More Meal Planning and Bad Seed Cider Review

I got a lot of great comments last week about how all of you meal plan. And even a couple of recipe suggestions. Here's how my planning went last week (since I failed to post what I cooked), what I picked up at the market in the rain and fog yesterday, what I plan to do with it, and how that Bad Seed Cider was...



So, I did a pretty good job of sticking to my plan last week. A couple of you said that you have more of a general plan, rather than assigning days. For me, it was important to assigning days for different meals last week because I knew that I was going to have to focus most of my attention on grading final reports from my grad students and I really wouldn't have time to worry about what to eat for dinner.  And I know myself. I would have sat in front of my refrigerator dreaming of what I should make rather than actually grading reports. Now that the semester is over (I still haven't turned in my grades yet, but pretty much everything has been corrected and commented on), I can probably just make a list of 3-5 meals I'll cook for the week.

My market haul:

• Hot house tomatoes
• Spinach
• Asparagus
• Ramps
• Fingerling potatoes
• Rhubarb
• Pioppini mushrooms
• One green tomato
• A half pint of chocolate-strawberry truffle ice cream
• a bottle of Bad Seed IPC (India Pale Cider)

I know two nights this week I have plans to go out (a birthday party and then just a general "girls' night", but there's a possibility that will involve dinner at my apartment). Friday is always a bit up in the air. I think for Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday nights my plans are:

• Pasta with asparagus and spinach puree and mushrooms
• Potatoes and spinach with egg...not sure how I'll cook all of those things yet, but they'll go together somehow
• Fried green tomato with barbecue tofu and spinach salad with tomatoes
• If I cook a fourth night (Friday, probably). A pizza of some sort--probably leftover asparagus-spinach puree with tomato and cheese.

Other stuff for the week:

• Tonight I'm going to make some sort rhubarb tart (and put some ice cream on it)
• Lunch will be leftovers (as it always is)
• Maybe one spinach and goat cheese scramble for breakfast this week

And now for the cider... This is the first time I've really written something like this, so we'll see how it goes. Also, I paid for these ciders with my own hard-earned cash. I am a member of Wilklow's (the orchard/fruit farm that owns Bad Seed) CSA and buy most of my fruit there during the "off-season", but I've received no compensation from them. I just think this is really good and wanted to share with those of you in the NYC/Hudson Valley area.

I've tried two of these ciders so far and have loved both of them. I've had the Witte (pictured above) and I tried the IPC last night. I liked both of these ciders. They were the best of both worlds, some of the things I like about cider with some of the things I really like about beer. Great for those of you who don't do gluten, but want more beer-like flavors than you normally get from a hard cider.

The witte was slightly sweet, but not overly so. It had I could taste spices and citrus along with the apple cider. I generally don't like sweet ciders (the drier the better, in my opinion), but this one had such a level of complexity from the spices and the citrus that I didn't mind it at all. I had it with some shaved asparagus pizza one night, and with some baked tofu with rhubarb sauce another (recipe to come--thanks to commenter Lori for the inspiration!). It complimented both meals nicely.

The IPC was drier. I loved that the flavor of the hops came through the cider. I'm a big fan of really hoppy bears, but I think the level was just right for a cider--any more would have overwhelmed the apple flavor. I only had one small glass with dinner last night, so it's hard to say more. But I highly recommend both.

Do you have a favorite local brew? Any more meal planning/recipe advice?


This post was shared with The Gallery of Favorites hosted by The 21st Century Housewife and Premeditated Leftovers.