Weekly Meal Planner using Produce from my Abundant Harvest Organics Box

What was in the box this week?

• apples
• pomegranates
• turnips
• lettuce
• potatoes
• rainbow chard
• Herbes De Provence (pictured right)
• winter squash
• spinach
• dill
• yu choy sum (similar to bok choy)

What to do with all this lovely produce? Here is my plan:


Meal 1
Baked Chicken & Potatoes
Those lovely bunch of herbs screamed baked chicken to me. It will go well with the potatoes too.
You can go a few ways with this. Chicken breasts or thighs will work or you could go with a whole chicken. If  you don't do meat you can just use the potatoes or maybe add some fish.
I haven't gone meat shopping yet so my choice is still up in the air. I am thinking I will go with a whole chicken though so I can make some new homemade broth.
Lay your chicken of choice in a roasting dish with a lid or a large dish you can cover with foil.
Lay the herbs around the chicken and put some inside if you are baking a whole chicken.
Lay your washed potatoes all around the chicken.
If you have some carrots left over from last week or if you get the large box you can add sliced carrots too.
Cover the dish and bake the whole thing in the oven for about 1 hour depending on the size and amount of your chicken.

Meal 2
Cream of Greens Soup
Warning about this soup, it is not appealing to the eye but don't be fooled by the way it looks, it tastes great! I made a version of this last week and it was GOOD!
Was your rainbow chard, yu choy, and spinach and rip it up or cut it and pile it into your slow cooker or big soup pot.
I bought kale as a an add on like I do every week so that is going in my pot too.
Add a can of coconut milk or a 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream or whole milk if you prefer dairy.
I also added a box of creamed coconut to mine last week and I will be doing that again.
If you have some sun dried tomatoes on hand add a cup of these to the mix. Lots of flavor! I will be doing that for this batch too.
Next add some water, maybe about 6 or 7 cups. I never measure I just kind of eyeball my amount and get enough liquid to almost cover the greens.
I also added some chicken broth for more flavor but you can leave that out and use water to make this vegetarian. 
I use the slow cooker and leave this on low for about 8 hours.
If you are using a soup pot you can probably just cook it for about 30 minutes.
The last step is to puree the mixture. I use my immersion blender to save time and extra clean-up of using the blender. This is one of my favorite kitchen tools and it was only $30!
Season with fresh cracked salt and pepper.

Meal 3
Squash & Turnip Puree served with meat or fish
I have been slicing roasting most of my turnips so I thought I would try something new this week.
I plan to bake the winter squash and turnips whole in the oven on 350.
The turnips will need washing and scrubbing first.
Put the squash in first since that will take longer. Don't forget to poke some holes in the top of the squash first.
Once they are both nice and soft take them out and let them cool.
Chop up the turnips and add them to a bowl.
Cut the squash in half and discard the seeds and then scoop the flesh into the bowl with the turnips.
Next maybe add a little butter or coconut milk. You can use heavy cream or milk too or even some cheese.
Salt and pepper will go in next and then it is time to puree! I will use the immersion blender for that.
We will probably have thin steaks cooked in a skillet to go with this but any meat or fish would work.
I bought broccoli as an add-on so we will probably have that with this meal too.

Meal 4
Pomegranate Salad & Pomegranate Spritzer 
I have not gone past using my lettuce and pomegranates to make salad.. Maybe I will branch out next week.
Add some pomegranate to some sparkling water for a yummy drink. If you want to make it for adults only add some gin.

Meal 5
Salmon Patties with Fresh Dill
Something about fresh dill just screams salmon to me.
I also got some scallions as an add-on this week so those will work well in my patties.
I have not solidified my recipe for this yet. If anyone has ideas or tips please post them in a comment.
As of now I know I will use some canned wild salmon I bought at Costco.
I am thinking of mixing in egg, fresh dill, & chopped scallion.

The apples get eaten up by me and my kids as yummy crunchy snacks so that is why you do not see them in any of these meal ideas.

Happy Cooking!