flower city foodie

My due date is 1 day away. That means I’ve entered the phase where I’m never quite sure if I should plan something or not. I had a hard time deciding on menu items for this week because if I’m in the hospital I don’t want a bunch of groceries going bad in my fridge. On the other hand, I do have CSA veggies to use up, two other kids & two adults who need to eat, and I definitely need something to take my mind off the fact that I feel like a ticking time bomb.

So, the meals for this week mostly center around using up the CSA produce and utilizing items from our freezer and pantry. That way, if I do go into labor (and please, let that be sooner rather than later) I won’t have wasted too much food. These kebabs are one of my CSA/freezer/pantry meals. The squash came from our CSA box, tomatoes from our garden, and the half onion had been lingering in the crisper drawer for a bit. The mahi-mahi was in our freezer, something I had bought a little while ago in anticipation of making fish tacos that didn’t happen for some reason. I’m not a big fan of frozen fish, but mahi-mahi is one variety that holds its texture and flavor pretty well during the freezing process. I rounded out our meal with some brown rice that I always keep stocked in our pantry.

How do you get creative with the “leftover bits” in your fridge, freezer, and pantry? Do share.

African Fish Kebabs (adapted from Sundays At Moosewood Restaurant cookbook)

• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
• generous pinch saffron
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• salt & pepper (to taste)
• 1 pound mahi-mahi
• 1/2 pint cherry tomatoes
• 1 small onion (or half a large onion)
• 2-3 medium patty pan squash (or 1 large yellow summer squash)
• vegetable oil (for the grill)

1. In a large bowl combine the garlic, cumin, paprika, cayenne, saffron, lemon juice, olive oil, salt & pepper. Cut the fish into 1-inch cubes and add it to the bowl. Cut the onion and squash into wedges and add it to the bowl. Toss everything in the marinade, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes (or up to 2 hours).
2. Alternate the squash, fish, onion, & tomatoes on metal skewers. Preheat a grill to medium-high.
3. Clean the grill grates with a metal brush. Dip a piece of paper towel into vegetable oil and wipe across the grill grates. Grill the kebabs, rotating as necessary, until the fish is cooked through and the vegetables have softened a bit.