Sunday Morning Ritual with a Splash of Pesto 

Friday, April 22, 2011 -
I like grocery shopping.  I know most people don't, but there is something that I genuinely enjoy about it.  I make our weekly menu on Sunday morning over a cup of coffee, pack up our reusable bags and then head to the store with hubs.  We always begin with veggie picking and then work our way to the meat and dairy.  It's a Sunday ritual I really enjoy - like brunch and reading the paper with my coffee. 

I think we didn't go this past week because it was my birthDAY (opposed to week, weekend or month.)  Not that it is a reason to not go, but we were busy and just didn't make it.  When we don't go to the store, we are always left with two options during the week:

1.) Go to the store - just do the trip on Monday or Tuesday - during the week.
2.) Get creative with the pantry and fridge.

Sometimes option one is difficult with our schedules.  I'm a busy lady, I know this, and sometimes it is a battle to get everything into the week.  But option two can be difficult as well because we don't stock up on items in the pantry.  We like to buy a lot of things fresh, so we don't freeze a lot either.  We don't have frozen pizza on hand and we don't really do boxed meals. 

But this week, we decided on option 2 - let's make it work.  We had some fresh veggies from our second week of CSA so that dramatically makes it easier.  With a little inspiration from Jessica over at The Novice Chef, I decided to use the spinach and make a pesto of my own.  I had never used spinach in a pesto, and without basil, I knew it would be interesting (our basil seeds are not giving us any love quite yet, but they will! Hubs has a green thumb for sure.) 

I pulled out my mini chopper (I'm in desperate need of a full-sized food processor.  If anyone would like to contribute, I'm taking donations) and began by pulsing some spinach.  I added maybe a cup of leftover ricotta cheese, about 4 cloves of garlic, a few handfuls of Parmesan cheese and seasoned it with salt and pepper.


I added it to the cooked macaroni noodles we had on hand and tossed with about a cup of raw spinach leaves.  A little dusting of grated Parmesan on top, served with a simple red and green leaf lettuce salad.

So, veggie box update:
  • Spinach
  • Red and Green leaf lettuce
  • Mache (which we used last week to make fish tacos)
  • Wild chives
  • Green onions
  • Kale
Unfortunately, our mache is looking a little gloom.  But I do plan on using it before it all goes down hill.  I'll sneak the wild chives and onions in somewhere, and the kale, we'll figure it out sometime.  Time just seems to not be on my side this week...

Happy Earth Day!

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