What's For Dinner? July Week 1

{Week of June 30 - July 6}

Week 5 vegetable bag, picked up on June 26th:

Contents:  green leaf lettuce, rainbow carrots, green onion, cabbage, collard greens, cherry tomatoes, radishes, sweet banana pepper, yellow squash and zucchini.

The cherry tomatoes, carrots and radishes all got eaten raw or on salads.

This week's fruit share was another pint of raspberries!  Yipee!

We spent Saturday evening at a winery with family (post to come next) so we had dinner there while kids were at my sister in law's.

On Sunday evening, I babysat my nieces for dinner and bedtime so that my sister and brother in law could go out for their sixth anniversary.  (Happy Anniversary, guys!  Love you!)  And it's kind of my tradition to serve breakfast for dinner when feeding all four kids because it's just so readily accepted and easy.  So I made whole wheat oat pancakes and served them with fruit and yogurt.  Easy peasy.  I scooped the pancake batter onto the griddle with my smallest size scooper so they weren't huge, but my kids probably eat about four this size normally.  This night, every kid ate five, except Mya who had EIGHT!!  :)

Instead of pancakes for my own dinner, I tried a new fritatta recipe from our CSA newsletter because I just happened to have a sweet potato that needed to be used and I'm always looking for new ways to use greens.  This week, it was collard greens.

Sweet Potato & Collards Fritatta with Smoked Cheddar

1 tbsp olive oil

1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced

handful of collard greens, thick stems removed

2 eggs

2 egg whites

1/4 cup milk

1/2 tsp chili powder

pinch of salt

1/4 cup shredded, smoked cheddar cheese

hot sauce (optional - I didn't use)

-Heat olive oil in 9-10" skillet over medium heat.  Add potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 8-10 minutes.  Gradually add the collard greens, wilting them down into the pan.  Cook and additional 2-3 minutes.

-Meanwhile, whisk eggs, egg whites, milk, chili powder and salt.  Reduce heat to med-low and pour egg mixture down over cooked potatoes and collards.  Cover the skillet and cook about 10 minutes.

-While the fritatta is setting, preheat the broiler.  Remove the cover from the skillet and sprinkle with cheddar cheese.  Place under the broiler until the eggs are set and the cheese is bubbly and golden, about 4-5 minutes.

I wasn't sure what to expect about having greens in a fritatta, but it was really good.  There wasn't much egg, it seemed, so I'd probably add more next time, but I liked it and would definitely make again.  I served a slice of fritatta with one of my cheddar biscuits with garlic scapes.

For dinner on Monday, I used the zucchini, yellow squash, 1 tomato and some onion to make another CSA newsletter recipe called Zucchini Provencial.  I made this last year too and it's really easy and delicious.  Kids even ate it well.  This is also great served as a side dish with grilled steak or other meat.

Zucchini Provencial

olive oil for pan (about 1-2 tbsp)

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 large tomato, peeled and chopped

several twists of freshly ground black pepper

1/4 tsp oregano

1 cup cubed mozzarella cheese

1 cup cooked narrow fettucini noodles (I just guessed on this)

1/8 cup sliced ripe pitted olives (optional - I omitted)

1/4 chopped onion

2 zucchini and/or yellow squash, sliced thin

1/2 tsp salt

grated Parmesan

-In a large skillet, heat oil until hot, but not smoking.  Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring for 5 minutes.  Add zucchini and tomatoes and cook 5 minutes more, stirring often, until zucchini is crisp tender.

-Stir in salt, pepper, oregano, cooked noodles, mozzarella and olives (if desired).  Heat, stirring gently, until warmed through and mozzarella starts to melt.  Serve immediately with grated Parmesan cheese.

Tuesday night, we spent out at Maumee Bay with friends, so we ordered pizza for dinner and then grilled lunch on Wednesday.  It was so unbelievably hot outside that we really didn't have much of an appetite at all the whole day.  So dinner was just a light snack.

Thursday was back to work as usual and we were still worn our from the holiday, so I didn't put any major prep work into dinner the night before.  I cut up my traditional, raw, veggie plate to go along side BLT's.  This one contained cucumbers, carrots, radishes and sweet banana pepper rings.

All veggies (above and below) were from our CSA.

Didn't have any avocado to add to my sandwich tonight (boo), but they tasted wonderful even without.  Love BLT's in summer!!!  And there will be many more where this came from.  Tomato season hasn't even officially hit yet.  Riehm's Farm (our CSA) just has them now because they start some early in the greenhouse so that we can enjoy them right from the start of summer.