I’ve been intrigued lately by the idea of making up a menu based on what foods are available, not the other way around, as a way of eating more seasonally.
That seems to be a Chinese way of shopping according to
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Jimmie/
And a good idea once you’ve joined a CSA according to my friend A.
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/momco3/Gardening/
I’m up to page 132 of Animal Vegetable Miracle by the way.
My usual practice is to root through old cooking magazines arranged by the month I’m in, list the meals that appeal, then list the ingredients I need. I figured that if I was working from a seasonal source, the recipes would be seasonal too. I still can’t imagine myself going to the shopping market without a list though.
With quick trips to the grocery store out of the question until D got home from work these last few weeks of Chicken Pox, I’ve had to do this of necessity. No Mayonaise, I looked up the blender recipe in the cook book. I did use up the olive oil, but the mayo was yummy. No salsa, I took a can of diced tomatoes, chopped up a scallion and pickled jalapinyo, threw in some cilantro (the parts that haddn’t gotten yellow or slimy in the fridge drawer), put in some chilli powder to taste, DH gave it a not bad. The kids thought it was too spicy though. I think petite diced tomatoes would have worked better than regular diced tomatoes.
Tonight I had a large amount of pizza dough, and hadn’t added the basil and oregano to the tomato sauce yet. The pizza place down the street sells a "Mexican pizza" with peppers, beef, and corn chips in salsa on the pizza. I had some left over seasoned beef, with a ripe avacado in the kitchen. I was pondering the fate of the avacado, since my kids LOVE acacado, but I couldn’t think of how to eat it before it went too ripe. It occurred to me I could make my own "Mexican Pizza" and put the avacado on it after it came out of the oven.
So I mixed some mild jarred salsa (We’ve been shopping since the salsa crisis) with the tomato sauce, put the seasoned ground beef on it, and a little mozzerella. When it came out, I added the sliced avacado. The grown ups only ate that one, B tried it and said he’d have liked it, if his mouth didn’t have chicken pox and the sauce was too spicy to swallow easily (he did finish his slice though).
I’m looking forward to our box of seasonal veggies this June, I hope I will come up with good menus to keep up with the bounty.
Chris,
The Simply in Season cookbook has a list of seasonal menus, and you should be able to plan (more or less) what you'll be getting week by week. I kind-of look at the menus and my produce list, and buy the month's worth of staples. They keep, since all my produce comes from the CSA, and then I feel like I'm not cooking by the seat of my pants.
I'm very impressed with your schooling one-handed and post-chicken-pox posts. I'm glad you're all feeling better.
Annie