more lettucing than a girl can handle

School's out, I survived, I have settled into summer, and I am loving it. Not only have I had more time to spend in the garden, I've had more time to be a foodie, as well. So, today's blog is going to be about food for a change.

First off, my CSA started last week. I forgot to take a photo of everything that came last Thursday, but it was a monster half-share. An entire grocery shopping bag full of leaf lettuce, as well as a head of romaine, a bunch of green onions, watercress, mushrooms, and probably some other stuff I am forgetting. This week's haul was equally impressive: lots of green onions, some sort of cress, turnips, kale, a head of red lettuce, and my purple broccoli! Oh, and a loaf of bread from Metropolitan, who so graciously serve as the CSA pick-up point.

My container of lettuce alone is making more than I normally eat in salads, so needless to say, I have an overabundance of lettuce in my life right now. I've been trying to make more frequent, bigger salads. It's kind of exhausting, but delicious nevertheless. When the new CSA delivery came today, the worms got a feast of last week's leftovers.

In any event, I am excited to see some new items this week. I have never really cooked with turnips, so that should be an adventure. The purple broccolis look adorable and delicious, too. I don't know that I've ever knowingly eaten cress, and it is a delightful flavor addition to salads. I can't quite pinpoint the taste. Peppery, maybe a little lemony? Whatever. I figure, the less dressing I have to put on a salad, the better, and cress certainly spices things up.

In other news, I think I maybe don't like chard.

I know, I know. It's been so exciting to grow in the garden, but I am struggling with what to do with it in the kitchen. Hank hasn't eaten any since the first time I made him try it (steamed, a little lemon), and I keep wanting to like it, but I don't. The best attempt was to steam it with a load of butter and salt (what isn't improved by that method?), but that was passing at best. Any advice out there? It's so pretty that I don't mind having it as a decorative plant in the garden, but it sure would be nice to avoid letting those pretty colors and vitamins go to waste...