The Plan:
Day 1: Spanakopita, Homemade hummus
Day 2: Zucchini sandwiches, Leftover hummus with salad turnips and broccoli for dipping
Day 3: Homemade pizza, Tossed salad
Day 4: Lettuce wraps
Day 5: Sesame noodles with bok choi
Day 6: Egg salad sandwiches with radishes and arugula
Day 7: Tuscan kale and bean soup, Crusty sourdough bread
This meal plan was curated using local foods that are in season now or preserved during the peak growing season in the U.S. Midwest. The plan is an exact replica of what our family is eating this week unless we are out of town. Meal plans are developed using whole foods and my meal planning system (click here!) and are meant to be healthy and easy to prepare. Most recipes will take no more than 30 minutes of active cooking time. Occasionally meals may require all day slow cooking, advanced prep, or some oven time. Recipes are provided when available. I sincerely hope this will help with your own meal planning!
Pantry Shuffle:
Out of Storage: (preserved when in season and coming out of my root cellar, freezer, canned, or dehydrated stash)
- Broth (freezer)
- Ground beef from Mastodon Valley Farm meat share
Into Storage:
- Spanakopita (I’m making 2 and freezing one)
Notes: Tips for early summer produce
If you are a summer CSA member, you know that the first few farm share boxes are stuffed with all sorts of greens. The same goes for your garden. Sometimes it can be overwhelming to figure out what to do with all of them before everything wilts and goes to waste. That’s why I’m sharing my best tips for early summer eating:
1 – Store your produce properly. Early summer vegetables need lots of moisture to stay crisp, but if there is no air flow, they can get moldy and slimy. I’ve tried all sorts of different ways to store my greens. I’ve tried silicone bags, “green bags”, and even using a damp cloth to wrap them. Nothing has worked better than a regular plastic produce bag from the store with the top left open. I actually reuse the bags that I get from my CSA. Wash them out with warm soapy water and hang to dry.
2 – Eat the lettuces and salad mix first. Typically these are the vegetables you eat raw and are most likely to wilt. Tougher greens, like kale, can actually last for a few weeks if stored properly.
3 – Plan meals that use a lot of greens at once. Greens cook down really easily. A large bunch of greens may only give you less than 1 cup when cooked! This week I’m making spanakopita. Traditionally spinach is used in this dish, but really you can use any green. I’m going to put turnip, collards, radish, and spinach greens into this dish. Another great recipe to use of a ton of greens is the Disappearing Greens Gumbo. This creamed spinach is also adaptable to most greens and is so easy!
4 – Add greens into every dish you make, even if it isn’t part of the recipe. I like to put them in stir fry, soup, curry, even meatloaf.
5 – If you end up with some wilted greens, don’t throw them away! As long as they aren’t molding, they can still be eaten. Try to submerge them in a bowl of ice water to get them to perk up so they taste good raw. If they can’t be salvaged that way, then cook them into a dish. No one will know the difference.
6 – It’s not all about the greens in spring and early summer. There are some other vegetables that are so good all on their own, like radishes, salad turnips, peas, scallions, and strawberries. Use these foods for snacking and as simple sides to pair with any meal.
7 – Use scallions in place of onions and use garlic scapes in place of garlic cloves. There is a way to get the onion and garlic flavor in your favorite recipes all year long and this is an easy way to do it in early summer.
8 – Eat vegetables with breakfast, lunch, and supper. Throw a handful of greens in with your eggs at the very end and cook until just wilted. Add spinach to a smoothie. Eat raw sliced radish and turnips with your lunch and for snacks. And put veggies in absolutely everything for supper.
What tips can you share to make the most out of your early summer produce?
CSA Breakdown:
For those of you also using Crossroads Community Farm, here is a breakdown of how I will use each piece of produce this week. See the first CSA post from this season for details of how I structure the plans.
1 Scallions (1.0 bunch): 1 have 5 in my bunch – 2 for spanakopita, 1 zucchini sandwich, 1 egg salad, 1 lettuce wraps
1 Collard Greens (1.0 bunch): spanakopita
1 Spinach (1.0 bag): spanakopita
1 Zucchini, Green and/or Gold (1.0 count): zucchini sandwiches
1 Kale, Red Russian (1.0 bunch): kale and bean soup
1 Radish, Red (leaves yellowing – bulbs fine) (1.0 bunch): Greens in spanakopita. I have 6 bulbs in my bunch – 3 for lettuce wraps, 2 for egg salad, I’m eating the last one myself for a snack!
1 Lettuce, Red Butterhead (1.0 head): lettuce wraps
1 Arugula (1.0 bag): morning eggs and to top egg salad sandwiches
1 Garlic Scapes (1.0 bunch): I have 5 in my bunch
2 Bok Choi (1.0 count): both in sesame noodles. The lettuce wraps also call for bok choi, but I’m going to leave it out in order to make the noodles a larger portion
1 Salad Turnip (1.0 bunch): Greens in spanakopita. I have 4 large bulbs in my bunch – 2 sliced to put in hummus, 1 in tossed salad, 1 for snacking
1 Dill (1.0 bunch): this bunch is huge! I’m using 1/2 cup chopped for the spanakopita and a 1/4 cup chopped in the egg salad. Anything left will be dehydrated to store for later use.
1 Salad Mix (1.0 bag): tossed salad
