Monday plan day, 8/17

Organic delivery this week: Bananas, apples, pears, oranges, grapes, grape tomatoes, cucumber, carrots, broccoli, green peppers, romaine lettuce, red potatoes, yellow squash

Dairy delivery this week: Three 1/2 gallons of skim milk

Monday - Leftovers from last week, a little bit of everything

Tuesday - Dinner at my parents' to celebrate finally selling the old house!  We'll be taking some of our fresh veggies with us to share.

Wednesday - Grilled  chicken (from the freezer), grilled zucchini (from our garden), and parsley potatoes (potatoes from our order and parsley from our garden).

Thursday - Dinner at my parents' again, this time to celebrate Curtis buying his first place in Chicago (and to trade cars with them for the weekend and help load the van with goodies for Curtis's new abode).  I'll be making zucchini bread to take with us (see a zucchini pattern here?  It's harvest time)

Friday - Three cheese mostaccioli (our vegetarian meal for the week, using tomatoes from our garden and noodles from our cupboard), tomato, basil, and mozzarella salad (using tomatoes from our order and basil from our garden), Italian bread (homemade, of course), and zucchini (from our garden)

Saturday - Leftover mostaccioli

Sunday - BBQing with Curtis, who will be in town briefly, to celebrate his new abode, this time with him in person.  We'll be hosting here, so we'll have burgers, with homemade buns and home grown tomatoes, zucchini, grilled, and corn.

Monday - Leftovers.  Monday is going to be leftover day from now on.

Grocery list - Almost nothing, thanks to careful stocking, deliveries, and our garden.  We'll need cheese for the mostaccioli and salad, and corn for Sunday's dinner.  As usual I'll also pick up OJ, and look for cereal on sale.  We also need to replace a few staples, like olive oil and fake butter (a habit I can't quite shake, even though Calvin only gets real butter from the dairy).  We're also out of real Michigan maple syrup, another thing Jon and I can't quite give up, but that Calvin really doesn't like.  Smart boy.  Happy week!

Monday plan day, 8/10

Organic delivery this week: Bananas, plums, pears, grapes, pluots, bok choy, kale, carrots, broccoli, romaine lettuce, potaotes, tomatoes, red potatoes

Dairy delivery this week: Three 1/2 gallons of skim milk, 1 dozen eggs, 1 pint whipping cream

Monday - Leftover sausages from last week, with broccoli (from last week's order)

Tuesday - Grilled chicken (from the freezer), grilled zucchini (from the garden, again), and baked potatoes (from a prior order).  (And I'll be using the leftover grilled chicken to make chicken salad to serve with tomatoes from our garden and lettuce from our order for a special luncheon we're hosting on Thursday).

Wednesday - Dinner party with good friends!  We're grilling pork loin and zucchini (from the garden), and making a tomato, basil, mozzarella salad (tomatoes and basil from the garden), homemade Italian bread to go with the salad, and homemade whipped cream to go with the desert they are bringing.  Yummy fun!

Thursday - Dinner at my parents's house for fun.

Friday - Dinner in downtown Dexter at Dexter Days!

Saturday - Homemade pizza, for which I bought stuff last week, but didn't end up making.  I'm looking forward to this one!

Sunday - BBQing with good friends again!  We'll be throwing some burgers and organic sausages on the grill, along with zucchini (notice a pattern here?), and potatoes.  All right on the grill.  Yum!

Monday - Leftovers of any kind–pizza probably, or else I'll be flying by the seat of my pants.

Grocery list - Nothing for Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, or Saturday; Pork loin for Wednesday dinner, and for snacks avocadoes for making guac, some of that great locally made organic salsa, and cheeses, and don't forget the wine; Organic burger for Sunday.  Also we need to pick up some cereals for the week, and our usual orange juice.

Monday plan day, 8/3

Half of last week was spent eating with our families or away on vacation, so planning went right out the window. Here we are getting back on track.

Organic delivery this week: Bananas, plums, apricots, grapefruits, blueberries, peaches, roma tomatoes, celery, romaine lettuce, potaotes, vidalia onions, zucchini

Dairy delivery this week:  Two 1/2 gallons of skim milk

Monday - Sandwiches on the road home from vacation

Tuesday - Dinner at my parents' (what a nice way to ease back into routine)

Wednesday - Organic sausages on the grill (from our freezer), in homemade buns, with onions and zucchini (from the delivery)

Thursday - Grilled chicken (from the freezer), zucchini (from our garden), and tabouleh (with grain from our cupboard, cucumber from last week's order, tomoatoes from this week's order, and parsley from our garden)

Friday - Chicken salad (with leftover chicken from earlier in the week, celery from our order, and almonds and mayo from our cupboard/fridge) served with fresh tomatoes (from our garden) and lettuce (from our delivery)

Saturday - We're headed to a wedding while Calvin enjoys dinner with grandparents

Sunday - Homemade pizza (using sauce, cheese, and feta and banana peppers, all already on hand)

Monday - Leftovers of any kind

Grocery list - I'm avoiding shopping if I can this week.  We have lots of food int he house, plus it's supposed to be a beautiful weather week, and I'd rather spend it outside amongst the living flora and fauna than inside among the harvested.  I will have to go buy orange juice, though.  Darn our obsession with that early morning staple!

Peruvian quinoa stew

Quinoa is an amazing grain. It is gluten free, relatively high in protein, and surprising well rounded when it comes to amino acids (the building blocks of protein), making it a wonderful choice for vegetarian or vegan fare. It's also rather bland and we've tried recipes in the past that have, in our opinion, left something to be desired. But we refuse to be deterred, and a little inernet searching produced at least one interesting recipe, which we tried tonight and enjoyed.

A quick note first. I believe most of the quinoa sold in the United States is pre-rinsed, but if you buy it in bulk from health food stores (to avoid undue pre-processing), rinsing the grain before use is an absolute must. Quinoa grows covered in saponin, a very bitter substance that keeps away birds and is equally as unpalatable to humans. Because it is a relatively fine grain I used a coffee filter for this job, slowly running cool, filtered water over the grain until the rinse water no longer had a soapy look to it.

Peruvian Quinoa Stew

● 1/2 cup quinoa
● 1 cup water
● 2 cups chopped onions
● 2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
● 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
● 1 celery stalk, chopped
● 1 carrot, cut on the diagonal into ¼-inch thick slices
● 1 bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
● 1 cup cubed zucchini
● 2 cups undrained chopped fresh or canned tomatoes
● 1 cup water or vegetable stock
● 2 tsp. ground cumin
● ½ tsp. chili powder
● 1 tsp. ground coriander
● 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or more to taste
● 2 tsp fresh oregano, chopped
● salt, to taste
● cilantro, optional, to taste
● grated cheese, optional

Place rinsed quinoa and water in pot (covered) and cook covered on medium-low heat for about 15 minutes until soft.

While the quinoa is cooking place the onions, garlic and vegetable oil in covered soup pot and saute on medium heat for 5 minutes. Add celery and carrots and cook an additional 5 minutes, stirring often. Add bell pepper, zucchini, tomatoes, and vegetable stock. Stir in cumin, chili powder, coriander, cayenne and oregano. Simmer covered for 10 to 15 minutes, until vegetables are tender.  Stir in cooked quinoa and salt to taste. Serve hot, topped with grated cheese and cilantro if desired.

Monday Plan day 7/20

Last week, on our return from vacation, we didn't plan at all but flew by the seat of our pants, but this week we are returning to our meal planning fun.

Organic delivery this week (I finally gave in and increased our weekly box order from the "bitty box" to the "small box" so we'll be getting even more food now): green peppers, vidalia onions, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, pears, plums, kiwi, grapes, bananas, tomatoes, and potatoes, and I added some spices to our order: mint, cilantro, and chilves.

Dairy delivery this week: Three 1/2 gallons of skim milk (also a permament order increase), cottage cheese, eggs, butter

Monday - Grilled chicken (from our freezer) and Peruvian quinoa stew (using quinoa and veggie broth from our cupboard, zucchini from our garden, and onions, garlic, tomatoes, carrots, etc. from our fridge and counter, celery from the store)

Tuesday - Broccoli (from our delivery) and stuffed portobello mushrooms (using cheese from the fridge, walnuts from the cupboard, breadcrumbs from the heal of last week's bread, and more of the broth opened for yesterday's recipe, mushrooms from store). This is a vegetarian meal.

Wednesday - 13 bean chili (using beans from our cupboard, onion and garlic from our deliveries, crushed tomatoes from our cupboard).  This is another vegetarian meal.

Thursday - Cauliflower (from our delivery) and leftover chicken made into chicken salad (using the remaining celery and almonds from our cupboard, olive oil mayo from the store, and homemade buns)

Friday - Leftover quinoa and leftover mushrooms

Saturday - Zucchini (from our garden) and leftover chili

Sunday - Pesto burgers (using basil from our garden, cheese and hamburger from our fridge/freezer, tomato from our delivery, and homemade buns)

Monday - Leftover burgers.

Grocery list - This week's dinner shopping list includes portobello mushrooms, celery, olive oil mayo, and crushed tomatoes and almonds to replenish our cupboard.  I am also going to look for meat and cheese on sale.  For breakfasts we need orange juice and I will look for good cereals on sale.  And, as has become our usual shopping treat, we will probably stop by the sushi counter to bring home lunch.