Dinner Plans: Week 29

It’s Week 29 of Dinner Plans and we love sharing our weekly meal plans to cook easy and healthy meals using peak summer produce!

Last week, we skipped our CSA delivery since we still had so much produce left to cook through. This week, we picked up our box and wow! Our box is giving us new foods to try like an abundance of purple garlic! This is a first for us as CSA members and I'm excited to cook with the freshest garlic we've seen. I'm working on a few recipes and some great ideas on how to cook with the purple garlic. Stay tuned for that. For those of us who are members of the Sage Mountain Farm CSA (or any CSA), I hope this guide will help you maximize the beauty of the summer garlic! This garlic is definitely better than you'll find at the local grocery store.

SEASONAL COOKING TIPS: Don't Be Afraid to Switch Up Your Greens for Salads

When it comes to cooking with the seasons, one of my favorite practices is letting the recipe be a guide. When it comes to salads, for instance, many greens are easy to swap out and compliment one another. Romaine for little gems, arugula for spinach, broccoli greens and beet greens for Tuscan kale. Flavor profiles may differ slightly, but they always offer a great seasonal change up from our regular salad mixes and definitely makes salad making more enjoyable. My go-to dressing ratio is below. I use this often when in a pinch and want to make a speedy salad with a delicious homemade dressing:

• 1 tablespoon good quality red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons good quality extra virgin olive oil
• ½ teaspoon dried herbs (a mix of dried thyme, basil, and oregano)
• Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes (optional, but I love this)
• Kosher salt and pepper to taste

See Part I and Part II of my Pantry Essentials Series for more tips and recommendations for keeping a well stocked pantry no matter what size pantry you have.

DINNER PLANS FOR THE WEEK

Here’s a brief list of the fresh ingredients we received in this week’s box:

• Butter lettuce
• Purple garlic
• Carrots & Broccolini
• Broccoli greens, arugula, and salad mix
• Oranges for juicing
• Robust radishes

Checking the list on Sage Mountain Farm’s website for what we’re getting in our boxes this week helps me to shop our pantry, fridge, and freezer in order to plan a variety of delicious recipes on Sunday. With these relatively easy dinners in mind, I then make our grocery list of ingredients to pick up either at the farmer's market or our local grocery store. 

Here is our game plan for dinner this week:

Sunday: Salmon Burgers with Mixed Greens in a Lemon-Shallot Vinaigrette

Monday: Watermelon Salad with Chili Lime Dressing

Tuesday: Fire Roasted Corn Salad with Lime Cotija Dressing and Chipotle Grilled Shrimp

Wednesday: Miso Poached Cod with Sautéed Broccolini (recipe coming soon)

Thursday: Fava Falafel Salad or a Panzanella with Arugula and a Roasted Garlic Dressing

Friday: Classic Chicken Caesar with Crispy Breadcrumbs (recipe coming soon)

Saturday: Spicy Tomato Flatbread with Ricotta, Basil, and Arugula

From favorite recipes to new things with a wide variety of ingredients, cooking delicious food with our CSA definitely gets us out of a dinner rut and reduce 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. 😉

Cheers to a nourishing week. ❤️