CSA -Week 3

More veggies! We didn’t have a share last week for Christmas but luckily there was one for New Year’s. Can’t think of a better way to celebrate!

Winter CSA- Week 2

Another week and another bountiful box of winter vegetables. I am still in awe and am very grateful to still be basing our meals around these staples. This week we got collards, parsnips, carrots, potatoes, red onions, beets and squash.

Just look how pretty.

Christmas Spirit

Time is just flying around here and I would like to think it’s because we are having so much fun. None the less, it can get a little harrowing for a mama trying to wrap her head around all the things she’d *like* to do for Christmas, plus regular life, plus planning a trip home. Last week I had a few stressful days while I tried to figure out how I would do everything until I had a very sobering phone with my mom, who very wisely said, “You don’t want Christmas to be stressful. You want to enjoy it with the kids.” Thanks mom, it’s so true!

So a few lists later I am feeling pretty good about what I want to do, what I can do and in the meantime Mr. Stone went and picked up the most beautiful Christmas tree!

We also invited a few friends over Friday night and using all the ingredients from our winter CSA share it turned into quite a feast. Pandora.com is keeping our holiday playlist alive and the rental car is booked for next Monday.

Ahhhhh….now where is that eggnog?

Locavore’s Delight

We have been aware of the local food movement for quite a while now. AT one time organic was the highest stamp of approval for our food, but locality is our new prerequisite. Now I am much more insistent that something is local although being local AND contributing to sustainable farming practices is definitely a win-win!

When we sit for a meal we often discuss where the food comes from and lately I have been pleasantly surprised with how much of our food comes from our local region. I was reminding my husband of when we were happy to point out one ingredient that might have been local to a night like tonight where there was only one ingredient that wasn’t! (I confess, it was the celery)

So tonight’s delicious locavore’s delight was a big pot of chicken soup. I bought the chicken whole from the co-op and it was grass-fed and I used veggies leftover from last weeks CSA: some white onions, lots of carrots, daikon radish and celery. (Well, I already admitted the celery wasn’t local.) I ran out a few minutes before dinner and picked up a loaf of freshly baked kalamata olive sourdough bread which we topped with local pastured butter and dipped in our broth. Yum!

This meal is perfect for the whole family because little finger love the soft veggies and mama loves knowing her kiddos are getting nutritious bone broth into their little chubby bodies! The remains of the chicken are simmering on the stove with the ends of the veggies and a little apple cider vinegar so we have broth for another meal later this week.

I’d call tonight a locavore’s success story!

Rainy Days

I thought it would be great to start a series of Rainy Day blog posts. Thanks to my mom, who was always a fan of the rainy day, I have come to really enjoy these chances to snuggle in right, cook a warm meal, watch movies, do crafts, play music and best of all stay in pajamas all day. Today was a rainy Saturday but we managed to gear up and head to the Farmer’s Market. Luckily ours has a roof so we were able to catch some old time music. Solshine was fascinated with the young girl playing the fiddler. I am so curious to see if he will express interest in learning an instrument.

After buying some local, grassfed meats for the week, and of course a few delectable treats we headed home to clean, listen to music and have spontaneous magic shows! Solshine started being the magician for a few of his favorite “friends” and then he joined the audience while Dad entertained the family with some of his own magic tricks.

Enjoying the Show

Pasta for dinner, family movie night and wine and chocolate for later. Yup, a great rainy day.