This Week's CSA Box: Lots of fruit!

I was blessed to find that this week's box contains several varieties of fruit!

I'm always up for a little something sweet.  However, since I don't eat a lot of sugar, I don't find that I really enjoy desserts which are crammed full of sugar.  Rather, something with the natural flavor of fresh fruit is the perfect ending to a summertime meal. So, this week let's create three main dishes and pair each one with a nice, but not-too-sweet dessert. 

What we got:  

1 pint blueberries
1 pint cherries
5 plums  
6 ears corn
3 nice sized cucumbers
3 green peppers
6 medium tomatoes
1 nice "mess" of green beans
2 medium sweet potatoes

What to do with it: 

 

Meal #1: 

 

Vegan Green Bean Casserole:  This recipe is billed as the perfect side dish for Thanksgiving or Christmas.  I would serve it alongside brown rice and add a salad, and a tray of raw veggies. 

Mixed vegetable brown rice: 

 

 I just designed this simple recipe to start using up that 30 pounds of mixed frozen vegetables that I scored this week at GFS for just $16.50.  Here's a link to that story.  Keep watching! I'll be posting the recipe on Wednesday for my weekly Cheap Eats feature! 

 

 Blueberry Crumble:  This filling calls for just 2 Tbsp of real maple syrup and 2 Tbsp of brown sugar.  This recipe looks like the perfect end to a summer meal!  

Meal #2: 

 

Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Corn Chowder:   Since this will simmer in the slow cooker, you aren't heating up your kitchen.  The recipe calls for frozen corn, but let's just cook a couple of ears that we got in our CSA box and then take it off the cob instead. This thick creamy soup is soulfully satisfying!  Pair it, once again, with a large green salad and you've got dinner!

Vegan dark chocolate muffins:  It's another amazing recipe from the Vegan Minimalist Baker.  You can serve these muffins with the soup or reserve them for dessert.  Your choice.   

Meal #3: 

 

Corn and Cucumber Picnic Salad:  I've posted similar recipes this summer.  This uses our sweet corn, green peppers, and cucumbers.  The only substitution I will make is to add my own homemade salad dressing instead of Italian.  Store bought dressing is full of salt and ingredients which are unpronounceable in English.  So, I make my own.   But this recipe is a winner, just the same!

Serve it with my homemade lentil burgers (recipe found here) and you'll have a full meal!  

Plum pudding pie:  I had a hard time finding a plum dessert that I would actually endorse.  Too much oil and sugar in most of them.  But, this one looks not only easy, it looks astoundingly delicious.  It is gluten free and has no refined sugar.  Yay! I had to do a little translating of grams into traditional US measurements.  Here's a link for a translator for the ingredient list.  Just plug in the measurements in grams and it will automatically convert it to ounces for you! 

 

That's it!  

Three complete meals- using all from the nine items from this week's CSA box!
Remember, it is both easy and inexpensive to plan your weekly meals using just $25 worth of produce!   

What are your favorite simple, satisfying summer suppers?  

The "teacher" in me just loved that alliteration in the above sentence!  😀
I'd love to hear about what's cooking at your house!  Leave your thoughts in the comments section!

Don't Miss Any of My Posts!

We hang out and chat on Facebook!  Follow me at:  https://www.facebook.com/underthemedian/ 
Sign up to receive my posts via e-mail by filling in the "follow by e-mail" link on the main page.  

Do all to the glory of God, 

Hope