Kale is good. Kale makes green beautiful. Kale is hearty and healthy. I love you kale, and I love your cousins swiss chard and collard greens. In fact, I love all hearty greens that grow through the fall and survive the frosts of winter. Of all the vegetables that cross my mind, I always come back to kale. Every week from now till next spring, as long as its giant leaves proliferate out back, we will eat ourselves silly with kale.

The week ahead will be different from previous weeks, and not just from the abundance of kale in our diet. Next week our household takes on a new challenge – a plan toward greater financial stability for both my wife and I. Starting this month and throughout the rest of our lives together, we will live under one salary. The person with the higher income will cover living expenses – rent, bills, groceries, etc. The lower income will go completely into individual and joint savings. It is a rather detailed plan with little relevancy here, but in the kitchen starting next week, we will spend $100 a week to cover grocery costs and provide food 7 days a week.

In the past, for reasons not entirely clear or justified, our weekly menus covered roughly 5 days. I always like eating out on the weekends, but as this became too regular, we no longer had food to cook at home even if we wanted. So from now on, we will always have a kitchen with enough ingredients to cook at home. That said, the week ahead has some exciting outings and so I’ll get to plan less this time.

Since we are leaving town for the weekend and next week we have plans for 2 nights, I only have to plan for 3 dinners, making sure there are ample leftovers for lunch. Here is what I put together:

• Pasta with kale, cauliflower and anchovies – a favorite dish in our kitchen; delicious with tons of leftovers
• butternut squash soup with roasted broccoli and chicken sausages
• baked lamb shanks with steamed kale and creamy mashed potatoes (this was on last week’s menu but never happened)
• sweet potato salad with black beans and lime (strictly a lunch meal, though no a local dish Bittman makes it look real tasty!)

The flavors of fall have been taunting me for some time. Summer produce is good, it’s refreshing during a hot and humid day. But when the temperature begins to drop, the oven gets turned on and the roasting begins! After the 100-mile diet I found myself falling in love with the vegetables of October and November – kale, collards, brussels sprouts, butternut and acorn squash and root vegetables of all shapes and colors. I promise you will easily see these vegetables appear and reappear each week in our menus.

This week we will also pick up our second order from the Afton Field Farm meat club. For about $80 we will order 2 whole chickens, 2 pounds of ground beef, 3 dozen eggs, 2 packages of short ribs and a pound of chicken feet, and maybe a pound of beef stock bones. Between the changing colors, the hearty vegetables and more delicious meat I think the coming month will be excellent!

Related posts:

1. The Last Dance with Kale (weekly menu 27)
2. Walking the Talk (weekly menu 16)
3. Seasonality saves cost (weekly menu 7)
4. Eating Seasonal Blues (weekly menu 21)
5. Hearty Food Returns (weekly menu 18)

Tags: seasonal eating