Liiiights!
November 2, 2015
Liiiights!
Author: cochrancj
I am an American expat who loves to explore the world through the plate and is always curious to learn more.
What To Do With A Box Of Vegetables: Brooklyn Beet CSA Box 10
Whoo hoo! It’s CSA time again! Time to shrug off winter’s recipe rut and reign spring’s exuberance with bi-monthly boxes of vegetables (and hopefully meat).
This year’s CSA is from Brooklyn Beet CSA. Brooklyn Beet provides veggie shares from Angel Family Farm, a sustainable farm located in Orange County, NY that was created with the support of GrowNYC’s New Farmer Development Project; fruit shares from Hepworth Family Farm, a 250-acre NOFA-certified seventh-generation family farm in Milton, NY; baked goods from Wild Mountain Bread based in Brooklyn; and a wide variety of grass-fed beef, pasture raised pork, and other products (like other meats, cheeses, bread, flour, grains, lax-fermented vegetables, pastas and other pantry goods) from Lewis Waite Farm, which sources from over 35 local family farms.
I purchased a half share, and will be getting a box containing 6-8 vegetables (about 2 bags worth) every other week from June – October (11 shares), and plan on ordering a carnivore share box from Lewis Waite (4-6 lbs. of meat) for pickup each veggie week. I also purchased a “Challenger Share” for the season (6 deliveries total) containing odd bits like animal fats, organ meats, neck bones, shanks, and rendered lard to stretch my culinary skills. The price of my CSA averages out to $25.50 per share for veggies, plus an additional $45 per pickup week for meat/offal. This total will be accounted for in my weekly Adventures In Budget Paleo Cooking posts.
You would think by now that I’d be used to flying blind when it comes to CSA season, since they rarely seem to post previews of upcoming shares, but I’m not. At least not going into this first week. Pickup this year is on Tuesday, so it looks like another summer of alltheveggies for half a week & utilizing the stragglers before they go bad on Mondays and Tuesdays. Such is the life of a CSA devotee. Boom and bust every week (or every other week, in my case).
Brooklyn Beets 2015 CSA Box 10
1 bunch spinach
1 head lettuce
1 pumpkin
1 fancy pumpkin
1 kabocha squash
4 ears corn
3 lbs. potatoes
Lewis Waite Meat Share Box 9
3 lbs. beef short ribs
2 chicken breasts
1 lb. hot pork sausage
Lewis Waite Challenger Share 5
Pork leaf lard
How I Used My Share
I took the single chicken leg, the chicken breasts, 3 of the potatoes, a leftover onion, and the spinach and made a hearty chicken stew.
The lettuce wilted.
I peeled the fancy pumpkin and turned it into a pumpkin chocolate chili.
I made a hot ground pork sausage skillet out of some of the potatoes, the sausage, and some leftover onions.
I turned the corn into a puree, which I served under the short ribs – which I slow-cooked.
Leftovers: Lamb kidneys, 1/2 a pound ground beef, a couple green tomatoes a hand full of parsley, a pumpkin, 2 potatoes and a kabocha squash, lard
My Favorite Dish From This Box
This week, my favorite was the corn puree. This was an ingenious way to use up an ingredient (and I can’t believe I’m saying this) I was sick of.
November 1, 2015
The end of the marathon.
October 31, 2015
Rigel the mighty hipster Viking.
Fiery Roasted Squash
This makes a nice departure from roasted sweet potatoes as a mostly hands-off weeknight side.
Gluten-free, paleo; vegetarian & vegan if you swap the fat
It’s not as burnt as it looks – promise – I got a little carried away with my Hipstamatic app.
Fiery Roasted Squash
1 kabocha squash
2 Tbsp. melted ghee or other fat
2 Tbsp. spicy harissa (I use Mina)
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. maple syrup
1 tsp. ground coriander
2 big pinches Kosher salt
Preheat oven to 425 F. Peel and chop the kabocha – kabocha isn’t the easiest squash to peel, I used a knife and kind of shaved the skin off.
Prep a baking sheet with foil.
Toss all ingredients together and spread out into a single layer on the baking sheet.
Bake 20 minutes, flip, and bake an additional 20 minutes until roasted.
Serves 4 as a side
October 30, 2015
Pow!
I’m Tank Girl for Halloween.
October 29, 2015
You’re going to make a great chili.
October 28, 2015
A day full of rain.
October 27, 2015
Ack. Another selfie. But … it’s my first day of class!
Promise I’m more thrilled than I look.
Adventures In Budget Paleo Cooking – Week of October 12 – 18
This Week’s Menu
Monday
Breakfast: Coffee with almond milk
Lunch: Leftover Thai food from last night
Dinner: Hot Italian sausages I picked up from the butcher this weekend + roasted broccoli
Tuesday
Breakfast: Green smoothie
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Bunless burgers with kale & pear salad
Wednesday
Breakfast: Green smoothie
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Chicken soup
Thursday
Breakfast: Green smoothie
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Hot pork sausage skillet with potatoes, a little corn, onions and peppers
Friday
Breakfast: Green smoothie
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Out
Sunday
Breakfast: Out
Lunch: Out
Dinner: Out
This Week’s Grocery List
Almond Breeze almond milk, 64 oz. ($2.99 @ Amazon Fresh)
Honeycrisp apple, ($1.79 @ Amazon Fresh)
Applegate Natural ham, 0.50 lbs. ($5.49 @ Amazon Fresh)
Collard greens, 1 lb. ($1.99 @ Amazon Fresh)
Just BARE boneless, skinless chicken thighs, 20 oz. (%5.49 @ Amazon Fresh)
Brown Asian pear, large ($1.39 @ Amazon Fresh)
Dietz & Watson london broil, 0.50 lbs. ($6.49 @ Amazon Fresh)
Local McIntosh apple, large ($0.99 @ Amazon Fresh)
Local Gala apple, large ($0.99 @ Amazon Fresh)
Scallions, bunch ($0.79 @ Amazon Fresh)
Broccoli, 1 lb. ($1.99 @ Amazon Fresh)
Garlic, 1 bulb ($0.70 @ Amazon Fresh)
Smoothie Supplies
Ginger, 8 oz. ($2.49 @ Amazon Fresh)
Zico coconut water, 1 liter ($3.98 @ Amazon Fresh)
1 Apple ($0.75 @ Amazon Fresh)
1.5 lbs. limes ($2.49 @ Amazon Fresh)
4 Avocados ($5.00 @ Amazon Fresh)
Kale, 2 bunches ($3.98 @ Amazon Fresh)
Satur Farms baby spinach, 5 oz. ($3.99 @ Amazon Fresh)
Totals
Carryover from last week: +$38.20
CSA veggies: $25.50
CSA meat: $40.00
Amazon Fresh: $53.77
Budget Breakout
This week, I spent $81.07; $18.93 under budget. Whoo hoo, overages!
Leftovers From This Week
At the end of the week, I have a bunch of CSA veggies, the chicken I bought, some burgers and a few other random items left over. I need to incorporate these items into my menu for next week.
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Think eating healthfully is too expensive for you? Think again. According to the USDA, to ensure a nutritious diet as of December 2014, a family of two aged 19-59 years should spend between $388.90 and $776.10 on food per month, or $89.80 – $179.30 per week. Source
For my family of two adults, I spend roughly $400 a month on groceries or $100 a week – and we eat well. Not caviar and lobster well, but I do manage to serve a predominately paleo diet with little to no processed foods, and I get to throw in a few luxuries here and there (like expensive snacks for the hubbs and the occasional ridiculously expensive bag of coffee). We even manage to buy “good” meat (grass fed beef and free-range chicken) most of the time – and I make this budget work even on the weeks we pay for convenience by getting delivery groceries. I make: 10 breakfasts, 5 lunches, and 10 dinners a week – plus enough snacks to satisfy and fuel two active adults.
I’m hoping that this series will help shed a little light on the day-to-day things a “paleo” person really eats — and how that way of eating can work on a budget. I want to nudge anyone sitting on the fence right over the edge by showing that it *can* be done and that you don’t just eat meat, meat, meat and more meat.
