Trying to compost

Today's box:
1 giant head of red leaf lettuce
4 cucumbers
4 ears of corn
1 bunch kale
1 bunch arugula
1 bunch small beets (white beets with red veins)
1 pepper
1 onion
2 tomatoes
1/2 pint blueberries

I also picked up: Cisco's Light Sankaty to try.

My mom also left behind two small cucumbers and a handful of green leaf lettuce... and a jar of her refrigerator pickles. Although, I did say it was okay to leave me the lettuce and pickles. I could tell she didn't want to drag them back home with her... and she had just told me that she made another 4 jars before making the trip down, so I knew she had plenty to spare.

After washing all the lettuce I looked at the remaining stump and realized that it was ridiculous for this to all end up in the landfill in a plastic bag! And I feel it is too much for my garbage disposal to take. Especially since I think that the more I use the disposal the greater the chance I am going to break it and need to hire a plumber to fix it. I finally decided to buy into a composting group:
http://bootstrapcompost.com/
They will pick up a 5gallon compost bucket every two weeks. Three times a year I think they return some compost to you or donate it to Boston school gardens. I opted for donation since I don't have my own garden! Can I write off the compost donation on my taxes??

Well, the bucket might arrive too late for today, but hopefully I'll get one later this week.

I peeled the beets and started those roasting. That is when I realized they were white beets with red veins. So far I had only received traditional dark red/purple beets. I have already pulled them out of the oven and tried a few. So tasty and earthy!

Since the oven was on anyway, I kept working and made my mom's Italian Bake.  Not a drop of Italian blood in us, but this is a good use of my CSA! I had scratched out the recipe on a post-it note like 4 years ago. I must have been on the phone with my mom at the time, because there were limited details. This is what I did this time:

Italian Bake
4 small zukes or eggplant
1/2 onion
16oz tomato sauce
2 cloves garlic
Oregano to taste
Shredded cheese
Bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350. I sauteed the onion and garlic in a little oil, then added the tomato sauce until warm. Added some oregano. I used the mandolin to slice my vegetables to 1/4 inch. I used 1 yellow squash, 1 Zuke, 2 thin long eggplant. I sprinkled a little salt on them.

Next I layered the vegetables, then tomato/onion mix, then cheese, then repeat. Topped with cheese and breadcrumbs and more oregano.  It is baking as I type. I will let you know how it turns out. I wonder if 1) I should put breadcrumbs within the layers 2) it is better to sauté the onion first, or just boil in the sauce?

We will also make the corn tonight and stir fry some chicken.