It’s been a big week in the vegetable department. That’s because this week is the first installment of our CSA. Up until now, I’ve been obtaining most of my locally grown produce from the farmer’s market, but now that our CSA season has officially begun, a significant portion of our Wisconsin grown goodies will be arriving in weekly boxes from Plowshares & Prairie Farm in Argyle Wisconsin. And I’ve got to admit, I’m very excited to see what sort of delicious edibles this year’s CSA will bring us.

For those unfamiliar, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and it’s a wonderful way to both support local farms and get tons of fresh, local produce. The way it works is that you buy a share in a local farm in return for a delivery of the farm’s produce each week during the growing season.

Starting this week, we’ll be getting a CSA box each week for 20 weeks (oh my!). And while it’s definitely awesome to get a box of beautiful, fresh produce each week, sometimes figuring out what to do with it all can be a little daunting. Especially when you don’t get to choose what’s in your box. Sometimes you have to get a little creative to make good use of what you’ve got. So once again, it’s my hope that my weekly rundowns of what we’re cooking with our CSA share will not only help me to stay on top of all that delicious produce, but can help inspire others as well.

And so, here’s what we’ll be cooking from our CSA box this week:

Rhubarb - Although mine will never be quite as pretty as hers, Smitten Kitchen’s Almond Rhubarb Picnic Bars are fantastic. As if we needed an excuse to have a picnic.

Strawberries - I always have big plans for the first strawberries of the season (hello Strawberry, Balsamic, and Lemon Thyme Smash), but let’s be honest; we all know most of these strawberries were eaten before they even made it home. Better luck next week.

Carrots - You know the pickled carrots you get on a banh mi sandwich? Well, what if I were to tell you that you could make a whole bunch of said pickled carrots, add some cucumber, cilantro, peanuts, a spicy tangy dressing, and call it a salad? Is that something you might be interested in?

Mixed Greens and Lettuce - You didn’t think I was tired of salads yet, did you? Good, because based on the amount of greens we’ve got this week, there’s gonna be a lot of salad. This Strawberry Salad with Raspberry Cinnamon Vinaigrette seems particularly appropriate - provided I can make my strawberries last that long.

Green Garlic - You can never have too much green garlic. Its fresh, springy flavor brightens up any recipe that normally calls for garlic. A nice green garlic vinaigrette (such as this one, subbing green garlic for regular garlic) seems like an especially good thing to have on hand considering the amount of salad greens we’re currently dealing with.

Radishes - I’ll be slicing them up thin and adding them to this most delicious Soy Citrus Soba Noodle Salad, along with plenty of sauteed Spinach in place of the mizuna (my garden mizuna is not quite ready yet, but soon!).

Chives - I love adding chives to just about anything, from salads to soft scrambled eggs. The flowers are edible too! I have it on good authority that there will be a particularly chive-centric recipe up on the blog in the next couple of days as well, so stay tuned.

Bok Choy - I happen to love bok choy. Normally, I stir fry it up in a bit of sesame oil, but this week I have the urge to slather it in miso butter and throw it on the grill. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

In addition to the CSA, we also made it out to the farmer’s market over the weekend and snagged a couple of additional things to cook with. Here’s what else we’re working with:

Yep, more Strawberries. I really can’t resist. None of them made it long before being devoured. After waiting for them since last summer, it’s hard to expect me to do much more than just enjoy eating them straight up (and yes, we’ve already eaten 3 + quarts worth this week). Next week we’ll be more creative, but for now, we’ll just enjoy.

Baby Kale - the thing about baby kale is that it’s dual purpose. Tender enough to make a nice green salad, yet hearty enough to be sauteed up in anything from breakfast tacos, to curries, to pasta carbonara.

Shiitake Mushrooms - This Rice Noodle Salad with Spring Vegetables and Tahini Lime Dressing from Food52 sounds like the perfect thing to do with shiitake mushrooms. Also Scallions, which I happened to pick up this week as well.

New Potatoes - These are getting grilled, no question about it. Boiled ‘til just tender, tossed with some olive oil, salt + pepper, and thrown in a grill basket on a hot grill until they achieve golden, smokey perfection.