Food, Festivities, and Love

It has been on my mind for a while to write a little bit about food. And to recommend that if you cannot have a garden, that you should join a CSA - Community Supported Agriculture (not Crop Sharers Anonymous like I always think in my head when I read CSA). We found an organic CSA here, and for the large share it comes to about $23 a week. I think that is a great deal. It's a lot of vegetables. The only difficult part is that you don't know until Thursday what can be picked up on Saturday at the Market, so you have to meal plan on Friday. I haven't been meal planning for this reason, but I'm getting more organized. If you can deal with that, and only using in season produce, you'll love it. If you aren't very adventurous with veggies, it will force you out of your comfort zone. I've made Kohlrabi Home Fries, Napa Cabbage Slaw, Roast Beef with Baked White Turnips and Sweet Potatoes. The slaw was super easy - I made a dressing of apple cider vinegar, honey, dijon mustard, and a little salt. I didn't have any other vegetables to go in it, but it was perfect with the pulled heart bbq.

This is one week's veggies, minus the napa cabbage: kale, lettuce, chard, kohrabi, radishes, white turnips, cilantro, parsley, green onions, and a spicy leafy thing - arugula, maybe.

 The Market that we pick our share up at is huge. There are so many vendors with good meats, veggies, eggs. It's a lot of fun to walk around and see so many people offering real food. There's also a good variety of ready to eat ethnic foods, that smell amazing. We tried Cuban chicken fricassee last time. Delicious. Oh, did I mention the fresh flowers for sale, too? SO beautiful! Far better than any florist! If there is a farmers market in your area, check it out! The one in my hometown is really tiny, but if you live in a decent sized city, there should be a good market.

One sad little kohrabi fry left. They disappeared so fast!

 We were invited to Bar-B-Que for the Fourth of July with two other families. The husbands are both third trimester students, and the one couple has a little boy who is just older than Tony. I was asked to bring a side dish, and in the end decided to make two things: Tropical Fruit Gazpacho and Primal Purple Potato Salad.  

Primal Purple Potato Salad, recipe found on MarksDailyApple.com

As you can see, I didn't use purple sweet potatoes (you can only get them at Asian markets), but it was still super tasty. I even made my own mayonnaise! (Thank God for the immersion blender. My last few tries with mayonnaise have failed.)

I love to make things look pretty. The only mistake was that all those lime slices made it a little too lime-y.

I have been dying to make this gazpacho since I saw it in Make It Paleo. Pineapple, mango, coconut, and lime juice? Sign me up. It said six servings, but I made a double batch, since I didn't know what kind of size they would be. It was very refreshing, with a pudding-like consistency. My blender didn't make the coconut as fine as it was supposed to be, but it gave it a bit of crunch. As a side note, the double batch was more than enough: we served it again in the evening at a little birthday party for Zach's classmate, Wegayah. (Along with gluten-free truffle brownies and ice cream.)

Our Independence Day dinner: Chicken salad, potato salad, and steak with homemade barbeque sauce!

The mayo made another appearance in a garlic and rosemary aioli that went into chicken salad for dinner. The aioli was super easy to make, and I don't think I've had better chicken salad (except for my Mom's recipe that uses cream cheese and water chestnuts).

Ta-da! Peeled, cored, and sliced pineapple!

Have you ever seen one of these things? The previous owner had forgotten some things in the kitchen, and I almost threw it away. I'm so glad I didn't, because it made peeling and slicing the pineapple so easy! (As you can see, I was so impressed I took pictures of the process!)

This statue of the Holy Family was a wedding gift from our dear friend Dan. I love having it on the table as a reminder of our calling to be a little Nazareth.

I hope that everyone has as lovely a day as we did. Zach had to study in between the BBQ, and having Wegayah and his girl, and our friend Matt, over for dessert, but it was a wonderful day. 

It is so nice to be in our own home. We can entertain our friends, and just enjoy life. I'm finally getting a grip on things, and getting organized. That feeling of accomplishment is wonderful. It is a great thing to be queen of the home. I would not trade my place in life for anything!

Much love,

Jess