Day 1: Chopped salad with chickpeas, olives, salami, radishes, turnips

Day 2: Lentils with cilantro lime vinaigrette, Frozen fruit smoothie

Day 3: Homemade pizza, Tossed salad

Day 4: Cheeseburgers, Radish and turnip slices with ranch dip

Day 5: Bok choi salad with peanuts and garlic sesame dressing

Day 6: Grilled steak, Creamed spinach

Day 7: Disappearing greens gumbo

Notes: Strawberry Picking!

We are just entering strawberry picking season here in Wisconsin. If you live further south, you may already be well into it. Where ever you live, get these sweet gems while you can since they only last 3-4 weeks in most areas!!

Since my family switched to a local, seasonal diet, we don’t eat strawberries from California and Mexico. This is our chance to stock up and freeze, can, bake, and eat all the fresh strawberries we possibly can. Last year we froze several gallon sized bags for smoothies and oatmeal. I also made several pints of jam. Our supply ran out over a month ago and I am craving berries!

Check out my Complete Guide to Strawberry Picking Season for all the details you need to know before you head to your nearest patch.

Notes about the meal plan this week – I’m repeating the Gumbo recipe from two weeks ago since it is such a great way to eat up all the lovely greens this time of year. If you are looking for more greens recipes, head to my meal plan from last week.

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 and garlic/scapes/garlic powder on hand. Any other veggies in the recipes that are not mentioned, I will be substituting with something from the CSA and 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.

Mustard Greens (1.0 bunch): Gumbo
Garlic Scapes (1.0 bunch): One in cilantro lime vinaigrette, one in bok choi salad, the rest in the Gumbo
Bok Choi (1.0 head): Bok choi salad
Chard, Rainbow (1.0 bunch): Gumbo
Salad Turnip (1.0 count): Cut off greens and save for the gumbo. Slice the turnips for chopped or tossed salad. Save some to serve as a side to the burgers with ranch dip.
Tatsoi (1.0 head): Gumbo
Spinach (1.0 bag): Creamed spinach
Cilantro (1.0 bunch): Cilantro lime dressing over lentils
Lettuce Head, Red Leaf (1.0 head): Chopped salad with chickpeas, olives, salami, radishes, turnips
Radish, Red (1.0 bunch): Cut off greens and save for the gumbo. Radishes can be sliced to top the tossed salad or chopped salad. Save some to serve as a side to the burgers with ranch dip.
Salad Mix (1.0 bag): Tossed salad to serve with pizza