No kids accompanied me on this week’s pickup, and it was a little lonely! The weather has been very England-like the past few days — a fine mist of rain, too light for an umbrella but enough to get you wet. I like a little gloom every now and again, but for several days straight it gets a bit much. Thankfully, today is sunny and it should stay that way for almost a week.

We received a bag of beefsteak tomatoes, ping pong tomatoes, 3 plum tomatoes, 6 ears of corn, a handful of cilantro, 3 jalapeños, 3 Carmen peppers, 2 bell peppers, 2 small cucumbers, chard, a huge head of (filthy) lettuce, and a quart of small potatoes.

Lauren took the corn, bell peppers (I share Michael Ruhlman’s opinion of them) and some tomatoes off my hands — I still have the 6 ears from last week, and I knew that we’d never get through another half dozen. I know, I should freeze the kernels. But the truth is, my family is not that fond of corn — if we don’t eat it when it is awesome and fresh, no one’s going to be excited when I pull it out of the freezer in the middle of winter, either.

I did manage a batch of Sweet Potato & Black Bean Burritos, but I am otherwise not doing much cooking over this week and next, since our schedule is packed with end-of-summer parties and cramming in day trips before school starts again on September 7.

I’ll be updating Chick in the Kitchen with my farm share pickups this week and next, but otherwise I won’t be back here until September 5, when I post my back-to-school meal plan for the week. That post will include our Rosh Hashanah dinner plans, too — I’m excited to try some new recipes this year.

Make sure to follow me on Twitter for quick updates between now and then.

The list this week looks kind of small, but the yield was huge! Especially with the large amounts of corn and tomatoes, my bag is so heavy I’m glad I don’t have to walk far to my car.

We received a beefsteak tomatoes, Juliet tomatoes, 6 ears of corn, 3 Carmen peppers, 2 poblano peppers, 2 bell peppers (one of mine is red), swiss chard, green beans, beets, and a cucumber.

I’m going to make another Swiss Chard & Gruyere Quiche this week to bring to a brunch, but I did think Ranee’s recipe for Corn & Chard Stacked Enchiladas looked delicious (it uses leftover chicken, too, which I often have in the fridge).

There are tons of insulated bags, and we already own two: one is from Thermos (similar to this one), and one is from Arctic Zone (similar to this). They both worked fine this summer as snack bags (I pack the boys’ lunch in separate lunchboxes). The problem is that these bags are bulky, and space in my kids’ backpacks is at a premium. I don’t need the insulation for their snacks, since they normally take water or juice and something nonperishable to eat. Plus, they have snack within a couple of hours of me packing their bags. Here’s what I have come up with:

Green-kit reusable lunch bag

Artist's Club canvas lunch sack

If you want to go the Etsy route, there are a bunch of bags to fall in love with, like the ones from Don’t Quilt Your Day Job. Although I think it’s beautiful and clever, I’m not sure the boys would see any difference between using one of these and an actual plastic bag from Target.

I also found an easy pattern for sewing your own snack bags with oil cloth, but I think two layers of oil cloth would be too stiff for what I want.

NYBG Roll-up lunch bag

I’m definitely done looking for bags online, but I’m going to check a couple of my local stores again before I pay for shipping from one of the above vendors. Has anyone seen these non-insulated bags around? Please let me know if you do.

Last couple of weeks of summer, where there is no semblance of routine and I start to get twitchy.

Monday: Whole roasted chicken, steamed peas, plain pasta (like a meal for an invalid, but the boys liked it!)

Tuesday: Baked Ziti, salad, dinner rolls

Wednesday: Cobb salad (with leftover chicken from Monday), whole wheat baguette

Thursday: Spaghetti and Slow Cooker Italian-Style Turkey Meatballs, farm share veggies

Friday: Honey Mustard Grilled Chicken (& tofu), grilled corn, tomato & basil salad, challah

Saturday: Eat out

Sunday: J. grills

For more menu planning ideas, check out Laura at Organizing Junkie, and Jenna, who sponsors Mindful Menus, a menu-planning meme that aims “to inspire health through real food” at Chive Talkin’.

I was inspired by Smitten Kitchen’s Grilled Eggplant and Olive Pizza to make this pizza; mine included grilled slices of CSA eggplant and onion, plus fresh parsley and provolone cheese. J. didn’t want olives, so I nixed those.

I slice the eggplant too thin and didn’t brush them with enough olive oil, so instead of getting smokey and creamy while they cooked on the grill, they became a little like eggplant chips. I figured the texture wouldn’t be terrible underneath provolone, so I carried on with the pizza-making. I buy refrigerated pizza at my local supermarket — they carry both white and whole wheat varieties (I used one of each this time). I follow the directions on the package, letting the dough come to room temperature and dusting my surface with flour before stretching it out. Even though I’m able to get the dough stretched out pretty thin, it never gets crisp like a crust should. Maybe I should be par-baking the crust before I add toppings? A different pan? (Usually I use a cookie sheet.) I wind up taking the pizzas out when the tops look done, but often the crust is undercooked a bit and still doughy.

J., who is getting better at figuring out ways to be both truthful and tactful about my cooking at the same time, took one bite and said “We probably need a pizza stone in order to get the crust crisp.” He ate salad instead. The plain mozzarella and tomato sauce pizza I made for the kids suffered the same consistency/undercooked issues, and even G. who is our most eager pizza-eater only made it through half a slice before making a beeline for a container of yogurt. I thought it was fine, but clearly I have lower pizza standards than the rest of my family. I ate a couple of slices of the eggplant pizza, and then peeled the toppings off the rest of the pie to round out my lunch.

Once the three of them had alternate food in front of them, there was a lull in our lunch conversation, and G. piped up out of nowhere: “There are all different kinds of happy.” Yes, there really are. We talked about some (excited, kind of sad/emotional like at a wedding, etc.), and then I volunteered this one: “I’m happy because even though this meal didn’t turn out as planned, I’m proud (happy) that I used the grill again and that I made a nice meal for my family.” Even if they didn’t eat it. That’s still a happy in my book.

I’ve been getting a lot of corn from our farm share each week, and since I had half a log of goat cheese left from the Roasted Squash & Goat Cheese Pasta Salad I made recently, I decided to try to find a recipe that would use up both of those ingredients. Bobby Flay’s Corn and Goat Cheese Grits fit the bill, especially since I always have stone-ground cornmeal in my pantry (I use Indian Head brand). I used fresh corn, of course!

I followed the recipe as written, except that I used skim milk instead of whole (it’s what I keep in the house). This recipe is easy and so creamy and rich — I loved it. Pay attention, though, to the cooking instructions on the cornmeal you use. Mine only needed 15 minutes to cook, not the “about 40 minutes” suggested in the recipe.

My friends said they liked this side dish, and even those who are not huge fans of goat cheese thought it was good, and not too “goat-y,” for lack of a better word. I think this dish would pair well with a big mess of sauteed swiss chard or collard greens for a vegetarian meal, or alongside a roasted chicken.

I tore this recipe for Watermelon Margaritas out of Cooking Light magazine, and it was as icy, refreshing, and delicious as I thought it would be.

The original recipe calls for just 2 cups of watermelon but I think you need more. I doubled the watermelon and only barely increased the alcohol, and also used less ice. Lots of lime juice and eliminating the small amount of sugar the original recipe called for made this drink perfectly, mildly sweet with a bit of tang from the citrus and tequila.

On the second batch, I think I was too heavy-handed with the tequila and none of us liked it as much. Be careful measuring!

Watermelon Margaritas
Adapted from Cooking Light

Makes about 6 servings

Note: Watermelon needs to be cut and frozen ahead of time! I suggest prepping it the night before.

4 c. watermelon chunks, frozen (about a third of medium watermelon)
1 c. ice (optional)
6 oz. tequila
3 oz. Triple Sec
2 limes, juiced

Using a blender, combine all ingredients until drink is smooth. Serve immediately, in a salt- or sugar-rimmed glass if you like.

I made these margaritas at a get-together at Merrie’s house. As I’ve mentioned before, she always puts out a great spread, and this gathering was no different:

I can’t even remember everything that was out, but it ranged from roasted chicken and potatoes to her Margarita Shrimp, stuffed squash, zucchini Parmesan, BuddhaPesto and bread, my Corn and Goat Cheese Grits, and on and on.

Suzanne brought the dessert we couldn’t stop oohing and aahing over, a cake that looked just like a cheeseburger, from Riviera Bakehouse in Ardsley. It was dense and moist, and surprisingly good cake for something so whimsically decorated.

I had a new helper with my farm share pick-up this week, my sweet neighbor who is just about to turn 4. My kids were at Camp Grandparents, but the two of us had a lot of fun feeding the animals anyway!

We received a quart of Golden Rave tomatoes, a pint of Juliet tomatoes, 6 ears of corn (the corn is so good this year!), 2 cucumbers, some basil, an eggplant, a cantaloupe, 2 green bell peppers, 2 red Carmen peppers, a huge head of lettuce, and green beans.

A huge bunch of swiss chard was also part of this week’s haul, but we fed it to the goats. And now that one weeks’ worth (out of many) has been sacrificed, I feel ready to tackle it again next time we receive a bunch.

I am still kicking myself for not attending BlogHer this past weekend — right here in my backyard. I had thought about buying tickets many months ago, but then hit a lull in my posting here and decided I wasn’t doing enough work to deserve the ticket. We happened to be in Manhattan on Saturday anyway, taking the boys to the USS Intrepid. I ran into Susan from Busy Bee Lifestyle in a parking garage (she was attending the conference), and those 15 seconds of conversation made me feel more than ever that I’d missed out. I mentioned my regret to J., and he said we could always make a family vacation out of next year’s conference in San Diego. I just might hold him to it!

The kids have finished camp, and today we’re spending our first do-nothing, proper summer vacation day. I’m going to pack a lunch for us and head to the pool. But, the rest of our week is more scheduled. The boys are spending some time at grandparents, and we have some fun reasons to eat out of the house this week, including the wedding of one of J.’s cousins! Happy reasons to not need to cook.

Monday: Roasted chicken with potatoes, sauteed swiss chard (inspired by the dinner Lauren made for us last week)

Tuesday: Order in or go out

Wednesday: Potluck dinner — I’m bringing Corn and Goat Cheese Grits and Watermelon Margaritas

Thursday: Bagels, Dijon Egg Salad, sliced cheese, sliced farm share tomatoes + cucumbers, salad

Friday: At a wedding!

Saturday: Grilled pizza with farm share vegetables

Sunday: Eat out

For more menu planning ideas, check out Laura at Organizing Junkie, and Jenna, who sponsors Mindful Menus, a menu-planning meme that aims “to inspire health through real food” at Chive Talkin’.