The Plan:
Day 1: Pannise lettuce salad with chickpeas, olives, and cucumber, Dark velvet beet cookies
Day 2: Sloppy Joes, Raw veggies (kohlrabi, celery sticks, snap peas)
Day 3: Homemade pizza, Tossed salad
Day 4: Black bean and chard quesadillas, Blueberries with cream
Day 5: Beef and broccoli with snow peas and rice
Day 6: Brinner: Green eggs (with basil pesto), Blueberry pancakes
Day 7: Grilled zucchini, fennel, and onion sandwiches
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 (freeze in an ice cube tray then pop out and store in a zip top bag in the freezer)
- Blueberries (frozen in gallon zip top bags to use in winter)
Notes: Plastic Free July
Every July millions of people around the globe band together to make a pact to reduce plastic use for one month. It is called Plastic Free July. Reducing plastic use is a passion of mine. It makes me so sad when I find plastic soda bottles on the shores of nearby lakes and streams, chip bags and other food wrappers littering the public rain garden behind my house, or birds weaving plastic scraps and threads into their nests (yes I have seen this!) This is all a result of humans, and I think we can do better.
How can you join in? Easy! Pick anything that you regularly buy (yes, anything!) and try to replace it with something that is not made with or packaged in plastic. Even better, just cut it out of your life altogether.
For example, I have been able to cut out to-go beverage containers. Those “paper” cups are actually lined with plastic and are not able to be recycled. Then there is the plastic cover, typically made from plastic number 5, which is not easy to recycle either; plus a straw if your beverage of choice is cold. Instead, I now make my own tea at home or if I head to the coffee shop, I bring my own insulated mug. I also carry a reusable water bottle where ever I go, which can be filled with water or any other drink. I even take it empty through TSA at the airport and then fill it up on the other side. This is actually really easy to do and is now a habit for me to the point where I wouldn’t even consider buying a single use cup. Did you know that a lot of coffee houses also have actual mugs that you can use in the store? Just ask.
There are countless ways that you can make an effort this month to cut out plastic. Check out my 90 day Plastic Challenge for more ideas. Who knows? Maybe one of the changes will stick!
Meal notes: The zucchini sandwiches are beloved in my household so I am repeating them this week. Veggies that my kids will eat? More please!
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): peeled and cut into sticks to serve with Sloppy Joes
Broccoli (1.0 head): beef and broccoli stir fry
Zucchini, Green and/or Gold (3.0 count): zucchini sandwiches
Basil (1.0 bunch): pesto (1/3 will be mixed with scrambled eggs, the other 2/3 frozen for future use)
Peas, Sugar OR Snow (1.0 Unit): eat raw for snacks, lunches, and with Sloppy Joes. If there is any left they will go in with the beef and broccoli stir fry
Celery (1.0 head): 2 stalks diced for the Sloppy Joes, the rest cut into sticks to serve with other raw veggies on the side
Onion, Pearl (1.0 bunch): 1 for Sloppy Joes, 1 for quesadillas, 1 for zucchini sandwiches
Chard, Red (1.0 bunch): quesadillas
Lettuce Head, Red Leaf (1.0 head): tossed salad
Beet (1.0 bunch): greens cut off and used with chard for the quesadillas, beets for the Velvet cookies
Cucumber (1.0 count): panisse salad
Panisse Green Butterhead (1.0 head): large salad
