CSA Meal/Food Planning

This year I've made super random stuff for the fridge and freezer -

I pickled some jalapenos which I thought sugar would take some of the heat out of... NOPE. Still super spicy! Delicious though.

Refrigerator Bread & Butter Pickles are always a hit.

Tortilla Soup

Tomato Basil Soup

Herb Pesto (made mostly with Sage, Parsley, and a little Basil)

Up next on my list - I planted multiple kinds of Basil so I need a few minutes to myself to gather up all the different Basil leaves, sort them and then make the pesto. I have a Ninja Bullet, so I'm thinking making 4 different pestos in an afternoon will be fairly easy (as long as I don't have to referee children!).

I also need to make another batch of Chimichurri - my jalapeno plant has EXPLODED. I need to find ways to use it up! I was thinking about doing a batch of cornbread with jalapenos too.

My Butternut Squash plants are doing excellent so I'll make a batch of soup and then probably some squash and black bean breakfast burritos too.

I've been going through a phase of getting make-ahead cookbooks from the library but I haven't really been too impressed. One from America's Test Kitchen had mostly meals and dishes that you made 3-4 days in advance and kept in the fridge. I need more freezer meal options - I feel like I need to do this before school starts so I can get back into the swing of things a bit easier. I've found transitions are pretty difficult in this house and everyone takes a few weeks to get used to changes. I do have a freezer meal cookbook, but that calls for bulk items and I'm thinking I just want a few meals instead of 30+ like I usually do. Or now that I type that, maybe I do want to do 30+ meals! That does make dinner and lunch super easy.

My herb plants have held up really well, but I have been consistently watering this year too (which children that love playing with the hose, I can usually bribe them to water!) but my little square foot garden I completely over (or possibly under) estimated - the brussel sprout plants took over and crowded out a yellow pepper and broccoli plants so...now that I know how big those brussel sprout plants get, I'll move those next year to over by the composter and keep the smaller veggies in the square foot garden - the peppers, two tomato plants, a foot of spinach, I'll route a butternut squash plant to go over the rabbit fence, and then I can grow garlic too. That should be a good little easy garden to water, pick weeds, etc...

That's all for now, friends! Have a great rest of your week!