Vegetables

My weekly vegetable box arrived yesterday. Here is what it contained:

• red cabbage
• pointed cabbage
• broccoli
• sweet potatoes
• potatoes
• onions
• carrots
• bananas
• clementines
• apples (tiny and very sweet and crunchy)

Opening the veg box and unpacking everything is one of my favourite parts of the week. I love Abel & Cole for having such a flexible system. Too many bananas? Just temporarily add them to your 'Do Not Include' list for a week or two and any bananas will be replaced with something else. Massively dislike celariac? Put it on the 'Do Not Include' list permanently. You can also order extras in season. At the moment I am getting a bag of cooking apples each week too.

Picking up all that fresh smelling, crunchy looking fruit and veg and wrapping it carefully up to store for the week ahead is a calming thing to do after a long day at work. As I put each thing away I enjoy thinking about what I am going to make with it. Here are my ideas for this week's box:

• Braised red cabbage. Its got to be braised red cabbage, and its got to be the classic Delia Smith recipe . I'll serve it with herby sausages and jacket potatoes.
• Sweet potato, bacon and rosemary soup. A recipe I made up a few years ago and loved so much that I actually wrote it down.
• Banana and white chocolate muffins. There are various recipes including one in the new Nigella Express book. I've been making too many banana milkshakes recently and need to do something different with bananas.
• The broccoli needs to accompany a casserole of some sort. Possibly lamb. Maybe I'll roast the carrots to go with it as well.
• Steamed green cabbage with crispy bacon and a spoonful of creme fraiche stirred in at the end. A ten minute after work supper that is really tasty.
• Apple crumble. Stewed apples. Apple Charlotte. Or maybe, as a special treat for C who is a little obsessed with maple syrup at the moment, pan fried apple slices with maple syrup and vanilla ice cream.
• The clementines will last no more than a couple of days as they are snatched out of the bowl and eaten on the way past or stuffed into school bags or work bags for break times.