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

A little later than normal this week, but better late than never! Its been a very busy week. Lots of farmers' markets or farm stands, shopping, garden work and harvest, extra cleaning in the house, etc. We moved Carson into a toddler bed yesterday - its a race car! And he LOVES it! So we re-arranged his room a little and I did some extra deep cleaning in there. I've cleaned about half of his closet, too, and I plan to finish up the other half this week. And we started packing up a bunch of toys - his infant toys. We've been feeling overrun with toys lately, so its nice to regain just a little bit of order on that front again. With all the rain we had yesterday, we couldn't work outside, so we decided to re-arrange our living room and do some extra cleaning in there, too. Its nice to have change - we've had our living room furniture arranged the old way for the last two years now, so it was much-needed!

So on to the farmers' markets and farm stands... Carson, my mom, and I went to the Grand Blanc farmers' market last Sunday. They were having one of their kids' days, so Carson got to sit in a fire truck and check out a police car, a road commission truck, and some old cars. He also got to sit on a pony - though he liked petting it better than riding it. I didn't buy much... but here's the run-down:
~ Fresh, locally made jerky and sausage sticks (Carson LOVES the sausage sticks!)
~ 2 quarts blue crop blueberries
~ 1 fresh, Great Lakes salmon fillet

I also made a quick trip to Eichelbergs' farm down the road from me for 2 dozen ears of corn last Sunday. Their corn is the best corn we've ever had... by far! Even though we're growing our own corn this year (not ready yet, though), we can't resist the Eichelberg corn! We always end up frequenting their farm stand at least once every couple weeks every summer. We ate a dozen of those ears fresh and I removed the corn from the cobs of the other dozen, blanched it, and froze it.

On Thursday, I made another stop at Eichelbergs' to pick up:
~ another 2 dozen ears of corn (all of which was blanched and frozen)
~ 2 small cantaloupes (for fresh eating)
~ 1 quart potatoes

I also stopped in at the Fenton Farmers' Market on Thursday evening. I picked up:
~ 1 quart sugar plums (for fresh eating... soooooo good, juicy, and sweet!!)
~ 2 quarts redhaven peaches (for fresh eating and baking)
~ 1 quart blueberries (for fresh eating and baking)

I also harvested tons more beans, zucchini, and cauliflower from the garden. I've frozen another two 1-gallon bags of beans, three bags of grated zucchini in 2-cup portions, half a 1-gallon bag of cauliflower. And we've eaten the rest fresh.

On to the meals this week...

Sunday ~ We're going to a local county fair for a Moto-X race, so we'll eat fair food... yeah... not really looking forward to the fair food, but oh well. :)
Meatless Monday ~ mexican style zucchini tacos, cheddar corn fritters
Tuesday ~ grilled chicken, zucchini fries, fresh corn saute. We went out to eat (at Olive Garden) with the Odykirks to see my Great-Aunt Sandy who is in town from Oklahoma.
Wednesday ~ kohlrabi with peas and potatoes, bruschetta
Thursday ~ stir fry to use up all the misc. veggies in the fridge before we're gone for a week
Friday ~ slow cooker enchiladas
Saturday ~ We'll be going to my cousins' going away party - they're moving to Williamsburg, VA soon. I'll be making something to share, but haven't decided what that will be yet...

Most of this week will be spent getting ready to be gone next week... we're going up to Kevin's grandparents' trailer on Big Star Lake for a good part of the week. We'll be heading up next Sunday and will stay through Thursday at least, maybe head back on Friday morning. We'll be kind of playing everything by ear. We'll spend some time out on the pontoon on the lake, just playing at the small beach at the trailer, and we'll be doing some day trips - Ludington, Traverse City/Leelanau Peninsula, and possibly to Duck Lake to meet up with my SIL and niece.

So, in preparation for vacation, I'll be making sure we're caught up on laundry, working on packing throughout the week (need to make a packing list first, though! :) , and getting everything caught up in the garden and kitchen. Its prime harvest season, so I'm sure we'll come back to lots of work in the garden (and kitchen) when we return from vacation. I doubt I'll do many farmers' markets this week, unless its to stock up on stuff to take with us to the trailer. Although, we won't be taking a ton of food with us up there since we're planning to do so many day trips, we won't really be at the trailer to cook much... it'll be nice! I do know that I'll be making some zucchini brownies on either Saturday night or Sunday morning next week to take along for something sweet at the trailer. But other than that, I haven't given it much thought as to what we'll eat while we're there... need to get on that soon, too... :)

One extra thing that I really would like to do... but might have to put off till the weekend we get home... is can some pineapple-peach salsa. I found a super yummy sounding canning recipe for it and would really like to make some. We'll just have to see what time allows, though... I'm guessing I'll have to put it off till the following weekend...