Spring Week Five

I walked into the kitchen this morning and opened the fridge to find near-empty shelves and drawers staring back at me. It’s rare that we have an empty refrigerator. We make almost every meal at home, so there’s hardly ever a day when we can say “there’s nothing in the fridge to eat.” But this morning, with the exception of a tub of yogurt, a bottle of orange juice, a raw eggplant, sad unloved carrots and celery, and various types of pickles, there was really nothing in our fridge to eat.

Luckily, it’s farm pickup day, so I sent David to the farm while I stayed home to unpack and do mounds of laundry from a week away from home. In addition to our share, he brought home a variety of things he rescued from the misfit shelf. I now have more potatoes than I know what to do with, but we love potatoes, so I’m down for the challenge. After a week of eating at restaurants and camping food, my body is feeling bloated and craving all things fresh. This is a good week for salad greens!

Spring Week 5

1 quart strawberries
2 bags spinach
1 head lettuce
1 bag mesculin

From the Misfit Shelf

20 lbs of potatoes
2 heads of savoy cabbage
2 avocados
4 oranges
8 apples
More ginger than I’ve ever seen before in my life
3 tomatoes
4 small cucumbers

Strawberries

Strawberries mark the official start of summer here in New England and I am thrilled we got some today. Most of these will be eaten straight out of the box, but I’m going to save a few for that Spinach Strawberry Salad I wrote about last week. I know strawberry picking season is upon us, so stay tuned for many ideas on how to use them before they go bad!

Spinach

Spinach will be the highlight of our meals this week. We got a lot of it, and it’s gorgeous, and I’m so excited to use it in a variety of ways. This Chickpea Stew with Potatoes and Spinach will be perfect for our mid-week dinner with our vegetarian friends (I’ll leave out the bacon and add some smoked paprika). I’m going to serve it with grilled flatbread and sauteed savoy cabbage.

We are also part of a Fish Share, which means we pick up fresh fish caught by local fishermen every other week. One of the perks of living by the coast is fresh seafood, and we like to support the local fishermen as much as possible. I never know what kind of fish we’re getting until the day of our pickup, but I’m eyeing this Baked Fish with Spinach recipe as a possibility for this week.

And since I’m overloaded with potatoes and am making chickpeas early this week, I’m thinking this Warm Potato Salad with Spinach and Chickpeas will be a delightful little lunch later in the week.

Lettuce

I love this Chopped Salad with Feta and Mint, mostly because I can use whatever vegetables I have. This week that will be cucumbers, carrots, celery, and maybe some cooked white beans, edamame, corn, or whatever else I can find hiding in the freezer.

Mesculin

Mesculin—also known as mesclun—is a word derived from the french word mesclar which literally means “mixture.” Mesculin, originating in Provence, France, includes a variety of types of greens, all in their baby state. Before any heads of greens were ready to be picked, farmers picked the baby greens and packaged them together to sell, and mesculin was born! Commonly seen in grocery stores as “mixed baby greens” or “spring greens,” it makes for a beautiful salad.

Tonight I’m making Spaghetti and Meatballs with Marinara and a huge Italian Salad. My family will love the Spaghetti and Meatballs and I will love the salad.

How’s your meal planning going this spring? Summer harvest begins next week and I can’t wait to see how the share grows as the summer progresses.

Spring Week Four

We received word that our Summer Share will start in two weeks, so I’m starting to get excited (and prepared) for lots of strawberries to kick off the season.

We’re leaving for vacation this weekend, and instead of taking our farm share with us, we gifted it to my dear friend Kelli. She graciously sent me this photo and a list of what she picked up, so I can share it with you today! I’m not doing my typical meal planning this week, but I hope you’ll find some inspiration for your own planning in the recipes below.

Spring Week 4

1 head lettuce
1 bag spinach
1 bunch asparagus
1 bunch radishes
1 bunch pak choi

Recipes to Try

Lettuce

This Cobb Salad was my favorite meal from last week. I made a bed of lettuce and topped it with boiled egg, bacon, leftover rotisserie chicken, sliced cucumber, and slow-roasted tomatoes from last summer’s freezer stash. The trick to making a salad that my kids will eat is to put everything we all like on the plate, and put the extras on the side. For this one, I put croutons, cheese (blue cheese for me, parmesan for the fam), yellow bell pepper (for the littlest who doesn’t love salad), and spring onions on the side.

Spinach

Taco Torte is one of my favorite easy ways to use a bag of spinach. And if you find yourself lucky enough to live in a place where strawberries are already plentiful (we’re a couple of weeks away yet), this Spinach Strawberry Salad is one of my favorite salads of all time. I prefer blue cheese or goat cheese over feta.

Asparagus

I think I’ve shared this recipe with you before, but Spring Minestrone Soup is an incredible way to hide asparagus this week. My family was not excited about eating asparagus again this week, but they couldn’t even tell it was in this soup! The ginger broth is amazing in and of itself. I left out the pasta, subbing in some cooked beans instead, and used Spinach in place of kale.

My friend Kelli says she’ll roast the asparagus and make salmon cakes to go with it. She never uses a recipe (how DO people do that?!) but this one looks so scrumptious.

Radishes

I love to eat radishes raw right off the bundle, and they are terrific in salad. This Grilled Chicken Salad with Radishes and Tarragon Pesto was one of my favorite salad recipes last summer.

And friends, please don’t get rid of your radish greens! They make delicious pesto. If you aren’t a fan of pesto, blanch them for 2 minutes and freeze them. In the winter you can pull them out and make pasta from them, and your kids will have no idea they are eating radish greens!

Pak Choi

Want to know a secret about produce? Pak Choi and Bok Choy are the same thing! It’s also called White Chinese Cabbage and is in the same family as cabbage and broccoli. It goes wonderfully on a sheet-pan meal, and this Sheet-Pan Scallion Chicken with Bok Choy is a delightful way to use it. This is another idea (although I haven’t made this one) and I’m sure vegetarians can sub tofu in place of the chicken. Or just add more veggies to your pan.

Happy Spring eating my friends! I’ll be back next week with the final Spring pickup before our very large summer share kicks off.

Did you know I send out a Monthly Newsletter? I include a new essay especially for subscribers, include book recommendations, recipes to try, and a few of my other favorite things from the month. You can check out the latest issue here, and subscribe to get the next one in your inbox.

Spring Week Three

One of the trickiest parts of getting started with a CSA is learning how to meal plan using the ingredients. It is an exercise in creativity, which I think is one of the things I love most about it. You really have to look at recipes with a creative eye, and be willing to substitute based on what you’ve gotten in your pickup that week.

When I sit down to meal plan each week, I make a list of what I already have available in my fridge that needs to be used. I keep a running freezer and pantry inventory, so I know what I have to work with at any given time. It takes practice for meal planning to become second nature, but in time, you’ll be able to do it too!

The internet and cookbooks are my best friends when it comes to meal planning. I have a few trusted cookbooks and websites that I go to first. I’ll search for a specific ingredient that I need to use, and find something that looks good. Often I’ll find a recipe that uses several things I have already, so it minimizes my need for grocery shopping. For this week, I focused on using up the asparagus first and built meals around that.

As the season progresses and our pickups get bigger, I can’t use all of the produce before our next pickup, so I start to preserve some for Winter. This week I’ll freeze our spinach so I have it later in the year.

Spring Week 3

1 bunch spring onions
1 head lettuce
1 bag spinach
1 bundle baby bok choi
2 bunches asparagus

Recipes to Try

Spring Onions

We’ll use these on top of salads and in recipes for Chinese night with bok choi and asparagus.

Lettuce

This Ginger-Lime Chicken is so good on top of lettuce. It makes a delightful dinner salad. The flavorful chicken over lettuce is enough for me, but you can add croutons, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, grilled asparagus, pickled red onions, or anything else you can find in your fridge.

Taco Salads are another favorite right now. Everyone will eat a taco salad, even the little ones in my life.

And it’s Memorial Day weekend! The weather here is going to be cold and rainy, but we’re grilling hamburgers anyway, because there’s no better way to celebrate the start of Summer. Save a few pieces of lettuce for your burger, or use lettuce instead of a bun for a healthier option.

Spinach

If you’re having parties this weekend (or even if you aren’t), this Spinach and Cheese Strata is an excellent prep-ahead meal. It makes a delicious breakfast, or lunch, or dinner. You really can’t go wrong with this one.

Or if you want a delicious side to go with those burgers, this creamed spinach is incredible.

Spinach is my favorite thing to use when I need a quick vegetarian meal. Make some pasta, wilt the spinach, and add some cheese, and you have an easy fast meal that the whole family will enjoy.

If you want to freeze spinach to use later in the year, this is a good article on how to do it.

Baby Bok Choi

Tonight we’re making Chinese food and I’m making this Candy Pork with this Sesame Ginger Bok Choi. I’m sure there will be plenty of leftovers so tomorrow’s lunch can feel like the old days when I pulled leftover Chinese takeout from the fridge and ate it cold.

I’ll also make lo mein for my kids who don’t really like meat and sneak a bit of bok choi in. I use this lo mein recipe and alter it based on whatever veggies I have. I don’t always use as many veggies as the recipe calls for, and I hardly ever use the veggies they use. This is one of those base recipes that’s always good, no matter what you decide to throw in it. It was one of the first recipes I used when I was learning how to be creative in the kitchen.

Asparagus

I don’t know how many more weeks we’ll be picking up asparagus, but I feel like the season is almost over, so this week I’m sneaking in all my favorite asparagus meals. This sheet-pan gnocchi with asparagus is a busy parent’s dream. I’ll use 1/2 a sweet onion instead of leeks and make homemade gnocchi with potatoes I got from the misfit table (if you make homemade, make sure to pre-boil it before baking).

For tonight’s Chinese Feast, I’m making this Turmeric Black Pepper Chicken with Asparagus, but I’m using beef instead of chicken because it’s what’s in my freezer.

If I have any asparagus and spinach left, I’m making this Asparagus Pesto. Pesto typically freezes really well, and I think this can be a creative way to preserve asparagus for winter. I love using pesto for these meatballs.

Have you discovered any new favorite Spring recipes this month? If so, I’d love for you to comment below and share them!