Greens in question

Today I only ate veggies at breakfast.  I had plans for a nice pesto pasta for dinner, but my husband and I had to go to the store for supplies for a time sensitive house project.  So we ate at the diner.  You know, tough life.

My CSA email said that this week's box contained both spinach and chard, however, I only received one bag of questionable loose greens.  I figured that the bag was a mix of both greens and after washing the greens (how I wash greens here) I had a feeling it was chard, but stayed optimistic that it could be mixed with spinach leaves as advertised.

Wrong!  I should have known by the yellow stems...

This is now the second time I was told that my CSA box contained spinach only to find out that it was chard by the taste.  And there is nothing more off putting then taking a sip of your delicious green drink only to taste dirt.  It's not that I don't like chard, I just don't care for it in my green drink as it has a very "earthy" taste.  Earthy is great in a salad, and I love roasted beets with cheese, but earthy is not so great in a drink.  For those of you who stumble across this post I would love to know any suggestions for incorporating chard into a green drink without having to add tons of sweetener to mask the taste as I fear I will have more chard to come throughout this season. 

Remaining veggies:

- Mixed greens
- Yellow squash and 2 zucchini
- Purple onion
- Swiss chard
- Bag of basil
- 2 cobs of corn

Eat your veggies

I get a CSA box every Sunday because I firmly believe in supporting local farmers.  Plus, my mom treated us to this box for the second time because organic ain't cheap!  My husband and I try to meal prep on Sunday's to make sure we utilize everything in our box.  Emphasis on try.  We generally start the week out strong cooking what we planned to make and eating lots of veggies.  However, by the end of the week we are both tired and end up ordering take out and what's left of the box goes in the trash (sorry cilantro... we're not huge fans) or gets chopped up and frozen to use later (onions from last week).  Not this week!

My goal is to try and eat all the vegetables in the CSA box without having to toss a single item.  To be accountable I am documenting how I eat the box veggies along the way.

This week we got:
- Bag of mixed greens
- Yellow squash and 2 zucchini
- 3 purple onions
- Bag of Swiss chard / spinach (not sure yet what it is)
- Bag of basil
- 2 bell peppers
- 4 corn

LUNCH

Lunch we utilized a few basil leaves after stopping by the deli to get fresh Italian bread, store made mozzarella, and garlic marinated sundried tomatoes. 

And because this fresh sandwich was so good topped with imported balsamic I decided to have another.

And I would have had another, but we ran out of bread. 

DINNER

For dinner I racked my brain on what to make that incorporated both bell peppers and onions and the husband picked fajitas.

You can make fajitas fancy or you can make them super easy.  I chose the later.  I like to make fajitas on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper because I can season the veggies and meat without dirtying a bowl and clean up is as easy as grab parchment paper and drop in trash.  BOOM.  

Pan Chicken Fajitas

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken breast
2 bell peppers
2 small onions
2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoon olive oil
Seasoning (I make my own, see below)

Seasoning recommendation:
1-2 teaspoons Adobo (depending on my mood...I love salt)
1.5 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon (Spanish) paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
Pinch of red pepper flakes

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Cut chicken into small strips (I recommend about 1/2 inch by 3-4 inches)
3. Thinly slice bell pepper and onions.  Chop garlic
4. Combine chicken, peppers, onions, and garlic on parchment lined cooking sheet
5. Top chicken and veggies with seasoning and olive oil

6.  Mix, mix, mix until evenly coated

7.  Spread chicken and veggies out making sure that chicken is not overlapping

 
8.  Bake for 25 minutes flipping the mixture halfway through
9.  Serve with warmed tortillas, lime juice, and the condiments of your choosing

 

Remaining veggies:

- Bag of mixed greens
- Yellow squash and 2 zucchini
- 1 purple onion
- Bag of Swiss chard / spinach (not sure yet what it is)
- Bag of basil
- 4 corn