Yes, the menu's a bit late, but ever since half the vegetables got destroyed I've been winging it. Sunday night we had the last of the scape pesto. Instead of pasta we served it with brown rice because we didn't have enough pasta for three and we had a surprise dinner guest (Iz!). Quite honestly, though tasty, the rice wasn't delicate enough to let the pesto's bright taste truly shine. To round out the meal, we had a crudite of carrots, celery, and scallions along with the Universal Salad Dressing.
Tonight: turkey meatloaf (from the freezer, still tastes outstanding!) and another crudite, plus some cucumbers that have been marinating along with red onions in balsamic vinegar.
No dinners are planned after Wednesday. Thursday night we're going to see a play (Sam Shepard's "Kicking a Dead Horse" at The Public Theater) and Friday is the 4th so something somewhere will be grilled. Since we're down a bunch of vegetables, we're going to be making do with some leftovers (chicken) and some surprises (sour cherries from Iz's backyard).
One more important note: I'm still trying to figure out how to calcuate the E-Co$t of meals since we're now using our CSA vegetables. Since they're not priced by the vegetable, do I go with the going price at the supermarket? Do I just divide the CSA cost per week by the number of vegetable types? When I decide on a method, I'll start posting the E-Co$t again. I plan to start posting the dollar figure along with the recipe...just like the nutrition information (yes, I haven't posted that in awhile either).
Menu 6/28/08 - 7/5/08
Saturday June 28, 2008
Ginger-garlic bok choy stir-fry and some cheese and crackers
Sunday June 29, 2008
Garlic scape pesto with brown rice and crudite with Universal Salad Dressing
Monday June 30, 2008
Turkey meatloaf, crudite with Universal Salad Dressing, and cucumbers and red onions with balsamic vinegar
Tuesday July 1, 2008
Chicken panini with kale (crispy, roasted, or sauteed)
Wednesday July 2, 2008
Meggyleves (sour cherry soup)
Thursday July 3, 2008
A night out at the theater
Friday July 4, 2008
Happy 4th of July!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Spinach and Bok Choy, Oh Joy
Sure, we lost half of our CSA delivery due to exploding water bottles, and last week's menu was hardly followed at all (no Asian soup and no peas and carrots, since I went out a few nights this week). But all was not lost.
Last night we grilled chicken (just marinated in olive oil and salt and pepper) and I made saag (an Indian dish) with the spinach (because I made it with spinach leaves, I believe it's more appropriately referred to as palaak paneer). It was delicious! I think I could've added a bit less of the cumin and more of the garam masala (which is alongside the regular spices now, thanks to McCormick's worldly ways). I served the saag as just a side dish, but "Bob" would've liked it much more if I had made some rice or put out some nan (or any bread for that matter). He found it a bit strong to eat all by its lonesome—he likened it to eating pesto without the pasta. Me? I just shoveled it all in.
Tonight, after the great vegetable disaster, we decided on having bok choy and some crackers and cheese (and wine). The bok choy was a bit wilty and in need of immediate attention. The stir fry with ginger was flavorful and quick. The recipes for both vegetable dishes follow.
Saag/Palaak Paneer
Serves about 4 (but I ate twice as much as I should have)
12 ounces spinach (stems removed and leaves washed and chopped)
1 medium onion (chopped)
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
1-inch piece of ginger (quartered)
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2 tablespoons tomato puree (or 2 teaspoons of tomato paste diluted with 2 tablespoons water)
1 teaspoon garam masala
2 tablespoons evaporated milk
Directions
1. Put onion, garlic, and ginger in a blender with a little water and blend to a paste.
2. Heat oil in a small-to-medium pan, add onion mixture and cumin, and let this turn golden-brown over medium heat (add additional oil if necessary)
3. Add turmeric and the spinach.
4. Stir for 5 minutes and add the coriander and tomato puree.
5. Let the spinach cook for about 20 minutes on medium heat.
6. Add the garam masala and the evaporated milk and stir.
Nutrition Information per Serving
Calories: ; Carbohydrates: ; Protein: ; Fat: ; Cals./g:
*Points:
Ginger-Garlic Bok Choy Stir-Fry
Servings 2 -4 (we ate it all since it was our main course)
1 "head" of bok choy
1/2 red pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup of English peas
2 garlic scapes, minced
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
Directions
1. Separate the dark green top leaves of the bok choy from the white portion of the bulb.
2. If the leaves are still firm and fresh, separate the small leaves from the large leaves (put the small leaves aside). Otherwise do not use the leaves if they are too wilted.
3. Chop the large leaves into 1-inch pieces (put aside with small leaves.
4. Chop the white portion of the bok choy into 1/4 slices (on the diagonal looks nice).
5. Heat up oil in pan on highest heat.
6. Toss in white slices of bok choy and red pepper and saute for 2 to 3 minutes.
7. Then toss in the minced garlic scapes and grated ginger and saute for another 30 to 45 seconds.
8. Add the leaves, cook for 30 seconds more and then deglaze with soy sauce.
Nutrition Information per Serving
Calories: ; Carbohydrates: ; Protein: ; Fat: ; Cals./g:
*Points:
Last night we grilled chicken (just marinated in olive oil and salt and pepper) and I made saag (an Indian dish) with the spinach (because I made it with spinach leaves, I believe it's more appropriately referred to as palaak paneer). It was delicious! I think I could've added a bit less of the cumin and more of the garam masala (which is alongside the regular spices now, thanks to McCormick's worldly ways). I served the saag as just a side dish, but "Bob" would've liked it much more if I had made some rice or put out some nan (or any bread for that matter). He found it a bit strong to eat all by its lonesome—he likened it to eating pesto without the pasta. Me? I just shoveled it all in.
Tonight, after the great vegetable disaster, we decided on having bok choy and some crackers and cheese (and wine). The bok choy was a bit wilty and in need of immediate attention. The stir fry with ginger was flavorful and quick. The recipes for both vegetable dishes follow.
Saag/Palaak Paneer
Serves about 4 (but I ate twice as much as I should have)
12 ounces spinach (stems removed and leaves washed and chopped)
1 medium onion (chopped)
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
1-inch piece of ginger (quartered)
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2 tablespoons tomato puree (or 2 teaspoons of tomato paste diluted with 2 tablespoons water)
1 teaspoon garam masala
2 tablespoons evaporated milk
Directions
1. Put onion, garlic, and ginger in a blender with a little water and blend to a paste.
2. Heat oil in a small-to-medium pan, add onion mixture and cumin, and let this turn golden-brown over medium heat (add additional oil if necessary)
3. Add turmeric and the spinach.
4. Stir for 5 minutes and add the coriander and tomato puree.
5. Let the spinach cook for about 20 minutes on medium heat.
6. Add the garam masala and the evaporated milk and stir.
Nutrition Information per Serving
Calories: ; Carbohydrates: ; Protein: ; Fat: ; Cals./g:
*Points:
Ginger-Garlic Bok Choy Stir-Fry
Servings 2 -4 (we ate it all since it was our main course)
1 "head" of bok choy
1/2 red pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup of English peas
2 garlic scapes, minced
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
Directions
1. Separate the dark green top leaves of the bok choy from the white portion of the bulb.
2. If the leaves are still firm and fresh, separate the small leaves from the large leaves (put the small leaves aside). Otherwise do not use the leaves if they are too wilted.
3. Chop the large leaves into 1-inch pieces (put aside with small leaves.
4. Chop the white portion of the bok choy into 1/4 slices (on the diagonal looks nice).
5. Heat up oil in pan on highest heat.
6. Toss in white slices of bok choy and red pepper and saute for 2 to 3 minutes.
7. Then toss in the minced garlic scapes and grated ginger and saute for another 30 to 45 seconds.
8. Add the leaves, cook for 30 seconds more and then deglaze with soy sauce.
Nutrition Information per Serving
Calories: ; Carbohydrates: ; Protein: ; Fat: ; Cals./g:
*Points:
Oh No, What a Disaster!
We got our latest CSA share on Thursday. Not much again: about 8 radishes (though they were quite large), some bok choy, curly endive, a large bunch of kale, escarole, and a head of Boston lettuce. Now, there's even less.
This afternoon I discovered bits of green glass in the refrigerator. Two bottles of sparkling water froze and blew up in the back of the fridge. The water soaked the bags filled with our vegetables and then re-froze. A lot of the vegetables (escarole, lettuce, and endive) were ruined. A few, but not all, of the radishes were also frozen. That leaves us with kale, bok choy, and radishes.
There is a silver lining though. "Bob" made us our garbage can composter today. After hemming and hawing about this for weeks (buy a new one or try and get one off of Freecycle or Craigslist?, make it out of metal or plastic?, are plastic garbage cans safe or should we buy a foodsafe plastic container?, and so on), we decided to go the plastic garbage can route. We have plenty of these cans on hand since we do a lot of home projects and use them for hauling and storing renovation and landscaping materials. After a quick viewing of this "how to" guide on About.com, "Bob" made the composter. Then he filled it with various "green" and "brown" materials. Last week I trimmed the wisteria so we had plenty of green material. Plus we had a huge cardboard box that he ripped up, so that took care of the brown.
Afterwards, "Bob" rolled it around the yard and then put it on the cement base he had made for our long-deceased rain barrel (it was plastic as well and the seams burst one year; the composter now fits perfectly on this old base).
What else can be composted? We can throw our chipboard products in there, and I read that you can put junk mail in as a brown material too. I didn't toss in the stems, branches, and leaves from my rose bushes because they had a lot of black spot on them. Though I think the compost will get hot enough to kill the fungus, I really don't want to push my luck just yet.
After we thought the composter was done for the night, I discovered the destoyed vegetables. We were able to fill up the can that much more. Paper towels went in there too as well as some coffee grounds, egg shells, and some vegetable ends I'd saved up in the fridge for this occasion. Remember, you can't throw everything in a composter (dog and cat waste and meats are verboten).
These sites provide a lot more information on the ins and outs of composting:
Everything you wanted to know about plastics and composters:
http://www.fakeplasticfish.com/2007/08/compost-tumbler-solution-to-potting.html
The About.com video that we watched for making our bin:
http://video.about.com/greenliving/Homemade-Compost-Bin.htm
The metal versus plastic debate:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/nwgardens/321517_smith30.html
You shouldn't use dog waste in your compost, but you can compost the stuff on its own to keep it out of the trash:
http://www.plantea.com/dog-waste-compost.htm
Another garbage can how-to:
http://www.ehow.com/how_16876_make-compost-bin.html
A source (free) with a list of other sources (not free):
http://www.idealbite.com/tiplibrary/archives/scrap_happy
Making compost tea:
http://www.kitchengardeners.org/
The EPA's guidelines; hopefully, in the future, we'll be able to trust this agency again:
http://www.epa.gov/composting/by_compost.htm
One of the best, most comprehensive composting guides I found online:
http://www.compostguide.com/
This afternoon I discovered bits of green glass in the refrigerator. Two bottles of sparkling water froze and blew up in the back of the fridge. The water soaked the bags filled with our vegetables and then re-froze. A lot of the vegetables (escarole, lettuce, and endive) were ruined. A few, but not all, of the radishes were also frozen. That leaves us with kale, bok choy, and radishes.
There is a silver lining though. "Bob" made us our garbage can composter today. After hemming and hawing about this for weeks (buy a new one or try and get one off of Freecycle or Craigslist?, make it out of metal or plastic?, are plastic garbage cans safe or should we buy a foodsafe plastic container?, and so on), we decided to go the plastic garbage can route. We have plenty of these cans on hand since we do a lot of home projects and use them for hauling and storing renovation and landscaping materials. After a quick viewing of this "how to" guide on About.com, "Bob" made the composter. Then he filled it with various "green" and "brown" materials. Last week I trimmed the wisteria so we had plenty of green material. Plus we had a huge cardboard box that he ripped up, so that took care of the brown.
Afterwards, "Bob" rolled it around the yard and then put it on the cement base he had made for our long-deceased rain barrel (it was plastic as well and the seams burst one year; the composter now fits perfectly on this old base).
What else can be composted? We can throw our chipboard products in there, and I read that you can put junk mail in as a brown material too. I didn't toss in the stems, branches, and leaves from my rose bushes because they had a lot of black spot on them. Though I think the compost will get hot enough to kill the fungus, I really don't want to push my luck just yet.
After we thought the composter was done for the night, I discovered the destoyed vegetables. We were able to fill up the can that much more. Paper towels went in there too as well as some coffee grounds, egg shells, and some vegetable ends I'd saved up in the fridge for this occasion. Remember, you can't throw everything in a composter (dog and cat waste and meats are verboten).
These sites provide a lot more information on the ins and outs of composting:
Everything you wanted to know about plastics and composters:
http://www.fakeplasticfish.com/2007/08/compost-tumbler-solution-to-potting.html
The About.com video that we watched for making our bin:
http://video.about.com/greenliving/Homemade-Compost-Bin.htm
The metal versus plastic debate:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/nwgardens/321517_smith30.html
You shouldn't use dog waste in your compost, but you can compost the stuff on its own to keep it out of the trash:
http://www.plantea.com/dog-waste-compost.htm
Another garbage can how-to:
http://www.ehow.com/how_16876_make-compost-bin.html
A source (free) with a list of other sources (not free):
http://www.idealbite.com/tiplibrary/archives/scrap_happy
Making compost tea:
http://www.kitchengardeners.org/
The EPA's guidelines; hopefully, in the future, we'll be able to trust this agency again:
http://www.epa.gov/composting/by_compost.htm
One of the best, most comprehensive composting guides I found online:
http://www.compostguide.com/
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
This Week We're Weak Willed
Aside from devouring chocolate-covered graham crackers and horrible honey-mustard pretzel chips at work (the pretzel chips are truly disgusting, yet strangely addictive), I also dug into the chocolate-chip mint ice cream at home. And now, I've added yet another addiction to my repertoire: garlic scape pesto.
"Bob" and I couldn't wait another day. So, we had it for dinner last night (a bit ahead of schedule). I also made a salad with cucumbers, carrots, onions, red leaf lettuce, the last of the broccoli, and some homemade salad dressing. I followed the recipe for Universal Salad Dressing that was included in the weekly newsletter from my CSA.
Universal Salad Dressing
1 cup mayonnaise or buttermilk (or a blend of both) or replace 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup of the preceeding with 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup of sour cream or plain yogurt.
1/4 cup fresh green herbs (popular choices are parsley, cilantro, or dill)
1 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice, lime juice, or vinegar (red wine vinegar, white balsamic, sherry vinegar, etc.)
1 to 2 garlic scapes (or fresh garlic after scape season)
Salt and pepper to taste
Red pepper flakes or several dashes Worcestershire sauce
Directions
1. Place the ingredients into a food processor and blend until desired consistency.
2. Store in the fridge and use throughout the week.
I adapted the recipe as follows: I blended 1/2 cup of reduced fat Hellmann's mayo (and, yes, I still haven't heard from their customer service department; I guess it's time to pester them a bit) with 1/2 cup of low-fat plain yogurt. For the acid, I used red wine vinegar. I also added some Worcestershire sauce as suggested. The herbs I used were thyme and oregano (from the CSA) and a tiny bit of minced parsley. I must admit, preparing the herbs in advance as suggested by that post on the Chocolate & Zucchini blog has kept them fresher and has made them more convenient to use.
Today "Bob" and I had garlic scape pesto for lunch. The end of garlic scape season will be tough to endure.
"Bob" and I couldn't wait another day. So, we had it for dinner last night (a bit ahead of schedule). I also made a salad with cucumbers, carrots, onions, red leaf lettuce, the last of the broccoli, and some homemade salad dressing. I followed the recipe for Universal Salad Dressing that was included in the weekly newsletter from my CSA.
Universal Salad Dressing
1 cup mayonnaise or buttermilk (or a blend of both) or replace 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup of the preceeding with 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup of sour cream or plain yogurt.
1/4 cup fresh green herbs (popular choices are parsley, cilantro, or dill)
1 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice, lime juice, or vinegar (red wine vinegar, white balsamic, sherry vinegar, etc.)
1 to 2 garlic scapes (or fresh garlic after scape season)
Salt and pepper to taste
Red pepper flakes or several dashes Worcestershire sauce
Directions
1. Place the ingredients into a food processor and blend until desired consistency.
2. Store in the fridge and use throughout the week.
I adapted the recipe as follows: I blended 1/2 cup of reduced fat Hellmann's mayo (and, yes, I still haven't heard from their customer service department; I guess it's time to pester them a bit) with 1/2 cup of low-fat plain yogurt. For the acid, I used red wine vinegar. I also added some Worcestershire sauce as suggested. The herbs I used were thyme and oregano (from the CSA) and a tiny bit of minced parsley. I must admit, preparing the herbs in advance as suggested by that post on the Chocolate & Zucchini blog has kept them fresher and has made them more convenient to use.
Today "Bob" and I had garlic scape pesto for lunch. The end of garlic scape season will be tough to endure.
Monday, June 23, 2008
In the Stir
You'd think after all the Chinese food we had last week, we'd be sick of it now. But tonight, "Bob" made stir fried chicken and vegetables. We used up the rest of the broccoli and about half of the English peas. With the red pepper, it was a very colorful dish (we ate it and packed up the leftovers before I remembered to take a picture, so you'll have to take my word for it).
Chicken Vegetable Stir-fry
Serves 4
1 to 1.5 lbs chicken cut into 1/2 strips
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1 cup shelled English peas
1 cup corn
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
1 cup brown rice
1. Mix chicken, 1 tablespoon oil, 1 1/2 teaspoons ginger, half of garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and crushed red pepper in medium bowl. Let stand 1 hour.
2. Heat skillet/pan/wok over high heat and add chicken mixture; sauté until chicken are just done and transfer to bowl.
3. Add 1 tablespoon oil to pan, then add sugar snap peas, corn, bell pepper, 1 1/2 teaspoons ginger, and remaining garlic. Stir-fry until vegetables are crisp and tender, about 3 minutes.
4. Add chicken and juices to pan; stir-fry 1 minute longer.
5. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Serve over cooked brown rice.
Nutrition Information per Serving
Calories: ; Carbohydrates: ; Protein: ; Fat: ; Cals./g:
*Points:
Chicken Vegetable Stir-fry
Serves 4
1 to 1.5 lbs chicken cut into 1/2 strips
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1 cup shelled English peas
1 cup corn
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
1 cup brown rice
1. Mix chicken, 1 tablespoon oil, 1 1/2 teaspoons ginger, half of garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and crushed red pepper in medium bowl. Let stand 1 hour.
2. Heat skillet/pan/wok over high heat and add chicken mixture; sauté until chicken are just done and transfer to bowl.
3. Add 1 tablespoon oil to pan, then add sugar snap peas, corn, bell pepper, 1 1/2 teaspoons ginger, and remaining garlic. Stir-fry until vegetables are crisp and tender, about 3 minutes.
4. Add chicken and juices to pan; stir-fry 1 minute longer.
5. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Serve over cooked brown rice.
Nutrition Information per Serving
Calories: ; Carbohydrates: ; Protein: ; Fat: ; Cals./g:
*Points:
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Garlic Scape Pesto
This is the last post of the evening. The garlic scape pesto was both beautiful (an amazing shade of green!) and delicious. You can see we've stored it in my prized Pyrex containers. The lids are plastic but the bowl is glass. The glass is freezer, dishwasher, oven, refrigerator, and microwave safe. I bought two sets from Amazon.com. I expect that these the Pyrex will outlast all my Ziploc and Tupperware plastic containers. Plus, I can use the glass in the microwave without the worries of warping and plastic contamination/leaching.I must admit, if we had never joined a CSA, I probably would never have eaten scapes. But since you get what you get with a CSA, you have no choice but to try it all. I often get in a rut with some foods, especially with vegetables, since you never know if you're really going to like a vegetable or not until you eat it (with cheese, it's pretty much a certainty I'll like it). It's much easier to make the same ol' same ol' week after week, month after month. Now, we must make and try new things. The garlic scape pesto is something I'd definitely have again (and lucky for me, we will, on Wednesday).
The CSA provided a garlic scape pesto recipe in the newsletter, but we had to modify it (my husband is allergic to nuts). The recipe they provided called for: 1/3 cup walnuts, 3/4 cup olive oil (we used less than that), and 1/4 to 1/2 cup of Parmesean cheese (we used grated Romano instead). What follows is Bob's recipe.
Garlic Scape Pesto
Serves 6 to 8
1 cup garlic scapes (about 8 or 9 scapes), top flowery part removed, cut into 1/2 inch slices
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup grated romano cheese
1 pinch Kosher salt
Freshy ground black pepper to taste
Directions
1. Place scapes in the bowl of a food processor and process until well combined and somewhat smooth.
2. Slowly drizzle in oil and process until incorporated.
3. With a rubber spatula, scoop pesto out of bowl and into a mixing bowl.
4. Add Romano cheese to taste and also add salt and pepper.
5. For 1/2 pound short pasta such as penne, add about 2 tablespoons of pesto to cooked pasta and stir until pasta is well coated.
Makes about 6 ounces of pesto. Keeps for up to one week in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.
Nutrition Information per Serving
Calories: ; Carbohydrates: ; Protein: ; Fat: ; Cals./g:
*Points:
Menu a la Week: 6/21/08 - 6/27/08
It's a day late, but what follows is this week's menu (and what happened last week).
Recap: Friday night we had nothing for dinner since we both had big lunches and Thursday night my husband had oatmeal and raisins since I went out drinking for the departure of a colleague to grad school (Bye Sarah! See you soon for cocktails).
Since the broccoli head from our first CSA share looked a bit wilty, we started with that first. ("Bob" passed on the offer of broccoli leaves since he couldn't think of anything to do with them; I've since learned you can use them like kale and as a base for broccoli soup). About a third of the broccoli florets was used for last night's salad. We also had one of the frozen chicken pot pies (and it was fine without the egg wash, just not as glistening and pretty).
Since we didn't get through all of our frozen foods last week, we'll have more things to choose from in our freezer this week. With all the planting we did yesterday, there wasn't much time to cook anyway.
This week, we'll have to get through the broccoli (easy) and the scapes. What are scapes, you ask? A green flower from the garlic bulb. These shoots emerge from the ground and are ripe for harvesting for about 2 to 3 weeks. Check out The New York Times article on scapes that was published last week.
There are so many English peas, that they'll be coming out of our ears by Friday. As for the spinach, I know what not to make with it. I also have some new ideas on how to prepare it. For lunch Friday, I had a great Indian spinach dish (I believe it is called palak paneer). Now I'm on the hunt for a good recipe for it. I already have a good semi-Italian spinach recipe, and, of course, spinach will be incorporated into our salads. Armed with four or more recipes/uses, we should be able to get through all the spinach they throw at us.
By the looks of this week's menu, we'll be needing plenty of ginger. In searching around for various pesto recipes (Gail needed some basil/pesto advice), I came across this blog: Kalyn's Kitchen. This post talks about freezing basil but I also noticed that she freezes ginger root. I didn't know that could be done.
My freezer is going to be jealous of hers. Hers is so much better looking.
Hers
vs.
![[IMG_1161.JPG]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK6E3oMhNt-vKechA5Ef4OaGCIqfJwkJi143GAPxMs5-Ptqyf2PeYTqbhhKVepnTxVkx5U8ZobAXoQ5VqOPnsy_3IANwbHvB4ZotF5kWsD3wK8cyBVu_Qc0J6ObdMDinmSem45R6PRf9E/s1600/IMG_1161.JPG)
Mine
Menu 6/21/08 - 6/27/08
Saturday June 21, 2008
Chicken pot pie and salad (with broccoli and red leaf lettuce and mustard vinaigrette)
Sunday June 22, 2008
Garlic scape pesto with pasta and salad
Monday June 23, 2008
Ginger chicken and broccoli stir fry with brown rice
Tuesday June 24, 2008
Chicken and palak/saag paneer
Wednesday June 25, 2008
Scape pesto and green salad
Thursday June 26, 2008
Turkey meatloaf and herbed English peas and carrots (with garlic scapes!)
Friday June 27, 2008
English pea Asian chicken soup (or some other English pea soup)
Recap: Friday night we had nothing for dinner since we both had big lunches and Thursday night my husband had oatmeal and raisins since I went out drinking for the departure of a colleague to grad school (Bye Sarah! See you soon for cocktails).
Since the broccoli head from our first CSA share looked a bit wilty, we started with that first. ("Bob" passed on the offer of broccoli leaves since he couldn't think of anything to do with them; I've since learned you can use them like kale and as a base for broccoli soup). About a third of the broccoli florets was used for last night's salad. We also had one of the frozen chicken pot pies (and it was fine without the egg wash, just not as glistening and pretty).
Since we didn't get through all of our frozen foods last week, we'll have more things to choose from in our freezer this week. With all the planting we did yesterday, there wasn't much time to cook anyway.
This week, we'll have to get through the broccoli (easy) and the scapes. What are scapes, you ask? A green flower from the garlic bulb. These shoots emerge from the ground and are ripe for harvesting for about 2 to 3 weeks. Check out The New York Times article on scapes that was published last week.
There are so many English peas, that they'll be coming out of our ears by Friday. As for the spinach, I know what not to make with it. I also have some new ideas on how to prepare it. For lunch Friday, I had a great Indian spinach dish (I believe it is called palak paneer). Now I'm on the hunt for a good recipe for it. I already have a good semi-Italian spinach recipe, and, of course, spinach will be incorporated into our salads. Armed with four or more recipes/uses, we should be able to get through all the spinach they throw at us.
By the looks of this week's menu, we'll be needing plenty of ginger. In searching around for various pesto recipes (Gail needed some basil/pesto advice), I came across this blog: Kalyn's Kitchen. This post talks about freezing basil but I also noticed that she freezes ginger root. I didn't know that could be done.
My freezer is going to be jealous of hers. Hers is so much better looking.
Hers
vs.
Mine
Menu 6/21/08 - 6/27/08
Saturday June 21, 2008
Chicken pot pie and salad (with broccoli and red leaf lettuce and mustard vinaigrette)
Sunday June 22, 2008
Garlic scape pesto with pasta and salad
Monday June 23, 2008
Ginger chicken and broccoli stir fry with brown rice
Tuesday June 24, 2008
Chicken and palak/saag paneer
Wednesday June 25, 2008
Scape pesto and green salad
Thursday June 26, 2008
Turkey meatloaf and herbed English peas and carrots (with garlic scapes!)
Friday June 27, 2008
English pea Asian chicken soup (or some other English pea soup)
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