Weekend Roundup

Yesterday we made it bright and early - and I mean EARLY - to the Farmer's Market. We got a parking space in no time flat, and it wasn't too crowded! It pays to be there by 8 a.m. Especially when your toddler wakes up at 6:15 a.m.

We got some lettuce, eggs, potatoes, buckwheat flour, dried cranberries, and honeycrisp apples. Not a bad haul overall. We verified that our favorite bounteous supplier of local organic dry goods (flours, oats, seeds, beans and eggs) will be at the market year round. Hampshire Farms rocks!

Saturday I spent the better part of the late morning prepping fruit to be dried. I halved and pitted about 25 italian plums and peeled, cored and sliced about 6 older apples. About 30 hours later, the apples are delicious and pliable and awesome! Our first drying endeavor is a success. Silas cannot get them into his mouth fast enough, so yay for healthy local snacks for babies. The plums have a ways to go, but they're looking more shrivelly and prune-like every hour.

I also turned 6 other older apples into a delicious, mostly local apple crisp. So good with a scoop of local vanilla ice cream!

Yesterday for lunch I made Oven Roasted Ratatouille, something I've never made (or possibly eaten) before. It turned out delicious, and it was a fabulous way to use up some of the CSA veggies that I was running out of ideas for.


Oven Roasted Ratatouille (from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman)
4 red peppers, cut in large strips
2 eggplants, sliced 1/2 in thick
2 onions, thinly sliced (I used one yellow, one red)
10 cloves of garlic, peeled and halved
4 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chunked
1 tsp fresh or dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup of olive oil

Preheat the oven to 350. Layer veggies in a 9x13 pan. Sprinkle with thyme, salt & pepper and drizzle with 1/2 cup of EVOO. Bake for 1 hour. Yum!!!

We ate it over spaghetti with leftover italian baked tofu. Good stuff!

This morning Chad woke up sickish (Silas has been sick for several days with a snotty cold, yick) so I decided to try out Isa's recipe for Chickpea Noodle Soup, from the forthcoming Veganomicon for breakfast. Soup for breakfast?! I know, but we're weird like that sometimes, especially when we're sick. It freaking rocks, make it immediately!!!! It totally captures the essence of chicken noodle soup, minus the chicken. I think I added too many noodles to mine, but my husband said "is there really such a thing as too many noodles?!?" And I kind of have to agree. I'm so glad there are leftovers!