Week 48 - Nearing the End

Hard to believe that there is just a little over a month ago until the end of this year-long experiment.  Vacation plans may push the actual 'end' out a few weeks - we head out of town for two weeks at the end of week 51 - but it's still hard to believe.  Sometimes I watch a slide show of all the meals that have been made, and I'm pretty excited by all the amazing foods we have incorporated into our meals over the last 11 months.  Lest I get too excited too soon, there are still five boxes to explore, prepare, photograph and write up!

In the box this week

(top) lettuce, spinach, swiss chard

(bottom) onions, parsnips, tatsoi, oranges, apples, tomatoes, strawberries

Meals/recipes for the week:

• Carnitas, featuring Onions and an Orange, served with roasted Tomato and Onion salsa     
• Tatsoi with chicken and buckwheat noodles (going off recipe a bit)
• Roasted Butternut Squash soup and roasted Parsnip soup (using up one of last week's butternuts)
• Apple, Swiss Chard and melon juice

Those recipes, along with a couple of salads should get us through the box this week.  I'm taking a cooking/knife skills class this week from Martha Rose Shulman of the NYT's Recipes for Health column, so perhaps I will come back with some great ideas for next week!
This week's title is inspired by the song of the same name by David Carbonara from the Mad Men After Hours soundtrack.

Week 47 in Review

The Score
Eaters - 9.5     Compost - 1     Carry Over - 1.5

It was a good, but not great, week in terms of using up the box.  Work got in the way of some of our plans but, in many ways, that was expected.  We have a lot more to carry over than usual - a butternut squash, some onions, some lettuce - but at least it's all in great shape.  All the spinach hit the compost, but all in all we enjoyed some great meals.  The oranges and strawberries were really amazing considering that it was still February when they were picked!

The Best

• We loved this stir fry recipe, featuring tatsoi and some gorgeous purple onions from the box.  Tatsoi seems to taste somewhere between spinach and bok choy, and added perfect balance to this spicy chicken dish.  We served it with some store-bought veggie dumplings.

The Good

• This orecchiette with caramelized onions and peas was delicious, and featured some meyer lemon zest and basil from our garden.  A great veggie meal!

• We also really enjoyed this black bean soup, which featured carrots and onions from the box (and cilantro from the previous week).  I had intended to add kale to the recipe, but forgot - so we juiced the kale later in the week with the rest of the carrots and an apple!

•  Oven roasted butternut, carrots and parsnips.  Hard to go wrong!

Week 47 - Lucky Now

One more week until I hopefully will come for air from some insanely busy work projects, so it wasn't looking so good for me to get a lot of cooking done this week.  Luckily for me, I've got my husband on the hook to make a few different meals this weekend so he may do most of the heavy lifting this week.  Though he loves to cook and in the past often did most of the weekend's cooking, work has also gotten in the way of his hobby.  I'm very glad timing has worked out well for him to have some playtime this weekend.  I'm sure we'll all enjoy the end results! 

In the box this week

(top) lettuce, tatsoi, spinach, kale

(bottom) parsnips, carrots, onions, butternut squash, oranges, apples, peas, strawberries

Meals/recipes for the week

• Roasted pork loin with parsnips, carrots, and butternut squash
• Slow cooker black bean soup with carrots and kale, and last week's celery carry over and cilantro
• Wok sauteed tatsoi, onions, and chicken
• Orecchiette with caramelized onions and peas
• Spinach, orange and almond salad

Given what my husband is signed up to do, this seems pretty doable.  Now, off to shop and get ready for the busy, busy week ahead!
This week's title is inspired by the song of the same name by Ryan Adams.

Week 46 in Review

The Score
Eaters - 10.5     Compost - 0.5     Carry Over - 1

This week's test to see if I could use the box up went fairly well.  The week's meals weren't as gourmet as some have been, and there were a fair number of repeated concepts but - bottom line - we successfully used up most of the box without working to a meal plan.  Meals were often randomly thrown together using an ingredient or two, but not necessarily following a recipe.  We are carrying over a few radishes and celery stalks, and ended up composting a bit of cilantro, but all in all, not too shabby.  Honestly, I like to take more of a planned approach, but it's nice to see that it's still possible to make good use of the box when I might not have time to think ahead. 

Nothing this week was revolutionary, so I'm going to divide the results up by the time of day that they were served.

Breakfast

• We took the final slices of last week's cinnamon swirl bread and made a lovely french toast with fresh strawberries.

• We took the kale and some left over potatoes and made a breakfast frittata served with fresh squeezed orange juice. 

 

Dinner

• We took the parsnips and roasted them along with some baby potatoes and carrots, then tossed all the veggies in olive oil, fresh rosemary and garlic. 

• I sauteed a few parsnips, celery, potatoes, black beans, and corn, and then used that mixture as the filling for some enchiladas served with a super quick tomatillo cilantro salsa.  This was definitely a 'use up what I've got' recipe, and it worked surprisingly well!

 Prepping the filling

 The final product, with cilantro on top

• The broccolini and spinach from the box were paired with some peas and onions from our garden, as well as some mushrooms from the store, for a delicious stir fry. 

Week 46 - Just a Test

The next couple of weeks are going to be tough.  I have a very big work deliverable due by the end of the month, and I'm working way too many hours because of it.  I know that this is going to be a week where I'm not going to have much time at all to cook, but in some ways it feels like it is a good test.  Can we still use up most of the box when we have weeks like this?  Therefore, I'm not going to try to plan it all out in advance.  I'm just going to shop for the basics, and hope that I can wing it and make some simple meals that use up what we've got in the little time I have. 

In the box this week

(top) lettuce, spinach, kale, cilantro

(bottom) celery, parsnips, broccolini, radishes, tomatillos, oranges, apples

(extra purchase) strawberries

Given that this year is quickly nearing an end, I think this week will be a chance for me to practice using the box 'when no one is looking.'  Part of the goal of this entire experience has been to get comfortable with whatever ingredients we receive, and this week's demanding schedule will give me a chance to see if that comfort level is there.  I look forward to reporting back on how things go!

This week's title is inspired by the song of the same name by the Beastie Boys.

Week 45 in Review

The Score
Eaters - 11     Compost - 1     Carry Over - 0

Valentine's day made for a great occasion to use up a bunch of ingredients from the box.  That meal alone featured spinach, celery, oranges, parsnips, and marjoram from the box, and made for three fun and flavorful courses.  Interestingly, however, it wasn't that meal that was the highlight of the week; perhaps that much good food all at once makes it more difficult to pick a favorite?  All in all, it was another great week.  We did get through most of the box, though ended up having to compost a few stalks of celery that went rubbery and one avocado that just didn't ripen. 

The Best

• This Italian wedding soup (featuring kale and fennel) was a huge hit with the entire family.  It wasn't super easy to make, but the savory, fennel flavored broth was worth every bit of effort.

 The Good

• Valentine's dinner started with a lovely parsnip soup.  This flavorful soup - with a little olive oil drizzled on as garnish - will definitely be put into rotation when parsnips are in the box.

 

• Dinner continued with this delicious spinach, celery and orange salad with candied almonds.  I'd eat this every day.

• We finished our meal with roasted chicken featuring a marjoram pesto, served over egg noodles.  I don't think I could have eaten one more bite by the time we were done!  

The Rest

• Though I can't say this featured anything from the box, my other valentine's week goal was to make cinnamon swirl bread for my kids.  It was definitely the most complicated baking project that I've ever taken on, but the final product was amazing.  Can't say that I'll do this every year, but was a fun labor of love for my mini Valentines.

 The dough after its first (of four) rises

 Adding in the 'swirl' mixture

 Filled dough is cut and braided

 Baked loaves

 Delicious swirl bread with golden raisins

Week 45 - Love Like A Sunset

This week, it was easy to pick a theme with Valentine's Day on the calendar.  It has long been a tradition for my husband and me to make dinner at home together, rather than trying to find a babysitter for a mediocre meal out.  With the colorful assortment of produce in this week's box, I thought it would be fun to plan our valentine's meal using these ingredients as the foundation.  Given that two people can't eat all of this at one setting, I also looked for other 'love' inspired recipes that would make use of the box's goodness throughout the week.

In the box this week

(top) lettuce, kale, marjoram, spinach

(bottom) parsnips, fennel, radishes, oranges, avocados, apples, celery

Meals/recipes for the week

• Valentine's Day dinner - Parsnip soup with leeks, Spinach, Orange and almond salad, roasted Marjoram chicken
• Italian wedding soup with Fennel and Kale
• Avocados with warm bacon parsley vinagrette

In case a couple of the recipes seem mysteriously placed on this week's list, almonds are a symbol of fertility throughout many ages and societies and, well, I'll leave you to guess as to what the Aztecs thought avocados resembled.  Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours!
This week's title is inspired by the song of the same name by Phoenix.