The Plan:
Day 1: Hamburgers, Jalapeno poppers, Watermelon slices
Day 2: Grilled Greek marinated chicken, Lemony Couscous
Day 3: Homemade pizza with pesto, Tossed salad
Day 4: Pasta alla Norma, Raspberries (from our garden!) with fresh whipped cream
Day 5: Caprese salad (tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt/pepper), Muskmelon chunks, Zucchini muffins
Day 6: Tuna salad sandwiches, Homemade dill pickles
Day 7: Italian sausage with onions and peppers, (made with homemade pasta sauce)
Pantry Shuffle:
Out of Storage:
- Pickles
- From Mastadon Valley Farm CSA meat share: Ground beef, Whole chicken, Italian sausage
Into Storage:
- Pesto: I haven’t made as much as I wanted yet this summer. Two more batches going into the freezer. I store it in old Talenti gelato containers (plastic #1 so no yucky chemicals will go in your food) or freeze in ice cube trays then transfer to a zipper bag. Pesto will be paired with fish or pasta this winter.
- Corn: Chili prep! I have been getting some complaints from the little family members about too much corn lately, so I’ll put this week’s bundle into storage. Simply cut from the cob with a sharp knife and freeze in zipper bags. I do not blanch. This will be so useful in chili, succotash, and corn muffins in the winter.
- Zucchini muffins: zucchini season is coming to a close very soon. Time to stock up! Freeze in gallon zipper bags. Makes for easy lunch prep.
- Pasta sauce: So.Many.Tomatoes. Must make sauce! Freeze in quart sized portions in zipper bags
- Muskmelon chunks: freeze in zipper bags to use for smoothies, sangria, or a refreshing grab and go snack.
- Homemade chicken stock: I have so many veggie scraps saved in my freezer from the wonderful produce this time of year. Since I am making chicken this week, it is a perfect time to add the bones and veggie scraps to a big pot and make some stock. I freeze in quart sized, 1 cup, and 2 cup portions.
Notes: Pantry Shuffle
Last week I introduced my new weekly section on food preservation. This week I’ve decided to name it the Pantry Shuffle. Let’s talk a little more about how I use my pantry to keep eating local even through the winter. I consider my freezer to be an extension of my pantry and this is where I squirrel away the majority of my extra food. I do some canning, pickling, and dehydrating too. Then I also use my “root cellar” which is an old refrigerator in the basement where I can control the temperature and moisture. Each week when I list what is going in and out of my pantry you will see a combination of all of those storage techniques.
So, when I talk about my Pantry Shuffle, I am referring to food I have personally prepared, preserved, or procured locally. Not to be confused with your staples like flour, sugar, spices, oils, etc. I do also have plenty of that and you can read about what I think is essential to stock in your pantry here.
This is the harvest season so I am doing a LOT of cooking, chopping, and storing. Once the snow hits the ground you will see a shift and more will start to come out of storage. The key to all of this? You guessed it, planning. Every week during the growing season I assess what is currently available and what do I want to eat in the winter. Most of the time what gets stored is just a doubling or tripling of what I am already making for dinners that week. For example, this week I’m making pesto pizza so I plan to get enough basil to triple the batch. One batch goes on the pizza, two batches make their way to the freezer. Everything else going into storage this week also has a place in my meal plan so that I can just chop extra when I am prepping the meals and plop into zipper bags.
This may seem like a lot of work. It is. But over the years you get better and better at it and learn how to efficiently move things in and out. Start small and let it grow over time. Before you know it you will be a master of the Pantry Shuffle!
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.
A1 Corn, Sweet: into storage
Basil: Pasta alla Norma; Caprese salad; I ordered extra and will make a bunch of pesto and pasta sauce too
Eggplant, Globe: pasta alla Norma
Garlic: Greek chicken; pesto; pasta alla Norma; Italian sausage with onions and peppers
Muskmelon: cut into chunks to serve as side to Caprese salad. I have extra to freeze also
Onion, Yellow: Italian sausage with onions and peppers
Pepper, Red Bell: Italian sausage with onions and peppers
Pepper, Red Sweet Carmen: Italian sausage with onions and peppers
Cucumber: lemony couscous
Tomatoes: Pasta alla Norma; Caprese salad; Pasta sauce
Zucchini, Green: zucchini muffins
