It is week 2 in the WIAW “Fall into good habits” theme! {Thanks for always hosting this huge party Jenn! ♥} That means another week of meal planning. So that also means I’m bringing you another Farmer’s Market haul from this past weekend! Not too shabby…two weeks in a row! This whole planning thing really isn’t too bad. I don’t know why I didn’t every try it before! I love that I have a list of dinner meals planned out for the week. I love that I now have the opportunity to try out new meals that I’ve bookmarked for forever. I love that I have a set grocery list of fresh veggies to use for those meals. Have I mentioned that I love this new habit I’m forming?? {Like you couldn’t tell…}

I have to say that in the past two weeks that I’ve been meal planning, not only are we eating fresher & cleaner, but I’ve also noticed that our food waste has decreased. I’m not throwing out loads of leftovers because they get pushed back to the back and forgotten about. I only set aside 5 dinner recipes for the week. That leaves two days to either eat out or have leftovers. That plan of action has worked out well for us, not to mention that leftovers also make good lunches for me.

So yeah, last week’s workouts were not very successful due to feeling a little run down and battling a stye. But I still tried to stick to the meal planning. And even though the stye was at its worst {pain-wise} on Saturday, I still got my butt out to the Farmer’s Market for our list of veggies.

tomatoes, bell peppers, red potatoes, baking potatoes,
plums, bananas, block of mild cheddar cheese

The bell peppers are going to be used in the Quinoa and Shrimp Stuffed Peppers meal that I found on The Sweet Life with Ericka. I can’t wait to try those!

The tomatoes were used to make homemade tomato sauce, which will be the base for a few recipes this week. I don’t have canning equipment, but I wasn’t making a huge batch, so I was able to still make it with the pots that I have at home. It’s time consuming! But well worth it, I think, because I know that it’s all natural with my own spices I choose to put in instead of the processed ones in a can.

Peeled, ready to be cut & squeezed
of seeds and water before cooking down

Cooking…for over an hour!

Jarred and ready! I used some fresh basil in the sauce
from PJ’s basil plant! I love the smell of fresh basil!

I replenished my banana tree with a fresh bunch. But lookey here! Those three left over bananas look like they’re perfectly ready for something!

So I made banana bread muffins with chia seeds and mini chocolate chips! {drool}

So yes, I did loads of cooking and baking this past weekend…for me, anyways. I’m not a baker but I do love banana bread. Not to mention that I had some buttermilk left over in the fridge so I ended up trying an old fashioned Irish Soda bread recipe! It was very basic: flour, buttermilk, baking soda, and salt.

I’m not going to lie, I don’t think I’ve ever had Irish Soda Bread, so honestly I’m not sure if it turned out right…but it was tasty! Though more dense than fluffy like bread normally is. And remember all those strawberries I bought last weekend? While in the middle of all that cooking, I finished up the last bit of fresh ones in the fridge.

Yes, they lasted fresh all week in the fridge!! Want to know how I did it? I stored them in a glass jar, lined with paper towels, unwashed and not hulled. I would only wash and hull them when I was ready to use them! Yum!