Weekly menu

This week's Bountiful Baskets bevy (say that ten times fast) was even better than usual.  A, for the first time in forever, we didn't get lettuce - very exciting, and B, we got lots of yummy produce and extras.  Here's what I have to work with this week:

Tomatoes: 15

Small apples: 3 bags

Mini watermelons: 3

Bananas: 17

Coconuts: 2

Mangos: 5

Key limes: 17

Kiwi: 24 (12 are from last week)

Plantains: 2

Mini pineapple: 5

Strawberries: 11 quarts

Vanilla beans 2

Sugar cane strips 2

Beets and greens: 5

Broccoli: 12 stalks

Cauliflower: 3 heads

Green beans: 3 bags

Mint: 2 bags

Avocados: 3 (from last week)

And 2 packages of flour and corn tortillas

As you can see, I got a boatload of strawberries so I could make jam.  I don't can, but I make mean freezer jam.  ;o)  Since we got vanilla beans in this basket, I was inspired to switch things up a little bit and make this recipe:

Strawberry-vanilla bean freezer jam

As for the rest of the week, there's some easy stuff and some harder stuff.  I won't post the Haitian recipes for tomorrow unless someone really wants them because I do it from memory.  The sauce for the seitan is mostly tomato sauce with some citrus (orange and lime), garlic, cloves, onion, red pepper flakes and a little vinegar.  The beans and rice have kidney beans fried with bell peppers, cloves, salt and garlic in a little oil, and the bean mixture is mixed with coconut rice.  The plantains are fried once, flattened, fried a second time and then sprinkled with salt.

Tempeh sloppy joes are super easy and yummy.  I steam my tempeh to get rid of the bitterness (about 10 minutes), and then crumble it into a crockpot.  I add a couple of jars of chili sauce and a couple of diced bell peppers and cook it on low for 4-6 hours.  When it's dinner time, we ladle the sloppy joe mixture onto buns and serve.

Our falafels on Thursday will come from a boxed mixture, just because I don't have time to make all this stuff on a weekday.  The boxed kind we buy is actually REALLY good.  I can't recall the brand name, but it's sold in the Jewish section of our grocery store.  My tzatiki sauce will use strained plain, unsweetened soy yogurt, and a bunch of the fresh mint that came in our baskets.  The tabouleh will use up a bunch of our tomatoes and more mint.  I may make fresh hummus, or I might use store-bought stuff, depending on the way the week goes.  Maizie, my 10-year-old, loves to make hummus, so I may put her in charge of it.  We'll see.

Tzaziki sauce
Tabouleh

And on Friday, we'll be having an oh-so-healthy dinner of scones (the deep-fried variety!) and strawberry freezer jam.