It is most definitely summer here, which requires some different tactics in the kitchen. Renee had a great post last week about how she is menu planning through her CSA weeks. I commented on that post that I don’t menu plan as stiffly in the summer as I do the winter. Everything, including garden produce, is just less predictable.
What I do like to do is make sure that I am not allowing any garden/CSA/farmer’s market produce go to waste. Which is why I am still using my menu planning system for summer. (Just click on the image below to take a look.)
The other exciting thing that is happening this week is the opening of our local blueberry farm. We will be picking as many pounds as we possibly can to dehydrate, freeze, and maybe even make another year’s worth of jam.
I forgot how wonderfully full of food and chores this time of year is.
Sunday
- breakfast: Eggs + Berries
- dinner: Zucchini Skillet Pizza, Lacto-Fermented Dill Pickles
- prep: dehydrate herbs, soak rice, pinto beans, garbanzo beans, and oats.
Monday
- breakfast: Soaked, Flour-Free Oatmeal Pancakes and Fluffy Coconut Flour Pancakes (recipe coming)
- dinner: Roasted Chicken with new potatoes, beets and Green Beans, Purslane Salad with homemade dressing
- prep: make yogurt, make cream cheese, soak walnuts, blueberry picking
Tuesday
- breakfast: berry breakfast ice cream (recipe coming later this week)
- dinner: Taco Salads with grass-fed beef, slow cooker pinto beans, homemade creme fraiche, raw cheese, and homemade salsa.
- prep:start beans in c.p. in morning
Wednesday
- breakfast: eggs + yogurt + fruit
- dinner: Coconut Chicken Curry, Sprouted Brown Rice, Cucumber Raita
- prep: pick up milk & eggs from farm
Thursday
- breakfast: eggs + bacon. yogurt.
- dinner: Tuna Salad with lacto-fermented pickles, onions, creme fraiche, and mustard over salads. Berries + Coconut Cream.
- prep: soak oats for pancakes
Friday
- breakfast: oatmeal and coconut flour pancakes with pastured butter, fried eggs
- dinner: Sprouted Garbanzo Burgers with raw veggies and homemade ranch dressing as fillings.
- prep: Prep dessert early in the day.
Menu Planning Resources
- Books & DVDs – Inexpensive e-books, what to eat, and nourishing cookbooks.
- Kitchen Tools & Appliances – Mixers, Grain Mills, Dehydrators, and Sprouted & Fermented food equipment.
- Raw Cheese and Grass-Fed Butter – Nutrient dense foods we use often.
What are you cooking up this week?
7 Responses to My Summer Menu Planning System
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I am a big-time menu planner and my summer CSA really throws that for a loop. I just try to use the most perishable first and work my way from there.
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I have the same problem in the summer. We go to our CSA on Thursday’s so Wednesday night is usually left open for a veggie stir fry or pasta dish to use up whatever is left at that point. Then I do my menu planning on the way home in the car or as I clean vegetables to put away.
But it’s a problem I LOVE having!!!
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Our garden is overgrown with purslane. I’ve cooked it, but I have a hard time with the color. In a salad do you just wash, toss and eat?
[Reply]
Shannon Reply:
July 12th, 2010 at 6:52 am
Brynn – Yes, just wash and toss with our lettuce.
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Your chicken curry recipe looks great. I can’t wait to try it!
[Reply]
Everything sounds so good!
[Reply]
[...] best way for me to stay on track with this goal was to create a two-page weekly menu plan. I used Nourishing Days’ menu plan over the summer and loved the section for marking fresh produce that needed to be used up. I also [...]