The Inspiration

Last summer, I started participating in a co-op called Bountiful Baskets (www.bountifulbaskets.org). Each week, for $15.00 plus $1.50 handling fee, I order a basket of produce to be picked up on Saturday morning. The produce varies each week, although there are some pretty standard items (bananas, for instance), but there are always at least 6 varieties of fruits and 6 varieties of vegetables.

Since I started participating, I've taken an inventory and a photo each week of everything in my basket and posted it to Facebook. And although there are many weeks that I just don't get to use everything up, it's still a great deal. Plus, I've been inspired to cook more in order to use some of the ingredients.

At some point, I will try to do a post with my past baskets to give you an idea of what we get to work with each season. For now, I'll start posting with my post recent basket. Many of my recent recipes have been inspired by my basket contents.



These were the contents of my November 6, 2010, Bountiful Basket:

10 Fuyu persimmons


7 Bartlett pears


6 Fuji apples


6 bananas


3 Asian pears


1 bag of black seedless grapes


15 Brussels sprouts


1 5 lb bag of Idaho russet potatoes


1 head of cauliflower


1 pint of sweet grape tomatoes


1 bag (a couple pounds) of fresh green beans


1 bunch of collard greens