Menu Plan and The Week in Pictures

My menu plans have been a bit free-form lately, based on my own energy level and what we happen to have in the fridge.  The CSA pickings have been heavier on the fruit, thus lighter on vegetables.  So I have to shop more on the weekends to round out the vegetables.  I haven't been sleeping much at all - it's now pretty uncomfortable to even FALL asleep, much less STAY asleep.  That affects my ability to cook and plan.

On the other hand, my son is in summer kids' care.  Our neighbor's daughter is not, so I have the option to stop at the store on the way home.  His summer program is at a different school, and Lazy Acres, Albertson's, and Mesa Produce are on the short 2 mile trip home.

This week's meals were:
Sunday: burgers at a friend's birthday party.  I made potato salad. Man, half the potatoes were perfect,  half were hard as a rock.  I can't figure that out.  Must be mommy brain.  I'm usually the potato salad master. I also made vegan paleo chocolate chip cookies (using maple syrup instead of the honey and upping the vanilla).  These were great and went really fast.

Monday: carrot and turnip ginger soup, and TJ's frozen breaded chicken
Tuesday: skillet pasta with zucchini, broccoli on the side
Wednesday: stopped at the store, so we had chicken, bean, and vegetable burritos and roasted cauliflower (this stuff is the bomb).  We used to make burritos all the time.  I'm not sure why they have fallen out of favor.  Not enough time to cook beans?  I bought a can.

Thursday: leftover pasta and the last of the soup
Friday: leftover burritos and salad

Tonight I'll be making pizza, and tomorrow is dinner at a friend's.  She wants to have me over before the baby comes.  We were going to do next Saturday.  But I think time-wise, that's pushing it.  I have 3 weeks to go, but my son was 2 weeks early.

Next week's meal plan:  I haven't made it yet, but we've got kohlrabi, zucchini, lettuce, chard, onions, lemons.  I'm thinking some sort of chard egg dish for sure.  I definitely will have to hit the grocery or farmer's market for more produce.

Barley corn basil risotto

Courtesy of Martha Stewart.
I found this in one of my cookbooks, and lo and behold, it's available on line too.  It was delicious.

I love risotto because you can make it in a pressure cooker and it's fast. The problem with barley risotto is that you can't - it will foam and clog up the cooker.  So.  Lots of stirring. It took too long.  We started too late (because my husband wasn't listening so well when I told him he needed to work on dinner because I was tired).

Anyhoo, at 7:15 pm we started eating.  Sorry for the bad pic, it's a cell phone pic. Who am I kidding - my regular pics aren't great either.  My camera was dead because I moved a bunch of pictures off and forgot to turn it back off.

Barley, corn, and basil risotto:
1 cup pearl barley: 0.40
4 cups vegetable stock: 1.99
2 cups frozen corn: 1.05
2 cups fresh basil: 1.00
2 Tbsp olive oil: 0.23
1/2 cup white wine: 1.00
1/2 cup grated parmesan: 0.75
1 medium onion: 0.40
S&P

Total: $6.82 for what is supposed to be 4 servings, but was really more like 5.  So...$1.36 per serving.  You could use cheaper wine, or leave it out.  And make your own vegetable stock.  But I was being lazy and bought stock.

Random food photos

Sometimes, the only energy I have is to snap a photo and talk about it.  That's what it's gonna be today.  This was probably my roughest, most stressful work week ever.  Followed up by acupuncture and a good night's sleep. 

Breakfast: bread with egg, banana with sunflower seed butter

Dinner: bread and salad and black bean soup.

Kindergarten graduation: banana muffins

Dinner: the last of the pork and vegetable hash - potatoes, broccoli, carrots, squash

Pork sliders and kale chips

I love kale chips.  You know it.  Had them for dinner today.

Busy weekend with a trip to the zoo - as we left they were setting up for Zoo Brew.  Lots of youngun's with pretzel necklaces and beer cups.

Today we took a trip up north to pick blueberries.  I wanted to go before I was too close and going to risk early labor.  We picked 6 lbs of blueberries, got 4 bottles of wine (I am a member at a winery, and it turns out I've missed 2 pickups in December and March...gee, wonder why?), and came home with a really sore back.

Then I did some work.  I worked quite a bit on Saturday...we bought a docking station for our laptops and large screen.  We canceled cable TV and upgraded our internet to faster.  It's great that I can work from home more easily...and it's bad that I can work from home more easily.  But today the network at work was slow, and it was an exercise in frustration, so I gave up early.

We've been busy washing and freezing blueberries for later this summer.  For dinner, I winged it.  I bought some small King's Hawaiian rolls from the discount rack at the grocery store.  I defrosted some pork loin and some enchilada sauce from the freezer.  I made up a concoction of the pork, black beans, onions, zucchini, enchilada sauce, and peach/mango salsa (to sweeten it up).  Served on the rolls with some avocado.  Quite delicious for just making stuff up.

As I was looking for the enchilada sauce in the freezer, I found a container labeled October 2010.  It had ice crystals.  I tossed that, along with some frozen persimmon that was probably from the same year.  Gotta do better at keeping up with the random freezer stuff.

Mix and Match

I just wanted to let you know that I *have* been cooking, just not posting.  The 3 day weekend had GORGEOUS weather.  We grilled a couple of times, despite the fact that Memorial Day weekend is the WORST weekend for my husband to be outside (allergies).

Saturday, we had friends over.  This is new.  I love to socialize with my buddies, but man, I've been so tired lately and it seems overwhelming.  So, do I have one big party with 10 couples and get it all out of the way?  Do I have people over one couple at a time, but do it more often?  Or do I just pass out early on Saturday and Sunday nights?  I'll take door #3.  Actually, it was a pleasant and easy evening.  We grilled sausage, I made a salad with a ginger-garlic dressing, and we steamed corn on the cob.

We also attended a kid's birthday party at a park.  PERFECT weather.  Kids got to play, I did my standard - I end up eating PB&J made for the kids at these parties because of the "pregnant women can't eat deli meat" thing (listeria).  I tell ya, the first lunch after I give birth, I'm sending my hubby to South Coast Deli for a South Coast Turkey sandwich.

Sunday night we grilled burgers (beef from Rancho San Julian - so good!) and had leftovers for Monday also.  Monday morning we went out to breakfast so the cleaning people could work in peace.  We used our Axxess discount book. What I'm discovering is - I'm learning MORE where not to go to eat.  I'm also discovering (by reading the book) restaurants that we really like and haven't used our discount yet.  Silly us.  We moved on to I Madonnari to see the chalk paintings, then spent the afternoon at the beach with friends, where my son got a bloody foot (poor baby) and I got a ton of tar on mine (my hubby got to work at it with canola oil when I got home).

After the weekend, the meals were a mix and match of leftovers and veggies.  I was so low on veggies by Thursday.  Wednesday night I made a pasta sauce with fava beans, fennel, onion, white beans, leftover bruschetta, and some cherry tomatoes from our plant out front.  It came out thick, like hummus.  For lunch the next day, I mixed it with leftover crockpot beef from the freezer a few weeks ago.  And for dinner, I took that concoction and added steamed chopped chard (topped with avocado).  I sauteed the stems with onion and potatoes for the side.  Here it is in all its ugly glory:

Tonight we're going to hear a coworker's band play at a local downtown winery, which I would enjoy a lot more if I weren't pregnant.  Still, should be fun.

Next week is shaping up to be a busy one, since it's the LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL.  There are kindergarten graduation (need to make muffins), doctor's appointment, end-of-year party, and then Friday there is no school, so hubby and I are splitting the day at home.

Falafel!

This is a favorite of mine, made over the weekend.  I did the dough, hubby did the frying.  You can bake them too, but it was hot, and frying tastes better. :)  We had it with salad, and I made a corn salsa using TJ's frozen roasted corn, red pepper, onion, garlic...

Also, here's our first garden produce of the season (remember we were low on vegetables?)

What to do when you are REALLY low on vegetables

It's Tuesday.  Veggie day is Thursday.  Despite eating out one night, we are really low on vegetables.  One carrot, 2 cucumbers.  What's a FT working mom with no time to mid-week shop to do?  Well, here's what you can do when you are low on veggies:  remember what counts as vegetable.

1.  Scrounge in the freezer: I found 1/2 bag of frozen peas and 1/2 bag of frozen peppers and onions.  Plus some veggie burgers.
2.  Scrounge in the pantry: canned or dried beans (can count as a vegetable), boxed tomato and pepper soup, canned tomatoes, onions.

3.  Scrounge in the fridge: marinara, salsa
4.  Send your husband to the garden.  My garden is "plant it and see if it grows".  Very low maintenance. Behold!  About 8 radishes.  I could eat the tops too I think.  That's another serving.

With all of that, I think I can manage to get us through tomorrow (lunch and dinner) and Thursday lunch.  They will definitely be "low veggie" days.  I do have some fruit.  I could probably forage oranges and lemons too.

If all else fails and you have a no veggie day, don't beat yourself up. Whether it be because you don't want to shop, you are out of money until payday, or you don't have access to a grocery store, you can only do your best.