The CSAs are coming the CSAs are coming!

For the first time in nearly a decade I'm involved in a CSA again. I'm tickled pink over it!

Back "home" in the mountains we had a very large organic garden with all of the accoutrements:
*Chickens - for fertilizer + eggs
*Goats - for fertilizer + milk
*Dogs - to chase the bears out of the compost
*Compost heap - those crunchy garden supply places have nothing on my momma's compost heap
*Recycled wooden pallets - for the potato growing boxes

At one time I signed up for a CSA that included manual labor as part of the program. You'd pay a reduced fee for volunteering a certain number of hours on the farm during peak planting or harvesting times. It was a lot of fun being shoulder-to-shoulder with other foodies while we tilled up the soil.

Alas my current home has the backyard equal to the square centimeters of the first class postage stamp with a 95% chance of shade from mid-June through September. I've become quite adept at container gardening but often the squirrels beat me to the harvest.

So here's my first box of the half share from Heavens Harvest Farm. Isn't it lovely? This is a half bushel of fresh fruit and vegetables - plenty for my partner and I for a week!

I can't wait to start trying out all manner of recipes as the CSA continues for the next 10 weeks.

Birth of the weekly meal planner

If you give up half of your Sunday to plan and shop for over a week's worth of meals you can't just let that go can you? Well, neither could I!

It all started with a subscription to Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine. Each month this full-color, pocketbook-sized magazine landed in my mailbox and I cherished it. Recipes emphasized seasonal cooking, relative quick preparation, but with a dash of inspiration - be an exotic-sounding spice, or a cooking technique that required a new gadget from Williams Sonoma.

Then when Fall arrived last year I started swapping meals with a friend. I'd cook a large batch of something, she'd cook a large batch of something and we'd give each other a dish that could be frozen or warmed for serving. Genius! I began making lists of different dishes I could create throughout the week, on a whim. One list read: slow cooker arroz con queso, wild rice and mushroom casserole, tortellini soup, sweet potato-peanut bisque, and so forth. At random I would pick something from this list on my fridge and make it for dinner that night. Fresh new recipes, inspired dinners, I loved being in the kitchen.

After returning from vacation recently I discovered I needed more structure. The inner workaholic wasn't giving me a break - I'd forget all of cool breakfast options I had available and *settle* for toast or a boring bowl of oatmeal. Blah!

The Weekly Menu Planner was born - I googled for the perfect template that included everything I wanted: three squares, a snack column, reminders for the following day's meal prep, a grocery list and an area for notes. Then with the help of the most recent issues of Everyday Food and EatingWell magazines I dove in. This is what my first week looks like (keeping in mind that I'm a vegetarian who enjoys a little dairy, doesn't like eggs and struggles with breakfast, lol):

*Monday 2/1*
Breakfast - Savory Polenta with mushrooms and cheddar
Lunch - Black bean, brown rice, lettuce tortilla wrap
Dinner - Whole grain rigatoni with roasted vegetables and wilted arugula

*Tuesday 2/2*
Breakfast - Jamaican oatmeal
Lunch - leftover pasta from Monday night
Dinner - Veggie stir-fry (hubby's will have shrimp) with brown rice

*Wednesday 2/3*
Breakfast - Hot rice breakfast drink (using leftover rice from Tuesday night's dinner)
Lunch - Marscapone and strawberries sandwiches, handful of roasted almonds
Dinner - Baked Tostadas (hubby's will have canned pink salmon)

*Thursday 2/4*
Breakfast - Savory breakfast muffins (with veggie bacon)
Lunch - Mango Dal with brown rice
Dinner - Cabbage soup

*Friday 2/5*
Breakfast - Blueberry, banana protein smoothie with whole grain toast
Lunch - Feta, hummus, veggie tortilla wrap
Dinner - Warm apple and lentil salad, sauteed kale (cooking lamb for hubby's main course)

*Saturday 2/6*
Breakfast - Blueberry-Ricotta Pancakes
Lunch - Chickpea salad sandwich (egg salad sandwich for hubby)
Dinner - Treat! Go out for dinner

*Sunday 2/7*
Breakfast - Breakfast burritos (without eggs for me, with for the hubby)
Lunch - Baked tamale pie
Dinner - Honey Ginger stir fry (with chicken for hubby)

*Monday 2/8*
Breakfast - Brown rice porridge with honey and almonds (using leftover rice)
Lunch - Leftover tamale pie
Dinner - Black bean soup

Vegetarian Pot Pie

I've been making this dish for about six-seven years or so and I update the ingredients based on what it is in the crisper and the freezer. This recipe can also be expanded for a make-ahead frozen dinner, just cover and freeze after you've put the sauteed vegetables in the baking dish and before it goes in the oven. Thaw it out when you're ready and bake it for about a half an hour.

Vegetarian Pot Pie
inspired by the Vegetarian Times Complete Cookbook

In a large stockpot heat about a half a cup of vegetable broth over medium heat to simmer. Add one diced onion and let simmer for a minute or two until slightly translucent. Then add the following vegetables:
1 cup of chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup green beans (I use frozen)
1/2 cup peas (I use frozen)
1 cup diced red peppers
1/2 cup corn (I prefer frozen over canned)

Sometimes I mix and match vegetables, again based on what is available in my fridge.

While the vegetables are sauteing in the broth prepare a 2 quart or larger casserole dish with olive oil spray and preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cook the vegetables for about ten minutes then add 1/4-1/3 cup of whole wheat flour, stirring until well combined. The veggies will start to get pasty and sticky. Then add two cups of vegetable broth and a cup of milk or milk substitute (I prefer whole organic milk but have used unsweetened soy milk). Season with soy sauce (a teaspoon or splash should do), thyme, sage, black pepper or your other favorite herbs. Today I used fresh sage and savory and a dried herbs de province blend from Red Monkey. You can also add a sprinkle of cayenne if you want a little heat.

Stir the vegetables frequently until the mixture has thickened. Pour it into the prepared baking dish and add a biscuit topping - I use Jiffy mix ratio of 2-1/3 cups of mix to 2/3 cup milk and slather over the top. Make sure you don't seal the edges with the biscuit dough so the juices can breathe and not bubble over.

Put the uncovered baking dish in the oven for 20 minutes to a half hour. You want the biscuit topping to be golden and the juices to be bubbling.

No yogurt for you! No fishies for you!

The So Delicious Coconut Milk Beverage is delightful! I love it in my coffee (they should make a creamer - hint hint), on my cereal and with my protein shake on mornings I am flying out the door. But, I can't get the darn stuff to turn into yogurt. In my last posting you'll see my ill-fated attempt (and excitement) in making coconut milk yogurt with my first jug of this stuff. Alas, it came out as thin as it first went into the thermos, but tasted strongly of the yogurt starter. Maybe I'll try again.

In sad news: 'Google', my studio's Red Moor Pop-Eyed Goldfish, passed away today after struggling over the weekend of nitrate poisoning. Apparently we discovered the poisoning too late to give him a full recovery. :-(

And since I was feeling rather fishy after flushing my precious goldfish down the toilet (did his tail move? Nope, that's just the water flow Amy), I decided it was time to add an Omega-3 supplement to my diet. Being a vegetarian, and fish lover, I was delighted to find Udo's Choice 3 6 9 "fish free" liquid supplement in the Natural Food Exchange's refrigerated cooler.

So, I pour my fish free Omegas over my pasta and wish Requiescat in pace (may he rest in peace) dear Google.

This must be Heaven

Who knew a Wednesday could be so cool?! I trekked over to the Natural Food Exchange for some of the So Delicious coconut milk (the kind in the refrigerated section), and I also picked up some wheat bran, coconut flakes and sesame seeds.

So Delicious Coconut Milk

So yes, So Delicious' milk is exactly that: So Delicious! Slightly sweet with a subtle coconut flavor at the end. And here I thought this was going to taste like drinking a pina coloda!

I promptly heated two cups of the coconut milk beverage, added a half packet of Yogurmet yogurt starter and poured it into the purple thermos seen in this image. I'll let you know how it turns out!

Nutty Carob Truffles

I ran across this amazing recipe for Nutty Carob Truffles on one of my Twitter friend's blog over a month ago and kept telling myself to make it. I procrastinated for weeks and finally got the rest of the ingredients this morning. These little guys are super tasty. My rendition was as follows:
*Mike's local honey from Jamaica Plain
*Creamy Organic Almond Butter
*Coarse Organic Wheat Bran
*Carob Powder
*Black Organic Toasted Sesame Seeds
*Toasted Organic Walnuts (chopped)
*Zante Currants

I can't wait to share these with my girlfriends at the knitting group tonight!

Work like you don't need the money

"Happiness is a process, not a destination. So work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. And dance as though no one is watching." - anonymous

My first job was for a ranch that ran snowmobile tours in the winter and horseback rides in the summer. I could only work on weekends and holidays but this was the best first job one could have. When the weather was bad I would stay in the main lobby and bake coffee cake and serve it with cider or cocoa. Some days I would be backup guide on a tour, which was delightful!

I learned early on that I do my best work when I have varied tasks to perform (i.e. bathing horses, fueling up snowmobiles, sending direct mail campaigns, answering the phone, baking cakes). And over the years I have discovered that there is no reason for work to feel like work. Perhaps I have the seven dwarfs complex but I truly love what I do, and do what I love. Somewhere along the lines I get paid for it.

Don't worry! Be happy!

Half of Beantown Hospitals won't let you have a VBAC

I'm quite upset about this month's news from ICAN. Almost half of the hospitals polled in Massachusetts have either out right bans on VBACs or simply have de-facto bans because their rules are so strict no practitioner will perform them.

So where does this leave a woman in Massachusetts that had a cesarean previously but wants a vaginal birth? Either driving further to a hospital and practitioner that will support her, or to find a homebirth midwife that will support an HBAC: Home Birth After Cesarean.