Meg's Meal Planning

sage/cheddar biscuits

Friday summer BBQ

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Last Friday night we had friends over after work for dinner. It was a perfect summer night to sit out on the deck and grill. The menu incorporated a lot of items I made the week earlier using ingredients from my CSA. I didn’t mind re-using the same recipes because I was familiar with them and knew they would turn out great!

  
 The menu included:

   

We planned to cook more chicken than needed. Being half Italian, I think my biggest worry is running out of food, so I always cook more than needed. In this case we had four left over chicken pieces and pasta salad, which was perfect to re-heat Sunday night for dinner. After a busy weekend traveling and getting home late Sunday night, dinner was hassle free!
We also had two left over ears of corn. Instead of reheating them, I cut them off the husk and made a black bean and corn salad to serve later in the week with tacos. There’s nothing like fresh corn! For those Master Chef fans out there, who else can’t believe the guy last week used canned corn over fresh corn!?!? What was he thinking?! I fully supported the judges decision to send him home!

Good company and good food!

Week of June 7th

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This was the first week using my CSA farm box from Beckett Farms, LLC in Glastonbury, CT.   I’m so excited to be participating in a local CSA. I’ll admit, I was a little overwhelmed picking up my box on Monday and not knowing what to expect.  I usually do my meal planning/shopping on Sundays, so having to wait until Monday to plan and Tuesday to shop threw me off a little. However, it was well worth the wait! I planned all my meals based on what was in box.

Week one contained – sage, sorrel, kale, radish, broccoli rabe, and asparagus. I have never heard of sorrel before and had to do some research on what to make. Click here to see everything I made using ingredients from week one of the farm box. Overall, I’m VERY satisfied and can’t wait to see what surprises I’ll get from week two!

Monday – Pappardelle pasta with a brown butter and sage sauce. I knew I was going to get sage before I picked up the box, so I planned for this easy meal for Monday. The brown butter sauce is as simple as they come. And I love the wide noodle of pappardella!

Tuesday – Chicken sausage and kale served over quinoa.  This is a one pot meal!  YAY!  (If you couldn’t tell by now, I LOVE one pot meals) You cook the chicken sausage and kale together, then add quinoa and chicken broth. It reminded me a little of cooking risotto, adding quinoa to the broth and letting it simmer. It tasted delicious!

Wednesday – Pork burgers with apple and sage with a side of prosciutto wrapped asparagus. I have never made pork burgers before, but these were unbelievable! Sage is quickly becoming one of my new favorite herbs! It adds an earthy fragrance that pairs very well with the pork and apple.

Thursday – Broccoli rabe, red pepper, prosciuitto stromboli. I roasted the peppers first, then cooked the broccoli rabe before assembling the stromboli and cooking it for one hour. The prep work was a bit longer than I anticipated, but well worth the wait. No sauce needed for this tasty stromboli.

Friday -BBQ chicken with radish and cucumber salad, sage/cheddar biscuits and buttermilk mac and cheese. This dinner screams summer! My husband and I really enjoy cooking together and this meal was as fun as they come!  It was the perfect end to a long work week!