Day 1: Chopped salad with quinoa, sweet potatoes, and apples
Day 2: Easy Taco chili
Day 3: Homemade pizza, Tossed salad with radish
Day 4: Pork chops with apples, Sautéed ramps and radish greens
Day 5: Egg salad sandwiches topped with mizuna, Orange slices
Day 6: Lasagna with spinach sneaked in (from frozen supply)
Day 7: Spinach soup with homemade rosemary croutons
Notes: Spring CSA and Earth Day
Two very exciting things are happening for me right now! The first is that my spring CSA farm share starts today. It feels like an eternity since I have had fresh, local food. Living on storage veggies gets old after awhile! We joined a new farm this spring, Keewaydin Farms. Today and for the next 5 weeks I’ll be posting the list of produce that I am receiving at the end of each meal plan. Check it out below and see the picture above to find out what is in a Midwest spring farm share and see how I am using the food in my meals.
The second exciting event is Earth Day. Hopefully you saw my article I posted earlier this week, but if not, check it out: 10 Family Activities for Earth Day. Tomorrow, April 22nd, is the actual day and one easy way to participate is to eat vegan for the day. Reducing your consumption of animal products is one of the top ways that you personally can help the environment. My meal plan this week includes a couple of vegan dishes that you could try out – the spinach soup and the quinoa salad.
CSA Breakdown: For those of you also using Keewaydin Farms this spring, here is a breakdown of how I will use each piece of produce this week. You certainly don’t need to make the whole week’s worth! This is a jumping off point for you so that none of those awesome veggies go to waste. We rarely eat out, so this is a replica of our actual meal plan for the week and we typically have leftovers for lunch the next day. Also note that every week we have homemade pizza night with a tossed salad. You can throw practically any veggie on the pizza, even lettuce. You can also toss those extra veggies into the salad if you need to use something up.
A couple notes about cooking meals: I am assuming you all have onions/scallions and garlic/scapes/garlic powder on hand. Other than that, I typically don’t buy much additional produce at the store and instead substitute what I receive in my share for other ingredients in a recipe. If something is not in season, then I omit it all together. Don’t be afraid to get crazy with your cooking, nothing needs to be exact. There are likely going to be a lot of greens in a spring farm share. I love it! You can stuff those greens into each meal for a burst of nutrition. If you want the greens fresh and raw, then plan to eat them within 2-3 days, but some will last if stored in a plastic bag in the fridge. If they are starting to wilt, that is the time to cook them. Greens cook down quickly to about a quarter of their original size so you can squeeze them into soups, stews, lasagnas and sautés. Greens are also great for making pesto or sneaking into a smoothie. Don’t forget that just about every part of your veggies can be eaten. The green tops of the radishes might be a little more bitter than other greens, but they are great when cooked and seasoned. Use the stems too. The whole ramp can be eaten. The stems from herbs can also be chopped up and used. And of course any greens can be put in a big salad to eat over a few days as a side for dinner or a light lunch.
Here is how I am using my farm share this week:
- Salad mix: tossed salad served with pizza; leftovers for lunches
- Overwintered sweet potatoes: chopped quinoa salad
- Overwintered red potatoes: spinach soup
- Bunched mizuna: save a handful in a plastic bag in the fridge to top egg salad sandwiches, the rest is used for the quinoa salad (in place of spinach or kale). You could also add it to the spinach soup.
- Bunched arugula: mixed with mizuna for the chopped quinoa salad (in place of spinach or kale); or try it on pizza for a peppery flavor
- Bunched overwintered spinach: spinach soup – use the stems and leaves
- Wild ramps: save two for the egg salad in place of scallions; the rest can be chopped, then sautéed in olive oil with radish greens to serve with pork chops. Use the whole thing!
- Radish: Cut off the greens and save in a plastic bag in the fridge to sauté mid-week. One bunch of radishes can be sliced for tossed salad and the other half for egg salad sandwiches. They also make great snacks. You can slice them ahead of time and put in a container in the fridge with a small amount of water in the bottom.
- Dried beans: use in the chili – to replace canned beans, soak overnight, rinse, and then boil in fresh water until tender, about 1 hour. Once cooked you can add to the chili.
Happy eating!
