I am going to tell you something that may make me sound like a terrible mom. Please don't think less of me when you hear it. Please continue coming to my blog and leaving lovely comments. I am a good person. I just sometimes get my priorities a little confused.




My very first CSA box arrived this week. My first CSA box ever. This was a monumental occasion, one I'd been looking forward to for months. The thing is: I was away. In Atlanta, on a business trip. 879 miles away from my beautiful box of fresh seasonal produce.

Ready for the confession?


I flew out on Tuesday and called home quite a few times. Early in the day to check on the baby. Later in the day to check on the big kids. In the evening to Skype with everyone. I was a good mom. Really I was.

On Wednesday morning, I called home too. I talked to my husband. To my son and my daughters. And then I very nonchalantly popped the question: "did the box come yet?" I was informed that it had and that it was full of vegetables.

Ready for the confession?


My call home on Wednesday morning was really to check on the status of the CSA box. PAUSE FOR EFFECT. I mean to say, I knew the kids were ok. I had just spoken to them a few hours earlier. But all sorts of things could have gone wrong with my first CSA delivery. It could have been left on a neighbor's porch. It could have been eaten by bunnies. Or abducted by aliens.

But it was safe. And when I got home at midnight last night, the second thing I did (AFTER checking on the kids) was to take inventory and come up with some ideas for putting all that lovely produce to good use.


And the second thing I did this morning, after getting the kids on the bus? I sauteed a big pot of mustard greens with soy sauce, sake and sesame oil. And then what? I ate half the lot. At 9 in the morning. It was that good. 

Mustard Greens
Serves 2-4 
1/2 hour prep

1 tablespoon oil
1 onion, sliced in thin rings
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 large bunch of mustard greens
1 tablespoon soy sauce
3 tablespoons sake
1 teaspoon sesame oil, optional

Heat the oil in a super large pot. (Those greens take up a lot of room.) Cook the onion on medium-low heat for about ten minutes.

Meanwhile, clean the greens. (Mine were quite dirty; I put them in a big bowl and rinsed and rinsed and rinsed till the grit was all gone.)  Stack them up and slice into thick ribbons.

Once the onion is translucent, add the garlic and cook for a minute or two. Then add the greens - don't worry about the water clinging to them. That'll help them cook.

Cook for a couple of minutes and then use a wooden spoon to stir the greens to give the greens on top a chance to get heated through. Keep repeating this for 10-15 minutes, till the greens are all heated through.

Add the soy sauce and sake and cook for another few minutes till hot.

Remove from the heat and add the sesame oil. Stir. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature. These will also keep well in the fridge for a couple of days.