JULY MONTHLY DIGEST
Starting a new series on the meals I make each month, complete with grocery shopping lists and recipe notes. Like my exercise routine, I don’t know how consistent I’ll be, but I found this to be a good way to round up all the recipes I’ve tried over the month for later reference during uninspired moments.
Before we dive in, I figure it’s worth mentioning how I think about ingredients. The most important thing to cooking at home is having a good set of pantry staples. This makes meal prep and recipe planning so much easier! I always have the following in my cupboards and won’t list them as ingredients in the weekly ingredient round ups, since my assumption is that you’ll already have them.
Salt & black pepper
Red chili flakes
Garlic (fresh and finely diced — I do this in bulk and freeze until use, but powder works in a pinch)
Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
Butter
Flour
Sugar
Rice vinegar
Rice
There are also items that I have in constant rotation that I buy in bigger quantities. These will be frequently used through all 4-5 weeks, and you’ll likely notice the trend. Shortly here: eggs (18 pack if possible), onions (2 lb bag), potatoes (2 lb bag), plain yogurt (32 oz), lemons (2 lb bag), bread (store in freezer). Canned items like chickpeas, tuna, and diced tomatoes are also in constant rotation, and honestly, pantry staples. They’re easy to incorporate for protein or to base a quick recipe on, and are reliably cheap!
With things that spoil a bit more easily and need to be purchased on a weekly cadence, AKA produce, I’ve been trying to lean into the food calendar a bit more by visiting farmer’s markets and buying items in season, which are also usually the items on sale. Notable ones for July were Sockeye salmon, summer squash, tomatoes, and stone fruit.
I also found that my meal planning typically revolved for 1-2 weeks around a fresh herb bunch. It’s what inspires what recipes I’m looking for so I can use the herbs’ goodness before they spoil in the fridge. It’s helpful to know how to store herbs properly to maximize their life too. This guide by The Kitchn was particularly helpful for me. The herb stars this month: dill, cilantro and parsley.
Desserts/special recipes during the week are mentioned with notes, but I don’t include the necessary ingredients in the weekly ingredient round up. Up to you on whether you choose to make them!
Let’s dive in!
WEEK 1
2 cans tuna
1 lb ground beef (95% lean)
1 can (28 fl oz) diced tomatoes
1 box (4 cups) beef stock
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 celery stalk bunch
1 red onion
1 yellow onion
2 cucumbers
1 lemon
2 Russet potatoes
1 dozen eggs
1 bunch dill
2 heads romaine lettuce
1 pack English muffins
Breakfast: Egg English Muffin with Dill
Toast an English muffin as you heat up a small pat of butter on a pan and use to lightly scramble an egg. Top your English muffin half with the scrambled egg, season with salt and pepper and fresh dill. Cover with the other half for a brekkie sandwich or use the other half for a sweet version — I would usually use another pat of butter and fig jam.
Lunch: Tuna Salad
I like to replace mayo with plain yogurt in most recipes. This variation of tuna salad was light and refreshing, well paired with crackers, toast or romaine lettuce for salad. From the recipe, I omitted the mustard and microgreens, used dill instead of chives, and added chopped cucumber (without skin), red chili flakes and a quarter of finely diced red onions for some kick. I also doubled this recipe, eating half with crackers or using as protein on a romaine lettuce salad, chopping up extra slices of red onion, boiling eggs and making a quick pickled cuke with more dill as extra toppings.
Dinner: Hamburger Soup
Finally used my Instant Pot for the first time! This recipe gets rid of a fair amount of celery in one go, which is what I needed and really how it came down to this. There’s a non-IP version also posted on the same site if you don’t have one. I had no tomato paste nor Italian seasoning, and this still turned out fine. I used chicken stock because that’s what I had, but beef broth like the original calls for likely matches with the ground beef better.
WEEK 2
1 loaf bread
1 bag avocados (6 mini)
1.5 lb chicken breast or thigh
1 box chicken stock
1 lemon
1 onion
1 cucumber
1 bunch dill (leftover from Week 1)
1 lb salmon
2 limes
1 (32 oz) plain yogurt
1 bunch cilantro
1 bunch radish (optional)
1 bag frozen fire-roasted corn
1 red onion (leftover from Week 1)
1 pack tortillas
Breakfast: Avocado Toast
Toast a piece of bread. Cut avocado in half and cut flesh to make slices and scoop out onto toast. Season with salt and pepper (I like Everything But the Bagel seasoning here as well), and garnish with thin radish slices. You can add an over easy egg or a leftover boiled egg from tuna salads last week (Week 1) as extra protein.
Lunch: Lemon Dill Chicken
This recipe was pretty straight forward and I overcooked my chicken breast, as per usual (really need to get a kitchen thermometer). I used way more lemon than what was called for in the recipe to add more citrus zing, and saved some dill to add as fresh garnish. Paired this with a quick cucumber salad, using cucumber and leftover red onion and dill from last week, thrown together with a rice vinegar-sugar solution in a bowl before starting the chicken to let it pickle while cooking.
Dinner: Salmon Tacos
This recipe is 3 parts: 1) garlicky yogurt base, 2) corn salad, 3) salmon. For garlicky yogurt, combine 1 cup of plain yogurt, 1 clove minced garlic, juice of 1/2 lime, salt and pepper. For corn salad, heat up the frozen corn in a pot on the stove with a 1/2 tbsp butter, then mix in 1/4 diced red onion, lime juice, salt, pepper and red chili flakes. For salmon, I whipped out my IP again to contain the smell and make it quickly, but you can prepare on the stove/in the oven. I seasoned with salt, pepper, olive oil, garlic and lime juice. To assemble, toast a tortilla and layer garlicky yogurt, corn salad and salmon. Garnish with thinly sliced radishes, cilantro and half a cubed avocado, and serve with lime wedges. This ended up being my favorite recipe this month, despite its many parts.
Dessert: Tahini Black Sesame Swirl Cake
Went to a small housewarming over the weekend and wanted to bring something baked! I’ve had a jar of tahini sitting unopened in my pantry for a bit, so this was an excuse to break it open and use the ridiculous amount of black sesame seeds that are also sitting in my pantry. This quick loaf was delicious — super dense, moist and nutty in flavor. The best part was the crust on top from the sugar and sesame seeds, and the marble swirl is pretty aesthetic too!
WEEK 3
Admittedly, this week was when my self-quarantine ended and I began eating out(doors) again as I caught up with friends. Prepped meals stretched much longer because of that.
1 bag spinach or kale
1 bunch bananas
1 carton almond milk
1 carton eggs
1 bag frozen jumbo shrimp, deveined and peeled
1 (14.5oz) can diced tomatoes
1 can white beans
1 bunch cilantro (leftover from Week 2)
Bread (leftover from Week 2)
Breakfast: Green Smoothie
The morning detox after overeating while out. Combine half a frozen banana, a handful of spinach or kale, 1/3 cup almond milk, and a drizzle of honey and blend. I also got unflavored protein powder recently to up the protein intake a bit where I can, and will add a half scoop to this smoothie. So far I’ve been liking the protein powder, since it’s truly unflavored and doesn’t have a poor after taste/mouth feel. Can see myself adding to soups and stews.
Lunch: Breakfast Tacos
I repurposed leftover components from last week for this. The garlicky yogurt and corn salad far outlasted the salmon, so I replaced the protein with 2 scrambled eggs and stretched the rest of the toppings and garnishes.
Dinner: Shrimp with Herby White Beans and Tomatoes
Solid recipe from Epicurious’ COOK90 challenge. I used finely diced onion instead of shallots and didn’t actually make the roasted garlic herb sauce. Instead I added garlic and the rest of the remaining cilantro from last week (Week 2) chopped up. I also added kale towards the end to add some more veg to the recipe. To loosen the stew while the kale was cooking, I used a little leftover chicken stock from last week (Week 2).
Special: Fried Squash Blossoms
I got some beautiful squash blossoms from the greenmarket and had no idea what to do with them since I didn’t want to do a deep fry and had no cheese to stuff them with. I went with a beer batter dip fry, which used a more shallow pool of oil and enjoyed the other half of the lager while frying. Super simple, super light, and that last fresh crack of salt on the finished blossoms makes the dish sing. You can also hit it with some lemon if you have a slice leftover from last week (Week 2).
WEEK 4
1 (32 oz) plain yogurt (leftover from Week 2)
1 pack strawberries
2 (15 oz) cans chickpeas / garbanzo beans
1 lemon
4 zucchini
3 graffiti eggplant (optional, or more zucchini)
1 bunch parsley
1/2 napa cabbage
1 box soybean paste (doenjang)
1 bottle soup soy sauce (guk ganjang)
1 bunch green onions
1 box chicken stock (leftover from Week 2)
1 carton eggs
Breakfast: Yogurt with Fruit
Scoop a 1/2 cup of yogurt into a bowl and garnish with fruit. I had strawberries and peaches on hand, and would also garnish with walnuts.
Lunch: Crisped Chickpeas with Garlicky Yogurt
I doubled this recipe to make it last the week, since the original only makes 2 servings. I also randomly ended up getting 3 graffiti eggplants (I’m a sucker for beautiful produce), which I sautéed with garlic and combined with the zucchini to stretch out the meal even more. This recipe is truly low effort, high reward. The ingredient list is short and it comes together in 20 minutes, and the dish itself is flavorful. Probably my (very close) second favorite dish this month.
Dinner: Baechu Doenjang Guk (Napa Cabbage Fermented Soy Bean Soup) + Hobak Jeon (Zucchini Fritters)
Was craving something Korean, comforting and warm despite the sweltering heat and ended up making doenjang guk. Usually I make doenjang jjigae using the recipe in my favorite Korean cookbook, Cook Korean, but jjigae was a little heavier than what I was looking for. This napa cabbage version was perfect for summer. Instead of anchovy broth, I used my leftover chicken stock diluted with water (so much sodium in stock) and omitted the gochujang to keep this purely deonjang forward. You can make some rice to pair with it, but I opted for some hobak jeon due to my abundance of summer squash.
Dessert: Zucchini Bread (and a lot of ice cream, was 35% off at Whole Foods)
I came back with a basket of summer squash in yellow and green varieties after my greenmarket trip. While I used several for lunch and dinner prep, I still had 3 left and decided to make zucchini bread, after being inspired by The Kitchn’s post comparing the best zucchini bread recipes. The winning recipe from Alexandria’s Kitchen was moist and delicious, easy, and had a beautifully crunchy sugar top. One thing I still appreciate more with Smitten Kitchen’s version (that I’ve made in the past) is that it’s easily mixed in one bowl versus the three I used for Alexandria’s recipe.
WEEK 5
1 bag walnuts
1 bunch parsley (leftover from Week 4)
1 carton parmesan cheese
1 carton eggs (leftover from Week 4)
1 loaf bread (leftover from Week 2)
1 lb salmon
1 bag quinoa
1 lemon
1 English cucumber
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
1 bunch green onions (leftover from Week 4)
1 box rigatoni (or other pasta variety)
Breakfast: Savory Toast
Similar to my recipe here. Toast a slice of bread, then spread with Walnut Parsley Pesto (Dinner, below). Top with an egg, fried over-easy, then finish with a crack of salt and pepper.
Lunch: Salmon + Quinoa Tabbouleh
Cooked the salmon in the IP again (think I’m becoming a fan, despite how clunky it is), seasoned with salt and pepper. I made the quinoa in a pot on the stove and mixed the olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon and garlic in after cooking while fluffing the quinoa. I dumped the cut veggies/herbs directly into the pot and mixed there to reduce dishes, and omitted the mint altogether. Simple, healthy and substantial!
Dinner: Walnut Parsley Pesto Pasta
Parsley is used as garnish for most dishes, so it’s hard to use the full bunch sometimes. Decided to make this pesto using the majority of my leftover parsley that wasn’t used up by the quinoa tabbouleh or crisped chickpeas recipes. I made this in my Nutribullet (had to scrape down the sides a few times) instead of a food processor, which worked thanks to the copious amounts of olive oil. I also already had walnuts on hand from a few months ago, but I imagine this recipe would work without them to make a simple parsley pesto. I added this to the salmon during lunch and obviously for the breakfast savory toast, but the real use is for pasta. Cook rigatoni (or a different pasta) noodles as instructed, then add pesto to coat. Reserve a little pasta water in case you need to loosen. Season to taste, add more parmesan if you’re feeling indulgent, and add a dash of lemon juice to brighten it up.
Special: Roasted Radishes & Banana Bread
The radishes seem random, but they were part of my first greenmarket haul. I used some sliced for garnish in Weeks 2 and 3 and sautéed the radish green tops with garlic, but it seemed like the actual radish supply was never ending. I wanted to find a way to cook them in bulk, and these roasted radishes fit the bill. They were soft and buttery in taste, losing their raw, peppery bite. I ended up eating these fresh out of the oven as a late night snack.
With this week’s grocery list, I also bought a bunch of bananas and they started turning brown on the counter mid-week. Perfect for this banana bread, which is definitely my favorite these days (I omit the chocolate chips and put in extra walnuts). This also used up the last bit of my yogurt from this month!
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