Planning it Out

Woot! As we got home last night our Farm Fresh to You box was graciously sitting at our doorstep, bursting with delicious produce! I think I got a little too excited about the green beans (one of my favorite veggies) and was pleasantly suprised to find Kale among our goods (another fave of mine!). Which also gives me a chance to try out kale chips this week. Ever since my friend Blythe raved about how delish they were, I can't seem to get it off my mind! And of course, my husband was pretty stoked about the oranges. Oh, the simple things in life!

Here's everything we got and how I plan on incorporating this delicious fare into our menu next week.

The Goods

2 Valencia oranges
2 Fuji apples
1.5 lbs green beans
1 bunch Kale
1 bunch Spinach
1 bunch celery
1 head baby lettuce
2 large heirloom tomatoes
cilantro

Plan of Action

Sunday: Mom's enchiladas
Monday: Salsa chicken salad with fresh guacamole
Tuesday: Lemon pepper grilled chicken, sauteed green beans, brown rice
Wednesday: Bean and grain soup, big spinach salad
Thursday: Brie, Apple and Arugula quesadillas (we will be substituting for gouda, hubby's fave!)
Friday: Turkey burgers and kale chips

image/myrecipes

Planning it Out

Today we are scheduled to receive our wonderful box of local, organic goodies from Farm Fresh to You! Here is our menu for the week, including a new recipe for turnips, which I've admittedly never cooked with. Exciting!

The Goods

2 Bartlett pears
2 Gold Delicious apples
1 cantaloupe
1 bunch turnips
1 bunch chard
1 lb heirloom tomatoes
1 lb fingerling potatoes
1 bunch green leaf lettuce
2 bell peppers, mixed colors

mixed hot peppers

Plan of Action

Saturday: (lettuce, tomatoes, fingerling potatoes, apples)
Grilled lemon garlic chicken

Tossed salad with heirloom tomatoes

Roasted fingerling potatoes

Apple Cinnamon Buttermilk cake

Sunday: (turnips)
Herb crusted pork tenderloin

Roasted Turnips, Sweet Potato, Apple and Dried Cranberries

Monday: (pears)
B) Autumn Oats
Because Mondays are so long and I don't get home until about 8:45 pm, dinner typically isn't planned and is usually an egg white scramble.

Tuesday: (chard)
White bean and Swiss chard soup

Wednesday: (pears, lettuce, tomatoes and peppers for salsa)
B) Autumn Oats
D) Southwestern chicken salad w/ homemade salsa

Thursday: (bell peppers)
Windy City Pie

Friday:
Date night!

image/wanigan

From Farm to Doorstep

Yesterday I received my very first Farm Fresh to You delivery! I absolutely love the idea of eating local and seasonal foods, so I decided to try this service I've heard so much about. I started out getting only the small box every other week, mainly to make sure we put everything to use (I hate waste!). Thankfully, the website shows you what is scheduled to come in your box the upcoming week, making it incredibly easy to plan a menu around the produce! It will be a fun challenge to see how creative I can get as the seasons change!

Here's what I received this week:

2 Bartlett pears
1 lb black plums
1 lb heirloom tomatoes
1 lb Roma tomatoes*
1 large cucumber
1 head green leaf lettuce
1 bunch Italian basil
2 bell peppers

*Farm Fresh to You allows you to exclude certain items from your box. I chose to omit beets, broccoli and cauliflower (bleh!). So this week, instead of the scheduled broccoli, I recieived 1 lb of Roma tomatoes!

Creating next weeks menu was especially fun! Here's how I plan to use my goods:

Sunday: Grilled pizza with heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil and mozzarella and gingered pears over vanilla bean gelato for dessert (heirloom tomatoes, basil, pears)

Tuesday: Pistachio raspberry crusted chicken, salad w/ pine nuts and shaved Parmesan (green leaf lettuce)

Wednesday: Fajitas (bell peppers)

Thursday: Cold sesame noodles with chicken and cucumbers (cucumber)

We will enjoy the plums for snacking and I would love to make a homemade pasta sauce with the Roma tomatoes and extra basil for next week!