Several of you have asked me where I find the time to cook? I want to point out that I don’t cook all this food in one day! All of the food I highlight from THE BOX are created over a 2 week period. I usually cook on the weekends, and then only a couple of times during the work 
week. Secondly, how do I decide what to cook? My tummy usually does a good job of telling me what to cook! 
When my tummy is uninspired, then D.’s tummy usually helps out! It also helps to have a well stocked pantry of non-perishable ingredients and a variety of spices and herbs (of which I have over 140–yes, it’s a nightmare to sort out).
This week, THE BOX contained: head of red lettuce, bunch of scallions, bunch of basil, 1 Serrano chile, 4 red Thai chiles, 1 Jalapeno, 2 small red bell peppers, 2 small green bell peppers, 3 sunburst squash, 1 Armenian cucumber, bag of spinach,1 avocado, 2 lemons, 4 yellow peaches, 4 white nectarines, 4 purple plums, 4 Pink lady apples, 2 red plums, and 4 oranges.
Fruit salad (apples, plums, nectarines)
Salsa (green scallions, Jalapeno): Salsa without cilantro? That seems so criminal! What is one to do when there is no cilantro in the house but salsa is begging to be made? I decided to use green scallion leeks. I missed the cilantro but the scallions sufficed!
I turned these veggies … 
… into this fideo primavera.
Speaking of a well stocked pantry, we were out of angel hair pasta (cappellini) so we settled for fideo instead. Fideo is a noodle/pasta that is similar in thickness to angel hair pasta except the noodles are short, approx. 1 cm long.
Japanese sesame spinach (spinach): Japanese sesame spinach (spinach): Recipe from the Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites. This spinach side dish is a staple for us during the summer as it’s served cold. I’ve had similar versions as panchen in Korean restaurants.
Colorful tomatoes make a beautiful salsa… (mixed cherry tomatoes, Jalapeno)
This salsa was the bomb! The tomatoes were superb and I’m not a big tomato fan so this is saying a lot.
Bi bim bop (Korean mixed vegetables with rice) or Soon Tubu Jjigae (Korean spicy tofu stew) (red leaf lettuce, green scallions): What started out 
as vegetarian Soon Tubu Jjigae became vegetarian Bi bim bop. The Soon Tubu Jjigae would have been okay but I wanted it spicier and also to serve it over rice. To top off my failed experiment, I also did not use any of the combination of traditional ingredients such as clams, thinly sliced beef, zucchini, soft tofu, kimchi/cabbage, beef stock, cucumber, carrots, and gochujjang (Korean chilli paste). Instead, I used firm tofu, lettuce, chicken stock, potatoes, and sriracha (garlic chili sauce). My version also had a very ugly poached egg (it’s hard to poach an egg in a stew that’s chock full of ingredients)! Call this dish whatever you like, but I call it good.
Tzatziki (cucumber, lemon): I love tzatziki but I’ve never made my own. Why not? I made some lentil and burghul fritters (from the Essential Mediterannean cookbook) to accompany the tzatziki! I’ve had so much trouble trying to figure out creative ways to eat cucumber because they come in such abundance in the box. I like cucumber but like lettuce, it’s one of those veggies that is usually eaten raw. However, as you can see above, I’m starting to appreciate cooking lettuce since it cooks down like spinach and can be eaten in one meal rather than spread out over 4 meals!
Bon appetit!
