Swiss Chard Pizza

I treated my aunt Kathy and I Friday night to this wonderful pizza posted by Kara on her blog. I got some nice swiss chard in my CSA box this week and this was the best recipe for it! I will definitely make this again, and I think next time I might toss in a little sauteed granny smith apples. It would really compliment the walnuts and cheese. Kathy's going to make it topped with grilled chicken. Oh, and to make it easy, I used pre-made pizza dough from Trader Joe's.

Fall CSA time again!

It's Fall CSA time again. I almost didn't sign up, but changed my mind at the last minute remembering how much I love Fall produce. I enjoyed the Summer CSA box, but I did tire of the weekly commitment of having to pick it up on Thursdays between 10:30-11:30. Plus, with the abundance of Summer produce on roadside stands, I felt that I could easily get fresh and organic produce just from the local gardens. But Fall produce is a little harder to come by.
I loved getting the box last Fall, so here I go again!

Today my box contained broccoli, tomato, radishes, spaghetti squash, sweet potatoes, purple bell pepper and hot peppers. I'm all about planning these days so I need to commit to a plan to utilize these things and stick with it. I think this will help me out with what to eat on the 4 nights a week David is gone. I'm really excited about the spaghetti squash and I'm thinking I'll have that for dinner a couple of nights, along with a baked sweet potato and steamed broccoli. I also have some cubed butternut squash. I'm going to caramelize that and toss that into a spinach salad, along with the tomato and radishes, walnuts and feta cheese.

Right now I'm enjoying a tasty tomato soup made by Kara. The garlic and fresh tomatoes make for a very bright and clean tasting tomato soup! I added some sour cream, cheese, and a crumbled bacon. Thanks Kara!

Mmm...Summer

This is what I LOVE about Summer...all the fresh vegetables.
Being a southern girl, that's what I grew up on in the warmer months. My family reunions are filled with vegetables. Granted, a lot of them are fried, but many are just sliced up as they are.

Our table tonight:
Smashed potatoes
Corn - cut off the cobb with melted butter, salt and pepper
Fried okra (thank you Kara for advising me on how to make it your way, which is the best!)
Sliced tomatoes w/ torn basil, salt and pepper
fresh cantaloupe
Blueberry cornbread






Nothing fancy with the pictures here...just a true to us snapshot of our little family's dinner table. The cantaloupe didn't make it into the shot.

With the exception of the blueberry cornbread, everything came right out of my CSA box. Even right down to the basil. So, not only was everything delish, it was a good feeling to know that our meal tonight didn't have to travel far and by us purchasing it directly from the farmer, we're helping his family out. We explained the concept of buying local to our kids tonight around the dinner table.

And who out there is turning up their noses at the idea of blueberry cornbread? Don't knock it till you try it. It's a recipe from Hans Rueffert's book Eat Like There's No Tomorrow. Haven't heard of him? Check him out. Amazing chef, cancer survivor, and man. I've had the pleasure of meeting him on a few occasions and I really respect the man. I'm not giving you the recipe for the cornbread because I want you to buy his book!
There's some great recipes in there, especially for those who love to make the most of Summer's bounty. And I love the title! For someone who lives to eat, rather than eats to live, it's right up my alley.

It's CSA time again!!!

And I'm so excited! I'm ready for some farm fresh food and creativity in my kitchen. It's definitely needed. As much as I enjoyed the Fall/Winter selection, I bet I'll enjoy the Spring/Summer variety even more. I love fresh summer produce. I have some pics of the goods, but can't upload them right now.
Today's box was great:

Two large bunches of leafy lettuce (I'll have salads twice daily I'm sure)
A couple of verities of greens (I love braised greens!)
A bunch of small carrots (for the salads....Ethan could eat all of them on his own)
A small bunch of spring onions (for cooking with and salads)
And a small container of bright red strawberries (snacks for the boys, and topping for greek yogurt or steel cut oats for me)

I like that getting the CSA box forces me to eat fresh; you don't want the food to go to waste.

The past couple of months have been hard for me to eat well. I try when I can, but my sweet tooth is working overtime and I find myself out of the "comfort zone" of where I want to weigh. Nothing that can't be easily remedied with more exercise and eating better. I have a goal in mind for myself of where I'd like to be in about a month and I'm going to work hard to get there.
The most difficult thing has been that I just can't get a workout in. Not at the gym at least. I simply don't have the time right now to go to the gym. Our schedule is jammed packed.

I was able to get two good workouts in this week at home doing a combo of the treadmill and a 20-min circuit that I made up (intervals of 1 minute cardo like jumping rope/jumping jacks and 1 minute weight or resistance). The first workout had me very sore for the next two days, so I feel like it was effective.

The truth is I was making more progress when I was going to the smaller women's only circuit gym (Shape Express) than I have being at the big gym. It's not a surprise to me; I knew this going into it. There really is something to a good effective 30- minute circuit training workout that combines cardio and resistance at the same time than to doing 30 minutes of intense cardio and 30 minutes of weights, which is what I usually end up doing at the "big" gym. I know taking classes would help, but I just can't make it to the classes. They're either during school or in the early evening. I'd need a mid-day class.
But...the big gym offers great child care and kid's activities, something the small one didn't have.
I'm thinking if I can come up with a really good 30 minute circuit I could do at home I'd be set.

Whatever I do, I need to make it happen. Lack of exercise isn't only showing on the scale, it's showing in my stress level, sleeping, and just not feeling relaxed. The days I've done it, I feel so much more relaxed.

There...I've put it all out there so now I'm committed!

Getting creative with CSA

Heather recently posted about all the great things we got in our CSA boxes, so I won't list it all here. But I did want to post of pic of it all for you. I love the idea of doing CSA boxes, plus, it's always a surprise to see what you get. You do have to get creative and plan some meals around your fresh produce so it doesn't go bad, but you're usually getting what is fresh and in season at the moment and that's just what your body needs. The chicken, honey, and cheese were not in the box...they were additional purchases from Farmer Chad. We have really blown through the cheese, though. I'll definitely be buying another block this week.

I used several of my items tonight for our dinner. We started with a simple salad using the lettuces from Farmer Chad, along with the purple sweet peppers. I also topped the salad with sliced apples, candied pecans, chevere cheese with honey (a new find at Trader Joe's), and a homemade maple syrup salad dressing from Rachael Ray. It was definitely a nice departure from my typical tossed salads and the flavors were perfect for this beautiful autumn season we're in.

For dinner, I soaked black beans over night to make black beans and rice inspired by Joy. She puts curry powder in hers, and I have to say, that just takes a typical black beans and rice meal to a whole new level. It's very subtle, but the curry gives it a little bit of a sweetness. I also sauteed some onion, garlic, purple bell peppers, oregano, and white wine vinegar and threw it all into the pot with the black beans and let them all simmer for about an hour. Talk about making the whole house smell divine. While that was simmering, I braised the greens from the CSA box the way Heather does (amazing...thanks for the idea!), and grilled some chicken breasts to top off the black beans and brown rice. Once on the plate, I topped the beans and rice with a little of the cheddar cheese.

It sure feels good to have a full belly of fresh and good for you food. I've been feeling a little under the weather the past couple of days and this was one of those afternoons that I was really leaning towards not cooking. But I'm so tired of eating out and eating junk that I forced myself to get my butt in the kitchen and get to work. It's amazing how cooking can be therapeutic at times. Not only did I pull it off, I'm already feeling better for having eaten well.

I've got a plan for the acorn squash that we got in the box. I'll post about that later.
Now...if I could just get myself to the gym I'd be feeling a whole lot better about life. Unfortunately, that part of my life has really taken a hit since homeschooling. I just have to make the time.

Can't wait to see what we get in out boxes this week!