Cool Weather Menu Rotation

I've done basic menu rotations for YEARS. They free me up both to think creatively within boundaries and to plan my grocery runs for the basics when times get busy. Before I share this year's cold weather menu rotation, let me share how I plan/what I take into account:

• what day is grocery day? 
• which day is busiest?
• which day has the most time?
• which is our early morning?
• dietary needs
• budget
• family faves

I'm used more rigid guidelines in the past. One year, I had a starch rotation and that worked well: Monday night was rice night, Tuesday was tortillas, etc. But this is what's working well for us this year with busy school age kids (and hungry boys!) and a busy momma and dad.

Cool Weather Menu Rotation: Breakfasts

All breakfasts have fruit on the side.... My hungry kids also often have some plain yogurt with honey in it as a side. Growing kids are blessings even if they do eat us out of house and home!

• Monday: eggs + starch (toast, biscuits, tortillas, etc.); this is often breakfast burrito day with random leftovers from Saturday night if applicable
• Tuesday: Muffins (from mix or from scratch) + protein (eggs, yogurt, cheese, etc.)
• Wednesday: Oatmeal (my grocery day; even if we're out of milk and eggs, I can still make oatmeal! Also my early morning day, and oatmeal is predictable) + whatever protein I have on hand
• Thursday: eggs + starch (toast, biscuits, etc.)
• Friday: "Fun" Friday (apple pancake, etc.)
• Saturday: whatever...
• Sunday: coffee cake + eggs

Cool Weather Menu Rotation: Dinners

• Monday: Meatless Monday (cliche by now, but it works!)
• Tuesday: Traditional (my extra time afternoon; think: meat and three, chicken pot pie, etc. In other words, this is the main day I cook!)
• Wednesday: Chili and Cornbread (we just rotate chili recipes; many chili recipes are crock pot friendly or can be put in a Dutch oven in the oven at 250 degrees for several hours)
• Thursday: Picnic Night*
• Friday: Family Fun Night: something everyone likes; veggies are often in scant supply on this night. Everything from store bought lasagna to Chicken Bog to apple dumplings makes an appearance.
• Saturday: Burritos or Stir-Fry
• Sunday: varies

*Picnic Night is something I started when I had grad classes in the evening for a few years running: one night a week, we plan ahead for sandwiches, chips, cookies--anything that's quick, easy, and can be made ahead. Lunchmeat, pb&j, tuna, hot dogs, whatever. I keep the little bags of chips on hand for easy portion control, pull out paper plates, etc. It's a kid-pleaser and a boon on the busiest day of the week, especially for those nights when mom is rushing off somewhere and leaving dad in charge of clean-up after his own busy day! 

image credit

Familiar Favorites Week

While I love to try out new recipes, sometimes we just stick to the tried-and-true around here. So, here are some of our favorite full tummies recipes we've eaten in the last week or so (some have been updated with pictures finally!):

Crockpot Fajita Chicken (used for soft tacos with company and have used leftovers in LOTS of ways)

Red Chili

Chipotle Cheddar Chicken Cakes

Crockpot Chicken Soup

We also made some other favorites that I realized weren't on this blog, yet! So I hope to remedy that soon. (Like the easy herbed-cheese biscuits we had with the crock pot chicken soup... mmm).

AND, soon, I'll be able to announce a new partnership with full tummies that's very exciting!

Menu? What Menu?

Best laid plans and all that aside... I can't even follow my OWN menus for more than a day or two.... No wonder I have issues with an outside menu source being too prescripted.

Today, I *fully* intended to keep to the plan and make BBQ chicken, bok choy, and something with winter squash. I flip open trusty Bittman to find a good temp to bake said chicken at when what to my wondering eyes do I see? Roast Chicken Parts over Celery/Carrots/Fennel (or something like that). Hmm... must read on....

I have lots of carrots to use up and this would still be baking the chicken. I also have an acorn squash looking at me from the counter. So I flip to the veggies chapter. Roasted acorn squash, eh? Sounds tasty. Oh, I can sub in some sweet potatoes? I have some of those, too....

15 minutes later, I have sliced carrots and sweet potatoes on 2/3 of my jelly roll pan, drizzled with olive oil and salted and peppered. On the opposite end are my two acorn squash halves, filled with orange juice and zest and brown sugar and butter.... What could possibly be wrong with THAT scenario? Ten minutes of roasting (at an in between temperature since the two recipes were slightly different), then the chicken breasts get plopped on top of the carrots/sweet potatoes.

30 minutes later? DELICIOUS!!! I served steamed broccoli and biscuits on the side. To be fair, I did include the planned for chicken and acorn squash. Just changed it all up.

Tomorrow, we'll tackle that bok choy--which we DO like--alongside the leftover chicken. Maybe.

Thanksgiving is THIS WEEK!!!

Boy, these years when Thanksgiving's on the early side, it really creeps up quickly! In fact, it's the earliest it can be this year. I've been loosely working with a dinner menu subscription service this fall, and this week is a good indicator as to why those don't always work for me. Why? Because I need to work in some cornbread and biscuits into the rotation in the next day or two so I'll be good and ready to make up my Grandmother's Cornbread Dressing later this week. Mmmm..... I *might* be drooling on the keyboard.

So, here's what a pre-holiday menu looks like over at the full tummies house: trying to keep it reasonably healthy, easy, cheap, and incorporate some do aheads.... kind of a hard task. I also try to avoid too many flavors that show up on Thursday and stick to meals I've made before so I don't have to hover over recipes when I need to be cleaning and multi-tasking.

Tonight (Saturday): Butternut Squash Soup, leftover Kickin' Collard Greens (YUM), and Cornbread

Sunday: Leftovers, sandwiches

Monday: BBQ Baked Chicken, roasted winter veggies (leftover butternut squash, acorn squash--one of the last CSA items), bok choy (also leftover from CSA)


Tuesday: not sure yet.... will pull something out from freezer (lasagna perhaps) or bump Wednesday's BBQ to tonight OR Breakfast for dinner--with biscuits!

Wednesday: (first out-of-town company arrives tonight) Boston Butt BBQ, baked sweet potatoes, baked beans from the freezer, something else??  We'll definitely have leftover meat which I'll freeze for later quick dinners.

Thursday Morning: Cranberry Orange Bread, Sausage Balls, and some baked pears

The BIG Day (I am not making all this--my in-laws are bringing some! A side note: my Southern sister-in-law and I are delighted to share a SOUTHERN cornbread dressing together this year):

• Roast Turkey a la Bittman (How to Cook Everything, 10th ann edition)
• Gravy
• Cornbread Dressing
• Onion Casserole
• Steamed Green Beans (which we all mix into the onion casserole)
• Sweet Potato Souffle
• Corn Pudding
• Rolls
• Apple-Cranberry Pie
• Pumpkin Pie

Pork Loin Weekly Menu

This is not actually our menu this week, but since pork loin is on sale this week at Kroger for my preferred price ($1.99/pound), I thought I'd show how to make the most of this for an inexpensive series of meals for your family! I do this series every couple of months around here:

Buy a LARGE roast for this menu. Before you roast the meat on Day 1, cut off enough pork chops for your family for use later. If you haven't already frozen your roast, you can freeze the pork chops in the marinade on this day, too, and they'll be ready to go later in the week. (See Day 4) It's also worth pointing out that the cooked roast freezes well, too, so if you're squeamish about holding leftover cooked pork in your fridge for this many days, cut up what you'll need after dinner on Day 1, label it in ziploc bags, and pull it out on the appropriate night.

Day 1 (Sunday or whatever day you tend to have a meat + three type meal--for us, that's usually Monday night): Sunday Pork Loin plus whatever sides you want (mashed potatoes are a good option as are Speedy Rosemary Green Beans).

Day 2: Pork Loin sandwiches on good bread (Easy French Bread makes a terrific option if you're being super frugal and want to make your own); we like our sandwiches with a bit of lettuce, cheese, onion salt, and mayo (and sometimes some BBQ sauce). Sides are cut up fresh veggies and chips. Incidentally, I've discovered that I only need to buy ONE bag of chips for this. We eat a modest serving each at dinner and there's enough for everyone to have sandwiches and chips the next day at lunch. And then the chips are GONE.

Day 3: Pork and Noodle stir fry (several options here--Noodles with Broccoli and Meat or sub in the leftover pork in something like Penne with Chicken and Broccoli) plus salad or fruit

Day 4: Marinated Maple Mustard Pork Chops, sweet potatoes (or winter squash also works well), salad (or something green)

Day 5: Fried Rice using any last bits of pork if you have them!

full tummies Celebration and Hospitality

Ever wonder what the full tummies family eats when there's a birthday in the house, and we're hosting lots of company? My daughter turns 7 this weekend (!!!), so we're doing a birthday dinner tonight with both sets of grandparents and throwing a party on Saturday. Here's the plan (this includes planning for overnight company Friday night--adding 4 to our usual 5 for breakfast and lunch on Sat as well as birthday dinner Friday night). It needs to be relatively healthy, easy, make-ahead, and/or cleanup friendly...

Birthday Dinner (by request of the birthday girl)

• Lasagna (which I, um, bought...)
• Lima Beans (from frozen)
• French Bread
• Ice Cream Cake (which I bought)

Breakfast Saturday morning

• Farmer's Omelet Casserole (most work done on Friday; pop it in oven Sat morning)
• Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins (might make these with mashed sweet potatoes since I have some sw. potatoes to use up; will definitely make these Friday)
• Bananas
• Coffee/Tea/Milk

Lunch Saturday 

• Hot dogs and brats
• chips
• fruit

Birthday Party

• Strawberry Cupcakes!! Incidentally, I'm going to make these Saturday morning since I'll have so much help around the house with the kids....
• Juice boxes

Fall 2012 Menu Rotation

The last year or so, I've planned a basic weekly meal schedule that has helped simplify each week's planning while still giving me some good flexibility. I am deviating from my Monday "Meat and 3" routine for the first time in YEARS because my schedule has changed some.

Here's what we've got going on this semester:

Monday/Wednesday/Thursday: kids in school in the a.m. (including bagged lunch)

Wednesday/Thursday: evening class for me  ☺

Grocery shopping on Mondays--miscellaneous food prep (chopping veggies, cutting carrot sticks, freezing stuff, etc.) on Monday afternoons.

CSA pickup on Thursdays (through October)

Wanting to be healthy, simple, AND cheap (hah!)

So, here's my plan:

• Monday: Meatless Monday (something veggie-based)
• Tuesday: Meat and 3
• Wednesday: Picnic night (sandwiches, chips, etc.); we'll make double and everyone will have their lunch automatically made for the next day!
• Thursday: Tortilla night (wraps, burritos, quesadillas, etc.)
• Friday: Rice-based (beans and rice, stir-fry, etc.)
• Saturday: Quick and Easy (stir-fries, pasta dishes, etc.)
• Sunday: Leftovers for lunch; breakfast for dinner

If you do one of these types of plans for you/your family, take into account days/nights you'll have more time to cook, the day you go grocery shopping, etc.  I don't like deli lunchmeat sitting in the fridge for a while, but I'm fine buying it on Monday and eating it on Wed/Thursday. We need meals with easy clean-up and predictable kid-appeal for Wed/Thurs so Daddy isn't coming home from a long day at work only to do battle over dinner (and deal with big cleanup) while Mommy takes her class ☺. And so forth.

Menu in Retrospect (6/30/12)

The kids and I were out of town last week, so when we got home on Sunday, we had a mountain of CSA produce to eat up...by this Thursday! A near impossible task, even though I took a meal to someone. Here's what we came up with:

Sunday: Lunch: pb&j, fruit; Dinner: Chicken and Waffles

Monday: (Meat + 3 Night) Leftover chicken, Microwave Squasherole, Mashed Turnips and Potatoes, Watermelon, Banana Cake (a feast!)

Tuesday: (Kid Night--kid helper's choice) Summer Squash, Sweet Pepper, and Polenta Casserole + watermelon for the grown-ups; fish sticks/fries/jello for the kids

Wednesday: Church dinner (pizza and ice cream)

Thursday: (Quick and Easy) The P3*, Salad, fruit

Friday: (Farmer's Market Special) Chard Enchiladas, Mexican Slaw

Saturday: Cookout! (for which we are merely bringing some chips)

+ made Elisabeth's Pasta Salad for tomorrow's potluck and a Red Cabbage Salad also for tomorrow's potluck

Lunches have been leftovers for grown-ups, pb&j or cheese/crackers plus fruit and veggies for kids

*Recipe to be posted soon

Menu in Retrospect (6/9/12)

Last week, I said we were going to eat stir fry on Saturday night; we didn't. We ate one of our favorite "throw together" meals: sauteed veggies (in this case, julienned summer squash and carrots) tossed with pasta and pesto sauce. Mmm....

This week, I've done more cooking than I have in months--I'm taking the summer off of grad school, and it's been fun to get back in the kitchen and play around! It's time consuming, though, not least of which because there's so much more to clean up when you actually cook. But it's been saving us some money and is enabling me to use up some of that beautiful CSA produce. (And my kids are enjoying helping out!)

So, here's what's been filling our full tummies:

Sunday: Lunch: leftover pasta/pesto/veg and salad; Dinner: Covered Dish (we brought a big salad, cornbread, and cake! Oh--and some mint iced tea which people drank up quickly)

Monday: ("Meat + Three" night, but...) Bierrocks (my kitchen helper this week, "The Conqueror," had SO much fun helping with these little guys--and he did a pretty good job making up the little bundles); salad

Tuesday: (Kid Request Night) Green Eggs and Ham for the kiddos; spinach omelets for Mom and Dad; banana muffins; cantaloupe

Wednesday: Dinner at church; I helped this week and brought... a big salad!

Thursday: Cabbage and Noodles with Bacon (an allrecipes recipe that, frankly, wasn't that great; I think a better version would be Quick Creamed Cabbage tossed with buttered noodles and topped with bacon... Next time, I'm going that route.)

Friday: Fish Tacos using up some Napa cabbage in the slaw part; Carmelized turnips

Saturday: Indian Night (a vegetable curry that helped use up some turnips + a chicken dish + naan)

Breakfasts:
Oatmeal, Oatmeal Muffins, cereal, smoothies, Korean egg sandwich, zucchini frittata

Lunches:
Leftovers, PB&J, Veggie Pita Pockets, mac-n-cheese, favorite salad

Menu in Retrospect (6/2/12)

Since our lives are rather unpredictable, and I don't know what I'm getting in our CSA box week to week, it's easier for me to share our menu for the week previous.... And this week's will make you all feel SO MUCH better about your own family's eating since we have been a stellar commercial for nitrates, ketchup, and the like ☺.

Sunday: Quick and Easy Lunch: hot dogs....; Dad's Dinner: Chicken and waffles (yes, this is FRIED chicken and amazing yeasted-waffles...)

Monday: Meat and Three Baseball Game Style: hot dogs, Pepsi, and slushes...

Tuesday: Kid Night: Chicken nuggets, steak fries, and ketchup. Oh--and some watermelon? (can't wait to see what the other boy picks next week...)

Wednesday: at church for "work night": Pizza, ice cream (Hubby and I did have salads with this and kids had applesauce...)

Thursday: Chicken Sausage cooked in pan with caramelized onions (YUM YUM), Bok Choy with Double Garlic (YUM YUM--gave those stems a few minutes head start), simple mashed potatoes (including garlic caramelized in the pod with the onions); kids had frozen corn instead of the greens

Friday: (Camping out) Kielbasa/chopped potatoes/half-corn-on-the-cob wrapped up in foil; S'mores

Saturday: Stir-fry

Lunches were a bit healthier.... Hubby and I had Summer Squash, Sweet Pepper and Polenta Casserole a couple of days. We had sandwiches (pb&j), lots of watermelon and various other fruits, some side salads and entree salads, ....

CSA Week 2 + Garden "Haul"

I know my regular subscribers are just dying to know what we did with the chard, bok choy, and other stuff from last week, aren't you all? Anyone check the blog with bated breath to see what amazing veggie creations we wrangled from our CSA haul? Ha ha ha ha... Just kidding. Still, I'll post some interesting, healthy, AND kid-approved recipes later, so stay tuned. And we did enjoy a lovely return of the Summer Squash, Pepper, and Polenta Casserole with some of the storebought veggies I needed to use up (actually, my husband and I enjoyed it; the kids? not so much).

In the meantime, here's this week's lineup.

CSA Share:

• 2 HUGE and BEAUTIFUL heads of buttercrunch lettuce, one red and one green (the red one was an extra freebie--thanks, Colvins!!)
• an assortment of summer squash (8-ball zucchini, some yellow crooknecks, and a couple of pattypans)
• bag of spinach
• a bulb of "green" garlic (fresh, basically)
• a box of strawberries
• a nice, large head of cabbage

Garden:

• cucumber seedlings died (sigh)
• basil planted (finally--and it's hanging in there despite the heat this week)
• some more assorted small plants waiting to find their permanent home in our raised bed (watermelons!, bell peppers, jalapeno, and... I think something else, but can't remember)
• tomato volunteers from last year are now 3 + feet high AND some have started to bear fruit!! The type is still a mystery, but I'm betting one of them is a cherry given the tiny size of the green tomatoes.

Menu Possibilities

• um, salad!
• pasta, pesto, and summer squash (summer squash goes GREAT with pesto)
• omelets with some of that spinach
• roasted/grilled squash
• Quick Creamed Cabbage
• I need some more cabbage ideas! (I really like cabbage, but I stand alone on this one... Maybe some Easy Bierrocks or a Sausage/Onion/Cabbage crockpot dish...I also really like cabbage in stir-fries)

Tradition, Tradition! Tradition, Tradition!

OK, enough Fiddler on the Roof for now (although I never get tired of that musical).

I had a little routine going this past school tear for menu planning; it helped me to no end.

One thing I've learned is that streamlining one basic part of each meal (i.e the main starch, for instance) really simplifies things. I only worried about rolls on Monday; every other night had the starch built-in. I could buy whatever meat was on sale or use up stuff in the freezer--it all goes with any given starch. I did my grocery shopping on Wednesdays, so sandwich night happened on the night when we had fresh lunch meat AND I didn't have to do any major cooking (meaning I could spend my time prepping and putting away groceries instead). Think through your schedule before you make up a food routine; routines should serve YOU rather than the other way around.

Another example from my family: it's traditional to have a big meal on Sunday after church; we get home so late that that's not been practical with young children. So we have our big meal on Monday and eat something simple for Sunday lunches--remember, your routine should serve YOU.

Here's what we had going on this past school year:

• Sunday: leftovers, soup/salad
• Monday: Meat + three
• Tuesday: Tortilla night (wraps, quesadillas, burritos, etc.)
• Wednesday (class night for Mommy): Sandwich night (and lunches were made at the same time for Thurs; a HUGE help since I had class this night)
• Thursday (class night for Mommy): Pasta night (hot or cold, Italian/Asian/what have you--it was noodle-based)
• Friday: Beans, Bean, They're Good for Your Heart...
• Saturday: Quick and Easy

It worked well, and we're going to keep something similar this summer. Here's the summer plan, so far:

• Sunday: Lunch--quick and easy/leftovers; Dinner--Dad's in charge!*

• Monday: Meat + three
• Tuesday: Kid-Night*
• Wednesday: Ethnic Night
• Thursday: (CSA pick-up day!)   Sandwich night (our CSA pick-up is RIGHT before dinner; not much cooking time here, nor will I know what I have to work with)
• Friday: Farmer's Market Special (we'll see what we can make with what we picked up the night before; I'm anticipating this will be a lot of stir-fry, other veggie-heavy meals, or big entree salads)
• Saturday: (grocery day)  Stir fry or big entree salad (depends on what we ate Friday night!)

*We're going to have weekly rotating jobs; the kitchen helper for the week is going to help plan the menu for Kid night.... I'm expecting lots of hot dogs, mac-n-cheese, and quesadillas☺. Both Dad and the kid-helper will have to decide by Friday night what they're making; otherwise, they'll be limited to "what's on hand."

Come fall, I'll have class on Wednesday and Thursday night; CSA pick-ups will continue on through October. So, I don't expect the above routine will change too much until our CSA is done.

Menu for Week of January 8th

Happy Birthday to me! So, this week's menu starts with leftovers so I don't have to cook (and I got to go out to dinner last night, too!). We're really trying to do what everyone else is trying to do right now: save money and lose weight--and do it quickly/easily. Hah! But the recipes below are all fairly simple.

• Sunday: Soup for lunch and Poultry Pasta Primavera for dinner (recipe coming for this one!)
• Monday (meat and three): Roast chicken, potatoes, green veggie, salad
• Tuesday (tortilla night): Grilled chicken/black bean burritos, roasted sweet potatoes,* fruit
• Wednesday (breakfast night): Denver omelets (with ham from freezer), fruit, muffins
• Thursday (pasta night): Chicken Parmesan (from Cooking Light!), green veggie
• Friday (bean/legume night usually, but this week I'm taking a meal to someone and we're going to have the same thing!): Light and Easy Italian Chicken, twice-baked potatoes, speedy rosemary green beans, fruit salad, cookies
• Saturday (bean/legume night for this week): Curried Chick Peas with Veggies and rice (trying to recreate an Indian restaurant fave here...)

I don't use a recipe for my roasted sweet potatoes, but here's my general method:  peel and chunk up the potatoes. Toss with some olive oil. Sprinkle on salt and pepper. Roast in a 13x9-inch pan alongside whatever else is in the oven (if anything). If nothing else is baking, then I'll start them at about 400 degrees or so. They're good at room temperature, so they're usually the first thing I get going. I just stir them when I remember they're in the oven....

Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Supper

For some strange reason, my kids are not huge fans of the Thanksgiving feast (sigh). Instead of serving up the same food for supper that they'd rejected at lunch, I pulled a Charlie Brown stunt--and this is going to be our new Thanksgiving evening tradition for whoever wants it. Although marshmallows were a good substitute, I plan to have jelly beans on hand next year!

• pretzels
• popcorn
• jelly beans (we subbed in leftover marshmallows)
• toast (we did crackers)
• something fun to drink

The kids loved it, and it was super easy to throw together while we adults made amazing turkey sandwiches and added in a side of marshmallow-topped sweet potatoes :-).

Thanksgiving Menu

This year, we're keeping our Thanksgiving pretty simple. It's been a hard, crazy semester with lots of travel, lots of school work (mostly for me), lots of work at church (our church is getting ready to move into its new building), etc. We're not going anywhere; instead, we've invited some good friends over (they're in the midst of moving, so they'll be bringing easy, storebought stuff).

• Roast Turkey (of course)
• Stovetop Stuffing (sigh--my little Southern heart will miss dressing, but none of us has time this year to really make anything labor intensive and we all like Stovetop)
• Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallows on top (the kids are gonna love this!)
• Spinach Maria (mmmmm) 
• rolls
• cranberry sauce
• apple-cranberry pie
• pumpkin pie

We might throw in a fruit dish or something else.... but our goal is to enjoy each other's company, not stress out, and relax!

CSA and Garden/Menu Week of October 22

We have two more weeks of our CSA adventure after today. It's been a good run! Here's what we took home today:

• a million yellow tomatoes! (well, they were giving away extras; I bet we took home about 20)
• a nice bagful of arugula... yum yum yum
• a bag of tiny sweet potatoes
• a small head of cauliflower
• a red tomato
• a bag of sweet bell peppers--all different colors
• 6 small hot peppers
• 3 small heads lettuce
• 5 radishes

Menu for this week.... I haven't done a good job of following my last few weekly menus. This week, the hubby's heading out of town for about 5 days. So, it's not going to be very exciting. That DOES mean, though, that I will be eating BLT's MULTIPLE times this week. I love me a good BLT and this is no doubt the last week this year I'll be eating them. I don't think the tomatoes are loving the cool weather too much.

We'll be eating kid-friendly food: looks like some omelets with those peppers for yours truly, cheese-only omelets for the kidlets; maybe some pork chops with sweet potatoes on the side; probably some fish sticks in our future...

I don't know about you, but my interest in encouraging healthy eating habits goes right out the door when there's not another grownup around to back me up. Thankfully, fresh veggies are staple around here, so I picked up some cukes from the market, some baby carrots are still in the fridge, and I'm about to harvest the last of our cherry tomatoes....

That's all I got, folks!

CSA and Menu (Week of July 24)

Our second CSA haul from the Colvins is in! We've got some stuff leftover from last week since the hubs was on a business trip for a few days (I'd forgotten about that when I made the menu), and our kids will be gone this week... perfect time to use up the stuff the kiddos aren't crazy about :-). We're not collecting from any friends' gardens this week either since we want to use up what we have. (Our garden WOULD be producing nice, beautiful tomatoes, but the squirrels are stealing them just before they are ripe [sigh].)

CSA goodies

• bunch basil (yum!)
• bag of yellow squash (plus 1 8-ball zucchini)
• bag of mixed cukes (including those delicious little yellow ones)
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 big head lettuce
• 1 bag carrots (about 5)
• 1 bag small yellow onions (last week's were white)
• 2 hot peppers

Our garden

• 1 cuke every day or so
• cherry tomatoes
• potential slicing tomatoes if I can get a net over them (stupid squirrels!)
• lots of basil
• banana peppers (tons)

Menu for the week (most items will work for 2 meals since the kids won't be with us)

• Polenta Squash Casserole (didn't make it last week)
• Entree salad with chicken
• Squash soup with pesto, bread, salad
• Stir fry with cabbage, carrots, onions

CSA and Menu, Week of September 11th

We skipped a week and a friend picked up a week, so our CSA share this week was quite welcome! (And the rain that filled the farm's irrigation pond was also welcome!!)

CSA Share

• broccoli greens
• 2 small butternut squashes
• 2 sweet peppers
• 2 hot peppers
• 1 small melon
• 1 small bag new potatoes
• 1 small bag slicing onions
• 1 gorgeous quart of red and yellow cherry tomatoes
• 1 beautiful head of lettuce

Farmer's Market

• peaches
• corn (we've already fried those babies :-) )

Fruit and Berry Patch

• basket FULL of apples that the kids and I picked (which means we have already made apple dumplings, too!)

Menu:

• Sausages, caramelized onions, rice, broccoli greens, cherry tomatoes
• Chicken/black bean/spinach burritos (recipe to come!!)
• Potato, Bacon, and Egg Scramble with biscuits and fruit
• Some sort of pasta with a nice tossed salad on the side
• Pintos and cornbread, salad
• Stir-fry or Indian (TBA)

CSA/Garden/Menu for August 21st

We'll be out of town this week from Wednesday evening on....so our menu is scanty. Thankfully, the produce we received from our CSA this Saturday is conducive to storage :-).

CSA:

• Bag of summer squash (1 8-ball zucchini, 1 pattypan, and 1 yellow)
• 2 small red bell peppers
• bag potatoes (plus some extra seconds!)
• bag small slicing onions
• 2 small spaghetti squash
• bunch basil
• 3 beautiful slicing tomatoes

Farmer's Mkt purchase: (we pick up our CSA share at the local farmer's mkt)
Baker's Dozen ears of Silver Queen corn!!

Our garden?
hmmm.... odd tomato here and there; banana pepper here and there... maybe I should water? :-)

Meal Options:
Chicken sausages, sauteed onions, fried corn, crudite
Stir-fry (using up cabbage, bell peppers, etc.)
Pasta (using pesto and summer squash of course!)

Lunches this week:
8ball zucchini pizzas again!
BLT's!! (Mmmm....my new discovery this summer)

CSA and Garden Menu, week of August 14th

How did we get to mid-August so quickly?! I'll now be packing a kindergartner's large snack/small lunch 3x a week, too, so for my own sanity, I'm going to list some packable small lunch options. Since my daughter's a late sleeper and she has a 30 minute ride to school, I'm also listing some portable breakfast options.