On the Menu

Here was/is my menu for the week:

Monday:

Burgers

Mac & Cheese

apples/pears

Tuesday:

Chicken Pitas

Greek Salad

Hummus

Wednesday:

Asian Noodle Soup

Spring Rolls

Thursday:

Homemade pizza

salad

Friday:

Tortilla soup

quesadillas

watermelon

Will wing it for the weekend. Loving the cooler weather so I can work soups into my menu plans. I could live on soup!

I did my grocery shopping at Winco (one of those bag your own kind of places) this week. So much cheaper than my usual Haggen (spoiled rotten yuppie suburban store). Still not so crazy about some of their meat and produce so I think I will still hit Costco and Haggen for those. BUMMED that I will not have my CSA box anymore. Totally pouting about that. I'm really on a mission to cut my grocery costs. I am pretty good about making things from scratch but I can do better. Wish me luck! I'm such a food snob!

Lots going on this weekend, of course. Friday night is a dance at school. Nat is bringing her horsey friend Sarah (not a boy, hurray!!) along so she can meet all of her school friends and see ACMA. Saturday I am going to Eugene for a regional Pony Club meeting with my friend Lori. Sunday is a PC unmounted meeting about cleaning tack the right way. Nat is helping to teach. We also want to sneak out and take some fall pics. That has turned into an annual tradition and the trees are so pretty right now. Unfortunately, I do not have my new glasses yet! I really wanted those to cover up the dark circles under my eyes ;) Oh well.

Speaking of glasses, I'm getting stronger reading glasses. I'm also getting distance glasses! My eyes are definitely getting worse, but she said they were not bad for a 41 year old. What is that supposed to mean?! Feeling so old these days! Ugh!

Off to do some work and clean my house!! Got a request for a catalog from Georgia yesterday. Kinda cool.

See ya!

CSA: Week 16

Just a couple more deliveries to go. Will miss it so much :(

This week we received onions, potatoes, acorn squash, tomatoes, Gala apples, peppers and carrots. The carrots are gorgeous with long green leaves. Will have to save some of those for Memo. I LOVE acorn squash, cooked with some butter and brown sugar on top. The apples look just perfect... it will be a struggle to decide to eat them plain or make an apple crisp. I swear, there is just nothing better than a garden-fresh tomato. I haven't made baked tomatoes yet this season... I cut them in half and add some bread crumbs, Italian seasoning or fresh basil, and some parmesan to the top. So delicious. I'm a big fan of tomato/basil bruschetta too!

This week so far we have had:

Tacos/rice/beans

Philly steak sandwiches/crash potatoes/nectarines

Tonight is chili/cornbread/salad. Will probably just wing it the rest of the week.

Still dealing with the aftermath of our trip. I think the washer and dryer have been going 24/7 and I'm still not done with laundry. Ugh. Today we will get all of Memo's stuff back to the barn and Nat will do a quick ride. We gave Memo a couple days of vacation to recover from the long trailer ride. I still have a bunch of "piles" sitting around that need my attention too. I really just want to crawl back in bed. Pretty darn tired still. We all worked so hard!!

Natalie worked on homework for probably 7 hours yesterday, trying to get caught up. Feel so bad for her. She still has a 3-5 page research paper for science due by Friday that she hasn't even started. Lots of late nights ahead this week, I'm afraid. She said that it was all worth it though :)

CSA this week

This week we will have summer squash, cucumbers, hot peppers, eggplant, melon, fresh beans, apples and/or bartlett pears, and onions. I thought this was week 13, but they claim it is 14. Lost count somehow. Only 4 boxes left :(

Here is what I fixed for meals last week:

Spaghetti/salad/bread

Tacos/fruit

Fried Rice/Gyoza/fruit

Chicken Fingers/oven "fried" zucchini/fruit

Fajitas/chips and bean dip

Homemade Pizza

Cheeseburgers/oven fries/fruit

Lots-o-comfort food. Everything was homemade except for the spaghetti sauce and gyoza. They were from Trader Joe's. It was a crazy week, and didn't have much time for anything extravagant.

This week I will be using what I can out of the fridge and freezer, and of course from the CSA box. Don't want to spend a bunch on groceries right before we leave.

Off to get Nat and then to the barn!! Can't wait to see Annie and Ben tonight!!

Menu Planning?

Do any of you plan your menus for the week or just wing it? I seem to do a mix of the two.

I'd like to say that I scour the grocery store ads and plan my meals based on what is on sale. Not so much. Occasionally that happens, but that is not the norm.

I seem to have the same stuff that I stock in my freezer and pantry. I usually get my meat at Costco, as well as some other staples once a month. I shop at a grocery store or Trader Joe's at least once a week to get everything else. I count on my CSA box for veggies.

I keep a list of dishes that are part of my regular rotation. That helps to refresh my memory, especially when I get in a cooking rut. Every once in awhile, I just have to try a new recipe (or four!)!!

I thought I would start posting my menus. This week I will list the meals that I made this week. I didn't plan them, they just kind of happened.

Day 1:

Chicken Quesadillas

Rice and beans

Chips and Salsa

fruit

Day 2:

Cheeseburgers on the grill

Potato leek soup

fruit

Day 3:

Meatball Subs

Greek salad

fruit

Day 4:

Meatloaf

Oven fries

Green Beans

Day 5:

Chicken sausage & veggie kabobs

corn on the cob

homemade mac & cheese

Day 6:

BBQ ribs

Green Chili potatoes

sauteed veggies

strawberries

Day 7:

pork loin w/peach jam

rice

veggie/fruit

Let me know if you would like any of my recipes. I'm anxious to try the pork loin tonight... I got some really ripe peaches in my CSA box so made them into jam quickly or I would have lost them. I think the jam will be yummy as a glaze on the pork loin. Will make it on the grill.

Things are good here. Friday night, Natalie and I watched the Stand Up 2 Cancer program. Powerful stuff. Saturday Natalie and Hayley had a group jumping lesson with Janice. So nice to hang w/Robanne (twice in two days!). Last night we watched two episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. LOVE that show.  Today Nat is having a friend from school go along to the barn. They will work Memo, then give her a bath. Dad has barn duty today so I will be doing laundry and cleaning house. Fun... NOT. Nat is working on homework as I type this. Spent a fair amount of time on that yesterday too. The fun begins :)

Have a good week everyone! And thanks so much to all of you who have sent checks and given jobs to Nat. We leave for Nationals two weeks from tomorrow!! Wow!

CSA: week 2

Much more stuff this week: 3 boxes of strawberries, more rhubarb, chard, leaf lettuce, broccoli, Italian parsley and a marigold plant. Lots-o-green.

The strawberries were ultra ripe. Had to use them tonight or lose them. We each had a bowl of ice cream with the berries for dessert and used the rest to make a few small batches of jam.

Instant Berry Jam

1 1/2 cups berries, whole

3/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon butter

Wash berries, remove stems or hulls, and crush evenly in a bowl. You should have 1 cup crushed berries. In a 3 qt. casserole or pyrex bowl, stir together berries with remaining ingredients. Cook uncovered in microwave on high for 8 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes. Serve warm or cool. Store in covered jar in refrigerator.

Nat and I made one batch of the jam with just strawberries, and one with 1 cup of strawberries and 1/2 cup of finely chopped rhubarb. Yum. It will definitely be a PB&J day tomorrow.

My other plans for the week are to make an artichoke dip using the chard (subbing for spinach), and a salad with roasted beets, goat cheese and candied walnuts. I'm sure I will use the broccoli in a stir-fry of some kind, and the parsley in about everything (maybe a minestrone that will also use the chard?)! I cut the rhubarb into small pieces and threw it in the freezer so I can add it to recipes later on. Natalie is researching rhubarb recipes for me... I told her it had to be something that she would eat. I'm thinking rhubarb muffins would be good.

Really excited about this whole CSA thing right now. It is definitely keeping me out of the grocery store which is saving us money. It has really forced me to be creative and healthy with my cooking.

CSA: Week One

Here is the contents of our first CSA (community supported agriculture) box:

fava beans

pea pods

leaf lettuce

rhubarb

strawberries

calendula plant (edible flowers)

One box of the strawberries is GONE! They were incredible! The second box will be lucky to make it until breakfast ;)

Natalie and I have already shelled and blanched the fava beans. She had a real knack for taking off the skins of the beans once they were blanched. The real test will be to see if she will eat them. We will be making fava bean risotto for our dinner tomorrow night.

And for dessert: strawberry rhubarb crisp!! Yum!

Nat already had a stalk of the rhubarb for dessert. As kids, we always used to dip a stalk into sugar and eat it. Better than any sour candy out there. She thought that was just the coolest thing and now loves to eat rhubarb like that.

We will probably make some kind of Asian dish with the pea pods. Maybe Cashew Chicken with Pea Pods? 

Looking forward to a nice fresh salad with the leaf lettuce. Not so sure about the edible flowers though. Hmmm. Not to worry... I will probably kill the poor plant before it ever flowers anyway ;) I'll put Nat in charge of it!

I was kind of expecting more in the bag, but this was the first box and it is so early in the growing season. I'm predicting each bag will be fuller as the season goes on. Didn't help that it has been June-uary around here!

I'm really excited to be eating locally grown, fresh produce. It can't help but be a healthier way of eating, and it will be so fun exposing Natalie to new recipes and foods.

Grillin'

The sun finally came out this afternoon. Alleluia.

Time to do some grillin'. Here is what's for dinner on a busy weeknight after riding lessons:

Spicy Chicken Italian Sausages 

Grilled onions and bell peppers (I use one of those special pans used for doing veggies on the grill)

Serve on a grilled hoagie bun

Foil potato packet: I slice up some potatoes. Pop them in the microwave with a little bit of water and some onion for about 5-7 minutes to par-cook them. Drain the excess water. Spray some foil with cooking spray and add the potatoes. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder and some parmesan cheese. Add another layer of oiled foil on top and wrap it up.

Grill it all up until done. I like the sausages and potatoes to have some crusty stuff on them. MMM! Serve with some fresh fruit on the table. Don't forget some white wine. You're good to go.