A Blueberry Tossed Salad (to make before blueberry season is over!)

August 16th, 2014 | Posted by Alison Spath in Lunch - (Comments Off on A Blueberry Tossed Salad (to make before blueberry season is over!))

I am a salad lover and I love to make awesome salads – but when I’m going to make a salad, any “plan” I have usually consists of:

Step 1: rummage through the fridge for vegetables

Step 2: throw it all together

Step 3: eat

Some plan, eh?  Salads (and smoothies) are just not something I think to use a recipe for – but this also means I often make the same thing over and over again.

Since new baby = fewer trips to the grocery store, we’ve been visiting our weekly, neighborhood farmer’s market a bit more regularly this summer than we have in the past.

Farmers Market

For the last couple of years the CSA has served most of our local, seasonal produce needs. I didn’t sign us up this year because I didn’t know how much I would be cooking, I also didn’t want to have to worry about waking any babies from afternoon naps in order to make it in time for pick up. WHO CARES ABOUT VEGETABLES!  WE’VE GOT A SLEEPING BABY HERE!

Let’s Grow Green

April 5th, 2012 | Posted by Alison Spath in Vegetable Lovin' - (5 Comments)

It’s that time of year again. Here in Zone 6A the early spring like weather is upon us and has been hanging around for a while now. It’s time get some greens and spring vegetables in the ground.

Spring Greens

First up, I did my part in expanding one of our small, city lot beds into an ever-so-slightly bigger bed.

More Space

“my part” = moving the boarder to the edge of the tilled soil that Zak dug up a couple weeks ago.

One Foot Bigger

more garden = less grass to mow. Check it.

Slightly Bigger Garden Bed

What to Do With a Pumpkin

October 16th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Vegetable Lovin' - (8 Comments)

(Alternate – and perhaps more catchy? – Title: The One Where I Show You My Underwear)

(Took me a minute to decide.)

So!

White bean blondies aren’t the only thing you can bake to heat up your kitchen. Pumpkins are good for that too, especially first thing in the morning.

Bake a Pumpkin, Heat up your Kitchen

This pumpkin showed up in this week’s CSA share, and I swear, my first thought was “A pumpkin?? How on earth do you cook THAT?”

And then I reminded me that a pumpkin is just a squash.

Pumpkin is just a Squash

Oh yeah.

Retrace Your Steps

September 14th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Lunch - (7 Comments)

Have you ever found yourself eating a grilled hummus and coleslaw sandwich for lunch and wondered how on earth such a concoction happened to land on your plate?

Coleslaw and Hummus Sandwich

Oh right, I think it started because I was making soup.

Soup and Sandwich

Soup that began with potatoes.

White Potatoes

And then some beans were added too.

Cannellini Beans

And then Bean and Potato Soup turned into Bean Potato Onion Carrot Cabbage Soup as I went pawing through the CSA produce to find more soup ingredients.

Onions, Carrots, Red Cabbage

How to Eat More Vegetables

August 30th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Healthy Habits - (7 Comments)

Once upon a time I always ate processed, snacky type foods like Kashi crackers, pretzels or frozen, baked french fries as my “side” at lunch.  While those are certainly better than some foods and are of course OK once in a while – one of the best habits I ever created for myself was learning to automatically put vegetables on my plate instead.

A pile of steamed veggies, vegetable sticks, a side salad – I don’t even miss crackers or pretzels anymore and don’t feel like I’m depriving myself either.

Ratatouille: Revisited

August 25th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (10 Comments)

I’ve been waiting and waiting for eggplant to show up in the CSA share this summer so I could make Ratatouille.

Finally, the good word arrived in my inbox yesterday.

CSA Items

(more peaches. did ya catch that?)

Well what do you know – this week I’ll be picking up just about everything I need to make Ratatouille!

From inbox to counter top:

CSA Share

I think Peach and Corn Ratatouille is on the menu tomorrow.

I followed my own Ratatouille directions from last year’s premiere stewed veggie attempt – and good news! I didn’t steer me wrong.

Crazy as a Cucumber

August 22nd, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Vegetable Lovin' - (7 Comments)

Sarah’s comment the other day about having five pounds of cucumbers made me realize that I too have plenty of cucumbers right now.

So what the heck can you do with a lot of cucumbers? Am I crazy or do people make cucumber soup? Cold cucumber soup? Haven’t I heard of that before? Doesn’t that sound right?

Cold Cucumber Soup

Yeah, that sounds right.

If you are a gazpacho lover, then cucumber soup will be right up your alley. Even if you aren’t a gazpacho fan (cause Zak’s not and he loved this) it could still be worth a try.

We’ve gotten a slew of peaches from the CSA share in recent weeks – more peaches than we can eat.

Or really, more peaches than I am currently in the mood to eat.

Don’t get me wrong – summer peaches are fabulous. But frankly, I am peached out. I’ve thrown enough Peach Pits into our compost pile this month to change my zip code to 90210.

Cast of 90210

(it’s possible I had a poster of Luke Perry hanging on my bedroom wall from approximately 1992 until 1994…)

Whenever I get carrots like this:

Carrots with the Greens Attached

I feel really cool.

Like – That’s right! My carrots are so crunchy granola they still have their crazy green tentacles attached, yo!

These greens are like mace for hippies. They protect me as I walk back to my car from CSA pick up. They totally say “Don’t mess with my home girl or I’ll latch on to your face and suck the soul straight from your celery stalkin’ body.”

Wow.  But hey, you can’t say I didn’t warn you. My carrots love me. That’s the real reason I support local farms you know.