I try to make a mix of quick, small meals we will finish in one sitting and larger meals that make plenty of leftovers and space them throughout the week. Salad on repeat gets old fast. The ingredients this week help me mix and match flavors for many different styles and tastes. Here’s what I have planned.
I had great lighting for all my dishes this week, even if many of them were mostly the same. (And all served in bowls?!) Not pictured are the leftover pulled pork we paired with blistered green beans, quiche with chard, loaf of zucchini bread, and some zucchini chocolate chip cookies I made this week.
I like the bright flavor of the herbs (parsley and mint here) with the earthy beets and tangy dressing of this Farro Salad with Beets, Scallions & Pistachios.Some day I’ll remember to cook down the tomato sauce until it’s really thick so my zucchini lasagna doesn’t end up watery. Didn’t manage it this week, but I thought this vegetarian version with mushroom tomato sauce and finely chopped kale mixed in with the ricotta was a tasty change. The flavor of the sauce for these drunken zucchini noodles is spot on, and almost makes you forget you’re having zucchini for dinner again. (Almost)I’d never attempted this Broccoli and tofu stir fry, but newly equipped with a tofu press, I battered and fried them for a stir fry that takes some extra effort, but definitely tastes more complex than our usual basic recipe. Sundried tomatoes really would have brightened up this Greek farro salad, but the salty cheese, spicy peppers, and tons of herbs pack lots of flavor, even if the colors are a bit dull.
We used everything this week except a couple of cucumbers, some of the parsley, and yes, still more zucchini! Even when the months seem like they all run together, that’s how you know it’s July.
This is the week of the year when it’s almost too hot to stand over the stove, but we’re no longer getting much lettuce for salads! Only one salad this week, everything else I tried to make quick and easy or in the crock pot!
This sheet pan dinner simply includes sliced kielbasa, potatoes, and wax peppers, tossed with oil and whatever seasoning you like. I wish I had quick-pickled the peppers, because I missed the tang of vinegar in this.Blackberries and blue cheese are combined with toasted pecans and a balsamic vinaigrette for this black and blue salad. I added quinoa to make it a full meal.The cherry tomatoes add a colorful salsa to these zucchini quesadillas.When I don’t know what to do with chard, I look for a recipe with spinach that also calls for sautéed onions. I toss the chopped stems in with the onions and use the leaves as the recipe directs you to use spinach. This lamb curry gets nice and tender in the crock pot after most of the ingredients are seared in a skillet. I added the chard leaves with about an hour left in the cook time.This wax beans with chorizo dish would make a great side, but we add some extra chorizo and eat it as a main dish. (This is the Spanish dried chorizo, not the fresh sausage links you might see at the butcher counter.)This tandoori chicken casserole has two whole zucchini shredded and mixed into the sauce! I usually use hot curry powder to give it a little kick, but I forgot this time, and missed the extra spice.
We ate the peaches plain, and are still up to our eyeballs in cucumbers with plenty of onions still on hand, but we did a pretty good job using up the rest of our veggies this week.
Welcome to another week of balancing leftovers with the new bounty from this week’s basket. No doubt we’re moving quickly into the peak of summer season now. Here’s what I am planning to make (or still plan to make, in the case of some of last week’s basket ingredients!)
I’m also still hoping to make a zucchini chocolate cake of some sort, maybe to freeze, since the fridge is already overwhelmed with leftovers as it is!
Clockwise from left: Green Zucchini, Green Chard, Broccoli, Curly Parsley, Spring Onions, Cherries, Green Beans, New Red Potatoes, Slicing Cucumbers, Black Raspberries
For a pretty heavy basket, we didn’t make too many impressive meals this week. We were able to use up some of the older items hanging around from last week, though.
A special occasion dinner called for easy roasted potatoes, a pork shoulder smoked for over 12 hours, and skillet blistered green beans.This black rice with tempeh, mushrooms, and garlic scapes had minimal ingredients, but lots of stir fry flavor. I steam tempeh for 10 minutes before frying to remove any bitterness because I read that once and thought, why not.No one has ever confused me for a cauliflower fan, but roasted until brown with spices and used on top of a salad is pretty great. This shawarma spiced version also included red pepper hummus, mint and in a later version, feta and dried fruit, all topped with a tahini lemon dressing.This zucchini noodle bolognese was so easy it really doesn’t need a recipe. I browned hot Italian sausage, cooked down some whole peeled tomatoes (canned from our garden bounty last year), and spiced it up with some Italian herbs to make the meat sauce. The zucchini will release water into the sauce, so thicker is better at this point. Pour it over the spiralized zucchini and top with cheese and you’re all set!
Not pictured are the blueberry and cherry sauces we made for topping waffles (or ice cream). We still have the kale and more zucchini to try and use next week!
Like I mentioned last week, we have some soggy lettuce hanging around, so you’ll notice some recipes this week that feature ingredients from weeks past as we try to not let anything go to waste.
This is the perfect early summer basket this week! The boxes are getting heavier and the veggies are filling up both sides of our crisper, which is a sure sign we’re headed for peak season. I’m trying to take a break from pasta with my menu this week, although there’s no break from salads in sight!
Clockwise from left: Green Zucchini, Blueberries, Red Leaf Lettuce, Green Savoy Cabbage, Rainbow Chard, Orange Carrots, Strawberries, Broccoli, English Peas
Our household comes down strong on the side of waffles in the morning debate of pancakes versus waffles. With blueberries throughout and topped with butter and real maple syrup, how could you not love these?Blueberry muffins are pretty great, too. Especially when they make use of this incredibly simple-yet-foolproof muffin recipe.Two whole-roasted components that were later disassembled into a meal: a chicken cooked per Ina Garten, but smeared with homemade pesto under the skin, and kohlrabi, later peeled and combined with peppers and feta. It’s not very pretty to look at, but this zucchini chicken enchilada casserole is one on my go-to zucchini recipes these days. Instead of spiralizing them, I cut the zucchini into thin rounds and dry them a bit with a quick turn under the broiler before layering it into the casserole.This pasta with sausage and peas was great on a rainy evening, and even though we used hot it’s,Ian sausage, it wasn’t at all spicy.I actually roasted these beets early in the week along with the chicken and kohlrabi, so the assembly of this salad just required cooking the grain (freekeh, in this case), making the vinaigrette, and chopping the lettuce for a very quick weeknight meal. Is this meal prep?I amped up the veggies in this clam pasta with white wine sauce by adding extra carrots, but it would also be good with some wilted spinach stirred in.
We still have more lettuce to use and a bundle of garlic scapes (in addition to what we harvested from our own garden)! We’ve frozen some of the extra peas, because we’re doing the same with what we’ve been getting from our garden, too!
CSA in the Suburbs 