This week we are focusing on using up some of our pantry and freezer items and buying very little at the store. Our farmshare veggies are transitioning toward winter produce, like broccoli and winter squash. We enjoyed visiting the farm for the first time last weekend to pick out a few pumpkins, see the new baby chicks and try out their cider press. It was rainy and wet but still fun and refreshing to be out of the city and see the rows of plants that produce the food we eat.
After I planned our menu this week, I realized that there is only one dish I am planning to make (chili) and one we’ll be eating from the freezer (borscht) that have meat in them. Those dishes will spread out into 4 or 5 meals, but that means 16 out of 21 meals we’ll eat this week will be vegetarian. I certainly didn’t do that on purpose to begin with, but as long as we’re getting plenty of protein, I like cutting down on our meat consumption.
Also, I actually planned breakfast for each day this week since some of it requires significant prior planning (like the slow cooker hot cereal) and I’m planning for specific amounts of leftovers.
(For reference, B is for breakfast, L is for lunch and D is for dinner. Links are to the recipes we’ll be using.)
Wednesday
B: cheese grits
L: on the run! peanut butter and jam sandwiches, dried fruit
D: chili, using leftover Mexican pinto beans from last week
Thursday
B: leftover cheese grits
L: hummus wraps with feta and spinach
D: with family
Friday
B: scrambled eggs with spinach
L: rice cakes with peanut butter, fruit, popcorn
D: leftover chili
Saturday
B: soaked slow cooker hot cereal
L: grilled eggplant sandwiches, grilled corn with basil-Parmesan butter, red cabbage and peanut slaw
D: pizzas with sautéed summer squash and with mozzarella, basil and tomato
Sunday
B: leftover hot cereal
L: peanut butter sandwiches, leftover slaw, roasted squash slices
D: friends for dinner vegetarian white lasagna with broccoli, beet greens, spinach, summer squash and fresh herbs (parsley, basil and oregano)
Monday
B: scrambled eggs with spinach
L: borscht (from the freezer)
D: leftover pizza
Tuesday
B: leftover hot cereal
L: leftover borscht
D: leftover lasagna
