A week in review, meal plans, and the week ahead

This past week, I hit up a few farmers' markets, but I didn't buy as much as I normally do. I didn't really need to since my garden is doing so well and I know I'll be bombarded with lots of my own fresh veggies soon. I'm getting lots of zucchini coming in right now and the beans are about to start, too. Anyway, here's a run-down of where I went and what I found:

~ On Sunday, my mom, Carson and I went into Grand Blanc to check out their market. Here's what I bought and what I did with it:
* 1 quart Hedelfingen sweet cherries from the orchard in Romeo (which I ate for snacks and with my lunches all week)
* some yummy, local Zingermann's garlic-chive cow's milk cheese (which I ate on crackers for several lunches last week and will finish up with lunches this week)
* 1 bunch organic green onions (which I mixed into our dinner on Wednesday and the potato wedges on Thursday last week)
* 2 dozen local, free-range, organically-raised eggs (which I've used in baking and will use in the next week or two)

~ On Wednesday, I stopped by the Allen Street market in the afternoon. Here's what I bought and what I did with it:
* pine nuts and walnuts from the East Lansing Food Co-Op (to use in pesto)
* 1 bunch organic parsley since my early stuff has bolted and my late planting isn't ready yet (which I've chopped up in the food processor and frozen in ice cubes with a little water)
* 1 bag organic arugula (to mix into salads and to make a batch of pesto)* 1 huge head organic cauliflower (to roast)
* 1 bouquet fresh-cut flowers (which I gave to my MIL when I picked up Carson)

Here's what I accomplished this past week in terms of food preservation and garden activities:

~ dried chives, enough to last me till next summer
~ thoroughly weeded three-quarters of the garden (I'll finish the rest up this morning)
~ harvested the remaining broccoli heads and shoots - used some in our meals last week and then blanched and froze four heads of broccoli... and I think the broccoli is now done for the season
~ chopped up parsley and froze with a little water in ice cube trays (now in a freezer container) to add to soups and other dishes this fall/winter)
~ used some of the basil from my garden to make a batch of basil-arugula-pine nut-walnut pesto, which is now frozen in cubes and stored in a freezer container

And now on to the meals for the week...

Sunday ~ grilled t-bone sirloin steak, grilled baked potatoes in foil, green beans from the freezer, roasted cheddar and white cauliflower
Meatless Monday ~ herbed baked eggs, organic whole wheat toast with home-canned raspberry jam
Tuesday ~ We may end up going to the Silver Lake Ski Club ski show, which if we do, we'll just do a picnic dinner. If we don't, then we'll have chicken souvlaki (made just like the pork souvlaki I made a few weeks back), grilled green and yellow zucchini from the garden, roasted cauliflower from the farmers market We ate at my parents' house
Wednesday ~ another meatless meal... zucchini casserole using leftover roasted cauliflower, plus green and yellow zucchini, my first yellow bell pepper, some baby carrots, and broccoli (frozen) all of which are from our garden; biscuits from the freezer with raspberry jam
Thursday ~ chicken souvlaki if we didn't have it on Tuesday, otherwise TBD
Friday ~ TBD... but possibly green bean stew if I have enough green beans and if I've gotten in touch with Jaime's Aunt Pati to get her recipe
Saturday ~ TBD... if the weather is good, we'd like to go to Owosso to check out the train festival... or maybe go up to Mt Pleasant for the Orange County Choppers bike unveil. So we'll see. Maybe we'll do both, maybe we'll do neither. We'll figure it out and I'll update later in the week with our menu. Kevin and my dad worked on my sister's car all day. My parents were over for dinner. I grilled burgers using the Voogt beef (so good!), sauteed yellow beans in a little butter, sauteed kohlrabi in a little butter with salt and pepper, boiled corn on the cob, grilled peaches, and oatmeal apple butter bars.

And for the week ahead... as long as the broccoli does indeed look like its done producing for the season, I'll be ripping it up and having Kevin till up the soil again so I can plant another round of yellow zucchini. I'll be finishing up the weeding in the garden this morning - maybe I'll even take a picture finally. I'd like to make some oatmeal-apple butter bars this week. And we'll see what I find at the farmers markets to see if I end up doing any canning... I never went to get tomatoes last week, so maybe I'll have time this week and can make a batch of some much-needed salsa. I'll probably also freeze some zucchini slices since I have a lot coming in right now. And maybe make another batch of just normal basil pesto. We'll see how much time I end up having.