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 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!