The Plan:
Day 1: Gazpacho, Muskmelon chunks
Day 2: Ratatouille, Steamed green beans
Day 3: Homemade pizza, Greek salad (sub peppers for cucumbers)
Day 4: Out to eat!
Day 5: Black bean and chard quesadillas, Pico de gallo
Day 6: Quinoa salad with veggies and feta, Apple slices
Day 7: Vegetable curry with chickpeas (carrots, peppers, green beans, tomatoes)
Pantry Shuffle:
Out of Storage:
- From Mastadon Valley Farm meat share: Italian sausage
Into Storage:
- Black and Kidney beans: I’m prepping for chili season! Dried beans will be soaked, cooked, then into zipper bags for freezing. No more canned, salty beans and I’m keeping it local with beans grown 30 miles from my home.
- Ratatouille: I dropped the ball in August and didn’t get around to making batches of one of my favorite meals. So, I was able to find a few more local zucchinis and eggplant and I’m ready to cook and store! You can also use bell peppers instead of zucchini if you can’t find them. Will try to freeze 2-3 batches in gallon zipper bags
- Muskmelon chunks: freeze in zipper bags to use for smoothies, sangria, or a refreshing grab and go snack.
Notes: Eating Out
It’s my daughter’s birthday this week and we are continuing our family tradition to eat out. The birthday person gets to pick a restaurant of their choice. Eating out is a rare event for our family so this tradition is beloved by all of us. We give the birthday person free reign to choose the location. Discussions happen for weeks, usually brought up by the birthday kid who spots a fast food chain when we are driving around. The messages I am trying to instill during these conversations are 1. eating out is a special occasion, 2. it is important to support local owners vs. chains, 3. eating out is expensive, and 4. homecooked meals are typically healthier. We talk about the people who own and work at the restaurants. We discuss how, even the cheapest of restaurants will cost our family of five $25-$30 for just ONE meal. I compare that to our grocery bill and how with home cooking we spend much less than that for an entire day of eating. We discuss the salt, sugar, additives, and oil used in most restaurants compared to what we use at home. After all of this, usually the birthday kid ultimately chooses a chain restaurant, but sometimes they surprise me and request to go to a local diner. As of now, my daughter says she wants to eat at our favorite Indian restaurant which is owned by parents of my son’s classmate. Progress!
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.
Carrots: quinoa salad, veggie curry, rest cut into sticks for lunches and snacks
Tomatoes: gazpacho, ratatouille, Greek salad, pico de gallo, curry
Pepper, Bell – YELLOW: Greek salad
Onion, Yellow: gazpacho, ratatouille, Greek salad, quesadillas
Beans, Green: 3/4 bag steamed and served with ratatouilli, 1/4 back cut up for curry
Chard, Red: quesadillas
Pepper, Red Sweet Carmen: 1 for Greek salad, 1 for quinoa salad
Muskmelon, Infinite Gold – Large: Cut into chunks and served with gazpacho
Pepper, Red Bell: 1 for curry, rest cut into strips for lunches and snacks
Garlic: gazpacho, ratatouille, quesadillas, curry
