Bountiful Baskets

Recently, my sister told me about a project called "Bountiful Baskets" - basically, it is a volunteer-based group providing fresh fruits and vegetables (and sometimes other items like cookies, bread, etc.) at a discounted price. From their website:

Sally Stevens and Tanya Jolly started Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op in May of 2006. It was a winning combination from the beginning. Tanya and Sally both had experience running their own small food co-ops that were not web based. As their small co-ops grew it challenged them to think of a way to keep up as more families were wanting to save money on healthy food. Adding a little bit of e-commerce technology to the mix was just the trick. Since May of 2006 BBFC has grown from 2 sites and an average of 120 families a cycle participating, to over hundreds of sites in seven states and around 70,000 participating families! In June of 2008 BBFC started to offer 100% organic baskets every other week.

The Co-op offers a conventional produce basket every week which is generally ½ fruit and ½ veggies. The monetary contribution is $15.00 and is generally worth $50.00 retail. Organic baskets require a contribution of $25 and are usually about the same amount of produce as the conventional baskets. To participate visit http://www.BountifulBaskets.org and check the schedule to see when your state is available to make your monetary contribution using a debit or credit card. Then, pick up your basket on Saturday morning at the time and place you chose when you contributed!

Last week was my first experience with Bountiful Baskets and I'll admit, I was a bit skeptical, but boy was I surprised. First of all, it was like the whole county showed up to pick up baskets, I felt like I needed another set of hands for all the produce I was getting, and I was excited to see so much product!

I was picking up two baskets - one for myself and one for my sister and we had both ordered "extras" - I ordered 9-grain bread and she ordered a guacamole mixer (basically all the ingredients for guacamole). Everything looked great and in our baskets we received the following: a box of strawberries, a bag of pears, a bag of clementines, apples, bananas, a cantaloupe, a head of broccoli, a head of cauliflower, celery, spinach, tomatoes, peppers, and maybe some other stuff that I am forgetting about. Talk about a bargain - and it is definitely a way to make sure you eat healthier.

My husband and I had nibbled on the fruit, taking some with us as snacks, but I eventually cut everything up and made a huge (and yummy) fruit salad - sans a few pears as I made a galette (below). We have eaten the spinach and tomatoes in salads, I baked the cauliflower with EVOO, salt, and pepper for about 20 minutes at 350 on a cookie sheet (yum), steamed the broccoli and served it with a cheese sauce, I have cut up the celery and taken some of it to work for an afternoon snack, and that leaves the peppers - which Chad ate as a snack.

I ordered basket to pick up this last Saturday and I was not disappointed! Instead of telling you what I got in my basket - I am going to show you! Fuji apples, oranges, lemons, bananas, strawberries, and a cantaloupe in the fruit basket (there are more bananas hidden underneath).Lettuce, spinach, broccoli, peppers, carrots, and mushrooms in the veggie basket.

*Pear Galette Recipe
Not sure what to do with all the pears in your Bountiful Basket from two weeks ago? Peel, core, and slice about four cups, mix in 1/4 cup sugar, 4 T flour, 1/4 tsp. ginger, dash cinnamon, 2 T lemon juice, and a sprinkling of brown sugar. On a cookie sheet, unroll a pre-made pie crust and pour pear mixture on top. Fold up sides as shown in picture, brush top and sides lightly with milk and sprinkle with additional sugar. Bake 35 minutes at 375 degrees - or - until top is browned. It's delicious!