meal planning with our CSA box

That, my friends, is part of our glorious goods from our CSA box.  What's a CSA box?  I'm so glad you asked!

CSA stands for Community Shared Agriculture, and it is where local farms provide delivery services of their crops.  The boxes are identical, and you get fresh, organic produce straight from the farm.  We get our through Be Wise Ranch, and if you live in San Diego, I highly recommend it.  They have so many pick-up locations, and their produce is outstanding.  We pay $30 for our box, but we share it each week with one of my friends.  You never know what you're going to get, but it has helped us eat fruits and veggies that are in season and has challenged my cooking a bit.  Collard greens..I'm talking to you.  We got them for almost two months straight, and now I am a pro at coming up with recipes to use them in. 

Something that I am passionate about is cooking fresh meals, each day, and giving our bodies whole foods.  Rarely do our meals consist of processed food.  This may seem hard to find the time, but when you are passionate about something you make it happen.  I've been wanting to buy organic produce, but the prices just weren't affordable for us.  Our CSA box allows us to get organic foods at a much smaller price than the grocery store.  Daniel was never one for veggies, but he is more motivated to try something if it was from our box.  He gets all excited about it!  

Since we don't know what we get each week, I wait until we pick up our box before I meal plan.  I do my best to incorporate the items we get in the box in our meal plan for the week so that nothing goes to waste.  Meal planning makes life much easier.  After working all day, and possibly going to class, it is amazing to come home and know exactly what I'm making and have everything ready!  I thought I'd share our weekly meal plan with you!  If you're looking for a recipe to make, you should definitely try out on of these!

Our box this week included:

broccoli

asparagus

avocado

artichokes

spring mix

radishes

zucchini

kale

mustard greens

oranges

parsley

cabbage

And here's our line-up for cooking this week:

SUNDAY: Grilled steaks, artichokes with roasted red pepper dip, grilled zucchini, sweet potato fries

This meal was delicious, the picture doesn't do it justice.  And it was our first time using the grill this spring to commemorate the gorgeous weather we had! 

MONDAY: Skinnytaste Mushroom & Kale Lasagna Rolls with Asparagus

**Using the kale and asparagus

TUESDAY: Fish Tacos with Cilantro Lime Crema 

**Using the cabbage

WEDNESDAY: Skinny Baked Broccoli Macaroni and Cheese 

**Using the broccoli

THURSDAY: Mexican Quinoa with grilled chicken 

**Using the avocado 

Typically I try to juice any produce that is left over.  Beets and apples have been my go to.  Also, I use the spring mix for lunches to make salads, and toss some radishes on there.  

Hope you try out one of these recipes!