Let’s get started making some amazing meals with the contents of your share this month!
First step - cook the whole chicken and make your own bone broth.
Here’s a link to our Bone Broth Guide if you’ve never done this before, it’s so much easier than you think.
The leftover shredded chicken plus the homemade broth makes throwing together a soup for lunch or dinner SO QUICK.
We love Chicken Tortilla Soup - you can easily customize what kinds of fresh veggies you add, add or leave out beans, use ground turkey or chicken sausage instead of shredded chicken, it’s a blank slate!
If you had a beef roast included in your share, I’m planning to make the recipe below using fresh bell peppers and onions while they’re in season.
Beef Roast with Bell Peppers (adapted from Shaye Elliott)
Ingredients:
1 beef shoulder roast
2 Tablespoons Butter
1 large purple onion, sliced into strips
4 large red, yellow or orange bell peppers, sliced into strips
2 cups chopped tomatoes
3 Tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp Sweet Paprika
1 Tbsp Smoked Paprika
1 tsp Caraway Seeds (I doubt I have these so I’ll probably leave them out)
Salt/Black Pepper to taste
Steps:
Heat butter in a dutch oven. Season the roast generously with salt and pepper then brown in the dutch oven on all sides. Remove to a plate.
Add the onion strips, paprikas and caraway seeds. Saute for about 10 minutes before adding the pepper strips. Saute for another 3 minutes.
Nestle the roast back into the dutch oven then add the tomatoes and apple cider vinegar. Add enough water to come about halfway up the sides of the roast.
Put the lid on the dutch oven and cook in a 350 degree oven for about 2.5-3 hours or until it’s fork tender.
Serve over rice, quinoa or even polenta might be fun. Use your homemade bone broth in place of the water when making rice or quinoa for an extra boost of flavor and nutrition!
A traditional beef roast in the crockpot is also perfect for a hot day so you don’t need to heat up the stove or oven.
Ground Chicken Meatballs or Patties are some of my kids absolute favorite lunches.
When we’re drowning in zuchinni, we love to add about a cup of shredded zuchinni or summer squash, a handful of shredded mozzarella cheese, 1/4 cup fresh herbs (use a couple tablespoons of dried if needed), around 1/2 cup of almond meal or bread crumbs and 1 egg with a pound of ground chicken. Mix it all together then turn them into meatballs or patties. Cook in a cast iron skillet or bake at 350 degrees until internal temp is 165 degrees. Add marinara sauce, turn them into meatball subs, add meatballs into a soup, or just eat them as is!
I’m also planning to make these French Onion Chicken Meatballs this month!
Quick tip - I’m not great at meal planning, but a strategy I’ve found that helps me get dinner on the table easier throughout the week is to take a few packs of meat out of the freezer and into a large bowl in the refrigerator on Sunday to start thawing.
I try to have a basic idea of what I’ll make with them, but sometimes I figure it out as I’m cooking dinner depending on what other ingredients I have on hand or what sounds good. Either way, when it’s thawed and ready to go it makes cooking dinner so much faster!
Quick tip #2 - If you forgot to thaw something for dinner, here’s my quick thaw method. Place the pack of meat in a bowl or clean sink full of COOL water until it’s thawed, usually an hour or 2 is enough for most packs. Burgers and any type of sausage will thaw faster. BUT - if you do this, you MUST COOK IT THAT NIGHT. Meat cannot go back into the fridge or freezer to wait for another day once you’ve quick thawed it.
If there’s anything in your share that you just aren’t sure how to use - reach out and I’ll suggest some recipe options for you!
I’ve also started a Pinterest board just for Monthly Meat Share recipe ideas. It can be accessed here.
I can’t wait to hear about all the meals you make this month!