Hello world! We’re just wrapping up our winter break and I’m recently returned from several days on Boston’s North Shore and Cambridge, visiting my sister and being a tourist. I hadn’t seen my baby nephew since December and it was so much fun to see how much he’s grown and changed in that short time. It was also great to see how well things are going at their board game cafe, The Castle. We’d only planned to hang out there one afternoon, but ended up visiting, eating and playing games three nights in a row. I really wish we lived closer so we could go all the time.
We also spend a day with my parents, eating and museum-ing in Salem. On Friday, Brian and I went to Cambridge to check out Harvard’s Natural History Museum and some great food. Overall, it was a lovely break, but I am not feeling ready to go back to work. Nevertheless, I’m headed back tomorrow. I checked out my calendar for the upcoming week and it looks like this week is going to be very busy. I’ve filled my menu with opportunities for leftovers and meals I can make quickly.
The Pick Up
rutabaga, delicata squash, butternut squash, spinach, potatoes, beet, sweet potato, carrots
The Plan
Foods I actually cooked while I was off work for a week:
- French Onion soup from the soup swap (“cooked” is a term I’m apparently using loosely this week)
- Spinach and Chickpeas (Smitten Kitchen) + roasted sweet potato
- Eaten in our hotel suite: Spicy Squash Nuggets (Peas and Thank You), with rice. We made the squash before we left for the North Shore and brought along dried rice. We made use of the suite stove and microwave to make our dinner and saved some money in the process.
This week:
Garden Enchilada Bake (Peas and Thank You) with additional shredded carrot + frozen corn

Southwest-style Frittata with onions, frozen sliced peppers and cheese + Simple Potato Hash

Creamy Potato and Rutabaga Soup + cheesy onion biscuits

Leftover frittata and hash

Quick and Easy Skillet Lasagna (How Sweet Eats) + frozen broccoli and cauliflower

(from the freezer) Black Bean and Quinoa Veggie Burgers (Food52) + to be determined side vegetables (hopefully something good from the CSA!)

Mushroom and Bean soup swap soup and biscuits

Lunch: various leftovers – enchilada bake, soup, lasagna