thankful

Lately I'm thankful for...

// pumpkins from a friends' patch and from our CSA.  Love seeing this fall display on our kitchen table.

// going outside after Ziva's nap on Tuesday, and seeing that someone had anonymously gifted us 2 tires for our car.  That we really needed.  How awesome is that?!  Whoever you are, thank you so much, and we pray that God blesses you in return.

// homemade instant oatmeal via the homemade pantry.  Because it makes breakfast come a little sooner. 

// the pre-frost harvest CSA basket.  Holy moly!  So much food, and much preserving going on.

// 24 weeks!

// getting over our colds, slowly but surely, but still taking some time to rest and relax here and there.

// looking forward to a weekend with friends' & a day spent at the fair.

// playing 'matching' with a little girly, and marveling that she's actually old enough to play.

// friday! & the first official FALL weekend!

what are you thankful for this weekend?

csa

This is the first year our family has subscribed to (signed up for?) a CSA.  (Community Supported Agriculture)


{This week - clockwise from top left: Rainbow chard, kale, young carrots, radish, kohlrabi, young cabbage, mesclun mix (spicy greens including arugula, lettuce and mustard), new potatoes.  And ironically a little girl's hand holding a tootsie pop - not part of CSA. ;] }

This is our 6th week of 19 getting fresh, lovely, leafy goodness from a local farm.  I'm really enjoying the surplus of veggies in our fridge and the challenge to use things we wouldn't normally buy.  When we received our first few CSAs, I was not super excited.  Still dealing with morning sickness, lack of motivation, and just feeling blah.  I didn't usually want to spend much time in the kitchen and I felt like I was just wasting our veggies.  Thankfully we are past all that (for the most part.)

One thing I have struggled with is properly storing the items to ensure they stay fresh for a little while.  Not sure why it took me 6 weeks to google "how to store ____" but that's super helpful!  I would usually just prop them all in a bowl of water, or just lay them on the bottom shelf.  I liked seeing the greens from all the veggies each time I opened the fridge.  Now I've learned that leaving the tops on root vegetables (carrots, radishes, turnip, etc) sucks all the nutrients to the tops and the root gets limp and undesirable.  I've learned to cut the tops off (after I photograph them of course!) and store the veggies in water in the fridge.

I've also preserved some things by freezing (garlic scape pesto, blanched greens) and pickling (garlic scape refrigerator pickles.)

I've learned so many things about different veggies and am looking forward to trying some new recipes.

What are your favorite recipes with seasonal veggies?

grilled pizza

Summer in our home means lots of grilling.  We just love to grill.

We use charcoal.  Mostly because the grill cost us $25 at Target last year, and even though it's more time consuming and can be a little picky, we've come to love the flavor and the classic-ness about it all.

One of our absolute favorite meals to grill is pizza.


(Tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, asparagus and mushrooms!  This one was mine, for those of you who know about my semi-picky eaters.)

 It's really hectic in a fun kind of way, but if you had a nice big table next to your grill, with all your ingredients and utensils ready for you, it would be a lot easier.  Apparently we prefer to run in and out of our apartment like chickens with our heads cut off.  The biggest thing is having everything ready to go before you start cooking.  This is how we grill pizza. 

Step 1) Make or buy dough.  I divide one dough ball into 4 sections and shape them into rounds, but the more misshapen they are the more rustic and gorgeous they end up.  (The smaller pizzas are easier to handle, fit on our grill, and let us each have our own individual pie.)

Step 2) (This step could also be done ahead of time) Prepare all your toppings.  Veggies may need to be sauteed ahead of time because the grilling is so fast that they don't really get a chance to cook on the pizza.

Step 3) Grease the grate (I'm not going to lie we don't always do this.) of your already hot grill.  It has to be hot!  If it's just warm the dough will stick.  I like to spray each side of the pizza dough round generously with olive oil spray too.  Place dough on grill.

Step 4) Cover grill.  Don't walk away.  The dough cooks super fast and you need to flip it over.  The top will start to bubble and you can check the bottom by grabbing an edge with your tongs and peeking.

Step 5) Flip it over then immediately place your toppings and cover your grill.  Pretty much once the cheese is melted, the bottom will be done.  (Once again, check the bottom by peeking with your tongs.)  You need to keep a close eye on your pizza unless you like it quite charred. ;]

Step 6)  Slide off onto a plate, repeat with the rest of your doughs and enjoy!



Oh, and then with your extra dough round, brush it with coconut oil and cook it on the grill like usual, only minus the toppings.  Then bring it inside and add more coconut oil, powdered sugar, and cinnamon.  Oh goodness.  "You can make more dessert."  Ziva said. ;]

How to Cook Rice Perfectly

Making dinner tonight, I thought, "Hey.  More people should know how to do this!"

I cannot make rice on the stove top.  It always seemed to boil over or not be done when the water was gone, or stick to the bottom.  Once I made it in the microwave, and when I lifted the cover I got a nasty steam burn!  Oh it was bad.  And we don't have a microwave anymore, so, not an option.  A friend taught me this fool-proof method for rice cooking a few years ago.

Here's how I cook my rice!

::Boil water in your kettle or a pot.

::Add rice to a oven-safe dish (I use a 9x9 pyrex).  Tonight I did 2 cups dry rice.

::Add 2 parts boiling water.  (So I added 4 cups)

::And a good drizzle of olive oil or butter.

::Salt and pepper if you like.

::Cover with aluminum foil, stick in an oven preheated at 350, and come back in an hour! 

::(Brown rice takes an hour, but white rice probably takes about half as long.)

::Remove from the oven and check to be sure all the water has cooked into the rice.  Fluff with a fork and serve!

We're enjoying our rice over yummy beef & broccoli tonight!

Foraging

Saturday I decided it would be fun to try foraging for a bit of food.  I had seen a recipe a few months ago for basically fried dandelions in The Rhythm of Family, and wrote it down in my composition notebook titled "Melissa's Brain."  This is the notebook that I keep all my to do lists and budgets and random plans in.  It even doubles as a prayer journal.

The recipe is originally from Fat of the Land.



I love trying new things.  Especially when they're free!  Ben thought I was 100% crazy.  (But I think he secretly loves that about me.)  He is awesome and he tried them and didn't mind them at all.  I told Z that these were the flowers we picked and she tried some too.  I think our overall reaction was that they're alright, but not spectacular.  And being dandelions, they have a bit of a bitter aftertaste.  If I make them again I'd try experimenting with some spices.

I'd love to learn a bit more about foraging in my area!  (Central Maine)  If you have any insight, please share in the comments section! =]

Our Market

I love our weekly Wednesday trips to the farmer's market. I love playing. I love browsing. I love small talk with various farmers. I love knowing where my milk, eggs, bread and veggies come from. I love making the hubs run back to the car to find quarters so we can spend every last cent we brought. I love the atmosphere. I love the live music. I love the natural simplicity of it all. I love running into friends there. I love that buying locally will be a normal, natural thing in Ziva's world. I love visiting the farmers at their farms. I love smelling the handmade soaps. I love homemade ice cream. I love our market.

I'm already rebelling.

But that's okay. =]

So today is Wednesday. I said Wednesday would be WIP Wednesday. But guess what. I don't want to blog about a dishcloth.

So, here's what I made for snack this morning, kale chips! (Ps, I absolutely love this site.)







I baked ours for 7ish minutes, but I think I could've given them another minute or two. Or maybe some of the pieces should have been smaller. Either way they're tasty, just some pieces are less crispy and more chewy. I'd love to be able to buy organic kale at our local farmer's market - which is today, yay! - but I'm not sure if it's in season yet... haven't seen it there. Yay for healthy homemade snacks that we know are free of artifical colors, flavors and other yucky stuff!

**Update: Kale is in season in the fall/winter season...who knew!**

A Green Thumb

...is something that I've never really had...

However - as of right now I think I am keeping alive more plants at once than I ever have in my whole life. That's blog-worthy... right?

First up we have 2 bowls of something. I honestly don't know what they are. The seeds were part of a wedding favor so I threw them in here! =] If you click on the picture you can see something starting to sprout in the first bowl.

This is my hanging cucumber plant. So far I've picked 5 cukes and they are soooo good!

Next up is a tomato seedling my parents gave me. They had a few too many I guess so I happily adopted this little guy. =]


This is my basil plant that lives on my kitchen counter next to my coffee maker and the window. I use fresh basil in and on everything and anything. From spaghetti sauce, to sandwiches.
Last weekend I bought 2 gerber daisy plants. These are my absolute favorite flower. I decided to pot them and keep them inside so I can look at them all the time. Aren't they pretty?

And I know this isn't alive, but it has a sweet story. =] I had been telling Ben how much I loved seeing all the lupines growing on the sides of the roads here. One evening on our way home he pulled the car over suddenly - I'm thinking, "Oh my gosh, what's wrong!?" He just jumps out of the car and I watch him go to the side of the road and pick me lupines. What a sweetie. And they still look surprisingly good after nearly a week!
I didn't take a picture of it, but maybe I will after I plant it... I bought my own lupine (bush? plant? flower?) at a farmer's market yesterday! Now I can check them out while I'm home.

Oh and btw, I let Z touch my flowers every day, and she never tries to grab them, she just sort of pets them gently. What a sweetie. =]