Satisfying Vegetable Dinner

Several years ago I heard of CSA, Community Supported Agriculture, but when I looked into it we were already half through the summer so it was kind of pointless. I guess it just sat in my brain until I started this whole food stuff.  Eating real food means most of your plate should be vegetables with a little whole grains, legumes, or even a small portion of meat alongside if you want.  Basically it's the very opposite of what your plate probably looks like.  The best way to get your vegetables so they are fresh, organic, and grown close to home (besides growing them yourself) is to get them from farmers' market or from a CSA.  I like the farmers' market for the food and the people, but I have to make sure I go and bring cash so it's not certain that I always get my fresh veggies for the week.  With the CSA, I bought a regular share in March to be delivered to my pick up spot once a week May - October (depending on the growing season).  The box has whatever is fresh on the farm that week and forces us to be more adventurous with our food.

We got our second CSA box on Wednesday which included: the sweetest little strawberries, kale, salad greens, asparagus, sweet potatoes, bok choy, and radishes.  Since I've never eaten kale or bok choy I got out the cook books and blogs looking for the best recipes.  The library has tons of vegetarian and vegan cookbooks to borrow so that's where I go for cookbooks.  My first stop for blogs are the ones listed on the right.  I found a perfect recipe for the kale, asparagus, and radishes on A Couple Cooks so I made it for dinner tonight. Even though there are a lot of components, it was very easy to make.  I especially liked her preparation of the quinoa. I liked mine with all of the ingredients (minus the radishes) mixed together in a bowl.  It was good for healthy food, you know it wasn't amazing like a piece of cheesecake or a piece of pizza, but I know my body was a whole lot happier processing it. Bryan ate it (minus the radishes and dressing) and thought it was edible but not great; he would have preferred a cheeseburger.  Anna ate a little of everything which was good because she's not always interested in things that are green; I think that's a 5 year old thing.  She especially liked the dressing.  The other benefit of healthy, vegetable heavy, real food is you easily follow one of The Food Rules: eat so you're satisfied, but not stuffed.  I felt satisfied after eating Our Daily Bowl.  So for those reasons, I would make this dish again.  This was the first time we've ever had kale, so I'm open to trying other preparations.