This Week's Menu

I feel like I'm finally back into the swing of things, back to my old cooking habits. I'm not sure what happened during the past couple of months. It could be that I started a new job and was just too exhausted to think about a menu. It could be that I'm not as inspired by summer produce...Or is could be that receiving a weekly CSA box was actually stifling my cooking creativity. I usually plan a menu based on cravings and what's in season, and I somehow found it difficult to wait until the middle of the week to receive half of my produce, never knowing exactly what I would receive.

We've decided to stop our CSA subscription until at least next January or February. We'll be traveling to Brazil soon, are we're tired of the boxes. Last week, a green caterpillar dropped out of our vegetables when my husband was putting them away, and he didn't notice that it was crawling on him until an hour later. I think that in itself freaked him out. I had also, a few weeks ago, placed a bunch of rose geranium that we received in a glass of water, as suggested, to allow the roots to sprout so it could be planted. The plant seemed to be doing well, but after a couple of weeks, I noticed quite a few dropping around the plant that didn't seem to be part of the plant. All that time, a little green caterpillar had been eating and growing in there!! So, we're going to give this a break for now, and I'm not so sure how we'll fare. To be honest, I already kind of miss it when reading the produce list for next week, but my inspiration and creativity with my cooking seem to do better when I can choose my veggies and fruit for the week by what's most appealing.

This is what we bought this week:


Baby Spinach, Pink Pearl Apples, Blackberries, Ollaliberry Preserves, Basil, Early Girl Tomatoes, Crimini Mushrooms, Red Bell Peppers, Long Beans, Lobster Ravioli, Spinach Pappardelle

In any case, I do have a menu for this week using our new produce and leftover produce from last week:

Dinner
Soft Polenta with White Bean, Squash, and Sage Ragout, served with sauteed garlicky Chard (From The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen)
Lobster Ravioli from the Farmer's Market
Chicken with Poblano Cream Sauce and Cilantro Rice (From Everyday Food: Great Fast Food (borrowed from a friend, and the recipes look yummy!) Yes, I know, it's not pescetarian! My husband has decided to temporarily eat meat because of our trip to Brazil and to appease my grandparents there. So we're eating poultry almost once a week for now)
Palak Paneer with Chapati or Naan
Wild Rice and Mushroom Empanadas with Long Beans
Halibut with Artichokes and Potatoes (From The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market Cookbook)

Lunch
Sweet Pepper Sandwiches (side to be determined)

Breakfast
Bagels
Strawberry, Lox, or Plain Cream Cheese
English muffins with Ollaliberry Preserves (from the Farmer's Market)
Pink Pearl Apple Sauce