Back at It [CSA Week 1 + Meal Plan]

Tags

basil, CSA, eggs, lettuce, rhubarb, spring onions, spring produce, what's in the box

Hello internets. It’s me again – the blogger who always disappears and comes back months (or years) later for more. Oh, I’m not the only one? Well, okay then, moving on.

So, since I last posted here, a lot has changed. The biggie being our relocation back to the homeland: Minnesota. We left Delaware in November of last year, and although there are a handful of things we miss, we are absolutely tickled to be back. I could go on for days about my love of this place, but that’s for another post.

Near the top of our to-do list upon settling into our new home was finding local food. Now, the growing season here is considerably shorter than out East (chalk one in the Delaware column, I suppose), but we found a plethora of CSA options to choose from in the area. We settled on Nystrom Farms out of western Wisconsin. They are an up-and-coming CSA farm, and we felt good about supporting them in their growth.

CSA season is 18 weeks here (as opposed to the 21 or 22 weeks that we’ve had the last two years). We got our first share delivered to our home today (another bonus of a small farm). It’s a bit sparse, but the weather here has been horrendous (late spring, second wettest June EVER). But I’m keeping optimistic about the next 17 weeks. Here’s what we got:

eggs, lettuce, basil, rhubarb, spring onions

Here’s what we’re eating this week, incorporating this stuff and also herbs from our patio garden. Meal planning will be Wednesday-Tuesday for the remainder of CSA season, since we like to plan around the fresh stuff (duh).

• Wednesday: Papa Murphy’s cheese deLite pizza with CSA basil, garlic, and sundried tomatoes added at home.
• Thursday: Broccoli cheddar quiche
• Friday: Salmon with lemon and dill and scallion and potato soup
• Saturday: Salad w/ apples, cashews, crasins
• Sunday: Barbecue with family. We’re bringing baked beans and perhaps blueberry rhubarb crisp.
• Monday: Crispy gnocchi with basil pesto + chicken breast
• Tuesday: Pineapple pork roast (something kind of like this, minus the sugar, plus bell peppers)

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CSA Weeks 6 & 7

Tags

blueberries, cabbage, carrots, celery, corn, CSA, cucumber, green beans, kohlrabi, pepper, potatoes, what's in the box, zucchini

I am two weeks behind on posting CSA weekly hauls and meal plans. I wanted to at least get these pictures up before tomorrow, when we pick up week 8.

For week 6, I was only home two days out of the week, so John ate most of this, and some of it carried over into the next week.

celery, zucchini, cucumbers, potatoes, blueberries, green beans, kohlrabi, corn

A few recipes we did make:

• Potato and green bean salad
• Carrot kohlrabi slaw
• Blueberry cucumber smoothie (plain yogurt + banana + chia seeds)

For week 7, we tried to get back in our groove after the craziness of the last four weeks: trip to Milwaukee, both sets of parents visited, 4th of July, my work trip to Minneapolis. Now we’ve got a few weeks to just stay home and enjoy our regular meal planning, cooking, and of course, eating.

zucchini, corn, celery, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, green pepper, cucumbers

In addition to the haul above, we also got green beans and mushrooms this week, which we gave to friends. Here are some recipes we made:

• Shaved zucchini with pine nuts and parmesan
• Zucchini, carrot, and potato pancakes
• Sauerkraut
• Chicken stir fry with green beans
• Greek salad
• Quesadillas with corn, black beans, onion, and green pepper
• Celery chopped and frozen for later use

What’s in the Box? [CSA Week 18] + Meal Plan [September 30-October 6]

Tags

CSA, freezer staples, meal planning, Trader Joe's, what's in the box

The CSA season is winding down. Only two more weeks of pick up. What the heck are we going to do after that? I hate buying produce at the grocery store now. It’s always gross and old and expensive (organic). We’ve got some veggies stocked in the freezer, but apartment living doesn’t allow for much food preservation and storage (I’m sure there are people who would beg to differ, but I’m not into clutter…not one bit.) I dream of the day I have a full size deep freeze to call my very own (wow, nerd alert).

I didn’t plan it this way, but apparently we’re using quite a few freezer randoms in this week’s meals. It’s nice to have that stuff to fall back on.

Here’s what we’re working with: acorn squash, green bell pepper, carrots, zucchini, potatoes, sweet potatoes, garlic, turnips, radishes, onion.

Sunday:

• Buffalo chicken bites with potato and turnip cakes and salad
  We used up the turnips and last week’s lettuce in this throw-together lunch.
• Loaded baked potato chowder
  I had this soup at a Pampered Chef party years ago. It’s a simple and tasty recipe that’s easily doctored up (if you can get over all the product pitches in the instructions).

Monday:

• Yoyo

Tuesday:

• Penne with squash and goat cheese
  We didn’t make this a couple weeks ago. I’m actually going to try it this time with our (real) acorn squash. The mystery squash is still on top the fridge waiting for it’s fate.

Wednesday:

• Corn and black bean enchiladas with chips and homemade salsa
  We have leftover enchilada filling in the freezer. It’s basically corn, black beans, bell pepper, garlic, and onion, all sauteed together. Then we use Trader Joe’s enchilada sauce and cheese stuffed inside corn tortillas. The Mister is going to whip up some salsa with CSA peppers, garlic, onion, and cilantro (hanging on from last week).

Thursday:

• Pulled pork sandwiches on homemade buns with honey balsamic carrots and zucchini
  The pulled pork is leftover from last weekend (in the freezer, I promise). I’m going to make some fresh buns and also try out this Pinterest carrot recipe. I figure I can throw in zucchini, since it’s mild and will probably take on these flavors nicely.

Friday:

• Out
  We’re going to a social event and will probably bring a dish to pass, but I have no idea what yet.

Saturday:

• Caramelized onion and proscuitto pizza
  What’s not to like here? A ball of pizza dough in the freezer makes this even sweeter (read: easier). I might add roasted red peppers to half … see if that tickles the palate.

What’s in the Box? [CSA Week 17] + Meal Plan [September 23-29]

Tags

CSA, greens, in season, meal planning, spring produce, what's in the box

Another late post. Whoops. And it’s going to be a short one.

One topic that came up this week, chatting with other members at the CSA stand, which I found interesting … growing seasons.

I should preface it by saying that the Mister and I are from Minnesota. Much of Minnesota has already had nights below freezing this fall. It’s deep into harvest season and most people’s gardens are done around now. On the flip side, what’s weird to me is reading about people who have just started their gardens in the south (e.g., my sister lives in Phoenix, and she planted tomatoes in the winter last year). This is foreign to us … you just don’t even think about it. Beyond that, Delaware has a much more temperate climate, and I guess it’s not uncommon to do two growing seasons for greens and other “spring” veggies. And that explains our produce haul this week. Honestly, I think it’s awesome that here we get two rounds of produce in one year. One point for Delaware.

Without further ado: kale, carrots, collard greens, lettuce, cilantro, potatoes, red onion, eggplant, red bell pepper, sweet potatoes.

 

Here’s what we’ve been eating and will be eating:

Sunday:

• Pulled pork sandwiches with homemade barbeque sauce, sweet potato fries and kale chips
  We moved this from Saturday to Sunday. Local pork from our friendly neighborhood butcher, CSA potatoes and kale, sauce simmering on the stove. What’s not to love?

Monday:

• Yoyo
  We had leftover pulled pork for lunch and leftover root veggie stew for dinner. Hint for anyone who wants to make this stew: don’t use beets unless you want to eat hot pink dumplings.

Tuesday:

• Chicken teriyaki stir fry with peppers, carrots, and green beans over brown rice
  Nothing too impressive here. We used store-bought sauce.

Wednesday:

• Collard greens with bacon, cornbread, and sweet potato souffles
  This was our attempt at a southern meal — something we’re really not accustomed to. In this house, we don’t really take issue with not having a defined “main dish” (read: meat). If it’s enough food, what does it matter? All in all, turned out well. I totally winged the sweet potatoes (took bits and pieces of four recipes to make my own based on what we had in the house).

Thursday:

• Ground beef tacos with leftover cornbread
  Pretty straightforward here. I do make my own taco seasoning, and you should too (gross stuff in the packets — read the label!).

Friday:

• Eggplant parmesan pizza
  This is a tested and proven recipe. We’ve become real comfortable with pizza on Friday nights, on the floor of the living room, watching Netflix. Oh, the exciting life of a married couple.

Saturday:

• Yoyo
  Leftovers and TBD. I’m meeting friends in Baltimore for the day (yay!).

What’s in the Box? [CSA Week 16] + Meal Plan [September 16-22]

Tags

CSA, fall produce, meal planning, soup, what's in the box

Another beautiful haul this week, including a few items we’ve never tried before. We’ve got: apples, yellow squash, carrots, green beans, onion, turnip, corn, cucumber, mystery winter squash*, sweet potatoes**.

*CSA lady told me this was acorn squash. Upon arriving home and looking it up, I think she’s wrong. But I can’t figure out what it is. Anyone?
**CSA lady told me what these sweet potato thingies are, but I forgot the name. Something about the parts that grow up (out?) of the root. Apparently their sweet potatoes aren’t doing well. She told me to wash ’em and roast ’em. Sure, what the hey.

The Mister is on his own for the first half of the week, as I’m headed back to the homeland (Minnesota) for work. I’ll try to help him out with some simple food ideas while I’m gone, but he’s become quite capable in the kitchen without me. (So proud!)

Sunday:

• Spaghetti squash with chicken
  I didn’t want make anything complicated for dinner tonight since I’ll be prepping to leave. I’ll adapt this to what we have in the fridge and freezer.

Monday-Wednesday:

• Blueberry carrot top smoothie
• Corn on the cob
• Roasted sweet potato “fries”
• Potato, squash, and goat cheese gratin

Thursday:

• Penne with squash and goat cheese
  I’m going to try this recipe with our mystery squash. Guess we’ll see what happens.

Friday:

• Root vegetable stew with herbed dumplings
  This looks like a delicious and hearty dinner that will result in good leftovers. We’ve got a turnip, sweet potatoes, carrots, a beet, and white potatoes. Plus it’s dumplings … what’s not to like?

Saturday:

• Pumpkin granola
  I’ve wanted to make this for awhile. Sounds so yum.
• Slow cooker pulled pork sandwiches with Neely’s BBQ sauce
  The Mister is the master of this one. I’ll just sit back and enjoy eating it. We’ll make some kind of veggie side dish (likely green beans, potatoes, or both).

What’s in the Box? [CSA Week 15] + Meal Plan [September 9-15]

Tags

CSA, fall produce, freezer staples, meal planning, Trader Joe's, what's in the box

How can we have so much produce in the house and nothing to eat? That has been our dilemma the last week or so. I think that’s one of the hard things about trying to eat clean and cook from scratch: rarely is there a quick snack or effortless meal. But on the plus side, we aren’t constantly snacking and eating junk (i.e., our pants fit).

However, to help resolve this little problem, I made some muffins and soup Sunday night. And the flavors and aromas are definitely triggering autumn in the brain (and tummy).

This week’s goodies (roughly L-R): green zucchini, mystery squash (I think it’s a small spaghetti squash), yellow zucchini, corn, butternut squash, cucumber, beets, potatoes.

Sunday:

• Butternut beet soup with whole wheat french bread
  We have not been big beet fans, regardless of preparation. Our best bet has been to try to hide them and get the nutritional benefits without actually tasting them. This soup pretty much accomplishes that. It’s sweet and velvety and great with a dollop of sour cream and sprinkle of cilantro.
• Apple pie muffins
  These muffins had so much potential. That was until they ended up baked apples with a hint of muffin. Six apples was obscenely too much apple for the amount of batter (and I think I only dumped five apples worth into the batter before stopping myself). If you make them, use three apples. That will be plenty.

Monday:

• Greek salad
  The Mister is very particular about his Greek salad, having studied abroad in Greece in college. Tomato, cucumber, red onion, feta, olive oil, oregano, salt, and a squirt of lemon juice (no olives for this man). This will alternate with soup for lunches this week.
• Yoyo
  With a new semester in full swing, Mondays will be yoyo nights, since the Mister is on campus all night.

Tuesday:

• Black bean and corn salad
  A simple salad with some of the last tastes of summer made an easy dinner with lots of leftovers.

Wednesday:

• Zucchini calzones
  I think we’ll use one of our standard pizza doughs and our go-to red sauce (from this book), add some sauteed zucchini, garlic, and onions (and cheese, of course). We’ve never actually done calzones, but i figure it’s got to be easy since we’ve conquered pizza.

Thursday:

• Bacon cheeseburgers and baked parmesan garlic fries
  Sometimes you just need a scrumptious, naughty dinner. This is that meal.

Friday:

• TBD
  We’re either having people over or we’ll cook up the mystery squash.

Saturday:

• Pumpkin zucchini bread
  I think I’ll shred up the yellow zucchini and make bread/muffins and freeze some.
• Trader Joe’s gorgonzola gnocchi with veggies
  We’ll plan another simple dinner for the weekend; plus it’s an easy way to use up some of the blanched veggies in the freezer.

Linked up over at In Her Chucks CSA link party, once again.

What’s in the Box? [CSA Week 14] + Meal Plan [September 2-8]

Tags

CSA, freezer staples, meal planning, peppers, Trader Joe's, what's in the box

Woohoo, I’m back with a Sunday full-length food blog. We’re settling into the idea of fall and a routine around here, and I like that. But even if we’re ready for warm crock pot meals and pumpkin-flavored everything, the CSA food still tastes like summer (well, except the apples). We’re trying to eat the freezer and pantry a bit too, which goes along with our no spend September.

This week, we’re working with: broccoli (yay!), bell peppers, poblanos (can they be red? if not, that’s a mystery pepper too), eggplant, mystery long peppers, jalapenos, potatoes, and garlic.

Sunday:

• Beef with peppers stir fry
  One of many attempts to consume a gazillion peppers this week. I’m planning to add some sweet pineapple to balance the spicy.

Monday:

• Herb-roasted eggplant with tomatoes and feta
  One of the comments says to put this on a toasted roll with proscuitto. We have some rolls in the freezer and proscuitto to use up in the fridge. I think I’ll add a thin layer of marinara sauce to complete the delciousness.
• Garlicky rolled broccoli greens
  We’ve never cooked broccoli greens before. But I figure garlic makes pretty much anything taste good.

Tuesday:

• Loaded baked potatoes with steamed broccoli
  The CSA lady told me to bake the potatoes this week, so I’ll do what I’m told. I love a good baked potato bar, as it was a staple dinner in our house growing up. Maybe we’ll fry up some CSA bacon too.

Wednesday:

• Mahi mahi with melted tomatoes over brown rice
  This recipe calls for salmon, but I believe mahi will suit the recipe fine (since we have it in the freezer).

Thursday:

• Yoyo
  I figure we’ll have some leftovers in the fridge by Thursday.

Friday:

• Fresh salsa
  I’ll make a my own take on Texas Caviar with lots of chopped bell peppers, corn, beans, tomatoes, cumin, lime, and bring that to a potluck we’re attending Friday night.

Saturday:

• Sweet corn and poblano dip
  Game day snack (college football consumes Saturdays in the fall).
• Trader Joe’s freezer stuff
  We’ve got orange chicken, pot stickers, fried rice, gnocchi, and possibly more in the freezer. An effortless dinner is nice, especially on a lazy Saturday.

What’s in the Box? [CSA Week 13] + Meal Plan [August 26-September 1]

Tags

CSA, meal planning, Trader Joe's, what's in the box

I’ve been a terrible blogger lately. I’m going to use the standard excuse that summer has been busy. Just this summer, I’ve been to Florida, New York, Minnesota, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington DC, and of course, Delaware (and passed through New Jersey and Ohio). Wow, I just processed that and am exhausted thinking about it.

As fall rolls around, I have high hopes and dreams and plans to drastically improve this blog, and even give it a new name and facelift. I think I finally have a vision for my blogging future.

This week’s produce (minus some — as we like to donate to our friends who offer to pick up our share when we’re out of town): corn, green bell pepper, red mystery pepper, apples, jalapenos, potatoes, garlic.

 

Meals this week:

• Chicken taco salad
• Corn on the cob
• Arugula, fig jam, blue cheese, proscuitto pasta
• Chicken tikka masala with potatoes, onions, peppers, peas on basmati rice with naan (Trader Joe’s tikka masala sauce and frozen naan)
• Mahi mahi fish and chips
• Buffalo chicken mac and cheese (treat for the Mister on the first day of Wisconsin Badger football)
• Slow cooker apple cinnamon steel cut oatmeal
• Fresh salsa (the Mister has been experimenting with the variety of peppers and whipping up salsas in the blender; just add tomato, onion, garlic, lime, cilantro, etc.)

What’s in the Box? [CSA Week 12] + Meal Plan [August 19-25]

Tags

CSA, meal planning, peppers, what's in the box

Holy peppers. That’s what I can say about this week. But, honestly, I’m glad it’s not beets or beans. My parents are coming to town on Thursday, and then we’re heading to NYC for the weekend. Because of this, I’m glad we have a lighter week of veggies.

We’ve got: corn, bell peppers, tomatoes, squash, garlic, poblano peppers, some twisty hot peppers, and cucumbers.

Mystery peppers are intimidating. The CSA lady said they are sweet at the bottom and spicy at the top (not really sure how that works). The cucumbers look like they were picked days ago, which is kind of disappointing. But I guess you can’t win them all. Finally, any idea why the top of the garlic is so long? Am I supposed to use that?

Here’s what we’re eating this week:

• Poblanos stuffed with cheddar and chicken
• Potato, squash, and goat cheese gratin
• Chicken tacos with fresh salsa
• Cucumber blueberry smoothie
• Dill pickle chips or some type of refrigerator pickle
• Corn on the cob
• Greek salad
• Beet muffins (from last week)

What’s in the Box? [CSA Week 11]

Tags

CSA, meal planning, pizza, sandwiches, Trader Joe's

Brief and late post this week. We got back from our short vacation on Tuesday night and have been playing catch up ever since (you know how it is). This includes meal planning and produce consumption. We’re lucky to have friends around here willing to pick up our share when we’re out of town.

Without further ado, this week’s haul: cantaloupe, beets, wax beans, green bell peppers, garlic, tomatoes (including some funky heirlooms), corn, eggplant (three types). Please excuse the crappy photo taken inside at night.

Our meals this week are on two themes: stuffed items and sandwiches. We’ll add sides of roasted potatoes (previous CSA weeks) and wax beans. And the Mister has to eat that entire melon himself, since I’m not a fan.

• Stuffed green peppers
  I chopped up some onion, garlic, a tomato, an ear of corn, added some brown rice we had in the freezer, some ground beef, and a bunch of spices. All in all, a simple and filling meal that used all stuff we had on hand. (I loosely followed recipes online … there are about a million and they’re all very similar.)
• Stuffed pattypan squash
  I used last week’s pattypan and leftover filling from last night’s green peppers for today’s lunch. I’ve decided I much prefer winter squashes to summer varieties, I’m realizing. Not a huge fan of the watery mush.
• Eggplant, tomato, and goat cheese sandwiches
  These were tonight’s dinner and were super quick to throw together, as well as tasty. Used one of our heirloom tomatoes and the medium-sized eggplants (which had tougher skin than the larger ones we’ve had the last few weeks).
• Beet, arugula, and goat cheese sandwiches
  So far, we haven’t been huge fans of beets. I’m taking this recommendation from a fellow blogger and we’ll see how it goes.
• Bacon, avocado, and tomato sandwiches
  No need for a recipe here. Slap ’em all together (with some cheese of course) and toast those sammies to perfection.
• Beet poppyseed muffins
  I made muffins with beets earlier this summer and it was a good use for them, so I’m trying a different version. We’ll see how beet-y these taste.
• Fig jam, arugula, proscuitto, and blue cheese pizza
  This is still our favorite homemade pizza. It doesn’t use any of our CSA stuff, but we’ve been craving it lately. Plus, we did a big Trader Joe’s stock up this week (we only go once a month or less), where we get most of the ingredients for this puppy.