Unprecedented

Last week, I discovered a little thing called Bountiful Baskets. Cheryl offered to share a basket with me, see if I liked it and if I wanted to do it. Basically, it's a food co-op where people come together to benefit from inexpensive produce. And it was great, so I did it on my own this week. And I am LOVING it!

I picked up my food, and was kind of in shock at how much there was. (And at how heavy it was, I might have to make Clark go get it in the future, as my belly gets bigger and my lifting abilities become more restricted.) I would have taken a picture, but remember how I never take pictures? Not even of my first born experiencing the beach for the first time? Right. Like a box of produce would inspire me more than the ocean. Anyway, here's a list of all the delicious things we received:

• 1 head of iceburg lettuce
• 2 bunches of asparagus
• 1 head of red leaf lettuce
• 2 bunches of spinach
• 8 cucumbers
• 7 zucchini
• 2 cartons (6oz each) of blueberries
• 1 lb of strawberries
• 7 Concord pears
• 8 Braeburn apples
• 10 bananas
• 20 tangelos
  

They weren't kidding when they called them "bountiful." All for the low cost of $19.50. And that was including the $3 fee for first timers. Next time it'll only be $16.50. Oh, and I also got a tortilla pack, which included 3 dozen 13" flour tortillas, 2 dozen 6" flour tortillas, and 2 dozen 6" corn tortillas, for $10. We have a lot of tortillas in our freezer now. Which I am FINE with. They are yummy.

The best part of all this (and the main reason for this post) is I have fresh produce in our house, that I normally wouldn't buy because I either don't know how to prepare it or don't know that I'll like it, that I am actually using. That's right! I'm eating it! This is a major accomplishment for a former vegetable hater like me.

On Saturday, we made a stir-fry. I have never made stir-fry in my life. But we had so many vegetables, I felt like we should give it a whirl. It had broccoli, carrots, asparagus, zucchini, and chicken. And I ate (most of it) up. I still can't stomach large amounts of broccoli. But I ate some of it. And I liked the asparagus. Yes, I liked it. Clark mentioned that it was probably the most amount of vegetables consumed in one meal our entire marriage. And he is probably right.

I also had a tangelo for the first time ever. I was a little wary since I don't much care for either tangerines or grapefruit, but when you've got 20 sitting in your fridge, you've got to suck it up and try it. Turns out if you mix those tastes together, they are great! The too-tart grapefruit mixed with the too-sweet tangerine is a delightful combination - they cancel each other out to leave a tasty citrus fruit. And wow, they are juicy. Like, dripping down to your elbow juicy. And I never would have tried it if not for Bountiful Baskets.

If you live in AZ, UT, ID, NV, or WA, you should check it out.