Week 3 - Good Morning Sun!

If this is your first time visiting, read this to learn more about what we're up to!

It's been nice to wake up with the sun shining, even if it's still pretty cold at the end of March in Southern California.  Sun makes me think of spring, and summer, and makes me so excited to get my very small garden up and running.  Alas, it needs to warm up a bit before I can start getting seedlings/seeds in the ground.  There is nothing more 'local' about food than something you pull from your backyard!  Given the continued cold, what we're getting in our box remains very similar to what we've gotten in past weeks.  We'll have to try to be creative in the kitchen to ensure that we use things up and don't get 'bored' of the same ingredients.

In the box this week

(top row) Lettuce, Fennel, Rapini (Broccoli Rabe), Red Russian Kale, Tatsoi

(bottom row) Leeks, Cilantro, Carrots, Apples, Blood Oranges, Strawberries

Meal plan for the week

Sunday: Chicken braised in Fennel and Leeks (some French experiment that my husband will throw together that will be delicious)

Monday: Indian-spiced lentils with Kale, rice, Cilantro-mint chutney

Tuesday: Pork chops with Apple chutney and roasted Beets

Wednesday: Rapini with penne and sausage

Thursday: Flank steak stir fry with Tatsoi and Carrots

I used to wonder if we'd 'get through' all of these fruits and veggies in our CSA box each week, but the reality is that I'm still having to augment our box with a fair amount of fruit and at least a handful of other veggies to get us through.  By creating a meal plan in advance of shopping, though, I'm buying only what we'll consume for our meals, and that is helping to save some money each week.  More importantly, we're throwing away next to nothing and eating a much more interesting variety of meals.  

After each meal, I've been asking the boys how they'd rate it on a scale of 1 (really bad!) to 10 (amazing!).  A surprising number of meals have gotten a 7.5, so I'd say we're definitely on the right track.

This week's title is inspired by the Ben Folds song Still Fighting It.