springy foodie thoughts

springtime! and this girl's thoughts turn to--well--food. my farmers market is year round, but our winter was long and fraught with illness, and we just didn't make it out to the market as much as i would have liked to. but spring--oh spring! the market is in full swing now, and last weekend we stocked up on greens of all kinds, early strawberries, bread, fresh chicken--all sorts of things. just look!

click on the photo for more detail about the stuff.
we came home and had a lunch salad of arugula and mizuna tossed with french vinaigrette and topped with sliced french breakfast radishes and fresh cheese. we shared some clam chowder (from the friday night fish fry at the church in our neighborhood)and each had a cheddar and chive biscuit. lunches after the farmers market are the BEST! and this week, we've been eating many fresh, locally grown things. like so many people, it's becoming more important to me to keep our food close to home and close to the ground as well as to try to reduce our carbon footprint. it's a challenge sometime, but i've come to think of it as an investment in my own health, the well-being of my family, and the earth with live on. plus, hello? the food is better--WAY better!

i am working hard to plan, as well as to front load the cooking so that i can throw quick meals together during the week from things i've semi-prepared over the weekend--it's mostly working out. this past weekend, i cooked normal dinners, and i also made hummus, yogurt, pesto, a giant salad, baked chicken breasts, and chicken stock. i'm prepared for a week of eating based on that stuff as a base. lunches are grab and go containers of hummus, yogurt with berries, honey, and granola, salad, chicken, cheese, etc. and so far we've had the following dinners:

• roasted chicken with sauteed spinach and baked sweet potatoes
• whole wheat pasta with pesto, sliced chicken breast, chopped fresh tomatoes with a salad
• scrambled eggs with thyme, peanut butter toast (on awesome la farm multigrain bread), and bananas (what can i say--i was on my own for that one, and it was what the kid wanted)

tonight we'll have a sweet salad with heirloom butter lettuce, fresh strawberries, english cucumbers, toasted pine nuts, sliced chicken, and a vinaigrette made from white balsamic with apple, elder flower and lime (this stuff is divine!) and some tuscan olive oil. tomorrow, i am going to throw something mexican-ish together with some of that chicken with some black beans, cilantro, tomatoes, cheese, and some type of grain cooked in the chicken stock. friday, i'll make a warm kale and potato salad with a lemon tahini dressing.

it's hard not to be almost high on all the good food!

in other food news, i am thinking seriously of joining a CSA with one of the farms we patronize at the farmers market. if any of you have experiences with this you'd like to share, i'd love to hear the pros and cons from people who have done it. i can't seem to think of a downside...

and in still other news, i'm about to get going in my garden boxes! yay for trying (again) to grow some of our own foods. i am fired up for tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, basil, lettuces, beans, and maybe even some corn. i have carrots getting steadily larger that i can't wait to eat--i've been diging up one a week and testing it out. hopefully i will do a little better at keeping up with the boxes this summer than last. trying to learn something about gardening while 8 months pregnant and then with a newborn baby--perhaps a touch ambitious...

ok--i am going to stop babbling about food now--you are probably bored to tears by this point. i can't help it though! i get so excited about it! thanks for sticking withme through this disorganized and rambly post.