Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Farmer North

And with one little picture, Grandmas all over the world just burst into a zillion pieces from cuteness overload. Just so you know, I had to pry that creme pea out of his tiny farmer hand, otherwise he may have clutched it all night.

As you can see from the bounty above, we have a ton of fresh produce this week. My lovely sister-in-law is also a member of our CSA and they are traveling this week to New York state, so she offered us her share. I'm going to challenge myself to cook only with ingredients that I already have on hand and pair them with as much of this local produce as possible. I enjoy cooking with basic staples available almost anywhere because you don't always need expensive ingredients to make delicious food. Plus, I love the frugality of it all.

I will take pictures and post the rough recipe for each dish created. Maybe it will inspire other households to take on the same challenge and use up stuff they've already got on hand or stop by a local farmer's market. Or maybe these recipes will spark a new idea for how to use up veggies from your garden. Lord knows I need some tips myself because currently I have tomatoes coming out of my wazoo. (Please note, wazoo is in the dictionary.)

Anyway, be forewarned that I don't really follow recipes when I cook, I just start looking around to see what I've got and throw it in. So the measurements that I include in these recipes are approximate. A lot depends on personal taste and yours may be different than mine.

This brings to mind something I've heard people say that steams my buns a bit. They claim that they are overweight because of the cheaper processed foods their meager budget forces them to buy. I'm here to yell from my soapbox, that is a load of manure. Dave and I have spent $2 on a pot of lentil soup and eaten a low calorie and nutritious dinner for days! You can cook healthy and thrifty meals for pennies if you plan right. I hope the recipes that follow in the coming days help to drive that point home.

Whew, sorry to get so preachy.  I feel pretty strongly about processed food and the link to obesity apparently.  As always, I'd love to hear any other ideas anyone has for using up these veggies too!

3 comments:

momma mia said...

That picture is too cute, one gets the urge to hum the theme from Green Acres while gazing at "Farmer North".

It also answers the age old question as to why baby clothes have pockets? Now we know !!

Love, mom

jess said...

That picture is too cute! It needs to be an ad for vegetables or something. Do they make ads for vegetables?

Jessica Swesey said...

I totally agree on the eating well for cheap point. Even in SF, you can graze the Asian markets in our neighborhood and get a week's worth of quality fruit and veggies for $10 easy - although it's not always organic. We've also learned how to use Costco the right way (it can be really easy to overspend in there), carefully studying the price per unit and planning for meals in advance. Another thing we've picked up on is that spices are much cheaper in the international family-owned stores as they simply come in sealed, labeled bags rather than fancy packaging. I'm going to test your pasta salad with bacon recipe. I just can't so no to that!