Pickling in order to get pickled

As of last week we're now sharing a CSA box with another family through our organic buying club. Rocco and I talked about buying into a CSA at the beginning of the season but decided that it would be too much food for us. Then I was contacted by the buying club since someone was a bit overwhelmed with the amount of food coming in and she was looking for someone to share it with. Last week we took our first box and we won't get the next one for two weeks - thank god! There's so much frickin' food!!!

For $32 we got the following local, all organic, amazingly fresh produce:
2 Long English Cucumbers
1 Romaine Lettuce
1 lb Sweet Onions
1 bunch Kale
1 bunch Rainbow Chard
1 small Green Cabbage
2 lbs Sieglinde/Butter Potatoes
1 lb Zucchini
1 pint Raspberries
1 bunch Broccolini
1 bunch Green Onions
1 bunch Spinach
1 bunch Carrots
0.5 lb Fennel
1 bunch Beets
1 lb Yellow Beans

Seriously! So far I've made kale and potato pancakes, zucchini chocolate chip muffins, fennel and tomato salad, pasta sauce with spinach and flash fried broccolini over fettuccine, a huuuuge salad with lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, beets, and other stuff, and the coup de grace, the ultimate in veggie savvy, I pickled beans!

Pretty much followed this recipe, and it was super easy and quick. They're refrigerator pickles which means they're not for long term preserving, which is fine by me because I intend to use them up quickly in multiple homemade spicy caesars! See that little pickled asparagus? Imagine it replaced by a snappy, deliciously spiced pickled bean! I supplemented the yellow beans we got from the box with yellow and green beans grown in containers on our deck. It will all come full circle when me and my two sisters sit out there later this week, sippin' the most awesome caesar and snacking on the beans while the bean plants thrive at our feet. The rare beauty of it: pickling for getting pickled! Also, when K is here I plan to grill the sweet onions on our little bbq and have them as appies with a radish mayo, recipe here. Yum!

Come on over for a caesar, anytime!