Simplifying

People seemed interested the last time I posted about my haul from the CSA and the meals that I planned based on what I got. Last week we ended up eating out a couple nights because our friend Craig was in town (YAY!) or I was just too overwhelmed to cook and the meals that I had planned were too elaborate. On Thursday and Friday, I had two meals that cost two to three times what I normally spend to cook dinner at home and both of them were really disappointing. So this week I’m going to keep it simple inspired by the list of 101 Simple Salads that Mark Bittman wrote in the New York Times this week. I’m going to make everything as simple and healthy as possible this week.

So this week at the Community Harvest I got 1 lb carrots, 1 lb green, yellow, and purple beans, a head of lettuce, a head of cabbage, ½ lb fava beans, 1 ½ lbs kale, ½ lb lemon cucumber, dill, and ¼ lb basil. Over the weekend, I’m going to get a little more elaborate but during the week, I’m keeping it simple.

Saturday: Vietnamese Cellophane Noodle Salad with Pork, Carrots and Pickled Cucumber
Sunday: Kale, Mushroom, and Chickpea Red Curry over Rice
Monday: Salade niçoise (Lettuce, olives, potatoes, green beans, capers, eggs, tuna) with a mustard vinaigrette
Tuesday: Turkey Muffaleta and Three-Bean (Green, Fava, Kidney) Salad with Cucumbers and Dill
Wednesday: Pasta with roasted piquillo peppers, basil, toasted walnuts, basil and goat cheese.
Thursday: Falafel with a Moroccan Carrot Salad
Friday: Pesto, tomatoes, and olives pizza and Salad

I'm really loving the CSA for so many reasons, but particularly because it gives my menu planning directions. Having to use the vegetables I get makes it so much easier to pick what to cook. In the winter, I'm so overwhelmed by being able to cook anything I want that I can't decide what to make. That's probably just me, but what can I say, I'm a nerd in many ways and one of them is food. I hope you are all doing well! I've been working on a bunch of craft stuff but they are all for gifts or showers so I can't show you without ruining the surprise!