at home with ann

Last week our upick option at the farm was kale.  It was way out in a field that required quite a bit of a walk, but the wonder of kale makes it all worth it.  Colin hitched a ride back on the front of the stroller, which is always a nice chorus of James screeching and Colin complaining that he's kicking him.  At the end of the day, we had a big bunch of kale I've been making into chips and sneaking into their smoothies. Friday morning we went out for a family run.  Thanks to a big hill and a big stroller filled with big kids, all being pushed by Jon, I was able to pull ahead of the crew for all of 10 yards or so before they smoked me to the finish line.  After we got home, I wanted to make a healthy breakfast, and the summer breakfast scramble came to be.  Colin mentioned several times that it smelled awful, so it might not be a hit with the younger set, but I thought it was delicious. Summer Breakfast Scramble (for 2) 3 leaves kale, stem removed and...

It has been a busy Spring!  We put our house on the market in March, and I spent the next few weeks furiously cleaning, packing, and attempting to make our house look like we didn't live in it.  Dinners were as quick and easy as possible.  And ideally left the kitchen smelling like apple crisp as opposed to broccoli and salmon.  After our house sold, we were in limbo for five weeks and lived at the beach (I know, there are worse problems to have), until this past weekend when we closed on our new house. Now we're mostly settled in, and I am restocking my huge new pantry and cooking in my beautiful kitchen.  Our move home coincided nicely with the start of CSA Season.  This is our fifth year as part of the CSA at Tangerini's Farm, and I just love it.  The first year I was pregnant and got progressively larger and slower as the season progressed.  The second year I had little Colin in the ergo while I picked vegetables.  The third year I was ...

Pretty much every time I've talked about Tangerini's Farm since last April, I've mentioned that I'm looking forward to the time when Colin can eat ice cream when we go to our CSA pickup.  Jon thinks I'm crazy for this, and many other reasons.  Colin is not quite there yet (although we are discussing giving bananas a try), so instead I longingly look at the ice cream stand as we pass by at the farm.  I don't want to be that girl attempting to eat ice cream while my baby uses all his strength and energy lunging himself at said ice cream.  At least when I go with Jon he'll take care of the important things, like paying, so I can take care of keeping ice cream out of Colin's reach.  We picked up our second batch of CSA vegetables this week, but no ice cream.  There are, however, a ton of delicious looking vegetables I'm looking forward to cooking and eating.  We have here the largest head of lettuce I've ever seen (and we got two!), chinese cabbag...

I am so excited we are participating in the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) with Tangerini's Farm again this year! Last year I loved getting all the vegetables every other week, picking the u-pick crops in the fields, trying new things, and enjoying locally grown, organic food at the peak of freshness.  I think we'll enjoy it even more this year now that I know what to expect in terms of variety and quantity.  Colin will be starting on solid foods before too long, especially since he spends mealtimes staring at me, smacking his gums,  and trying to grab everything.  I'm happy that we will be able to give him super healthy, organic vegetables.  In our first pickup we have: green leaf lettuce, broccoli rabe, bok choy, garlic scapes, scallions, sugar snap peas and radishes.  Aside from a lot of big salads, I'm planning a stir fry and made the white bean garlic scape dip below. White Bean and Garlic Scapes Dip recipe from Tangerini's Farm 1/3...

We have a great assortment from the CSA share this week.  Here's a sample. Corn, Squash, Eggplant, Garlic, Pickling Cucumbers (I promise I really will make pickles this time!), Carrots, Green Bell Peppers, Apples, Potatoes, Watermelon, Tomatoes, Kale, and a baseball bat sized Zucchini.  While there are two tomatoes here, we have six pounds.  Six pounds is a lot of tomatoes!  I'm excited, tomatoes are awesome.  Also, the zucchini was on the free table, I'll make zucchini bread in the next week, since we went through that strawberry banana bread at an alarming rate.

We have such a great assortment of vegetables from our CSA share this week!  I can't wait to get cooking. An assortment from the mix: lettuce, broccoli, garlic, onions, zucchini, squash, beets, pickling cucumbers, and greens beans. On the menu plan: Grilled zucchini and summer squash for veggie wraps Roasted beets and goat cheese salad Home made pickles Kale chips Still thinking of ideas for everything else, but it will be a good week!

I was so excited to sign up for a CSA share this year.  When I sent the check in to reserve our spot during a very bleak January, I was imagining hot summer days picking up huge bags of vegetables from the farm and eating fresh meals on the porch.  Thankfully, those days are finally here. Our CSA share is with Tangerini's Farm , a local family owned farm.  Today was my second pickup, we have an every other week share, which is a great option for couples or small families.  One of my favorite things about the farm is that in addition to the already picked CSA items, there is always a pick-your-own item of the week and the herb garden.  Instead of including herbs with the picked items, members can go to the farm anytime and snip whatever they need from the herb garden.  This week I took a handful of dill. Here's a sample of this week's pickup.  In the mix (and in a somewhat left-to-right order), swiss chard, kale, zucchini, dill, lettuce (we have bee...