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There are a lot of companies out there doing CSA shares or meal prep kits. I like the idea of them but I often feel boxed in with the ingredients that I would get. Family Dinner reached out to me and I was excited to try them because I liked all the options that I had seen on their website. You pick your share and have it delivered to your house on Saturdays. There is no commitment, you can pick and choose when you want them to deliver. You can choose an omnivore share, a vegetarian share, a pescatarian share or a paleo share. The ingredients are local and they even send you recipe ideas to help you with the ingredients you receive. You can get a half share (great for 1-2 people) for $59, a whole share (good for 2-4 people) for $89, or a double share (for 4-6 people) for $139. So this is what I received – as you can see, the double share is ENORMOUS! They deliver to your home in these great insulated bags and you can even track your delivery online. Not going to be home? You can have the driver leave the delivery in a cooler that you leave out.

Here’s the rundown of the goods:

Omnivore Protein –  Steak, Ground Italian Sausage from Feather Brook Farms; Salmon from Red’s Best; Chevre from Valley View Farmstead Cheese; Greek Yogurt and Eggs from Brookford Farm
Fruits and Veggies – Berries, Apples, Delicata Squash, Boston Lettuce, Juliette Tomatoes and Rainbow Carrots from Busa Farms; Potatoes from Brookford Farm; Kale from Brookford Farm
Grain -Orecchiette from Law of Pasta; Baguette from Iggy’s Bread
Special Treat – Nuts from Q’s Nuts; Granola from Iggy’s Bread

So here’s my thing. Veggies. I’m gun shy about them, I don’t think I even like them all that much, and I’m at a loss most times to know what to do with them. Growing up we didn’t eat a lot of veggies (except garden salads, which I promptly passed on), so as an adult, I wasn’t very adventurous about them either. But these ones I can handle, onions, peppers, kale, squash, leeks, eggplant and corn.

I’ve been in a cooking rut, to be honest, since the baby, we have been eating out a lot because I’m just too tired to cook. This delivery really inspired me (will I go out and get these things on my own…probably not, but it was a good run while it lasted, right). So first off I made a sausage and eggplant pasta. I took the Italian sausage and browned it on the stove. I diced the eggplant and tossed it with some olive oil and then added it to the pan. I cooked up the orecchiette and tossed them all in together with some tomato sauce (it was a shortcut – if I had more time I would have done San Marzano tomatoes, basil and maybe some chicken stock). Topped it off with some of our own Parmesan cheese and dinner is served. I had a good 6 portions of this, so it was really nice to eat these as leftovers later in the week.

For breakfasts we really enjoyed eating the Maple Greek yogurt from Brookford Farm with the granola from Iggy’s. Top off with your favorite fruit, these days we are ‘on’ blueberries, and it makes a great way to start the morning.

These could have looked prettier but they certainly tasted delicious. Delicata squash on toast – 3lbs of squash, peeled and cubed. Olive oil and chili pepper flakes to taste. Heat oven to 450 degrees, toss squash, olive oil and flakes together an place on baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Cook for 15 minutes. On medium heat on stovetop, heat olive oil in pan and add 1 sliced yellow onion. Cook for 15 minutes. Add in 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar and 1/4 cup of maple syrup. Cook for another 15 minutes. Combine squash and onions in bowl and spread over toast.

For the real recipe, check out the NY Times Jean Georges Squash on Toast. I tried this plain and then tried it with ricotta cheese (you could use mascarpone too) – both ways were delicious. I could also see adding some bacon on top for more depth of flavor.

The steak from Feather Brook Farm was delicious, we grilled with with a little Bosari for seasoning. My daughter will eat anything in sight, she hasn’t met a food she doesn’t like yet (the faster she can get it all in her mouth the better haha), but my son is a bit more….not picky, but selective. He’s one of those kids that doesn’t like his food touching his other food, otherwise, he probably won’t eat it. He isn’t really a meat eater, but did happen to enjoy a few bites of steak with some pilaf from our pantry and some broccoli (kale was a little too scary for him…and ok, me too).

I made egg ‘muffins’ with the eggs from the share along with leeks and the pepper – so simple and easy – great way to make things ahead for the week.

And I always have to have a delicious dessert, so I made baked pears. I sliced the pears in half and cut of a little sliver on the back side so the pears would sit nicely on the baking sheet. Take out the seeds with a melon baller or a spoon. I sprinkled with a little cinnamon and drizzled with some honey. Most people use walnuts but I decided to go with honey roasted almond slivers…just because. 350 degrees for 30 minutes and dessert is done! How beautiful are these?

Top with ice cream and it looks like you’ve spent all day in the kitchen making this dessert!

Use my code: GRUB50 for 50% off your first order!

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. I partnered with Family Dinner to write about my experience with their service. All product was provided complimentary. All opinions are my own.

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When I mentioned to my friend Leah that I got a copy of the Boston Public Market Seasonal Cookbook and I was going to make a recipe from it for a blog post she responded with, “I’ll be right over”. Whether it is because I have little ones at home, the fact that I can’t cook all that well or that she just knows that I don’t know where the produce section is in the market, she’s a good friend to come to my rescue. But to be honest, there are recipes in the cookbook that even I could make, by myself no less! This one for “Decadent Brussels Sprouts” has 5 ingredients and takes about 10 minutes to make. Easy right?

So basically Leah came over and cooked and I watched (ok, I did the sausage and peeled the apples too) and ate the final product. So here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 lb of Brussels Sprouts

1 lb of sausage

2 large apples

1 small white onion

1 head of garlic

Instructions:

Finely chop Brussels sprouts, onion, apples and garlic. Sauté Brussels sprouts over medium heat in a slightly greased pan. After 2-3 minutes, add onion. After onion appears translucent, add apples garlic and sausage. Remove from heat once sausage is no longer pink.

We modified the recipe slightly. We cooked the sprouts, onions, apple and garlic in one pan and then cooked the sausage up separately – combining them after the sausage was fully cooked. We also added salt and pepper to the mix. The recipe turned out FANTASTIC. We ate it for lunch, two helpings (hey its veggies right?!?). It had all the right things going on: sweet fro the apples, salty from the sausage – I thought that if you wanted to kick it up a notch you could add some red pepper flake, and Leah thought it might be nice to add a little acid to it… next time!

Boston Public Market is a year round farmer’s market in Government Center. The cookbook showcases ingredients that you can find at the market, and is broken down by season, which I think is brilliant. The recipes range from the simple: salads, pestos, grilled cheese sandwiches and Brussels sprouts to things that are a little more complex like: kandy spice pumpkin pie, Shepherd’s Pie, Honey Glazed Hake with Roasted Local Parsnips and mulled darkened turkey. You can purchase a copy of the cookbook at the info desk at the Boston Public Market for $20.

Disclaimer: I was provided a complimentary copy of the Boston Public Market Seasonal Cookbook for a review. All opinions are my own.

For more information on the Boston Public Market, check out their website here.

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