My menu this week was created with recipes straight out of my Sunday newspaper! How easy is that? Easy. Here is my menu plan for the week of December 10: Sunday: Shepherd’s Pie with sweet potato crust, roasted Brussel sprouts, salad with fennel and persimmons Monday: Spaghetti squash with walnut-sage pesto, grilled chopped steak, salad [...]
Did you Boo your neighbors yet? Or co-workers? It is pretty fun, and there is still time! Our box from Mariquita Farms featured Chard, Butternut Squash, Carrots, Broccoli, Anaheim Chiles, Early Girl Tomatoes, Leeks, Beets, and Heirloom Tomatoes. And of course we have a freezer full of local meat, so along with our slow cooker, [...]
It is finally cooling down around here and I am going to be bringing out the slow cooker and pressure cooker this week for a couple fix-and-forget meals, and a couple throw-together-fast meals. We are also reintroducing foods we gave up during the Whole30 challenge, to gauge our body’s reactions. So far, I don’t love [...]
This week brings the last few days of the Whole30 Challenge, yippee! This week also brings re-entry, introducing foods that were eliminated during the challenge to determine my specific reactions. I already have a guess or two about how I will react to wheat, but I am curious to see how it goes with dairy. [...]
Monday is October, how quickly the first 6 weeks of school have flown by. And how quickly the first 20 days of the Whole30 challenge have come and gone. Now that we are on the downhill side of the challenge, I am starting to think about re-entry and how to manage the intense desires towards [...]
The first 6 days of the Whole30 challenge were, well, challenging. For the last few weeks, I have been reducing my sugar intake and cutting back on most breads and pastas, but that still did not prepare me for complete removal of these items from my diet. I was a little tired mid-week, and one [...]
Oh, I am feeling so trendy this week! DH and I have decided to embark on a Whole30 Challenge, an eating movement made popular by Melissa and Dallas Hartwig (among others), who encourage participants to eat a diet which closely resembles that of our long-ago ancestors. Often called Paleo, or Primal, or Caveman, this diet [...]
Happy day-after-Labor Day! Hope you all had a relaxing weekend full of lots of healthy, outdoor activities. As we move quickly into this short week, I need to pull together a fast menu; our box from Mariquita Farms has some good basics this week. Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Yellow Onions, Swiss Chard, Apples (apples! Must be [...]
First full week of school, plus soccer practices for all, so I plan to bring out the slow cooker at least once this week. And Mariquita had a special Ladybug delivery of San Marzano tomatoes last Friday, so after canning the bulk of them, I will use the rest in a sauce. Ooh, maybe a [...]
Summer is over and my slacker parenting ways are a thing of the past. Guess I am going to have to get off my duff and start cooking dinner again! Thank goodness for our veggie box from Mariquita, providing inspiration and raw materials. This summer I have been also purchasing local lamb and pork, from [...]
After a long hiatus, I am back to writing. Even cleaned up my desk for the occasion! Our box from Mariquita Farms included Summer Squash, Green Beans, Lettuce, Chioggia Radicchio, Red Onions, Strawberries, Cauliflower, and Carrots. By chance, we ended up with 3 extra boxes this week, so the strawberries are going into jam and [...]
Fava beans in our box this week – I decided to make Julia’s recommended Fava Bean Goat Cheese Pizza. Super easy, which was nice since the fava beans take a bit to prepare. The rest of our box contained Strawberries, Red Gem Lettuce, Italian Parsley, Broccoli, White Turnips, Rapini, and New Red Norland Potatoes. I [...]
