Week 15: Veggies, Veggies, and more Veggies!

I know I'm a bit late in posting for week 15.  In fact, I just received the email with the list of items I'll be getting for week 16 this afternoon.  I've been feeling a little frazzled this past week dealing with the start of preschool for Steven and the kick-off of the PTA year (I'm serving as president and as one of the membership chairs!), and it's left me a bit uninspired.  Actually, I never sat down and created a meal plan for the week and have just been making it up as I go.  And two of my meals this week were decided with total disregard for my CSA items.  Friday I made a meal for another family and just doubled it for my own, and Saturday we just plain felt like having some tacos with chorizo. Of course, because of this, I realized today when I looked in my refrigerator that I have a TON of veggies left that need to be used ASAP.  In my kitchen that means tomorrow's dinner is going to be "a crock-pot full of any veggie I can stuff into it stew." The contents of week 15's bag:

-1 lb pumpkin sage pasta
-2 lb log organic butter
-2 eggplant
-2 red bell peppers
-2 carnival squash
-1.5 lbs slicing tomatoes
-1 lb green beans
-1/4 peck gala apples
-1 head leaf lettuce
-2 lbs San Marzano Roma tomatoes
-1 head broccoli
-2 candy onions
-1 (ginormous) head cabbage

My meal (non) plan:

Friday:  Roasted Chicken & Butternut Soup, Cape Cod Chopped Salad
*Cook's Note:  You could substitute another winter squash for the butternut if you like.  My three-year-old ate two bowls and claimed the leftovers as his.  And the dressing for the salad is one of my favorites.  I mix a batch and keep it in the fridge for lunch and dinner salads all week.

Saturday:  Black Bean & Chorizo Tacos
*Cook's Note:  This was inspired by the recipe for Crusty Black Bean-Chorizo Subs by Rick Bayless.  I served the mixture on tortillas instead.

Sunday:  Uh, go Brown's?  Went to the game, so cook's day off!

Monday:  Roasted Shrimp with Peppers
*Cook's Note:  I served this with brown rice instead of white.  As always, I threw in some extra veggies by adding a couple more red bell peppers and a pound of green beans to the mixture.

Tuesday:  Pumpkin Sage Pasta, Cape Cod Chopped Salad
*Cook's Note:  For the pasta, I warmed some olive oil in a large skillet, added a pinch of crushed red pepper, some minced garlic, and some chopped fresh sage.  When the garlic was golden, I added the cooked pasta, some salt and some pepper, and then topped it with a bit of Parmesan.  My 8-month-old was a huge fan of the pasta!

The next two days will be filled with attempts at using any remaining vegetables before the next CSA delivery.  I already plan to make some applesauce with all the remaining apples (I still have some from the week before as well, and I'm going apple picking next week.  I'll have to do a post solely on apple recipes soon.), and I'm going to make some tomato sauce as well.  The carnival squash should keep a little while, so I'll likely save it until next week.  And I'm not kidding when I say I'm going to stuff the crock-pot tomorrow.  I'm sure I can create a sort of ratatouille with some of the remaining vegetables.  Anything left on Thursday will get turned into baby food.

And since I'm here, I'll go ahead and post what I expect to receive for Week 16:

-1 pint cherry tomatoes
-1 package chicken sausage
-1 dozen eggs
-1 bunch carrots with tops
-1 bunch turnip greens
-2 green bell peppers
-2 poblano peppers
-1.5 lbs Stanley plums (prune plums)
-1 head broccoli OR 1 stalk celery
-1 bunch candy striped beets with tops
-1 bunch multi-colored Swiss chard
-1.5 lbs heirloom tomatoes
-1.5 lbs nectarines

My evenings are actually meeting-free this week, and my son is in preschool now for two blissful hours, three days a week, so I could actually get a chance to sit down and create a meal plan in the next two days.  And in a thought completely unrelated to cooking:  In my "Dinner Guests" section there is a blog titled, "MoZo's Road to the Ironman."  Well, MoZo made it to the Ironman and conquered it.  Congrats!  I can only imagine what he had for dinner that night... Pin It