Week 49 - Salad Days

Throughout this year, I've been really focused on using up the box's ingredients, but have primarily done so in cooked meals.  Most weeks, some combination of leftover greens - typically some lettuce and spinach - hit the compost because I don't get enough salads made on top of everything else that I've planned.  After hearing an interesting radio story on the 'beauty of a simple salad,' I realized that there were so many more possibilities with our weekly box.  With that concept in mind, all of this week's recipes are salads.  It's probably also fair to note that my family is three weeks away from a two week long, likely-to-be-food-filled vacation, so it certainly wouldn't hurt to be eating a little lighter for the next few weeks. 
  

(top) lettuce, arugula, kale, spinach

(bottom) celery, cabbage, broccoli, tomatoes, apples, oranges, strawberries

Meals/recipes for the week

• Kale salad with pinenuts, currants and parmesan
• Spinach salad with warm bacon dressing
• Arugula salad with Tomatoes and lemon-parmesan dressing
• Warm chickpea and Broccoli salad
• Celery and cucumber salad

I'm not planning to use the cabbage just yet, in case it's our only supply for St. Patrick's Day.  When we get our list of what's expected in next week's box and learn whether we're getting cabbage again, I may end up looking for cabbage salad recipes.  Given my husband's Irish heritage and his mandatory traditional St. Paddy's day meal, however, the cabbage has protected status for the time being.

This week's title is inspired by the song of the same name by Minor Threat.

Week 48 in Review

The Score
Eaters - 9     Compost - 1     Carry Over - 0

This was a fairly normal week in the kitchen... we made a few great meals and some salads, and easily got through most of the box.  It was also the week that I cleared out the last bits of our fall home garden crops, so I had a few home grown ingredients to use up, as well.  This was the first year that I planted onions; they ended up being spicy and delicious!  I wish I had more space in full sun to grow produce, but I'm happy I can get something out of the small corner that I've got.

The Best

• It was a lot of fun taking the tatsoi from the box, the last bits of veggies from our home garden, and then adapting the following tatsoi recipe to make a buckwheat noodle stir fry.  The kick from the fresh onions really made the dish!

 Raw materials

Buckwheat noodle veggie stir fry

The Good

• The roasted parsnip and butternut squash soups both had a sweet yet savory flavor, and were well accompanied by the freshly made tarragon oil.  Somehow the consistencies got slightly off, however, making it quite difficult to nail the presentation of two half bowls of soup.

• The carnitas turned out perfectly, with the orange flavor really shining through.  While we made a roasted tomato salsa to top it, the tomatoes were a bit too 'green' in flavor and it didn't quite augment the meal as well as I had hoped.  We also topped the carnitas with roasted purple onions, cilantro, avocado, and homemade pickled radishes.

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.