The Meal Plan 8/29- 9/4 PLUS Some Questions About How to Use Some Garden Goodies...

I had the meal plan all ready to post on schedule last night, then my mom showed up for a surprise visit with a bounty of vegetables that my grandma picked from her garden to send along. A vegetable care package! Cool!

The most fascinating thing I found in all of the bags and buckets of produce was this gargantuan tomato. It was huge. 2-1/2 pounds according to my kitchen scale. Seriously impressive.

It put my regular-sized garden tomatoes to shame.

I am having some difficulty deciding what to do with a few of the items from grandma's garden. Maybe some of you can help me out?

First of all, Grandma sent bunches of flat leaf parsley. I'd like to preserve some. Do any of you have experience with this? What should I do? I've heard about freezing it in ice cube trays. Or maybe I should dry it?

She also sent 3 eggplants. I had just purchased 1 eggplant for the Garden Vegetable Tart that I plan to make later this week, so now I have 4 eggplants. How should I prepare it? Do any of you have a favorite recipe? I have fried it before, but I'd love to try a different recipe.

Finally, she sent a whole bucket full of red hot chili peppers. I was thinking about drying them. If anyone has tips, I'd be happy to read them. Also, have any of you ever dried pepper seeds and planted them the next year? My grandma suggested that I save some of the seeds for planting. I was just wondering if that really works and how I should go about it. Sound off, my pepper lovin' readers!

Okay, so now for the meal plan. I only had to plan for 4 meals this week, and I'm only cooking 3. Tuesday I'm pulling some barbecue out of the freezer to heat for sandwiches. On Thursdays during the school year, my daughters attend an evening children's program at our church, where I also teach a class. They serve dinner there. Love that! On Saturday we will probably cook out with our neighbors and on Sunday we have 2 birthday parties to attend. While I'm only cooking three meals, I'll probably keep pretty busy in the kitchen using up all of those vegetables!

Monday August 29th

Grilled Teriyaki Pork Loin
Sesame Green Bean Salad

Tuesday August 30th

Barbecued Brisket from the freezer
Cucumber Ribbon Salad

Wednesday August 31st

Harvest Vegetable Tart

Thursday September 1st

Dinner @ church for me and the girls.
Leftovers for my husband. : )

Friday September 2nd

Cheesesteak Pizza

Saturday September 3rd

Cookout

Sunday September 4th

Whole family @ a birthday party

Grocery List

Produce

1 lb. green beans
2-3 onions
garlic
2 cucumbers
4 radishes
red onion
green onions
egg plant
tomato
green pepper
red bell pepper

Meat

2 lbs. pork loin
4 lbs. beef brisket
4 Steak-ums

Deli

kalamata olives

Dairy

ATHENOS Crumbled Feta Cheese with Basil & Tomato
butter
grated Parmesan
2 eggs
Pillsbury Thin Crust Refrigerated Pizza dough
Shredded mozzarella/provolone
milk

Canned Goods

Teriyaki marinade
soy sauce
cider vinegar
canola oil
sesame oil
ketchup
beer
white vinegar
liquid smoke
Italian dressing
evaporated milk

Dry Goods

sugar
sesame seeds
brown sugar
smoked paprika
oregano
cornstarch
all-purpose flour
whole wheat flour
cornmeal
cayenne pepper

Freezer

1/2 cup frozen corn

Have a great week, everyone!

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