My two newest kitchen obsessions

I should be doing report cards but am procrastinating as usual and need to express my true love for my JUICER and my weekly PRODUCE BOX!  If you do no have these things, you need to!  I have been eyeing juicers for years and watched a million infomercials, but have always worried that they wouldn't really work like they say.  I recently had some high cholesterol issues (thanks mom and dad !) and was trying to up my fruit and veggie intake and thought that it was the perfect time/excuse to buy a juicer.  First stop: Bed Bath and Beyond (20% coupon-duh), second stop: famer's marker for some fresh fruit and vegetables.  My first attempt was straight carrot juice.  It tasted exactly like carrots (I expected different for some reason)which I am not a huge fan of but more importantly, it was super easy and worked!  Since then I have become quite creative with the juicer and have loved everything except for that straight carrot juice.  Tonight for dessert I had orange, apple, and blueberry juice.  Just throw it all in the tube, give it a little jab with the jabber thing, and yummmminess appears! It also creates pulp that you can use for things.  I used the carrot pulp to make a carrot cake!

 
This is the one I have by Sharper Image

Also during this healthy time of fruit and vegetable obsession, I signed up for a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.  I had heard of these before but did not know much about them and started doing some research.  Basically you get fresh produce (or even meats and dairy) from local farms delivered to you weekly.  Actually, you have to pick most of them up from some location but the company I am using delivers right to my door.  The company is called The Produce Box and I LOVE LOVE LOVE them.  Every Friday I get an order form emailed to me and I have 3-4 different boxes to choose from and order by Sunday.  The box arrives on my doorstep on Wednesday and I am always so thrilled with its contents.  Everything has always been great but if ever something was bad they will replace it for you.  It also comes with a cute newsletter that has information about the farms and farmers, recipes, tips on how to store stuff, etc...  Some weeks there are free samples of stuff too. The owner is Coutney Tellefsen and I picture her looking like Courtney Cox and I want her to be my BFF.  Obsession might be approaching creepy status.  Anyway, it’s a great way to support local farmers and to challenge yourself to cook with things you normally wouldn’t buy (like cabbage for me- I am coleslawed out though).  The Produce Box just expanded to Wilmington and Charlotte and plan on expanding to Winston-Salem area soon.  There are many other companies around Raleigh and other cities as well.  SIGN UP!