Meal-planning is an important part of our week. �It allows us to be more prepared and relaxed with regards to our nightly meals and reduces stress. �As locavores, it also makes eating locally much easier because we take the time to figure out what seasonal foods are available and how we can use them. �If you live in a similar climate (we�re in Southern Ontario, which is a pretty classic upper-midwest climate) then you should sign up for email updates or check out the facebook page or twitter feed and compare what you�re eating with us!

This next week sees us eating a mix of summer and fall foods.� Since it hasn�t frosted here yet summer veggies remain and therefore we plan to make use of them (and preserve them, most recently sweet peppers)!� Most of the recipes this week come from The Food52 Cookbook�which I found while browsing at the library this week�(and I�d love to check out their Volume II Seasonal Recipes too!)�. �We tend to prefer compilation cookbooks because they have much more variety and diversity of styles, as opposed to those written by one author. �When paging through single-author cookbooks it�s easy to get bored quickly and feel like you�re looking at the same recipe over and over. �This one is filled with recipes from almost 100 different cooks, so there�s little chance to get bored!

Well, only the tomatoes and butternut our from our Kitchen�r Garden, but the rest is straight from a Mennonite farm just outside of town!

Thanks to this cookbook this one was one of our easiest meal plans to come up with in quite a while, we just flipped through the cookbook and jotted down ideas and in about 20 minutes had plan.� Now it�s time to cook!

�Menu Plan Monday for the week of October 7-13 (however, there�s no plan for the weekend�)!

Be sure to check out Food52 which is an awesome site that features home cooks and their recipes all year long (thus the 52�). � Also if you�d like more late summer/early fall menu ideas check out the last menu plan.