WELCOME!
Here at Cooking with Our CSA, I believe cooking with the seasons should be simple and satisfying. I'm sharing meal ideas and recipes that inspire you to cook with the seasons using the best local produce that grows in your area with a focus on two key principles:
- Supporting our local food systems is essential to fostering food equity and security.
- Preparing seasonal meals shouldn't be complicated, but they need to be delicious!
My Journey as a Home Cook
Learning to cook has been a journey nearly 20 years in the making. When I first started living on my own in my 20's, I notoriously burned 5-minute rice and bought take-out as regularly as I brushed my teeth. Determined to learn to cook myself out of a milk carton, I bought a couple of cookbooks (Ina Garten and Patti Jinich were two of my initial culinary instructors) and taught myself to just "follow the recipe." Twenty years later, it's paid off; my friends and family the beneficiaries from all my lessons learned testing and tasting in the kitchen.
Adding the "CSA" in Cooking with Our CSA
In March 2020, our cooking game leveled up as we joined a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), Sage Mountain Farm. In a season of life where grocery stores had limited supply and our local farmer’s markets were closed due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, I leaned on Sage Mountain Farm and their beautiful, organically grown produce to help nourish my family and me during the many days spent at home. Each box was bountiful and it also meant I was learning to cook with what I had on hand.
Learning to cook with the seasons has been a new skill to hone and, nearly three years later, I’ve not looked back. About 90% of the produce we use to cook with at home comes from solely from our weekly CSA box. We are fruits and veggie forward with our meals or as I like to describe our diet: mostly vegetarian/vegan with moderate meat, but all flavor packed and absolutely delicious!
What You Can Expect
Here at Cooking with Our CSA, you'll find recipes and tips for cooking with the seasons. If you're a CSA member, you'll find plenty of ideas for using up all the produce in your weekly CSA box. You may or may not be a CSA member already. That's okay! Much of the food you'll see here can still be likely sourced at your local grocery store or farmer's market. The key is learning what grows near you through the seasons and maximizing meals with those ingredients.
Check out my CSA Resources page for links to our CSA, the California Farm Directory, and more.
I'll show you how to keep your produce fresher for longer, prep your pantry for successful meal prep, share simple food preservation techniques to maximize your food supply, and teach you all the basics about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Drop me a line if you have questions or want to know more.
Cheers to the next nourishing meal! 🧡
Currently Cooking
For plenty more recipe ideas, start at all recipes!