Menu for January 9-13

After being without a bountiful basket for some time now we finally recieved one and an italian pack! Hurray! We have lettuce, spinach, radishes, tomatoes, avacados, broccoli, zucchini, cucumber, eggplant, mushrooms, and onions. Here is this week's plan.

twice baked potatoes with pesto (From Sarah Raven's In Season, pg 309) and a salad
Stuffed eggplant with maranara (from Deborah Madison, 369) over pasta, with a salad
Chole Palak
stir fried noodles
quesadilla with guacamole

Also making sweet potato muffins/bread for breakfast.

Menu for October 23- 29

This week we received tomatoes, avocados, crookneck squash, lettuce, mushrooms, and broccoli in our basket. We also have an eggplant left over from last week.  Here's this weeks plan:
Roasted eggplant Parmesan with squash and mushrooms and this simple pasta
Drunken noodles I adapt the veggies and protein and don't use thai basil unless I have it.
Pizza!
Burritoes or quesadillas with this salsa and guacamole
I want to try this little bean soup soon
And this salad and dressing but with different grains I'm cooking up some millet right now

Menu for Oct 16-22

 In our basket this week was cauliflower, avocado, carrots, broccoli, cucumbers, tomatoes, two heads of lettuce. We also have a couple of beautiful eggplants from the Schwieders, and some zucchini left over. Here's the plan this week:

This broccoli salad again. yum!
Eggplant and zucchini Parmesan I'll be cutting down the cheese and using homemade pasta sauce.
Kidney Bean Curry and brown basmati rice
Ratatouille's Ratatouille- like from the movie
Major amounts of salad- Caesar salad, salad with fruit and nuts, taco salad, etc.
Roasted Cauliflower soup and this little bread
carottes râpées, or grated carrot salad
Hummus with bread feel free to switch out the ingredients on the hummus to your liking, after all it's only middle-eastern beans dip. Other versions here and here
And I still need to try this cucumber salad recipe

Menu for September 26- October 1

Sorry I'm really late this week. The internet at our apartment is out, so I haven't been able to post. This week we got sweet potatoes, red and green bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and onions. And lots and lots of stone fruit. We also have produce from our parents garden and we have beets and zucchini from ours. Here's how we're eating it.

Roasted tomato soup with a wedge salad similar to this
Borscht we don't use meat in ours, but other than that it's pretty similar and bread
Fajitas I just saute onions, peppers, and zucchini with a little garlic, oregano, cumin and salt and homemade refried beans see post here
Risotto I don't use saffron and add zucchini and bell pepper at the end  or stuff it in the peppers like this and a small fruit salad
Baked sweet potatoes and an adaptation of this cucumber salad

Menu for September 11-16

In this weeks basket we got sweet potatoes, spinach, green beans, lettuce, cauliflower. We also got an extra fruit basket so we have a ton of fruit which is excellent since Todd has been wanting to avoid sugar lately, and fruit can help avoid the sweet craving. Here is my plan for the week:

Aloo Gobi (Indian Spiced Cauliflower and Potatoes) and Chole Palak (Indian Chickpeas With Spinach) and basmati rice -definitely a Sunday meal, this one requires quite a bit of time and specialty ingredients if your not already set up for Indian cooking.
Russet and sweet potato fries and a large salad- Hey, We're in college, french fries still can count as a meal :)
Egg and veggie fried rice and green bean stir fry
Cacio e pepe (simple pasta)- sometimes I add garlic and salt to taste and this Sauteed zucchini and salad
Butternut squash soup -you can substitute bacon for the pancetta, or just leave it out and bread and salad

Also I have a ton of leftover cabbage from the huge head we got last week for gyoza. With it I'll be making Okonomiyaki (Japanese pizza) for breakfast or lunch, and this salad while I'm doing the Japanese thing.

Enjoy!

Menu Planning for Sept 6-10

This week we just got back from a trip to Yellowstone and we are without a bountiful basket. So I planned this weeks menu according to what was available in my parents garden. Here is this weeks dinner menu:

Vegetarian chili (recipe to follow) and corn bread (I switched out the white flour with whole wheat)

Boiled/ Smashed potatoes with cheesy vegetable soup (making this one up as I go, but getting inspiration from here and here)

Egg and veggie fried rice (making it up) and gyoza (recipe to follow)

Butternut squash risotto and salad

Also I want to make this corn salad, and something like this to use up our zucchini. And as tomatoes come on I'll be canning whole tomatoes and I want to try this tomato jam.

Vegetarian Chili

Because this recipe call for lots of different peppers I just used all the peppers we had on hand from our garden and others gardens to equal about 1 cup. I also used a mix of dried beans I had boiled that day, so feel free to play around with this one

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 green bell peppers, chopped
• 2 jalapeno peppers, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 (4 ounce) cans chopped green chile peppers, drained
• 2 (28 ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes, crushed
• 1/4 cup chili powder
• 1-2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can pinto beans, drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans
• 1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and season with bay leaves, cumin, oregano, and salt. Cook and stir until onion is tender, then mix in the celery, green bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, garlic, and green chile peppers.. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer 5 minutes.
2. Mix the tomatoes into the pot. Season chili with chili powder, brown sugar and pepper. Stir in the kidney beans, garbanzo beans, and black beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 15 minutes. Stir in the corn, and continue cooking 5 minutes before serving.

 Vegetable Gyoza
Feel free to substitute your choice of vegetables for the filling. Bean sprouts would be really good.

• 1 package pot sticker wrappers
• 1/2 a block chopped tofu 
• 1-2 cups cabbage, finely chopped (green or bok choy)
• 1 cup chopped mushrooms
• 1/4 cup shredded carrots
• 1-4 clove garlic chopped (how garlicky are you?)
• 1 tsp fresh ginger chopped
• 1 egg (optional)

Sauce-

• 2 TBSP soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1-2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp rice vinegar

Stir fry all filling ingredients in a hot wok or frying pan with a little oil until cabbage is wilted and veggies begin to brown. Transfer to a food processer and chop until mixture begins to stick together.  Add all sauce ingredients to the filling mixture. Put a small amount of filling in the middle of the pot sticker wrapper and seal with a little water. From here you may freeze them or, to cook, place them in a hot wok or frying pan coated with oil. Add a couple tablespoons of water and cover the pan. After a few minutes of steaming remove the lid and let them brown. Dip in your choice of sauce.