I remember when I was growing up my mom got a milk man to deliver our milk because she couldn't keep up with the large amounts of milk my big brother drank. I was intrigued then and still just as excited to have gifts left on my front porch. Although we pay for those gifts it feels like a gift and there is an element of excitement around knowing you will have a package placed right on your front door step. I was for a time using a produce company called Farm Fresh to You and I loved it and while I could have signed up with them again after taking my long break I decided to try something new and different and also as I blogged a few blogs back, two people in one week shared with me about this company called Imperfect Produce. I loved the idea that this company was doing something really amazing by not wasting the imperfect produce that large grocery stores consider not worthy to sell. This is our 3rd box and it looks gorgeous to me and not very imperfect at all. I'm actually waiting to get that heart shaped potato or gnarly carrot. I wanted to open my box and share what was delivered yesterday. I customized this order and treated ourselves to artichokes because for us they are a treat. This box weighted just over 21 pounds and cost around 20.00 and change. If you might want to give this a try and they deliver in your area which I believe they mostly cover the West Coast and Chicago area and I just recently read they are expanding to San Antonio TX:) click this link HERE
If you like onions everyone can always use onions. I ordered a red one too but they didn't have any available, that's one thing about being imperfect, they sometimes don't have what you put on your list but don't worry, they don't charge you for it and I can swear they put in an extra onion in my box for free because normally things come in sets of 2 and 4 I've noticed. I ordered lots of limes because we love limes on our taco's and in our drinks. Last week I was traveling and forgot to customize our box and they sent a beautiful large bundle of cilantro. I made a batch of homemade salsa with it that included some fresh lime juice, red onions, garlic, a hearty portion of the cilantro and tomatoes from our garden. It tasted yummy. I love avocados, I think I could eat them on just about everything. They taste good all by themselves too. I got the zucchini and cucumbers with zoodles in mind but when I opened the fridge this morning "someone" had eaten one just plain and left a little quarter of it which I had to take out bite out of. It didn't disappoint.
Upper left hand corner is our treat for the week! It will taste so yummy to enjoy in the back yard this weekend while we hang out and listen to our water fountains flow. A beautiful head of cauliflower, I mean, hello does it look imperfect? I don't think so, not even any little yellow or brown spots like I often see in the market. The large head of lettuce to make a big beautiful organic salad with, I may just add those sweet cherry tomatoes and that other quarter of the cucumber that was left in the fridge.
In this box I didn't order a lot of fruit. My first box had lots of fruit because we were headed on a road trip and I thought grabbing pieces of fruit would be easier on the go than chomping on veggies. The plums are so sweet and yummy. I had one the day it was delivered and so did mancub when he brought our box inside the house for me. He told me how good it tasted while he watched me do the produce photo session. I'm hoping the cantaloupe will not disappoint as well. This was our box this week. I decided that I will order weekly and this my friends is the small organic box. It seems to be enough each week for what we use. In fact I still have a couple carrots and some celery left from last weeks box. This also gets me super excited to think of things to create with this produce. Today I plan to sit with one of my new favorite cookbooks and see what ideas might pop up. In case you might be wondering about the cookbook, it's called The Forest Feast by Erin Gleeson. This book was also introduced to me by one of the same gals who introduced me to Imperfect Produce. What would I do without Miss Moonspinner!
How did I almost forget the brussel sprouts? We love to eat these simply roasted with olive oil, kosher salt and pepper. A little crunchy of course. I would recommend Imperfect Produce, their prices are good and they have an easy to navigate site. It's very simple without a lot of frills but I have noticed they offer coffee, chocolate and olive oil but the list of things to purchase is pretty straight forward. Unlike Farm Fresh to You which offers lots of extras and even meal kits. I actually love both home delivery companies. The only thing I like more about Farm Fresh is that they take my boxes from the week before and recycle them. They don't re-use them for food deliveries but they gladly recycle them for me. Which I think is nice. Imperfect Produce doesn't take my old boxes for recycle they leave that up to me, which is fine too. Plus if you know someone moving, they could come in handy as they are very sturdy.