Fast & Easy Meals

This week's box contains:

• Chantenay Carrots
• Bianco di Maggio Onions
• Basil (traded for more fennel)
• Green Beans
• Lettuce (traded for more fennel)
• Fennel
• Strawberries
• Mystery (Desiree Potatoes)

Great box this week.  Given that I have a bunch of basil on hand and am not a lettuce fan, I swapped both for additional fennel.   Despite the wonderful options, we had our 4.5 year old goddaughter this weekend, so time to research and cook was simply not available.  For fun we made an "all orange" meal, composed entirely from food the color orange; turned out to be an excellent way to make eating healthy food fun.

Perhaps the biggest deterrent to cooking at home, at least for me, is the time it takes to prepare and cook a good meal.  While it is always worth the effort, you may not have the time (as was the case for us this weekend) or may not feel like doing a lot of work.

Two of my favorite cookbooks that offer sound advice, and excellent recipes, for fast and easy meals are Fresh Food Fast by Peter Berley and Vegan Express by Navas Atlas.  I've also accumulated a mental list of dishes that are fast and easy to prepare, but delicious to eat.  Of course there's always searching the web as well.

For lunch today we quickly whipped up the following for a fast and easy summer meal that worked through the carrots, green beans, fennel, and potatoes from this week's box:

• Baked Carrot Fries
• Sauteed Green Beans & Cherry Tomatoes
• Roasted Potatoes & Fennel

What are your tips for quick meals?

As for the rest of the box, the strawberries were cleaned and frozen for smoothies and the onions are standing by for a meal this week.