Weekly Meal Planner Using Produce from my Abundant Harvest Organics Box

This lovely pie was made with last week's apriums. It tasted even better than is looks! It was a simple homemade grain-free nut crust filled with fresh cut apriums and sprinkled with palm sugar (more info on this at the bottom of the post). It is actually the first pie I have ever made from scratch! I am happy it was a success!

The Little House books describe many different home cooked pies, sweet and savory. The Little House Cookbook lists all of these in the index under pie: apple, blackbird, chicken, cream, custard, dried apple and raisin, green pumpkin, huckleberry, lemon, mince, pigeon, poor man's, pumpkin, and vinegar.

My favorite story of pie was Ma's green pumpkin pie from the book, The Long Winter. Pa took a bite and he thought it was apple pie and he wanted to know where in the world Ma got apples! I love this story about Ma, she was so creative with what she had on hand. Who says you can't make "apple" pie with green pumpkins? Ma did it and we can too. Get creative in your kitchen! Look at recipes as an invitation and then use what you have on hand to make something delicious.

On to what came in the box this week:

• Seasonal fruit (cherries)
• Lettuce
• Basil
• Summer Squash
• Green Garlic
• Potatoes
• Chard
• Strawberries
• Tomatoes

I also purchased these lovely extras:

• Kale (this will go into a smoothie or fritatta)
• Strawberries (these will be gobbled up by my children)
• Mint (this will be used in my new test batch of homemade coconut milk ice cream, recipe coming soon!)
• Thai Basil (I will be making curry with this)
• Dark Chocolate Almond Clusters (these will be fought over and devoured)
• Bacon from Happy Healthy Pigs! (this will be fried in a pan and served with eggs)

Here are some meal and a dessert idea for what came in the box. I made a point of organizing the meals to use the most perishable items first.

Meal 1
Green Garlic Chard served with Meat or Fish or added to a Fritatta
The chard tastes best when you cook it right out of the box so I plan to do just that with some of my green garlic!
The leaves are soft and they become velvety when you cook them in expeller pressed coconut oil.
I LOVE using expeller pressed coconut oil, no coconut flavor and the consistency it adds to foods is amazing. It is also super healthy and helps your body burn fat. It also does not oxidize at high temps like olive oil does. I currently have a bucket of it in my kitchen!
Add this into a fritatta or serve it next to some grilled meat or fish.

Meal 2
Homemade Pesto with Roasted Tomatoes served with Meat or Fish or Eggs
Basil  is another item that is best eaten fresh. I may just go ahead and make the pesto the day it arrives and save it in the fridge for this meal.
I received a big food processor for Christmas from my thoughtful husband and it has been earning its weight in gold around here! Before I had this though I bought the Cusinart Smart Stick Hand Blender with whisk and chopper attachments and it did a pretty good job for tasks like fresh made pesto. The immersion blender part it still SO handy too! Who wants to pour things out of the pan and into the processor if you don't have to right?
I happen to have some pine nuts on hand so I will be pureeing some of these with my basil and some walnuts too. Walnuts are high in Omega 3's so they are one of the best nuts to munch on. The rest of the green garlic will also go into the mix and of course some good olive oil that I will drizzle in slowly as I puree.
If you are into cheese and have some Parmesan or other good hard aged cheese you can add that in too. 
Slice up your tomatoes and line them on a greased foil covered cookie sheet and top them with your pesto and roast them on 425 for about 15 to 20 minutes. If you want to get fancy you can roast the tomatoes alone for about 10 and then take them out and add the pesto and put them back in to finish the roasting process.
Serve this will grilled meat or fish or some poached or fried eggs.

Meal 3
Salad with Fresh Fruit
Take your lettuce and add some sliced seasonal fruit and/or strawberries, drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and you have yourself a tasty fresh salad! Add sliced meat for some protein if you want.


Meal 4
Squash Fritters with Lemon Garlic Aioli 
I made this recipe last week with the summer squash we got and this was really good! I did not make the shrimp that Blaine also included in his version of this meal but it sounds like a good idea!
I used coconut flour in my version instead of soy flour. I also did not use any cheese. They were still super de-lish!

Meal 5
Mini Baked Potatoes
Wash your potatoes and poke some holes in them. Bake them in the oven on 350 for 30 to 45 minutes depending on their size or to make this super easy just cook them in the microwave a few at a time for just a few minutes on high. Add any of your favorite toppings. We may add some crumbled bacon to ours!

Dessert Idea:
Grain-free Fruit Pie
I modified a pie crust recipe from one of my favorite new cookbooks: Eat Like a Dinosaur! 
Mix 2 cups of almond flour with 1 tsp of vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp of baking soda, 1/4 tsp of salt, and 1/2 cup of melted unsalted butter. If you are eliminating dairy you can use coconut oil instead of butter.
Press this into a pan and bake the crust in the oven for about 15 minutes on 325. You can bake it longer if you want it to be more crisp and browned.
Let it cool. Then fill it with sliced fruit. You can sprinkle the fruit with sugar if you want it extra sweet. I used a little organic palm sugar on mine. They sell this at Sprouts for about $6 a bag.