The Plan:

Day 1: Grilled steak with basil chimichurri sauce, Zucchini burrata salad

Day 2: Out to eat for a celebration

Day 3: Homemade pizza, Tossed salad with salad turnips

Day 4: Chicken Caesar salad with greenhouse cherry tomatoes, Strawberry oat muffins

Day 5: Dilly chicken salad, Strawberries with fresh whipped cream

Day 6: Salad to share at 4th of July celebration – Sweet & salty broccoli and kohlrabi salad

Day 7: Make your own grain bowls with quinoa, black beans, sauteed kale, Hoisin sauce, and any other veggies and ingredients we can find after raiding the fridge

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)

• Whole chicken from Mastodon Valley Farm meat share (freezer)

Into Storage:

• Strawberries (freezer)
• Strawberry jam (canned)
• Homemade chicken broth (freezer)

Notes: Embrace the salad

At summer barbecues and Fourth of July picnics, the meat tends to take center stage. Grilled chicken, cheeseburgers, and ribs are the stars of the show. Not for me. I think the most underrated dish at a cookout is the salad.

Salad usually invokes pictures of limp lettuce and bland flavor, but today I’m challenging this stereotype. Using the freshest vegetables, you can create salads that will rival any other dish on your picnic table. Not only are they beautiful and full of nutrition, salad also tastes great!

I’m constantly looking for new salad recipes. This week I’m trying a Zucchini Burrata salad recipe that I stumbled across when I was looking for ways to use raw zucchini (I recently discovered that I really like zucchini raw – I used to only use it cooked). Basil is included in my farm share box this week so it is the perfect time to give this one a go. If the recipe turns out well I’ll add to my summer salad list.

If you are not sure yet about salad, try some of the recipes I’ve linked above. Honestly, the options for salad are endless. If you are missing the meat, no worries. You can add that to the salad too and I’m doing that this week with the chicken Caesar salad and the dilly chicken salad. I make a whole roasted chicken using this Basic Whole Roasted Chicken recipe. Let it cool and then pull off all of the meat. Then you are ready to add it to salads.

When I think of summer, my mind goes right to salad. How about you? Have you embraced the salad?!?

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 Kohlrabi (1.0 bulb): sweet and salty broccoli salad. Peel off the tough outer layer and cut into small pieces or grate
1 Lettuce, Romaine (1.0 head): chicken Caesar salad
1 Parsley, Flat Italian (1.0 bunch): chimichurri sauce
1 Onion, Pearl (1.0 bunch): chimichurri sauce, sweet and salty broccoli salad
2 Salad Turnip (1.0 count): cut into quarter rounds and added to tossed salad
1 Kale, Green Curly (1.0 bunch): Grain bowls – Remove stems. Roughly chop into smaller pieces. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium high heat until shimmers. Add the kale and sauté until wilted, but still bright green 3-5 minutes. Season with sea salt.
1 Broccoli (1.0 head): sweet and salty broccoli salad
1 Strawberries (1.0 Unit): strawberry muffins, cut up and topped with homemade whipped cream
2 Zucchini, Green and/or Gold (1.0 count): zucchini burrata salad
1 Basil (1.0 bunch): zucchini burrata salad (1/4 cup chopped), the rest finely chopped for the chimichurri sauce
1 Peas, Sugar OR Snow (1.0 Unit): raw for snacks
1 Salad Mix (1.0 bag): tossed salad