Weekly Menu Guide- Florida Roots

THE FARM ROUTE

Florida Roots Weekly Menu Guide

A bright Florida harvest built for easy meals all week

From the farm to your kitchen, your produce already has a plan. Use this guide to decide what to cook first, carry one preparation into tomorrow's meal, and enjoy the whole harvest with less waste and less guesswork.

What Is in Your Share

Every share: New Red potatoes, grape tomatoes, green beans, scallions, and watermelon

Medium and larger shares add: kale and Seminole pumpkin

Family Gathering and Community Restaurant shares add: zucchini

Your Share at a Glance

Share	Meal Count	Approximate Produce Weight
Small	about 5 -7	6-7.5 lb
Medium	about 9- 12	12-16 lb
Family or Gathering	about 18- 22	24-30 lb
Community or Restaurant	about 36-20	48-60 lb

Meal counts are planning estimates for meaningful portions of Farm Route produce, not promises of complete meals. Pair the harvest with protein, rice, pasta, grains, beans, eggs, cheese, bread, sauces, and other pantry staples.

Your Weekly Roadmap

Prep First

Roast or par-cook a batch of New Red potatoes early. Medium and larger shares can roast Seminole pumpkin at the same time, giving you two ready-to-use foundations for sides, bowls, hashes, mash, soup, pasta sauce, or freezer portions.

Eat Me First

Use the most delicate produce first: grape tomatoes, green beans, scallions, kale, and zucchini. Once cut, use watermelon promptly. Cooked pumpkin and potatoes can follow. A whole uncut Seminole pumpkin can wait the longest.

Use It Forward

Roast, serve, hash, bowl, freeze. Cook extra potatoes once, then turn them into a supper side, breakfast hash, grain bowl, or soup. Roast extra pumpkin alongside them and freeze any cooked portion you will not use within a few days.

Five Ways to Build Your Meals

1.  Loaded New Red potatoes with grape tomatoes, scallions, green beans, and your favorite protein.

2.  Green bean and potato supper plate with a simple sauce or dressing.

3.  Tomato and scallion rice or grain bowl topped with crisp potatoes.

4.  Potato breakfast hash with grape tomatoes and scallions; add eggs, beans, sausage, or another protein.

5.  Warm potato and green bean salad with grape tomatoes and pantry vinaigrette. Add kale or roasted pumpkin for Medium and larger shares, and zucchini for Family and larger shares.

Snack First  Dessert Second

Chill the watermelon, slice it, and enjoy it first as a snack. Cube extra cut melon for easy grab-and-go portions. Freeze any extra cubes before their quality declines for smoothies or frozen treats.

Your Box Already Has a Plan

Keep the watermelon and Seminole pumpkin whole until needed. Refrigerate cut watermelon promptly. The whole uncut pumpkin can wait the longest, so there is no pressure to cook it immediately. Once the pumpkin is cut or cooked, refrigerate it promptly and use within 3 to 4 days or freeze measured portions. Carry cooked potatoes forward into hash, bowls, or soup.

Cook One Pumpkin  Use It Through the Week

A whole Seminole pumpkin keeps well, but cooking it early can make the rest of the week easier. Roast it once, then divide the tender flesh before storing it so each portion already has a purpose.

1.  Cut the pumpkin into wedges or large pieces and scoop out the seeds. Lightly oil the flesh, place it cut-side down on a baking sheet, and roast at 400 F until completely tender, about 35 to 55 minutes depending on thickness. Let it cool, then scoop the flesh from the skin.

2.  Serve some right away as roasted pumpkin with salt, pepper, butter, herbs, or a favorite seasoning.

3.  Refrigerate one portion for the featured creamy pumpkin pasta sauce.

4.  Mash another portion with potatoes or serve it as a simple side later in the week.

5.  Blend the remaining cooked pumpkin into soup with broth, onion, garlic, and seasonings, or freeze it in measured portions for a future meal. Roast the cleaned seeds separately if desired.

Food and Body Support

Kale contributes vitamin K, which is important for normal blood clotting and healthy bones. Potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, watermelon, pumpkin, scallions, and zucchini contribute carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, fiber, and naturally occurring plant compounds as part of a varied eating pattern.

Our Roots

Seminole pumpkin is a traditional Florida food crop with deep connections to Indigenous foodways. Its vigorous vines are well adapted to Florida heat and humidity, and its thick skin gives it excellent keeping quality. The sweet, firm flesh can be roasted, mashed, blended into sauces, or added to soup, while the seeds can be roasted for a snack. Sources: University of Florida IFAS Extension; National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements.

Food supports health as part of an overall eating pattern. This information is educational and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure disease.

Featured Farm Recipe

Creamy Seminole Pumpkin Pasta with Crispy Kale

Makes 4 meal-building portions  Medium and larger shares

From Your Farm Route Share

• 1 1/2 lb Seminole pumpkin, seeded and cut into wedges or large pieces

• 4 oz kale, stems removed and leaves torn

• 2 scallions, thinly sliced

From Your Kitchen

• 12 oz dry pasta

• 3 tablespoons cooking oil, divided

• 3 garlic cloves, minced

• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided, plus salt for the pasta water

• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

• 3/4 to 1 cup reserved pasta water

• Optional: 1/2 cup grated Parmesan or another hard cheese

• Optional protein: 8 to 12 oz cooked chicken or sausage, or 1 1/2 cups cooked white beans

Make It

1.  Heat the oven to 400 F. Lightly coat the pumpkin with 1 tablespoon oil and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Roast until completely tender and easily pierced with a fork, about 35 to 55 minutes depending on thickness.

2.  Toss the kale with 1 tablespoon oil and a pinch of salt. Spread it on a separate pan and roast for 8 to 12 minutes, stirring once, until the edges are crisp. Watch closely near the end.

3.  Cook the pasta according to package directions. Before draining, reserve 1 cup of the pasta water.

4.  Scoop about 2 cups of roasted pumpkin flesh from the skin. Warm the remaining tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and sliced scallion whites and cook for about 30 seconds, just until fragrant.

5.  Add the pumpkin, 3/4 cup pasta water, remaining salt, and black pepper. Mash or whisk until creamy, adding more pasta water a little at a time if needed.

6.  Add the drained pasta and toss until coated. Fold in optional cheese or protein. Divide among plates and finish with crispy kale and the sliced scallion greens.

Use It Forward

This recipe uses about 2 cups of roasted pumpkin. Refrigerate the remaining cooked flesh promptly. Use it within 3 to 4 days for pumpkin-potato mash, soup, bowls, or another sauce, or freeze it in measured portions.

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