First week of CSA cooking

My SIL brought over our joint CSA share tonight and her fiance' and I managed to create a meal using ramps, sunchokes, and parsnips that all four adults and both boys gobbled up.  I'm feeling really hopeful about this season now -- the early CSA weeks have always scared me and gone largely uneaten in the past.  I just finished my meal plan and grocery list for the upcoming week and I'm excited to see how little I need to buy.  Here's the dinner list:

Tonight: Ramp and Carmelized Shallot Pesto Pasta and Sunchoke/Parsnip/Carrot Mash (diced, sauteed root veggies)

Sorrel Soup

Ramp Quiche and Spinach Salad (We only have the leaves left, but they've got plenty of bite)

Upside-down meatloaf -- a recipe from Saving Dinner that always goes over well at our house.  Ground beef from meat CSA in our freezer

Chicken Pilau II -- chicken and rice dish from the More-with-Less cookbook.  We get two whole chickens a month from our meat CSA.  I figured out how to cut it into parts a couple weeks ago and the boys and I had a fun chicken anatomy lesson.

Honey-Baked Chicken -- I'll use the other half of the chicken for this one from More-With-Less

Lentil-Barley Stew -- another More-With-Less recipe

The only things I need to buy for those are 3 cups of potatoes and some raisins and slivered almonds, both of which I would have bought more of anyway.  I'll need to load up on fresh fruit, dairy products (except eggs, which we get through the CSA), and a bunch of dried fruits, seeds, nuts, and oatmeal.  But that's it.  I don't think I've ever needed this little from the grocery store for a week's worth of food.  Granted, I loaded up on flours a couple weeks ago, but the seeds and oatmeal will last a few weeks so it evens out. 

I'm getting better at coming up with things from basic ingredients we have around.  We tend to get a bag of tortilla chips and box of crackers, whatever's on sale at the co-op, but those are some of the few boxed/bagged things we have around.  Today we were getting to that need-to-go-shopping point and for lunch I ended up making biscuits and spreading pb&j on Peter's and making roast beef sandwiches using leftover meat for Leo and I.  After a few weeks without breakfast cereal, I'm now alternating between pancakes and oatmeal, with an occasional granola-and-milk day or scrambled eggs.  I made a 2 lb batch of pancake mix, so adding butter, an egg, and water and frying up enough for the boys and I isn't too long or messy an endeavor and they're generally more patient if pancakes are coming.  I haven't found a good way to make steel cut oats work for us unless Peter sleeps longer than Leo and I.  These guys aren't willing to wait an hour for oatmeal to cook, so I've gone back to rolled oats on the stove.  I used to make it in the microwave but it either overflowed or was too runny.  By golly, the stove takes about the same time with a lot less mess.  Anybody have fool-proof, time insensitive steel cut oat approaches?  Maybe something overnight in the crockpot?

My garden has more plants in it, but the transplants haven't grown much.  I think it's time to hunt down some organic fertilizer.  My peas and onions sprouted this week and are growing at least an inch a day.  I think we're probably past the worst of the cold days, so the soil will have a chance to warm up and encourage everything to get going.  Beans and squash seeds are going in this weekend.

Comments

[Melissa]

That sounds great. Once you have steel cut oats in the crockpot you will never go back. They are creamier than the stove top and take just a minute to get ready.

Melissa

[Holly]

http://www.recipezaar.com/130568

I found the comment on the side about boiling one minute, covering and removing from heat, letting sit til morning.... to be an interesting take on prep as well (and super easy!). We must try it soon.

You make me want to completely revamp the way my family is eating. We ARE joining a veg-co-op this summer, so we're on our way. Where are you finding your recipes for using unusual veggies?

Yum, yum, and more yum!! That's awesome, Amy!
-Ellie

[Katie]

Go Amy Go! That's so great :). We're off of breakfast cereal too...I make oatmeal in the microwave (rolled oats), zapping for 2 min 30 sec uncovered, but admittedly I have trouble getting it just right. Rachel loves it though!

[Kathleen]

This sounds awesome. Good work, Amy!

What's your recipe for the pancake mix??

[Lisa]

Try this for cooking the steel cut oatmeal:

Bring 3 cups water, 1/4-1/2 tsp. salt and 1 cup steel cut oats to a boil. Cover the pan and remove from heat. In the morning, put what you'll eat into a microwaveable bowl and warm it up.

We make big batches of pancakes and freeze them. I just heat them up for the kids when they are hungry.

[Jen A]

That all sounds so delicious! I am so picky about cooked vegetables (less so for raw), but I'll usually eat something if the vegetables are pureed in and not chunky. I'm like a kid that way, LOL.