This year’s CSA is from Paisley Farm, a 25-acre operation located in Tivoli, NY. Paisley Farm grows organically and plants with the chef in mind. The 22-week CSA runs from June – October and I purchased the standard vegetable share. This share includes 8-9 vegetables and herbs per week (8-12 pounds) – enough to provide a family of three with 3-4 dinners’ worth of veg. The price equals out to $25 per week, the cost of which will be calculated in my weekly Adventures In Budget Paleo Cooking posts.

Paisley Farm 2014 CSA Box 7

Leftover From Last Week

Carrots (non-CSA)
Spring onions – all of them. Every spring onion in 300 miles now resides in my fridge.
Garlic scapes – I think I’m up to 3 bunches?
Kale
Cucumbers
Spring garlic

How I Used My Share

I’ve been eating pretty much nothing but zucchini, it feels like. Zucchini + carrots were used in a sausage crust quiche dish; I used zucchini in a soup; and I made a salsa verde out of still more zukes. I also made zucchini fritters, which were delightful.

I’ve eaten a bit of the lettuce in lunch salads, but mostly I’ve just been trying to get on top of the zucchini. I need to do better next week, or I’m going to drown in produce.

My Favorite Dish From This Box

The zucchini fritters were great, as was the quiche. The soup was actually a big hit, too. Score!

Going into next week, I have aging carrots, a fairly sad looking bunch of kale, at least half of the lettuce (that might go to waste), a ton of spring onions, a ton of garlic scapes, leeks, beets, chard and a cucumber leftover. I think I need a massive stir-fry to clean some of this up!

This year’s CSA is from Paisley Farm, a 25-acre operation located in Tivoli, NY. Paisley Farm grows organically and plants with the chef in mind. The 22-week CSA runs from June – October and I purchased the standard vegetable share. This share includes 8-9 vegetables and herbs per week (8-12 pounds) – enough to provide a family of three with 3-4 dinners’ worth of veg. The price equals out to $25 per week, the cost of which will be calculated in my weekly Adventures In Budget Paleo Cooking posts.

Paisley Farm 2014 CSA Box 6

Leftover From Last Week

Carrots (non-CSA)
Spring onions – all of them. Every spring onion in 300 miles now resides in my fridge.
Garlic scapes – I think I’m up to 3 bunches?
Kale
Tokyo turnips
Spring garlic
Roasted beets

How I Used My Share

I had the leftover beets with zucchini leftover from last week and some of that dill + horseradish vinaigrette and chevre for lunch in some form or another for 5 days straight.

I used the turnips and a few of the 9999 carrots I have on hand up in a franken notato salad (recipe coming soon) with sausages for dinner one night.

I’ve used spring onions in pretty much everything I’ve made for the last month – and I still have a whole bunch left over.

The kale was used in a dish with zoodles, ground turkey and coconut sauce – with a topper of garlic scapes.

I used more zucchini in a zucchini & meatballs skillet.

And I’ve used bits and pieces of the bush basil here and there in different dishes.

I plan on having a salad for lunch incorporating half of the lettuce and I’ll throw in as much as I can in the way of spring onions, garlic scapes, basil and parsley so they don’t go to waste. And cucumber. I need to use up some of that cucumber.

I intend to zoodle the last zucchini for dinner and serve it with chicken and an avocado creme sauce.

My Favorite Dish From This Box

Plain zucchini & butter with pulled pork. Simple and delicious. Or the lunches I’ve been having with the horseradish dill vinaigrette. That stuff is delicious.

Going into next week, I have aging carrots, a fairly sad looking bunch of kale, at least half of the lettuce (that might go to waste), a ton of spring onions, a ton of garlic scapes, and some cucumbers leftover.

A number of people I know are completely flabbergasted when contemplating sticking to a budget while eating a primarily “paleo” diet. I’m hoping to shed a little light on that issue for those of you on the fence about eating healthfully in this manner – it *can* be done – and done well – without spending all the money. All it takes is a little planning. 

A little background: I live in Brooklyn, NY, and the grocery prices here are definitely not the same as what you will find in other areas of the country. If you live in say, Raleigh NC for example – you may very well be able to cut this grocery bill by a third, depending upon where you shop. For where I live, where I shop and what I buy, $100 a week is a doable budget without having to sacrifice the quality I want too much. My DH thinks $130 is probably more realistic with our morning smoothie supplies, but I want to shoot for $100. I aim to make 4-5 dinners for two and 5 lunches per week, plus two smoothies per day six days of the week with my budgetary allowance and update you all weekly on what’s going on. Let’s see if I can make it. 

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My CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) shares are going strong, so I will be doing things a little differently with the vegetable portion of my meal planning for the next few months (until October). My share averages out to $25 a week, which will come off the top of my budget allotment and will comprise the bulk of my non-smoothie-related vegetable purchases. If you’re curious to see how I use my CSA veggies up, check out my What To Do With A Box Of Vegetables posts.

Last Week (Week of July 7 – 11)

The Plan vs. Reality

This week’s meal planning was efficient – I ended up making pretty much what I set out to make.

Monday

• The Plan – Zoodles with roasted beets, dill + horseradish vinaigrette, chevre and chicken
• Reality – This was delicious.

Tuesday

• The Plan – Roasted beets and beet greens with grapefruit and pistachio butter & pulled pork
• Reality – The pistachio butter didn’t happen, so I subbed almond butter – and I threw zucchini in with the beets. This was also a delicious dinner.

Wednesday

• The Plan – Sausages with turnip “potato” salad
• Reality – This turned into a franken notato salad and was fabulous. Recipe coming soon for this one.

Thursday

• The Plan – New CSA veggies with leftover pork
• Reality – I did pork with zucchini diced and cooked in butter. Yum.

Friday

• The Plan – New CSA veggie with leftover pork if we don’t eat out
• Reality – We ended up eating out.

Lunches

• The Plan – Some sort of salad and lots of beet and zucchini leftovers
• Reality – Yum. I ended up making more of that dill + horseradish vinaigrette and eating that on pretty much everything last week. Delicious.

Extras

• The Plan – Nothing.
• Reality – Nothing made.

This Week: July 14 – 18

I have leftover CSA veggies this week and $75 to spend on groceries.

This Week’s Proposed Menu

• Monday: Zoodles with coconut, ground poultry, kale & garlic scapes
• Tuesday: Zucchini and meatballs
• Wednesday: Zoodles with avocado cream sauce, chicken & spring garlic
• Thursday: Meat with CSA veggie
• Friday: Meat with CSA veggie
• Lunch: CSA veg salads, leftovers
• Extras: None planned

Shopping List & Cost Breakout

Grocery Store Key: TJ = Trader Joe’s, O = Optional if budget allows

Shopping List

Extras: I had enough leftover, so the hubbs got a snack – pistachios ($7.49) and I got coffee ($4.99).

Total TJ: $69.09

Total For The Week: $69.09; $5.91 under budget. Whoo hoo! I love the weeks when it’s easy to come in under budget.

Pantry/items repurposed from last week: fats, spices, CSA veggies. 

This year’s CSA is from Paisley Farm, a 25-acre operation located in Tivoli, NY. Paisley Farm grows organically and plants with the chef in mind. The 22-week CSA runs from June – October and I purchased the standard vegetable share. This share includes 8-9 vegetables and herbs per week (8-12 pounds) – enough to provide a family of three with 3-4 dinners’ worth of veg. The price equals out to $25 per week, the cost of which will be calculated in my weekly Adventures In Budget Paleo Cooking posts.

Ignore the pretty labeling in the picture – oops! – this is actually Box 5 and I, apparently, cannot count

Paisley Farm 2014 CSA Box 5

Leftover From Last Week

Carrots (non-CSA)

Spring onions

Garlic scapes

Beets

How I Used My Share

I roasted most of the beets and used them in a zoodle dish with a dill + horseradish vinaigrette, chevre and chicken

I used another big helping of beets (and the rest of the squash) in a roasted beet/grapefruit dish with almond butter, beet greens and pulled pork

And I ate 1 beet raw in a salad and 1 beet roasted in a salad

Most of the lettuce was used up in lunch salads

I’ve been using spring onions in everything – and am finally down to 1 manageable bunch

I will be using the turnips tonight in a faux potato salad

I used the mint in herbed lemonade and a cherry/honey jack drink

My Favorite Dish From This Box

The zoodle/beet/horseradish dill sauce/chevre/chicken dinner. That was pretty great, though almond butter drizzled on top of beet greens sauteed in grapefruit juice was pretty great too.

Going into next week, I have turnip greens, kale, spring onions, 2 bunches of garlic scapes, a slack salad worth of lettuce, and those damn carrots I keep forgetting about. And a smidge of the chocolate mint, which just might have to go to waste – it’s looking a little sad.

This year’s CSA is from Paisley Farm, a 25-acre operation located in Tivoli, NY. Paisley Farm grows organically and plants with the chef in mind. The 22-week CSA runs from June – October and I purchased the standard vegetable share. This share includes 8-9 vegetables and herbs per week (8-12 pounds) – enough to provide a family of three with 3-4 dinners’ worth of veg. The price equals out to $25 per week, the cost of which will be calculated in my weekly Adventures In Budget Paleo Cooking posts.

This week’s share …….

Next week, I will be going on vacation and won’t be picking my share up – I’ll be salvaging what I haven’t eaten by the time we leave for our meals the Monday-Wednesday we get back.

Paisley Farm 2014 CSA Box 2

Arugula – I’m imagining it’s the bunch of really spiky arugula/rocket looking stuff

Mixed lettuce – A whole huge bag full

Tokyo turnips – These were set to come again this week, but it looks like i got some nice hearty kale instead

Radishes – A huge bunch

Spring onions – All of the spring onions.

Summer choi – A bunch

Collard greens – A bunch

Leftover From Last Week

Asparagus

Turnips & radishes

Carrots (non-CSA)

How I Used My Share

This is a weird week, as it straddles a week-long vacation. I won’t be able to use up all the veggies I’ve gotten, so I will be bringing the huge bag of lettuce + the arugula to a friend of mine.

I used last week’s asparagus and some young garlic in a fresh salad to accompany steak.

The turnips & radishes from last week were used raw in salads, and broiled for dinner one night – I used the greens in salads and as a braise another night.

I still haven’t touched the carrots.

My Favorite Dish From This Box

The braised turnips & radishes. I prepared them simply (roasted at 400 with a glug of olive oil and a glug of balsamic vinegar) and ate the whole lot in a single meal. Delicious.

I am so happy to be able to bring this feature back to the blog. It’s been forever since I’ve been part of a CSA (not really since living in Miami!) and I’ve really missed the planning and creativity a forced allotment of vegetables brings to the menu planning table.

This year’s CSA is from Paisley Farm, a 25-acre operation located in Tivoli, NY. Paisley Farm grows organically and plants with the chef in mind. The 22-week CSA runs from June – October and I purchased the standard vegetable share. This share includes 8-9 vegetables and herbs per week (8-12 pounds) – enough to provide a family of three with 3-4 dinners’ worth of veg. The price equals out to $25 per week, the cost of which will be calculated in my weekly Adventures In Budget Paleo Cooking posts.

This go round is going to be tricky – pickup is on Wednesday evenings, rather than my accustomed Sunday, and it looks like (at least for this first box) there will be little advanced notice of what the box actually contains. Adventure cooking!

Paisley Farm 2014 CSA Box 1

2 Arugula bunches
1 Rapini bunch
1 French Breakfast Radish bunch
1 Tokyo Turnip bunch
1 bag of mixed Lettuce
1 Spring Garlic bunch
1 Asparagus bunch

How I Used My Share

I planned poorly for this batch. Despite repeated questioning by my DH, I thought our shares started on the 22nd, so I was woefully unprepared for additional vegetables.

I used the arugula and bag of mixed lettuce in salads for lunch and dinner

I used the rapini as a braised side dish to go with meatballs & marinara

I used the spring garlic everywhere – in salads, in dinner, pretty much everywhere

I’ve been using the radishes and turnips in salads and plan to use the bulk in tonight’s dinner (braised with their greens)

I have yet to use the asparagus, though I plan to shave it thin and serve alongside some steaks

My Favorite Dish From This Box

This week, it’s been the salads. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a “real” salad and I forgot how good they can be. The lettuces from the CSA are fantastic.