Egg Rolls

This week I received cabbage in my Bountiful Basket. The first thing I though of was making egg rolls. I started with one package of egg roll wrappers, cabbage, carrots and a seasoned meat mixture. In these rolls, the meat is ground turkey, but I often make them without meat. You can also used chopped shrimp, crumbled tofu, or ground pork.

Mix the cabbage, carrots and the meat mixture, if using, until well combined.

You care going to start by laying the egg roll wrapper with one point toward you. Scoop some of the cabbage mixture onto the wrapper.

Roll the point facing you to the center of the egg roll.

Tuck in the corners, making sure that no filling is poking out.

Rolling away from you, keeping the roll fairly tight. If they aren't tight, then they will come apart when you are cooking them.

You will have this small point left. Using a small pastry brush or your finger, apply a small amount of water to the entire point, then finish rolling. The water will help it adhere to the rest of the egg roll, forming a seal.

At this point you are ready to cook them in a pan of hot oil. Drop them in, cooking until golden brown on both sides.

When I make egg rolls, I make the entire package or even two so that I can freeze the rest of them for later. Egg rolls aren't that hard to make, but can take a few extra minutes to get everything chopped up and ready to go. Having them in the freezer means that I can pull out what I need for dinner that night.

Dinner was lettuce wraps and egg rolls.

Egg Rolls

1 package of egg roll wrappers

2-3 cups of shredded cabbage

1-1 1/2 cups of shredded carrots

Optional: meat mixture

(ground turkey, ground pork, tofu crumbles, or chopped shrimp cooked with equal parts hoisin sauce and soy sauce and 1 tbs of ginger)

Combine all ingredients and scoop onto the center of an egg roll wrapper. Only pull out one wrapper at a time so they don't dry out.

Drop egg rolls into hot oil and cook until golden brown on both sides.

Weekly Menu and Bountiful Basket

I have missed the last two Bountiful Baskets because I was out of town. I was so happy to get one this week. The above picture contains my regular basket plus the lunch box add-on pack. I also got a 8 lbs of strawberries as an add-on and most of them are in the dehydrator.

I sit down and make my meal plan as soon as I get home with my basket to make sure that nothing goes to waste. Here is my menu plan for this week using my produce:

***Lettuce Wraps and Egg Rolls (using the butter lettuce and one head of the cabbage).

***Baked chicken with a Lemon Caper sauce and Roasted Fennel (using the fennel)

Taco Salad (using the rest of the lettuce and tomatoes) topped with a Cilantro Lime dressing (using a couple of limes)

***Hot Ham and Cheese sandwiches with homemade potato chips (using 1 or 2 potatoes) and cole slaw (the other cabbage)

Spinach Artichoke Pizza

Cheese Burgers on the grill with potato salad (using the rest of the potatoes) and corn on the cob

Beef Stroganoff

I plan the main dishes and then add more veggies and side dishes when I am actually cooking based on my mood for the day!

Apples, plums, melon, grapes, oranges peaches and pears will be eaten with breakfasts or lunches.

Carrots, small tomatoes and snap peas will be eaten with lunches.

The rest of the limes will be zested and dried and then the juice used to make limeade.

The celery will be chopped and frozen to make soup stock.

This Week's Basket and Meal Plan

This is what was in my basket this week. No add-ons t his week, I knew I would be going out of town so I didn't want to have too much and take a risk on losing some of it. Our baskets also had some bananas but I traded mine with someone so that I got extra limes.

My plan for everything else:

Lettuce-salads and sandwiches

Celery-freeze for making stock later

Corn--Skillet Corn (as a side dish to Spicy Honey Chicken)

Tomatoes- sandwiches, salad, sliced to top Caprese Chicken

Mangos--Mango Smoothie and Mango-Chili freezer pops

Asparagus-Steamed and served with Rosemary Garlic Salmon

Potatoes-- cheesey mashed potatoes served with the Caprese Chicken

Limes--will be zested and juiced to make limeade and cut up to add to glasses of water

Nectarines and plums will be eaten as snacks

It is an abbreviated menu since I will be traveling to my Mom and Dad's. Mom will begin her chemo next week and we would appreciate your prayers and positive thoughts.

Bountiful Basket and Weekly Menu

This is my basket that I got this week. In addition to the basic basket I also gout and Italian pack. This is pretty much all the produce I will use for the week, I love the variety, just enough of everything to make a meal and not so much that we end up eating the same thing for a week straight.

As soon as I get home with my basket, I make my meal plan for the coming week to incorporate everything so that nothing gets forgotten and wasted. I typically plan five dinners for each week, and that leaves room for a leftover night, eating out or at a friend's, or an I-am-going-to-eat-popcorn-for dinner-because-Kip-is-working-late. I also have pantry staples that I can whip up a quick meal if I need another meal. Most weeks, I also plan one dessert.

This week's menu includes:

Salmon Patties, mashed potatoes, salad

Mushroom and Swiss burgers, grilled veggie kabobs, homemade potato chips

Ginger pork, rice, broccoli

Tuscan soup, rosemary bread

Grilled steak, baked potato, salad, green beans

Since yesterday was Father's Day I cooked dinner for Kip's family, making some of his Dad's favorite dishes. We had BBQ pork sandwiches topped with hot slaw, macaroni salad, baked beans, corn on the cob and jalapeno cornbread. For dessert I made banana pudding. He was one happy Dad!

Bountiful Basket and Meal Plan

Yippee, it is a Bountiful Basket week! This week in addition the the regular basket, I also got a picnic pack. When I get home each week, I take the time to sit down and plan my meals for the coming week. I find that if I do that, I make sure that every thing gets used and I don't find any unused food that gets forgotten and ends up in the compost bin. 

Here is how I will be using my basket this week:

Romaine and iceberg lettuce will both be used in salads and on sandwiches.

Asparagus will be steamed and served as a side dish.

Celery will be frozen for use in stock.

Bananas, apples, grapes and some of the berries will be eaten as is or in smoothies or mixed in yogurt.

Tomatoes will be used in salads and on sandwiches,

Squash will be in grilled veggie burritos.

Orange bell peppers will be in the veggie burritos, salads and some sliced for snacking.

Broccoli will be chopped for salads and steamed as a side.

Onions are used in cooking throughout the week.

Red Potatoes will be a potato dill salad on burger night.

Red Onion will be in salads and on BBQ Chicken Pizza.

Cabbage will be some type of slaw.

Watermelon will be sliced and devoured!

Bountiful Basket and plans

This is what was in my Bountiful Basket this week. I usually try and pick out my favorite basket item, but this week that was too hard! I love cucumbers and carrots, and those little pepper make a great snack, I think those gorgeous artichokes might slightly edge out the others by just a bit. All I know is that we will be eating good at my house this week. 

How will I use these items in my meal plan for this week?

Artichokes: will be steamed and served with a garlic butter sauce as a side dish

Carrots, Cucumbers, Lettuce, and some of the Onions will be used in salads

Broccoli, some of the Carrots and the rest of the onions will be used in a Stir Fried Rice one night

Cauliflower will be eaten raw with hummus or some ranch dip

Sweet Mini Peppers will be used in salads, but I love these raw with hummus

Pears will be used in a Pear, Walnut Gorgonzola salad 

The melon, apples, bananas and the rest of the pears will be eaten as is with breakfast or lunches.

Tropical Fruit Salad

The other day I posted about my excitement over my dragon fruit that I got from Bountiful Baskets. It was tasty and kind of tasty. I decided to use it in a fruit salad. I combined the mango, dragon fruit, sliced strawberries and some pineapple together. I then mixed 2 parts pineapple juice, 1 part orange juice and i part lime juice together and poured it over the fruit and gently stirred. Very tasty!

Bountiful Basket

Here is my Bountiful Basket Share this week and how I plan to use each item:

***Pineapple, bananas, pears and part of the strawberries will be eaten as a part of breakfast or lunch.

***Celery will be chopped and frozen until I need it to make stock again.

***Baby Bok Choy will be added to a stir fry.

***Lettuce will be on sandwiches and part of a salad.

***Some of the red peppers and tomatoes will be served on fajita night, the rest will end up in a salad or sandwiches.

***Potatoes will be baked for steak night and will also be added to a roast I will be making.

***Lemons will end up in drinks, but I will wash them good, zest them and dry the zest to use in cooking and baking. I love lemons!

***Mushrooms will be in a Chicken Lasagna dish I will be making on my food prep day to go in the freezer.

I try to make a plan for the veggies and fruits I receive as soon as I get home with them. That helps make sure that everything gets used and nothing goes bad.

I usually don't buy the add-ons unless it is something that I can either can or dehydrate because it does end up being a little too much food for us. This past week they offered a Tropical Pack and I knew that the people on the "A Week" schedule had dragon fruit in their tropical packs. They aren't always exactly the same, but I decided to order it hoping that my "B Week" box would have it too. No disappointment, because it was in there!

Here is how I will use these items:

***Pineapple, dragonruit and mango will be eaten as is.

***The plantain will be lightly fried into a chip and served with hummus.

***Vanilla beans will be used in baking probably. Might make some ice cream with them too.

***The mint and some of the coconut will be used to make extracts. The rest of the coconut will be eaten as a snack. I might experiment with drying a little bit of it.

****The ginger will probably end up in the same stir fry as the bok choy.

***We have two flavors of dessert wraps, I am working on those!

***Tropical Granola is already almost gone! I knew it was in the pack, but I don't usually buy granola, I make my own. I opened the bag to sample it and oh my goodness, that stuff is amazing. I have been eating it out of the bag, but some will end up on ice cream and oatmeal--if there is any left.