Dinner Plans: Week 39

It’s Week 39 of Dinner Plans and we ready to welcome Autumn!

It's been a hot one the past few days and while the calendar says Autumn is arriving, it definitely still feels like Summer. After a weekend in SoCal with family, friends, and a little bit of fun, I'm ready to usher in a changing season and cooler temps! These bridge weeks, in my mind, usually are spent preserving the last bits of summer in all its glory. I'm excited to grow my skill in preserving food for winter and look forward to sharing how we're doing that with ease.

Seasonal Cooking Tip: Easy Ways to Preserve Summer Herbs

When it comes to seasonal cooking, this year I'm sharing a weekly tip here focused on preparing ingredients, preserving foods, and kitchen hacks that help you save time.

This week we're talking about what I call the "lazy gal's way to save the season" as it relates to saving herbs. Some herbs, like mint, experience a dormancy period due to either very cold or hot temperatures. After a few very warm days here I see the mint is starting to slow. I'll harvest the herbs and here are a few ways I'll preserve them for the cooler months ahead:

• Drying fresh herbs. Considered the simplest method, we can gather herb stems into bunches, secure them with twine, and hang them upside down in a warm, dry, well-ventilated area out of direct sunlight. 
• Freezing fresh herbs. You can freeze the leaves whole and store them in airtight containers or puree them to make an herb paste that you can freeze in freezer cubes.
• Herbal Infusions. Think herbed salt, olive oil, or vinegars. Chop fresh herbs and mix in with kosher salt or add sprigs of fresh herbs to a bottle of olive oil or vinegar. Infusing the herbal notes is a great way to enhance flavors in a variety of dishes.

Dinner Plans for Week 39

We're in the thick of "pantry clean out" mode as I work to identify all the items we have on hand. After a long weekend of travel and the first day of Autumn starting tomorrow, I'm relying on meal planning with using up what we have before purchasing additional items.

A bag of freezer beets will be roasted for an easy weeknight salad for Meatless Monday. Ground lamb in our meat CSA for a comforting picadillo. I found a whole roast chicken that is perfect for the Zuni Cafe Bread Salad version. And, we need to start chipping away at the freezer cubes of pesto I've managed to stock up over time. Grateful for a freezer (and pantry) full of goodies to cook from this week.

Here’s what we have on hand from our previous CSA share:

• Black Futsu Squash
• Clear Dawn Yellow Onion
• Sapporo Togarashi Peppers
• Fresh Herbs
• Fresh Kimchi from Rice Flower Koji

Our Game Plan for Dinner this Week:

Sunday: Sunday Roast Chicken in Zuni Cafe Bread Salad Form

Monday: Roast Beet Salad with Walnuts and Housemade Vinaigrette

Tuesday: Lamb Picadillo with Quinoa and Veggies

Wednesday: Pasta with Carrot Top Pesto, Peas, Carrots, and Italian Sausage

Thursday: Ground Beef Stir Fry Bowl with Sapporo Togarashi Peppers and Rice

Friday: Fried Chicken Sandwiches with Housemade Pickles

Saturday: Pizza Picnic with Pesto, Fior di Latte, and Prosciutto

From favorite recipes to new meal ideas using a wide variety of ingredients, cooking delicious food with our CSA definitely gets us out of a dinner rut while reducing food waste. I share meal ideas for our busy weeks with our weekly newsletter. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to be in the know when they’re live. 😉