Southern Ontario Local Menu Plan – June 3-9

June 3-9

These days the menu features lots of green items.  It’s wonderful.  It also would seem that there is some debate on the internet (and maybe beyond) as to whether it’s healthier to eat leafy greens raw or cooked.  Since my 3-minute internet research session was inconclusive I’ll stick to just not worrying about it, and will cook them sometimes and sometimes not.  Basically I will let the recipe and my stomach decide what sounds best (which reminds me of this interview I started to read last night).  For further reading on cooking leafy greens try reading this article about Kale and its recent popularity.

Looking back at least week, one great meal was Cream of Asparagus Soup with Fresh Cheesy Garlic Bagels!  We ate it last night and like I just said, it was a great meal, especially the fresh bagels, which were topped with cranberry goat cheese (since we rarely buy cream cheese).  Let me just say, once you start putting goat cheese on bagels it’s unlikely you’ll ever go back to cream cheese…

Monday	“100-Mile Monday” Rye Berry Kale Salad (My alteration is to use Rye in place of Wheat) Whole Wheat Popover Yorkies
Tuesday	Hamburgers (yes, we eat meat about once a week, always local, grass-fed, etc.) Homemade  English Muffins (this is for the buns, and knowing me I’ll substitute a good amount of whole wheat in the recipe) Potato and Sweet Potato Salad (we will take some liberties with the recipe, for instance we probably won’t have celery…)
Wednesday	“1-Dish Wednesday” Shaved Asparagus Pasta
Thursday	Veggie Burrito Bake Grape Tomato Pico deCuke Yo! – This is a spin on Pico de Gallo, in which I’m using local greenhouse grape tomatoes and cucumbers, as well as local shallots in place of onions.  Fresh backyard herbs, oregano and cilantro (in heavy doses), a splash of lime juice, dash of cumin, spoonful of crushed red peppers, sprinkle of salt and pepper. Fresh Pea Shoots and Greens
Friday	Grilled Flatbreads: Grilled asparagus and ricotta Palak Paneer
Saturday	Spring Celebration Soup Fresh Bread (or leftover bread)
Sunday	Out of town for conference in Niagara – Looking for strawberries too!