The Plan:
Day 1: Pot roast, Shaved beet and carrot salad
Day 2: Potato leek soup with fennel and bacon
Day 3: Homemade pizza, Tossed salad
Day 4: Stuffed acorn squash
Day 5: Pepper and onion fajitas
Day 6: Baked potatoes topped with black beans, cheese, and salsa, Apple slices
Day 7: Bok choi salad
Pantry Shuffle:
Out of Storage:
- Beef roast from Mastadon Valley Farm
- Ground pork sausage from Mastadon Valley Farm
- Bacon from Mastadon Valley Farm
Into Storage:
- Black beans: I’ll make extra from the dried stock in my pantry and freeze in a zip top bag for easy use later on. This does require advanced planning because you have to soak dried beans for 8-12 hours, rinse, then boil in a large pot of fresh water filled 2 inches above the beans. Check the beans at 30 minutes to see if they are tender. If not, continue to cook. May take up to 2 hours depending on the bean variety.
- Apples: Our favorite apple picking farm has lots of storage varieties like Haralson and Honeycrisp. If stored correctly apples can last 3-6 months. I put them in a spare refrigerator at 35 degrees F in a plastic bag with holes in it (allows for high humidity about 90% but also let’s the ethylene gas out to prevent premature ripening).
Notes: Wednesday thoughts
Every week when Wednesday rolls around, my heart starts to race a little. I have off of work this day and spend my time running errands, meal prepping, and frantically trying to get our household under control in between school drop offs, pick ups, sports, and music classes. Today, I was thinking about this and what helps me keep it together on these hectic days. The answer was yoga and planning ahead. Particularly meal planning. I just can’t say it enough – meal planning is one of the keys to a calm, healthy life. When I feel like everything is crumbling around me, it is a relief to already know what is for dinner. I typically know ahead of time which days are going to be busy so this is when I plan meals that take 30 minutes or less to bring to the table.
Today, I am grateful for my planning last week so that I am prepared to whip together broccoli soup with cheddar toasts from my 9.29 weekly plan and have it ready by the time I need to pick up the kids from school. Yoga and planning. That is how I keep myself from going off the deep end every Wednesday. How do you keep yourself sane on busy days?
Want to know all of my meal planning secrets? Check out this article: How to Meal Plan.
CSA Breakdown: For those of you also using Crossroads Community Farm, here is a breakdown of how I will use each piece of produce this week. See the first CSA post from this season for details of how I structure the plans.
Fennel (1.0 bulb): Potato leek soup; Stuffed squash
Carrots (1.0 bag): Shaved beet salad; Bok choi salad; the rest cut into sticks for snacks/lunches
Kale, Green Curly (1.0 bunch): Stuffed squash
Acorn Squash (1.0 count): Stuffed squash
Parsley, Flat Italian (1.0 bunch): putting in the dehydrator to make flakes for winter use
Bok Choi (1.0 head): Bok choi salad
Potato – Gold (1.0 bag – 2.5 lb): Potato leek soup; Baked potatoes
Lettuce, various (1.0 head): tossed salad
Pepper, Red Sweet Carmen (1.0 count): Fajitas
Beets (1.0 bunch): Shaved beet salad; the greens will be sautéed with my morning eggs
Pepper, Red Bell (1.0 count): Fajitas
Garlic (1.0 count): Potato leek soup
Leeks (1.0 count): Potato leek soup or Bok Choi salad (or cut off a small piece for the salad, the rest for soup)
