Sunday, June 22, 2014

Weekly Meal Plan 6.22.14

On the menu again are carnitas tacos. When I went to defrost the meat for them last week, it turned out the large hunk of meat that I thought was pork shoulder was actually a piece of lamb. Oops. We ate out that night, but today when I picked up our meat box there was a hunk of pork shoulder! So the carnitas tacos will be made this week!

Sunday: BBQ corn & smoked roast beef

Monday: stir fry using some leftover roast beef

Tuesday: leftovers - maybe cheese steaks with leftover roast beef?

Wednesday: leftovers

Thursday: carnitas tacos

Friday: spaghetti and meatballs

Saturday: dinner with my sister? TBD


Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Apricots Again

This past weekend we were back out in the orchards with Village Harvest. I wrote about the apricot harvest we did with them last year here. This year Sean and I went to a different apricot orchard than the one we went to last year; this one was actually inside an old cemetery! It was beautiful, and the trees were really bountiful. I didn't catch the exact amount of apricots that we sent to the local food bank, but I think we were well over 1000!

And, as usual, Sean and I came home with about 30 pounds of apricots ourselves. Unlike most harvests, where we come home with imperfect fruit that is either bird-pecked, over ripe or under ripe, this time we came home with a lot of absolutely perfect fruit. The trees had dropped a lot over the last week, and due to various levels of liability, "ground fruit" cannot be donated. But as long as you give it a good washing, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.

I didn't take as many pictures of what we did with our apricots this year, because a picture of apricot jam is a picture of apricot jam. But here's a list of what we made this year:


  • apricot turnovers
  • apricot jam (12 half-pint jars)
  • apricots in spiced syrup (6 pint-and-a-half jars & 4 pint jars)
  • dried apricots
these were some of our apricot creations last year

We still have a mixing bowl of apricots in the fridge too, waiting for me to come up with a use for them. I could run them through the dehydrator after the current batch of dried apricots is finished, I could make more jam, I could freeze them, add them to smoothies...

What are your favorite ways to use apricots? Share them in the comments!

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Weekly Meal Plan 6.15.14

Sunday: Father's Day dinner

Monday: carnitas tacos with homemade tortillas

Tuesday: leftovers

Wednesday: salad?

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: steak with chili sauce and fingerling fries

Saturday: a friend's wedding!

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Weekly Meal Plan 6.8.2014

Sunday: birthday dinner for my mom

Monday: eggplant parmesan (with busy schedules at the end of last week, this got pushed into this week)

Tuesday: leftovers

Wednesday: ribs and quinoa salad with strawberries, almonds & mint

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: broccoli cheddar soup

Saturday: homemade pizza

Monday, June 2, 2014

Weekly Meal Plan 6.1.2014

A little late this week, but here's the meal plan:

Sunday: leftovers

Monday: leftover steak and green beans

Tuesday: steak sandwiches and salad

Wednesday: lentil soup

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: eggplant Parmesan

Saturday: dinner with Sean's family