We’re sneaking back to this routine. I’ll write more later. For now, let’s brainstorm some meals for the week ahead so we know what to shop for at the grocery store tomorrow.
Not pictures, sweet potatoes we left for the box sharers.
Hi John,
The boxes are fewer, though it still feels like they surround me in most rooms. The kitchen is inching towards usability, and in fact gets cooked in most days. At least the counters mostly make sense. We haven’t figured out a good place for dishes to go between being washed and dried, but I could clear a space to pose for this week’s produce picture.
That said, my summary of the past few weeks is that for someone who wants to be less consumption focused, I sure am spending a lot of time shopping. Both you and the friends who have heard this comment remind me that there’s good reason for that. We’re at a confluence of life transitions. Getting furniture now that fits the house we expect to be in for years makes sense. For instance, we’re currently on the lookout for the right kitchen island/cart. The cabinets don’t actually have a place that fits most pots and pans. Or the baking sheets. It’s a bit of a problem. While a kitchen remodel is probably in the long-term plans for the house (along with figuring out better insulation in that space), it’s not the top priority. So, we get to figure out what we can add that will make the existing facilities more functional. A 44 inch kitchen cart sounds promising.
In This Week’s Box
Cilantro
Kossak Kohlrabi
Rainbow Carrots
Rainbow Chard
Red Radishes
Purple Top Turnips
Still in the Fridge
Apples: last of the season
Cranberries
Greens: Red Cabbage
Celery
Carrots
Parsnip
Black radishes
Red beets
Squash: Spaghetti, Butternut
Potatoes: Sweet, Purple
Sunchokes
Open Preserves
Preserved eggplant
Dill pickle juice
Lacto-fermented green cherry tomatoes
Lacto-fermented blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
Lacto-fermented habanda jalapeno hot sauce
Pickled red onion
Pickled banana peppers with oregano, basil, and black pepper
We’ve already discussed that next time you are making soup, consider making one and a half recipes so you’d use all the parsnips instead of leaving a single, half pound, parsnip in the fridge. That said, I’m thinking somesort ofshepherd’s pie situation is in order. Probably want to buy some mushrooms for it. Consider having the topping include kohlrabi as well as potatoes.
Oh! Buy enough mushrooms to use some more in the Freekeh, Mushrooms, Turnips, and Almonds recipe from Six Seasons. We’ll substitute another grain, of course. Perhaps sorghum? Or maybe change it to French lentils.
Chard and Cilantro means we get to make this soup again! Bonus for using some of the dried volunbeans.
Confession: I haven’t touched the beets. I think it might be time to roast, puree, and freeze. (To be added to hummus or yogurt or the beet pistachio soup from Midnight Chicken at some later date.) Maybe save one or two to shred for a salad with carrots and walnuts and some citrus. This might actually be sounding good. Use up the rest of the cabbage to go with it or nah?
Offcamera, frustration at the squash that had been on display and is now rotting. Oooops.
Dear John,
It has been a whirlwind of a week. Right now I am tired and hungry-ish and don’t really know what’s in the fridge except that the only leftovers are a half-cup of macaroni noodles. Which does not a meal make. But may be enhanced into a snack? I will skip further preamble in order to peruse ingredients from the comfort of the couch.
In This Week’s Box
Asian Pears
Honeycrisp Apples
Celery
Cubanelle Peppers
Delicata Squash
Ginger
Red Beets
Spinach
Sweet Onions
White Kohlrabi
Garden Potential
Starfish pepper
Deciding how long to wait on the final jalapenos
Lombok peppers
Last of the tomatillos, for real
Volunbeans for drying
Tomato, possibly to ripen on counter
Still in the Fridge
Apples: Gala, Empire, Jonagold, U-pick, Granny Smith
Bartlett Pears, Asian Pears, Bosc Pears
Greens: 1/2 a cabbage, 1/2 bunch collards, Savoy Cabbage, Romain lettuce, Dandelion, Red leaf lettuce
Herbs: Fennel tops
Leeks
Cherry tomatoes
Tomatillos
Broccoli
Edamame
Baby Hakurei Turnips
Peppers: Yummy, Lombok, Starfish, Banana, Jalapeno, Carmen
Carrots
Squash: Delicata, Red Kabocha, Spaghetti, Robins Koginut
Garlic
Potatoes: Blue, Sweet
Sunchokes
Open Preserves
Preserved eggplant
Dill pickle juice
Lacto-fermented green cherry tomatoes
Lacto-fermented blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
Lacto-fermented habanda jalapeno hot sauce
Pickled red onion
Pickled banana peppers with oregano, basil, and black pepper
Tacos! Braised collard stems with scrambled eggs and tomatilla salsa. Sweet potatoes and black beans with the fermented habanada jalapeno hot sauce. Take-out from the place near the canoe launch.
Tomato sauce (butter and garlic and sage and one red pepper) with macaroni noodles
Soup of the week: Smokey beetroot and pistachio soup from Midnight Chicken.
Or mix roasted beets with yogurt. Maybe adding some fresh ginger at the end?
Squash pizza. With the pickled peppers? With goat cheese and lemon slices? With blackberries (from the freezer)?
Remember a couple of weeks back when I was thinking of apple slaw. The recipe I was remembering then is kohlrabi and apple and ginger and we have all of those right now. Perhaps I will go prepare some for lunch.
One watermelon. Two cucumbers. Three peaches. Three eggplant. Three peppers. Three onions. Three kohlrabi. And many, many beans.
Happy Saturday John!
I started planning for this week on Wednesday, after we received the predicted contents email. Thursday I was focused on doing the things in the kitchen. Yesterday, as you just reminded me, I was too busy looking up bike parts for you.*
So here we are, easing into the weekend. Me planning meals and you debating which dessert we should make for tonight. Later we’ll go kayaking and bike to an open house. Sometimes, having three bikes actually feels reasonable.
In This Week’s Box
Apricot
Little Baby Flower Watermelon
Yellow Peaches
Fresh Sweet Onions
Green Beans
Malabar Spinach
Mixed Cherry Tomatoes
Mixed Specialty Eggplant
Purple Bell Peppers
Purple Kohlrabi
Slicing Cucumbers
Garden Potential
Ground cherries, sometime soon I expect them to be coming in for real. Not just one at a time.
Volunbeans–let’s keep picking as they come. Except for the ones closer to the rosemary. Those I still want to see how they cook up as shellies and how they dry.
Cherry tomatoes
Cucumber surprised me last Sunday. Two appeared seemingly overnight. I didn’t notice any yesterday, but five days from now? Who knows
Tomatillos, maybe before next week. Probably not. But maybe.
Basil! Thai or lime or purple or Italian
Cilantro/Green coriander
Blackberries from the communal briar patch
Still in the Fridge
Blackberries
Peaches
Blueberries
Herbs: Fennel, Dill
Greens: Savoy Cabbage, Lacinato Kale
Onions: white, red, sweet
Carmen Peppers
Asian Cucumbers
Zucchini (only half a zuke left. But half a zucchini left)
Centercut Squash
Celery
New Red Potatoes
Beet
Sunchokes
And now for some bean sprouts
Last week we stopped by the garden store and picked up a packet of dried soup beans. Our first intentionally planted beans in this plot! The packet said 7-10 days to germinate, and here they are.
The carrots, planted on the same day, have not yet appeared. But we’ll keep trying to plant those every few weeks until frost is nigh.
Meals for now…and for later
You just said that the apricot pistachio squares look interesting. Though we may still do a peach tart from Flavor Flours or Baking. That is, if I can remember what I baked when Kathy stayed with us two years ago.
The smashed cucumber salad was a hit last week. We did not try the other cucumber salad recipes. And I do believe we are going to be eating it again.
Slicing cucumbers are the ones we’ll use to actually go back for the celery and cucumber salad in Six Seasons
Purple bell peppers, huh? I think the idea of stuffing them is the right idea. I’m not as big a fan of bell peppers, so I don’t know what to do with them beyond top salads or pizza or stirfy. Especially when we don’t yet have tomatoes. There is the roasted pepper panzanella in Six Seasons that would use some pepper and red onion and some oregano. Which may make it enough of a winner right there.
My memory of the malabar spinach is I didn’t love it raw. Let’s cook it with some rice and beans and use it to stuff the bell peppers. Maybe with some roasted centercut squash.
Oh! I bet we can dehydrate zucchini for backpacking. For a pasta recipe. Maybe something like this or a peanut noodle dish? Actually, maybe we toss the rest of the cabbage in the dehydrator while we’re at it. I’m sure we could use it in a stirfry this week, but maybe let it be a backcountry experiment. [Edit: dehydration complete!]
Especially since we can slice the kohlrabi for another salad this week. Saute the last of the kale and you’ve got my old favorite.
Speaking of the kohlrabi, see all those leaves in the picture? I cooked them up with some lentils, garlic, onions, and spices. Squeeze of lemon, handful of raisins. Served on rice for dinner on Thursday. Leftovers are already dehydrated for us to use as a cold soak salad for a backpacking lunch.
Our other dehydrator experiment this week was a smoothie. Yogurt + peach + a little bit of banana + frozen mango + some fresh ginger = My delicious breakfast this week. Poured into the dehydrator the fruit leather it turned into was yummy. Crumbled into the spice grinder and turned into a powder that smells divine. We’ll see next month how rehydrating on the trail actually fares.
The eggplant is beautiful. Dining In has a recipe for fried eggplant with harissa and dill and honestly, that sounds like it could be amazing. And we have dill that needs to be used.
If we buy an avocado, we could probably make a green gazpacho pretty easily
Watermelon by itself. Watermelon with feta and pickled red onions and basil. Mmmmmm watermelon.
I have no plans for the cherry tomatoes. They are already half eaten. They are summer’s gift and my belly is happy.
~s
Baby cuke do dooo do do do doot
* It is a sign of how much Covid messed up supply chains that the bike shop told you that they don’t expect to get the part for you bike for a year. My internet sleuthing suggests they might be overly optimistic–the supplier’s website says the inventory system is wrong and that they expect more of this $30 part in 2023.
It’s CSA delivery day. It wasn’t too bad when I walked to pick things up, but the walk home was getting hot and humid. And then I hopped on the bike and went back for the bread and eggs that wouldn’t fit in my first bags. Still prefer that to your errand experience in this afternoon’s rainstorm. Even if we both arrived home dripping wet.
In This Week’s Box
Blueberries
Yellow Peaches
White Kohlrabi
Broccoli
Head Lettuce
Lacinato Kale
Slicing Cucumbers
Sugar Snap Peas
Vidalia Onions
White Scallions
Still in the Fridge
Herbs: Parsley, Fennel, Green Onions
Greens: Escarole, Spinach, Lettuce
Radish, Red and French Breakfast
Baby Hakurei Turnips
Kohlrabi
Parsnips
Sunchokes
Brainstorming Some Meals
Peas on bread with the garlic chive cream cheese I made last week!
Clearly we need to make more salad. Maybe a cucumber, onion, and yogurt salad? Maybe maybe lettuce with cucumber, blueberries, and poppyseed dressing?
Betsy texted a recipe for lettuce soup that she made. We might be at the point where we need to try that. Or the stir-fried lettuce we made last year. Or lettuce wraps, though I’m not sure what I want to put in them. The spring rolls from a few weeks ago
We have blueberries and peaches. Do we go ahead and make the pie now? It feels early for it and I might rather get more mulberries for another cobbler first….
We really should prioritize using up the escarole–I was hoping to repeat the salad we made last year with escarole, roasted beets and rhubarb, goat cheese, toasted hazelnuts, and mustard dressing. But it’s been three weeks and we haven’t gotten beets. Maybe try with turnips, even though they’re not as sweet as beets.
I think I’m going to try to eat the peas early too. It feels like a meal I want on bread more than toast. And using some of the broccoli for dinner tonight because it is bulky and sometimes you don’t want to give things all the fridge space.
Other than that, I don’t see any obvious priorities. Eat and enjoy!
Planning Inside The Box 