guess who's coming to dinner?

hopefully you are.

with 10 of your closest friends.

because this is my csa share this week! look at all the colors...all the possibilities (ratatouille, stuffed zucchini, stewed okra and tomatoes, pesto, pepper pizza, salsa to can, and a small batch of pickles)!

to break it down, that is:

8 lbs. of tomatoes

2 lbs. of okra

7 varieties of summer squash

1 lb of peppers

3 eggplants

2 onions

1.5 oz of basal

YUM!!!

i must confess that i received a double share of tomatoes and okra. there is a gentleman who always seems to be picking up around the same time i am. he is very interesting, always telling stories (like his recent travels in france). he gave me his share of tomatoes and okra this week. what a lucky girl i am!

and, so my pretty little tomatoes don't feel left out- this is what i harvested from our garden the other day.

fall color

so, we may not get the traditional 'fall color' around here . no weeks of gradually changing scenery. no real autumn, to mention. really we just jump from summer to winter in one day. but, look who's still getting csa shares:

one local pepper pizza...

we have been getting lots of sweet peppers through our csa this season. beautiful peppers of several different varieties. moonpie and i like to eat them raw, but we got so many last week that i thought to cook some up and add them to our wed. night pizza (that actually was made on friday- but who's keeping records?). so here is the recipe for our weekly pizza:

crust:

(loosely adapted from lucy burney's immunity foods for healthy kids)

preheat oven to 375'

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp mixed herbs

1 cup lukewarm water

2 tsp instant yeast

4 tbsp oil

(i usually throw in half of a grated zucchini)

mix up the dough and let sit while you get your toppings ready. disclaimer: no babies were harmed in the making of this pizza crust. he stands there until i turn off the mixer and then dives in. raw dough is a hot commodity in our house!

roll out the dough

place on lightly oiled and dusted (i use corn meal) pizza pan (i'd use a stone if i had one!)

add pizza sauce (this night i used spaghetti sauce because it's all i had on hand)

layer on toppings- we always start with some sort of leafy green and put on whatever else we have lying around. this night we used peppers, tomatoes and basil.

add cheese (as my sister would say "mozzarella makes it swell-a)

bake for about 20 minutes (or until cheese gets golden)

that's it! i love this recipe because it is easy! the dough doesn't have to rise and all steps can include little helpers. like i mentioned before, we eat this pizza once a week on movie night. and btw- moonpie pulled all her peppers off. looks like raw is the only way to go with this girl! : )

big boy boots

here's a picture of buddy with his new big boy boots on! after scouting out payless we ended up at the saddle shop where we found these. he loves them! "boots" he cries, i suppose expecting me to come running from across the house with his beloved boots on a velvet pillow. these boots have brought some peace though, as he is not trying to wear his sissy's any more. and just look how cute he is in them!

on another note, check out the giant zucchini he's holding! that came in my csa order yesterday and it must be a little over 2 feet long! for those of you shaking your heads thinking it will be too seedy and tough, just wait right there mister, this is a special variety that is SUPPOSED to be big. bring on the zuc cookies and bread and pizza crust and...

a shot of veggie man (some additional items from the csa: zephyr squash, sweet onion, dill and ginormous zuc.)

funky fresh

tonight we had a dinner made with freshest ingredients possible. every thing we ate was touched by our csa farm. we had arugula pesto pasta with chicken and a salad that was entirely farm grown- lettuce, carrots, and black radishes. watching my little ones spoon wads of arugula into their mouths was just about the best thing i've seen all day! and then clamoring for more salad before bath time- are you kidding me?!? my kids will eat anything that they know comes from the farm. take the black radishes as a prime example. i think the trick to being able to successfully eat all the different kinds of vegetables given to us weekly is to think outside of the box. like arugula pesto, or like yesterday when we made a chocolate cake that contained 2 whole cups of beets! i've coined it 'beet by chocolate' cake, and i must say, it's really good (i'm not much of a chocolate person). my husband and daughter who LOVE chocolate really liked it too. so much so my husband even noted that it didn't even 'taste healthy'. this, by the way, is his way of complementing me. anyway you've got to try this, so on with the recipe:

2 cups cooked beets
1/2 cup applesauce
puree until smooth

1 1/2 cups agave nectar (original calls for sugar)
1/2 cup coconut oil (original doesn't specify which type of oil)
1/2 plain yogurt
3 eggs
combine in a large mixing bowl. beat for 2 minutes.

1/2 cup baking cocoa
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
add along with pureed beets; beat another 90 seconds

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (original calls for 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour + 1 cup whole wheat)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
sift into batter, mixing it in with a spoon but stirring only til blended

1/2 cup chocolate chips or chopped nuts (stirred in)
pour into greased 9x13 pan. bake in preheated oven at 350' for 40-50 minutes.

that's it! so yummy! i have to add that i don't subscribe to the "hide their veggies" train of thought that is sweeping the nation. i believe a vital part of child raising is honesty. how do i raise vegetable eaters if i hide their veggies? moonpie was right alongside me for the entire process. she poured the beets in as though they were the eggs or flour. and she proudly called everyone she knew to tell them she was eating chocolate cake- with beets in it! (her uncle coco informed her that his friend ate a chocolate cake with tomatoes in it...she hasn't quite bought into that one yet.) oh yeah- this recipe is a slightly adapted version of 'surprise chocolate cake' found in 'simply in season' by mary beth lind and cathleen hockman-wert. this is a great cookbook (that belongs to amy! hope i don't accidentally keep it : ) )

CSA Day!

today was the first day of this season's csa pick-up! i'm such a fresh food nerd! i had been looking forward to today all month. we got arugula, lettuce, radishes, beets, and my favorite, carrots. they then let us go into the field and pick strawberries! buddy couldn't get enough! he was picking one after another and had juice streaming down his beautiful little face. moonpie found the carrots a row over to share with her brother. my farmer friend amy and i were talking about the joy of sharing fresh vegetables with our kids. how their early introduction to them allows them to really taste the sweetness. they're not polluted with all the refined salt and sugar yet that overpowers natural flavors. i am blessed to live in a community with so much local food all around us (we picked up raw milk and butter from a nearby dairy farmer too). the ability to share fresh food with others exemplifies the meaning of community to me.

check out my csa http://www.homesweetfarm.com/ or http://www.homesweetfarm.blogspot.com/