Week 16 in Review

The Score
Eaters - 8.5    Compost - 2.5 (ugh!)     Carry Over - 0

Not a banner week for executing against the plan.  Between the holiday weekend, and busy summer nights (full of more activities than I can keep up with, it seems), there were a couple of nights where the best laid meal plan just didn't come together.  By the time I got around to them, the sorrel and kale - which I didn't take steps to preserve very well in the fridge - were wilted and looking pretty sad.  I still do want to try the recipes that I found but never got made (grilled coconut kale, halibut with sorrel-tomato sauce), but here's the report out on what we did enjoy this past week.

The Best

• The 'red, white and blue' crisp was a big hit at a fourth of July potluck.  White peaches, along with Strawberries, Blackberries and blueberries made for a lovely purple goo by the time they were done cooking, but everyone appreciated the effort, and the flavors, in the crisp!

 

The Good

• My husband rotisseried a chicken, and glazed it with an improvised Grapefruit smoked paprika sauce.  Yum!
  

• I must admit, I was very skeptical about this Asian style Kohlrabi salad as it came together.  Individually the aromas of the ingredients just didn't seem to be working.  Once it was all tossed together, though, it was a completely different story.  For my first try at preparing kohlrabi, I was very pleased - and I'd definitely make this delicious salad again!

• Hard to go wrong with red white and blue french toast on the fourth.  Or, wait...  'American' toast?

 

• This lovely salad included seven ingredients from our CSA box (current and previous weeks): Lettuce, Celery, Cucumbers and Carrots; Zucchini and Sweet Onions, grilled; and a Green Garlic, mustard vinagrette.

Week 15 in Review

The Score
Eaters - 12     Compost - 0.5     Carry Over - 0.5

When writing last week, I forgot to mention that we didn't end up being able to attend the farm tour.  I had been down and out with the flu and, the day we were supposed to drive down to San Diego, I still had a 100+ degree fever and my husband wasn't feeling so great either.  While we were super disappointed to miss the opportunity to see where all of the GREAT produce from our box comes from, I was all the more saddened when I saw the recipes for what was served that day.  I'm already looking forward to next year's tour, and hoping that we will all be healthy that time.

As far as the week went, taking it nice and easy seemed to work well for us.  Finding a balance between being very prescriptive, and leaving some room for spontaneity probably will work well for us during grilling season!

The Best

• The Blackberries have just been amazing (only wish they had more available!).  I sauteed them with a couple of tablespoons of sugar and about a tablespoon of lemon juice, and the syrup made for some delicious breakfast crepes!

The Good

• Hard to go wrong with Caramelized sweet onions!  I made a large batch, then have been using them in meals all week.  

•  My favorite meal was probably when we used the onions on top of grilled steak, then served with a simple Arugula, apple and Radish salad.

• Caramelized onions were also called for in the strata with Swiss Chard and sausage recipe, but by the time I got making the recipe, it was almost dinner time (note to self: always COMPLETELY read the recipes in advance).  I didn't have time to bake the strata for an hour, so I improvised the ingredients into a faster cooking frittata.  Flavors were great, so have to imagine the strata would have been amazing.

The Rest

• The Zucchini bread was a big hit, even with double the zucchini and cutting the sugar by one cup.  Next time I want to try a version of this recipe that replaces vegetable oil with coconut oil, cuts the sugar by half, substitutes in some applesauce, and still doubles up on the zucchini.
• The Basil-Green Garlic pesto got made and is in the freezer for another time.
• The gorgeous blood oranges made for some delicious juice.  

Week 14 in Review

The Score
Eaters - 7     Compost - 3.5     Carry Over - 0.5

This week was surely our worst so far.  It started off with an early pick up of the week's box.  We had planned to be away over the weekend (we usually pick up on Saturdays), and our only other local pickup option was on the Tuesday prior, at which time we were still working through the previous week's box.  Though many of the heartier veggies did fine, by the time we got around to using up most of the greens planned for this week's meal plan, they were in tough shape.  Combine that with me taken out for a few days by the flu, and there was a lot that didn't get made and a lot more than normal hitting the compost.  It is what it is, and we did have a few great meals, so time to report out and move on.

The Best

• Father's day is always a time to make dad's favorite meals, and we couldn't resist throwing together a Strawberry-rhubarb pie to celebrate this year!  I think the boys have inherited their father's preferences, as this pie was gone in about two days.

The Good

• It's hard to go wrong with homemade, fresh Basil (and Green Garlic) pesto, and its combination with pasta, Green Beans and potatoes was a big hit with the entire family.

• This Blackberry-Squash bread was a little heartier than most zucchini breads that I've made, but also a lot healthier.  The boys were a bit skeptical of the taste at first (oat bran replaced a lot of the flour), but proceeded to eat up two loaves over the course of the week.

• The Squash and asparagus strata met with mixed reviews.  No doubt, it was pretty to look at, and my husband LOVED it.  I couldn't quite get the eggs to set up the way that I'd prefer, and the boys weren't loving the 'soggy bread', but I think with some practice a strata could be a nice dish to occasionally rotate into our meal plan.  

Week 13 in Review

The Score
Eaters - 10.5     Compost - 0     Carry Over - 2.5

With as much travel as we've managed through (both parents on the East coast at one point, though never overlapping), it seems like we did a pretty good job this week.  We did make everything on our not-too-crazy plan, and had a few tremendous hits along the way.   I suppose one of the points of this whole process is to know that - while life will certainly have it's crazier moments - being proactive and planning ahead will allow us all to eat healthy meals at the times when it matters most.  While we have a little more to carry over into next week that we typically do (some summer squash, carrots and cucumbers, and all of the pickling cucumbers), I'm quite proud of what did get made!

 The Winner

• I wasn't here when this got prepared, but this roasted chicken with Carrots, Turnips, Summer Squash and Cilantro was a huge hit with the boys - who asked to take the leftovers to lunch the following day.  The presentation was beautiful as well.

The Good

• The Green Bean bacon bundles is perhaps the best preparation of green beans that I've ever tasted.  I mean we've all had beans with bacon before, but the textures were perfect and with the brown sugar and garlic... all I can say is yum!

• The skirt steak and Cilantro Green Garlic sauce were a perfect match, made all the more fantastic with the addition of some caramelized Sweet Onions and homemade guacamole.

 

• The summer berry crisp (with Strawberries and Blackberries) was a big hit at a gathering of friends, but it was gone before I remembered that I hadn't gotten a photo.

The Rest

• The recipe for the sundried tomato Arugula pesto called for two bunches of arugula, so I figured that my relatively large bunch would suffice.  What I realized after it was made that I probably had about eight times as much as they were calling for, remembering that it's common to find arugula sold in relatively small bunches in plastic herb boxes at the grocery store.  The end result was overpowering and pretty much inedible, though I'm pretty sure the right balance of sundried tomatoes and arugula could be quite tasty.

Week 12 in Review

The Score
Eaters - 10     Compost - 1     Carry Over - 1

It seems that the option - harkening back to the week's title - that I chose to exercise this week was to not follow the plan very well.  A perfect storm of a busy week at work, a traveling husband, and feeling a bit under the weather led to a lot less cooking than has been the norm of late.  I was pretty shocked, actually, when I checked the produce drawers this evening to find that we had eaten up as much as we had, even if we did veer pretty far off course.  Three months in, I guess that I shouldn't be surprised to have a week where I couldn't keep up with either the meal plan or the photography.  I'm really glad to see, though, that I was able to find more spontaneous ways for us to eat up what comes in the box.

The Winner

• Without a doubt, this week's winner was the peach and Blackberry crisp.  With a touch of vanilla ice cream, it was absolutely summer eating at its best.

The Good

• The peach jam recipe from Canning for a New Generation is (like everything else that I've tried so far from the book) spectacular!  The only sad part is that nearly four pounds of peaches only made four half pints, and two are already gone.

• The Strawberry Spinach salad was a big hit with adults and kids alike.  That said, I think with in season produce that strawberries add a lot of sweetness and the dressing would be fine with half (or less) of the sugar. 
• While making a batch of quick (Green) Garlic Dills, I also sliced up the Sweet Onions and made some caramelized onions (using a recipe from The Joy of Cooking) to top our turkey burgers.  Yum!
• We also tried a bread recipe that is featured (as an important 'base' product for so many of the other recipes) in Canning for a New Generation, and it turned out pretty well for a first try.

Highlight of the week

• It was only a few, but we picked our first backyard blueberries this week.  Nothing like a warm, fresh blueberry straight off the bush!