The theme of this Early Summer menu is fresh, lively, green, and bright just like the season it celebrates. You can either make all the dishes at once, meal prepping for the week ahead, or use the rollover technique of cooking through the menu as the week moves along, enjoying new and exciting, flavour-coordinated dishes every day.
I’d like to remind you that my Rollover Menus are meant to connect you to the ingredients and rhythm of the seasons. Every recipe is born from a few building block ingredients and these roll over into new forms throughout the menu, and throughout the week. These menus reflect the way I eat at home, the way I save time in the kitchen, and the way I stay satisfied all week long.
Instead of spending hours in the kitchen every day, I make big batches of whole-food building blocks that I roll into my meals over several days. Knowing that I have a foundation awaiting me in the fridge and pantry, I can intuitively build my meals for the week. Instead of “meal prepping” which focuses on the the same meal for many meals, rollovers allow me more flexibility and spontaneity, satisfying any possible craving I have.
Each seasonal Rollover Menu follows a formula that gives you the freedom to create a few different recipes from the same shopping list. The building blocks of the RM Formula are: a grain, a legume, a pickle, a topping, a sauce / dressing, a prepped veg, and a leafy green. From these humble beginnings I’ve created recipes that utilize all of these building blocks so that your life in the kitchen is super simple and super satisfying. You can keep the building blocks as they are, pair them up, OR you can make the recipes that I’ve devised with the building blocks for even more fun, and no chance of getting bored!
The Early Summer Rollover Menu is inspired by my garden where the mature shoots, sprouts, and berries proudly blossom forth as the June days are held together by sun beams, swims, and breezes. This time of year is so special and the increasing energy and excitement is tangible!
This menu allows me to eat simply, sweetly, and with intention celebrating the local produce around me which signals to my body what’s happening outside and how she should prepare me for my active, bright and chipper lifestyle this time of year.
Stars of this menus include an herby grain salad, a low-waste bright and tangy pickle, sweet and savoury baked snacks, and simple salad, soup, and sides to make sure you are spending most of your time outside enjoying nature in all her glory instead of in the kitchen. Unless of course you have an outdoor kitchen and in that case, enjoy it all!
See below for the links to the recipes and the full grocery list.
The Early Summer Rollover Menu Shopping List
Ingredients
Fresh Produce
- 2 bunches asparagus 2 lbs. / 1kg in total
- 1 lb. / 500g yellow onions about 3 medium
- 1 bunch Swiss Chard approx. 1 lb. / 500g
- 4 fresh lemons
- 1 small clove garlic
- 1 lb. / 500g green peas fresh or frozen
- 7 spring onion whites and green tops
- 1 large fennel bulb
- ¼ cup / 15g lightly packed fresh dill sub with 1 Tbsp. dried
- 6 oz / 175g fresh strawberries local if possible
- Arugula and / or fresh sprouts for adding to anything
Pantry
- 2 large organic eggs or 1 Tbsp. ground flax
- 3 ½ cups / 450g chickpea flour aka gram flour / besan flour
- 7 Tbsp. melted ghee or coconut oil
- 5 ¾ tsp. fine sea salt
- ¼ cup / 60ml cold-pressed olive oil more as garnish
- ¾ cup apple cider vinegar
- ½ Tbsp. + 2 tsp. maple syrup
- 3 Tbsp. tahini
- 7 Tbsp. white or yellow miso
- 1 cup / 150g hemp seeds
- 1 cup / 40g + 3 Tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 cup / 175g freekeh
- 2 Tbsp. pine nuts
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- ¾ cup / 100g coconut sugar
- 1 cup unsalted nut butter I used almond-hazelnut
Spices
- 1 tsp. mustard seeds
- ½ tsp. coriander
- 1 ¼ tsp. garlic powder
- pinch turmeric optional, for colour
- ½ Tbsp. fennel seeds
- 1 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper