July - week 1

It's July in Texas and it's HOT! We're getting into full on summer and I think it's reflected well in the contents of the box this week. Peppers galore! I meant to ask what variety these long bright yellow ones are but the market was busy and I just wanted to get my loot and go.

Here's all that was included this week: mixed onions, new potatoes, a big bunch of basil, small yellow tomatoes, bell peppers, large and small zucchini, yellow squash, assorted peppers,a lone cucumber, eggplants, a few hot peppers, some slicing tomatoes and a head of garlic.

Now, what to do with it so it all gets enjoyed before going bad? That's been the biggest challenge for me so I've finally started to actually sit down and plan how to use it all and this blog is devoted to helping others gain inspiration and

Here's the plan for this week
Wed- used most of the basil to make pesto. Used some of the pesto in a pan sauce for fish and saved the rest, the kids will use it on pasta for lunch later in the week.

Thursday- Tonight I made eggplant lasagna which used all three eggplants, an onion and a bell pepper. The bell peppers are a purply almost brown color and when I added them to the pan my daughter said they look like bacon. It was a nice night in the kitchen because I got to cook with her not in a rush. She's mastered basic meat sauce as she is the resident spaghetti cook in our house, but tonight she learned how to kick it up by adding extra veggies and fresh garlic. The result was delicious.

Friday- Planning on enjoying the leftover lasagna and pairing it with a classic caprese salad to use the slicer tomatoes and the rest of the basil. I have yet to find a good way to store the tomatoes more than a day or two so I try to eat them the first few days. I'm also going to try to use the lone cucumber this week for a cucumber based cocktail. Haven't found the perfect recipe yet- still searching, you can bet it will contain Tito's Handmade Vodka

Saturday- We'll be out and about most of the day but if we find ourselves home for lunch we'll have a salad with sliced yellow tomatoes, a bell pepper and the red onion with some grilled chicken and a quick vinaigrette.  Heading out to Poker night in the evening so I'll make a spicy cornbread to take that will use up the hot peppers.

Sunday- Going to finish off the peppers by making stuffed peppers, most likely with black beans and rice as the stuffing, possibly with a bit of smoked turkey from the new Smokey Moe's BBQ that opened down the road from us. We'll have some grilled squash on the side.

Monday- We'll do some kind of salmon dish and I'll steam the potatoes and season with butter and parsley.  We'll pair that with a side salad and the rest of the yellow tomatoes if any are left.

Tuesday- Use it all up day! I hope by this day to only have maybe one onion and some squash left so we'll saute that up and serve it with some kind of chicken. My daughters love a quick dish we call orange chicken and we haven't had it in awhile. If there are leftover potatoes we'll have them too.

Wed is back to market day! We'll be ready for a new batch of veggies.

I'm trying to keep this blog centered on what comes each week and the planning process to use it all up so recipes that I mention will be on my other blog when possible along with pictures and other finds and musings.