from last week) and carrots.  I'll also throw in the tomatoes and some green peppers, since I really don't like those.  Let the people at the BBQ eat them!  Oh, and I'm also taking banana bread, to use up the super ripe bananas from last week.  And.... I'm making chicken tortilla soup, or I would be if I weren't up here on the computer.  But, the first thing I did was make a batch of fresh tomatilla salsa.

I've never done anything with tomatillas before, but it seemed pretty easy to husk them, chop into quarters, and throw into my Vitamix along with some fresh garlic, lime juice, cilantro, salt, fresh jalapenos, and some fire roasted jalapenos.  I have to say, it turned out pretty tasty.  Not what I usually eat for breakfast at 9am, but what the heck.  Nice and tangy from the lime and tomatillos, with just a bit of kick from the jalapenos, and that special something from fresh cilantro. 

After eating some of last week's produce, and seeing what I got this week, I'm happy with the quality and variety.  I did notice the corn from last week probably wasn't that fresh.  As I was husking the ears to fire roast it for the soup, I noticed that my 2 week old corn from the farmers market was looking much better than the 1 week old corn from BB.  This weeks corn looked like defects (some of the ears had a second immature ear growing on it).  I'm happy there's variety.  While there were some repeats, it wasn't all the same.

Anyway, back down to chop veggies for the soup, and I might wander up to the farmers market to grab a pastry, and look at all the expensive produce, knowing mine is almost as good, but less than half the cost.  Hopefully there will be a stitching post either later today, or tomorrow.