The Weird and Unusual

What have I learned from having a winter CSA? I have discovered what foods really look like coming straight from the farm, and that there are a whole lot of varieties of "normal" foods that I didn't know about. Take for example this carrot. It looks like it just went 5 rounds in a boxing ring.

The weird-looking food for this round; drum roll please..........Brussel sprouts! Looks like our new Christmas tree! :)

Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone.

To Do or Not To Do

I have a confession, there are times I have to admit I don't always do the environmentally friendly/healthy thing. This week happened to be the tipping point on two things.

You see, little man is at the very edge of the weight limit for his cloth diaper covers and after them coming undone in the community and at daycare and completely soaking himself, I caved. I debated going and buying the next size up, however, I couldn't rationalize the cost. You see little man is in the midst of potty training. He uses the potty at daycare almost every morning now and runs around the house in underwear at night. And although we are not without accidents, and I am an not quite willing to take the plunge into taking him out in underwear, he is starting to get it and we are using diapers a lot less than a month ago. So I caved and he wears disposables when we are out in public and to nap in now. Basically any time he is sleeping or going to be riding in my car (I am not quite ready to pull over on the side of the road so little man can pee).

The other thing I caved on was butter. You see, a few months ago we switched over to an all natural - no chemicals added butter. Andy in fact still uses it and enjoys it very much. However, I am on a diet and quite frankly I like butter on things. So when I realized that the real stuff is 55 more calories then the unnatural yogurt kind, I broke down and bought the yogurt stuff this weekend.

On the less confessional side of things, our girls' cross-country team won New Englands this past weekend and are heading to the pre-qualifier for Nike Nationals in a week and a half.

Yum!

I decided to splurge today and loved every minute of it.

I had heard from two different people that the Vermont Meat and Seafood Market just opened in a location I pass by every day. The market sells fresh all-natural local meats and cheeses as well as fresh seafood from Boston (since ocean front property does not exist in Vermont). Since the last day of my coaching season is Saturday, I received my coaching stipend this week, so today being payday, I decided I was going to splurge a little. It was worth every penny and even little man gobbled up his dinner, of course that may have been because of the cookie bribe if he finished dinner.

For dinner tonight we ate fresh salmon that was delivered this morning, cauliflower from our CSA, and bread that Andy baked last night. Life is good!

I Tried

I had very high hopes for our winter CSA. I had a goal to make wonderful food that is healthy for my family and instill good eating habits in my two year old. The result: a toddler who can cook good food: wash it, put it in the pan, sprinkle some spices, load the veggies and homemade cheese on the pizza and put it in the over. The problem comes when it is time to eat. He starts out by picking all of the green stuff off the pizza and spends the rest of the meal repeating over and over again "I don't like that!"

Eat Them!

I've nurtured them, saved the remaining 4 from the fox, fed them grass and other goodies since their confinement in the safe run and what do I get in return? Nothing! There was much debate about when our chickens would lay eggs since they came later than expected back in the spring. The lady at the place we got them said November. The problem with this...... unless you have electricity in your coop in which to run a light to fool them into thinking it is still spring/summer..... chickens stop laying eggs in the winter. My vote: eat them and try again in the spring. Apparently my husband is more attached to them then I am.

If they only knew......

Yum

We have had a wonderful---well, almost wonderful week--- of exploring all the different recipes there are for our different winter vegetables. Since it has been a cold week, many of the different recipes have been winter soups and the house has smelled great most of the week. And most of our meals have looked wonderful.

I have learned plenty this week and am quickly learning that I am missing or missed a few things. For starters, there is an herb garden at the farm we get our share from. Since I was unsure what I needed for herbs, I clipped some rosemary and went on my happy way. I planned out the meals for the week during nap time after I had picked up the share and was able to see what I had. The problem with this was, several of those great herbs hanging out back at the farm I needed and ended up purchasing from the store. Oh well.... live and learn.

The other thing I learned is that my husband does not like squash. This is a problem since I love it and we had 2 delicata, 1 winter and 1 acorn squash. Of course I was going to use them. I was frowned at severely during these meals and Little Man picked up on his father's "I don't like it" mantra, which almost resulted in both of them being banished from the dinner table to leave me in peace to enjoy my squash. I did relent halfway through the week and let Andy make a beef stew. Meat makes him happy.......

As a total side note, our girls' cross-country team won states and is moving on to New Englands in two weeks!