This week's CSA bag.

Just picked up our CSA bag from Oahu Fresh, and I thought I would share with you all.  There's some salad greens, chives, choy sum, tomatoes, taro, and avocado.

I have no idea yet what to do with the choy sum or the taro, but thankfully we live in a world where all the information I could want and more is just a few keystrokes away.  Also, in case you can't identify what's in your bag, Oahu Fresh provides a list on their website and links to a few recipes to get you started.

You get all this for $20/week + delivery and an annual $10 "bag fee".  I found them by going to LocalHarvest.org and searching by zip code. That way you can see all the competing services in your area.

We chose this one because it supported a variety of farms and they have a convenient pickup location on campus.  And I think it was slightly cheaper too.

But, the question still remains, is it worth it?  I'm not really sure.  There's a farmer's market on campus twice a week, and I find myself going there to fill in the gaps--particularly for fruit.  The CSA is guaranteed local, but I don't know if it's organic (though I don't know how much I care).  Meanwhile, I've come to find that the "farmer's market" is only half local, and half who knows where.  The CSA gives you interesting surprises each week, while the market is reliably consistent.  I wonder if what I'm getting from the CSA is actually worth the $20, since I come away from the market with just as much or more for less money.

I don't have an answer yet, but I'm sticking with it while I ponder these issues.  I have a feeling that a lot of my concerns are unique to Hawaii, since it's hard to get everything you want/need from the local farms.  So please chime in if you have any experience with CSA's or farmer's markets in your area.

Now I'm off to read about how to prepare taro!

Homemade Vegan Mayo!

I got about 2 cups of mayo.

John wanted to make himself a BLT for lunch today, but we were out of mayo.  He was about to run to the store, but I told him to give me a few minutes, and if he didn't like it he could still go to the store.

In a continuing effort to move away from eggs and dairy, not to mention the refined sugar and preservatives that go into commercial mayonnaise, I've been meaning to try this recipe for a tofu based mayo.  And it was so simple, and turned out so great, I'm amazed I haven't been doing this for years.

I used the second recipe on this page, but I used a 20 oz block of tofu.  I actually didn't realized it was that big until it wouldn't blend with the amount of water they give.  I do buy my tofu from Costco, so I guess I should have known it was larger than standard.

Look at that!  It's mayonnaise!

So the important trick here is to freeze and then thaw out the tofu.  I don't remember where I learned this, but it has changed my life.  Once you've thawed it you can just squeeze all the water out of the tofu.  You could slice it at that point, or keep squeezing until it crumbles a bit.  Then it's really nice for tofu scrambles or mock tuna salad, or for blended recipes where the tofu is used as a thickener.

I think that step is key to getting the nice mayo texture.  Also, persistent blending and adding in the water and oil a little bit at a time.

ALT!

Ok, here's what I did:

20 oz. tofu, drained
6 tbsp water
6 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt

Throw it all in the blender, except for the oil.  Start it blending on a slow speed, and give it a little help if needed by scraping down the sides.  Add the oil while the blender is running, and keep adding more water and oil until you get the consistency you want.  I stepped up the speed to max at the end to get it really smooth.  You can also add more salt or lemon juice or some sweetener, or whatever other spices you feel like.

John says he likes it, he got his BLT, and I made myself an ALT (avocado lettuce tomato).   It's supposed to keep for about a week, which means I have a lot of mock tuna salad and potato salad in my near future.