The Plan:
Day 1: Quinoa salad with cucumbers, cabbage, shredded kohlrabi, and garden peas, Lemon blueberry muffins
Day 2: Sausage cauliflower cassoulet
Day 3: Homemade basil pesto pizza, Tossed salad
Day 4: Sweet and salty broccoli salad, Fresh blueberries and raspberries, Zucchini muffins
Day 5: Zucchini butter spaghetti, Cucumber basil “Tom Collins”
Day 6: Cheeseburgers, Green beans Almondine
Day 7: Fried rice with garden kale, garden peas, red cabbage, and any other leftover veggies
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)
- Homemade chicken broth
- Dried white beans
Into Storage:
- Dehydrated basil flakes
- Blueberries (frozen and stored in zip top bags)
- Lemon blueberry muffins (freeze in zip top bag)
- Zucchini muffins (freeze in zip top bag)
Notes: Simplify your life and save the planet
Do you find yourself overwhelmed when you walk in your home? Are you spending hundreds of dollars on a house cleaner or professional organizer? You can’t organize clutter!
My biggest “aha” moment when I was beginning to reduce plastic in my life and transition to living zero waste was discovering that the less I had the easier my life became. Cleaning is a snap when you don’t have much. And the trickle down effect on the environment is an added bonus. So, my tip for you in this second week of Plastic Free July is to stop buying stuff! Don’t participate in those July sales still going on today. You know what I’m talking about (rhymes with Lime Day). See if you can wait before making a purchase that isn’t essential. You will instantly reduce your plastic use by avoiding packaging and plastic products. Buying stuff for the sake of buying stuff may give you a small, temporarily high, but in the long run you will feel anxious, depressed, and smothered by all the things. Break free from stuff and you will instantly simplify your life. I’m all for that in this busy, crazy world we live in.
More ways to participate in Plastic Free July: Green Life Philosophy’s 90 day Plastic Free Challenge
Food notes: So many good veggies coming to harvest this month in the Midwest. Blueberries and raspberries are on now and local tomatoes should be just around the corner and I can’t wait! Enjoy those fresh cucumbers, zucchini, celery, beans, broccoli, lettuce and more while you can. Pack them into every meal. Add them to eggs in the morning, eat them fresh sliced at lunch, and load them into your stir fry for dinner. Only a few short months and we will have frost on the ground, effectively ending our growing season here. Take advantage now!
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): sausage cauliflower cassoulet (thinly slice and add to the sausage as it browns)
Kohlrabi (1.0 bulb): 1/2 peeled and shredded to add to quinoa salad, all the rest peeled and cut into sticks for lunch/snacks
Celery (1.0 head): ants on a log for lunches
Onion, Pearl OR Purplette (1.0 bunch): 1/2 for quinoa salad, 1 for cauliflower cassoulet, 1/2 for broccoli salad, 1 in fried rice
Beans, Green (1.0 bag): green beans almondine
Broccoli (1.0 head): sweet and salty broccoli salad
Cauliflower (1.0 head): sausage cauliflower cassoulet
Zucchini, Green and/or Gold (1.0 count): zucchini butter spaghetti
Basil (1.0 bunch): Save 6 leaves for making a Tom Collins, make the rest in to pesto for pizza
Cucumber (1.0 count): Use 4 slices for making a Tom Collins, the rest cut into quarter slices for quinoa salad
Cabbage – Red (1.0 head): half for the quinoa salad, half for fried rice
Lettuce, Green Leaf (1.0 head): tossed salad to serve with pizza and use leftovers for lunch
