The Plan:
Day 1: Zucchini, fennel, and leek sandwiches
Day 2: Grilled chicken Caesar salad with homemade rosemary croutons from this recipe
Day 3: Homemade pizza, Tossed salad
Day 4: Homemade hummus platter with kohlrabi sticks, salad turnips, pita bread, and olives
Day 5: Grilled cedar plank salmon with basil pesto, Creamed kale, Strawberry shortcake
Day 6: Broccoli and cheddar frittata (broccoli from my garden whoo hoo!)
Day 7: Grilled adobo pork chops, Homemade coleslaw, Strawberry smoothie
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)
- Nothing this week
Into Storage:
- Pesto – I always double the batch and freeze one for the winter (I use old Talenti gelato containers over and over or freeze into ice cube trays then pop out and store in a zip top bag)
- Strawberry jam – canned into 1/2 pint jars
- Frozen strawberries – hulled and frozen whole then stored in gallon zip top bags
- Super greens powder (dehydrated parsley)
Notes: How to Find Seasonal Food Recipes
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With a few exceptions (citrus and treats) I only cook with produce that is currently in season where I live or that I’ve preserved when it was in season. To that end, I get frustrated with cookbooks that contain recipes featuring foods that are not able to be grown at the same time. Asparagus and cherry tomato penne pasta? Not possible in most of the world (unless you have a greenhouse!)
So how do you find seasonal food recipes?
Find Seasonal Cookbooks: There are some great seasonal cookbooks out there. Eating Well in Season is one of my favorites along with the Bounty From the Box: The CSA Cookbook. For kids, check out the Simply in Season Children’s Cookbook.
Search by Ingredient or Season: Google can help. I’ve also tried to optimize my website so you can search for recipes by typing in the name of a vegetable. If you are looking for recipes in a certain season, you can use the categories to find recipes of foods that are generally available in Winter, Spring, Summer, or Fall. My weekly meal plans will contain recipes for foods that are available now. You can also use the weekly meal plan category and look back at my plans from past years.
Substitute: Once you get used to cooking with what is available, you will be able to adapt almost any recipe to fit the season. Substitutions are really easy. For example, recipes that call for garlic – use green garlic in the spring, garlic scapes in early summer, and garlic cloves in late summer to winter; whenever you can’t find any of those local then use dried garlic powder. The next time you run across a recipe that uses zucchini in the springtime (not possible in the Midwest), try adding fresh peas, mushrooms, or spinach instead. The options are endless and you will be a pro before you know it.
Here are a few more resources I’ve created:
Seasonal Food Guide: What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season?
How to Eat the Seasons: A Complete Guide
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.
Fennel (1.0 bulb): zucchini sandwiches
Kohlrabi (1.0 bulb): hummus platter – peel the thick, tough layer off and slice into sticks
Parsley, Flat Italian (1.0 bunch): dehydrating to make super greens powder (will use in the fall/winter for extra nutrition; I’m trying to get an article finished that explains how I do this. Summer is busy!)
Salad Turnip (1.0 count): hummus platter – slice into quarter rounds
Zucchini, Green and/or Gold (1.0 count): zucchini sandwiches
Strawberries (1.0 Unit): Strawberry shortcake
Cabbage, Green (1.0 head): coleslaw
Basil (1.0 bunch): pesto. I ordered an extra batch of basil to double the recipe and freeze some for winter
Kale, Red Russian (1.0 bunch): Creamed kale
Lettuce, Green Leaf (1.0 head): tossed salad
Lettuce, Red Butterhead (1.0 head): chicken Caesar salad
Leeks, Bunching (1.0 bunch): zucchini sandwiches
