The Plan:
Day 1: Chopped salad with butterhead lettuce, mixed greens, chick peas, salami, olives, purple daikon radish, scallion and salad turnips; Sourdough bread
Day 2: Disappearing greens gumbo (radish, turnip, mustard, spinach, and arugula greens)
Day 3: Homemade pizza with arugula, Tossed salad with radish
Day 4: Grilled burgers, Lentils with cilantro lime vinaigrette, Radish and turnip slices with ranch dip
Day 5: Black bean and chard quesadillas
Day 6: Vegetable and bean soup (last of my frozen soups from 2022)
Day 7: Bok choi salad with peanuts and garlic sesame dressing, Frozen fruit protein 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)
- Cantaloupe chunks (last of frozen supply from summer 2022)
- Ground beef (frozen from Mastodon Valley Farm meat share)
- Vegetable and bean soup (last of frozen soups from 2022)
Into Storage:
- Nothing this week
Notes: Beginnings and Endings
Every moment, day, or event has a beginning and an end. Change is inevitable. There are those that fight change and those that choose to ride the waves. One of my favorite sayings is “This too shall pass”. It is a mantra that is true for good and for bad. I try to put myself into the category that embraces change.
At some point around May/June many families in the United States are experiencing a significant end – the end of the school year. Today was the last day for my kids and there are definitely some feelings of relief and happiness, mixed in with an “Oh **it!”
As part of riding the waves of change, I try to stay in the present moment and then think about the good things that are coming in the future. For me, I start thinking about slowing down with my kids, the weather (I am naturally a cold person so the heat is welcome), and of course my summer Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share.
Well, as school comes to a close today, I also got to pick up my first CSA share. Every ending also leads to a new beginning!
My veggies are so lush and beautiful (see picture above) and I’m ready to get cooking. Excitement fills my brain as I start to plan my meals around this nourishing food. I’m continuing with Crossroads Community Farm who I have been with for I think ten years now?!? I love this farm and am eternally grateful to them for the hard work they do to feed my family. If you are part of this CSA too, be sure to follow along for the next 20 weeks. I will break down how I use each piece of produce so that none of it goes to waste. If you have a different CSA, I’m willing to bet you will be getting similar items in your box and hopefully my meal plans and recipes will be helpful. If you don’t belong to a CSA, no worries! My meal plans are all based on foods that are in season in the majority of the U.S. in summer. You can also subscribe to my website or follow me on Facebook or Instagram if you want to keep up with the latest meal plans.
As the school year ends, I hope you too have something exciting that you are looking forward to beginning!
CSA Breakdown:
Hurrah, box one is here! For those of you also using Crossroads Community Farm, here is a breakdown of how I will use each piece of produce this week. Please note that I typically get the pre-filled share each week without substitutions and challenge myself to find new ways to use different vegetables that I may not be familiar with. So, if you are customizing your share, you will need to make substitutions to follow my meal plans. And 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 how I cook my meals: I am assuming you all have onions/scallions/onion powder and garlic/scapes/garlic powder on hand. If there is a veggie in a linked recipe that I didn’t get in my box, I will be substituting with something from the box or omitting altogether. I will try to make that clear in the breakdown. This will be the same every week. I rarely buy extra vegetables at the store and instead rely on substitutions with what I have. Don’t forget that just about every part of your veggies can be eaten. I like to use the tops of the radishes, turnips, and carrots. I also use the stems from herbs like cilantro and dill.
Here is what I do when I get home with my farm share:
1 – Find a large clean surface and lay everything out
2- Grab your pack list and sort through to identify everything.
3 – Taste test as you go. You aren’t going to get much fresher food then the just picked veggies in your box. Make sure you do a little nibbling to get the fresh flavors. I especially love to do this with all the different greens. Arugula is my favorite
4 – As you are sorting through separate into what needs to be eaten quickly (usually greens) and those items that will last longer in the fridge (think the radishes and turnips without the greens).
5 – Start thinking about how you can use the produce. I like to write my ideas directly on the pack list while I am sorting through. This helps because you can figure out how much of each item you have. For example, if the bok choi is small, then you need to use it in a side dish or with other things in a stir fry, etc. If you have a ton of one item then you might split it to use in more than one meal. I break everything down and include it in my meal plan. This week I received 4 scallions, so I made sure to write down that 1 will go in the chopped salad, 2 will go in the gumbo, and 1 in the bok choi salad. Accounting for everything will ensure less waste.
6 – See if there is anything you can prep right away before you put it in storage. Things like carrots, radishes, and salad turnips can be cut up and put in a container with a little water in the bottom and will keep for a couple of days this way in the refrigerator.
7 – Start bagging up the produce to store. Some things like potatoes and onions can just be set on your counter or in a cupboard, but most other produce will need to be stored in cool, moist conditions in order to ensure it doesn’t go bad. Some people like to use their crisper drawer or special green bags. I use plastic produce bags. In fact, I reuse the ones that I get from the farm every year. They can be washed out with warm soapy water and hung to dry and use again. If you know me, you know I am not a huge fan of plastic, however I have tried many different ways to store my produce, and the bags simply work the best for ensuring that I don’t end up throwing food away. As long as you are not heating up the bag with the food inside, the risk of the plastic chemicals seeping into your food is low.
8 – As you are putting things away into your refrigerator, try to group together items that you will use in a specific meal. I also like to put the items for later in the week in the back and the ones I’m going to use first in the front.
After I am done with that process I map out my whole meal plan for the week! Here is a breakdown of how I am using everything this week.
1 Scallions (1.0 bunch): I received 4. One will go in the chopped salad, 2 will go in the gumbo, and one in the bok choi salad
1 Spinach (1.0 bag): gumbo
1 Cilantro (1.0 bunch): Saving a handful for my morning eggs, the rest goes into the cilantro lime vinaigrette (this can be made ahead of time)
1 Lettuce, Green Leaf (1.0 head): tossed salad to serve with pizza
1 Radish, Red (1.0 bunch): Cut off the greens and use for the gumbo. I received 8 radishes. 2 will be used for the tossed salad, the rest will be sliced for lunches and snacks –> try them raw with a bit of salt. Delicious!
1 Lettuce, Red Butterhead (1.0 head): Chopped salad
1 Arugula (large leaf, spicy) (1.0 bunch): Saving two large leaves for my morning eggs, two large leaves for topping pizza, the rest (stems and all) goes into the gumbo
1 Mustard Greens (1.0 bunch): gumbo
1 Radish, purple daikon (1.0 count): Chopped salad
2 Bok Choi (1.0 count): Both are going into a large bok choi salad
1 Chard, Red (1.0 bunch): quesadillas – I use the stems too
1 Salad Turnip (1.0 bunch): Cut off the greens and use in gumbo. I received 2 large and 1 small. One large used for chopped salad, the other two will be sliced and used for lunches and snacks.
1 Salad Mix (1.0 bag): Chopped salad
