Saturday Night Special

We head over to the farmers market every Saturday morning. I drool over all the green - every kind of lettuce, kale, broccoli, green onions, herbs. I come home with a ton of beautiful green things that need to be used fairly quickly. So, this has become our Saturday night (and lasts us through Sunday) meal.

Eat Your Greens! Frittata

3 potatoes, diced

1 large onion, chopped

several tablespoons butter (or fat of choice)

lots of salt and pepper (I also used Herbamere, a season all salt)

10-12 eggs, whisked

1/2 cup shredded cheese (optional, I used goat cheddar)

loads of local produce from the market, cleaned and chopped. I used broccoli, zucchini, yellow squash, and kale.

Melt butter in a large, oven-proof skillet over med-low heat. Add the potatoes, onion, salt and pepper. Cook until about halfway done. Add broccoli. Cook everything until just almost soft. Add zucchini and squash, cook another 2 minutes. Add kale and cook until wilted. Whisk your eggs, optional cheese, and more salt/pepper. Smooth out all your veggies to cover the skillet evenly. Pour eggs evenly over vegetables. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 minutes. Heat oven to 350. Finish cooking the frittata in the oven for another 8-10 minutes, or until the eggs are set.

Enjoy!

Farm Beauty

No internet lines all the way out in the county + 2 kids + making this house a home + starting a farm = not much time for blogging.

That's right, no internet lines. We are paying for WiFi right now....by the minute. Yikes. We've put a request in for an internet line, but I'm not holding my breath. As much as I love sharing my love of healthy food with the world, it's going to be much more infrequent. Every once in a while I will post some pictures of what we've been growing/doing/eating.


Onto the good stuff...


Our field is thriving, our kids are thriving. We all feel so alive out here. The food tastes better, the house stays cleaner (still trying to figure this one out), the air feels fresher, the kids are sleeping like rocks at night. We still can't believe we are here.

So far we've planted: tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, strawberries, beans, peas, cantaloupe, pumpkins, corn, peanuts, broccoli, brussels sprouts, kale, and peppers. Once everything is in the ground, we will start building a chicken coop. I can't wait for our chickens!

We knew we would love it here, but didn't realize how much. Here is what has been going on around here...

We are alive

We are alive, we still have boxes to unpack, we have dirt under our nails, we have a fridge full of local produce and happy eggs, we are spending most of our time enjoying the fresh air, we are eating good, we are happy. Oh, so happy.

Seth is thriving. He has tried so many new foods (his first in years) since we moved in. On his own - without any prodding. He is finally able to use his muscles, splash in puddles, throw dirt, and yell at the top of his lungs without bothering anyone. He is so happy.

Farm life seems to fit Ella also. She is so happy to follow Seth around, splashing in the same puddles and throwing the same dirt.

Rhett is my own Charles Ingalls. That man knows how to work. I am so appreciative of all the things he can take care of on his own - painting, making shelves, planting flowers, digging up dirt, planing gardens, teaching the kids, etc. He loves getting his hands dirty. He is such a man, and I love him.

I am cooking, hanging clothes on the line, and playing with the babies. I am realizing how healing nature can be. How clean, alive and free the fresh air can make you feel. How dirt in your toes can energize your entire body. I feel so much more domestic here than I ever have. I love love love it.

I have tons of great pictures to upload. Our internet here isn't quite what is was up in the big city. Stay tuned...

dream : reality

Well, folks, in a few short weeks we will be leaving the city behind us. We have finally worked it out, and we are moving to the farmhouse! It's been crazy around here, that is why I have been absent. I can't promise too many posts for the next little while either.

But, once we get there, I will be photographing the transformation. Grass turning into food, city kids turning into country kids, a 9-5 husband turning into part-time farmer, and me cooking my way through all of it.

Big things are happening...

Happy Valentine's Day!

For those of us with food allergies....




it doesn't have to be chocolate to be fun (for the kids who don't know better, anyways)!



Happy Valentine's Day!

Food lately

Pancakes

Seth is the muffin man, but he is also the pancake man. When I say that Seth eats these pancakes every single morning, I'm not exaggerating. This kid doesn't mess around with his breakfast. He knows what he likes, and he sticks with it.


Seth's Buckwheat Pancakes
makes 6 pancakes, easily doubled

1/2 cup fresh ground buckwheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk (cow, goat, almond)
2 tsp melted coconut oil
frozen blueberries, optional

Mix all ingredients together. Cook each pancake for about 2 minutes per side, on a well oiled griddle. Top with maple syrup. Enjoy!

Salmon and Veggies

Salmon is full of healthy omega-3 fats, vitamins and minerals. But, due to supply and demand, the quality of salmon has gone down. Make sure you look for wild alaskan salmon. You don't want to buy farmed fish - they are unhealthy and usually pumped with food colorings.

If you aren't use to eating much fish, start with salmon. It has a mild taste and cooks up wonderfully. This is a simple dinner that we enjoy weekly. It can be served as a family friendly meal or an elegant dinner for two. If you're having trouble getting your kids to eat salmon, just tell them it's what the Berenstain Bears eat...works every time.

Salmon with Roasted Winter Vegetables

2 large salmon filets
ghee or butter
lemon
salt/pepper

7 sweet potatoes, scrubbed and sliced
4 red potatoes, scrubbed and sliced
15 brussels sprouts, root cut off, outer layer peeled and washed
olive oil
salt/pepper
thyme

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix the potatoes together with a few glugs of olive oil, salt/pepper, and several shakes of dried thyme. Put in a 9x13 pan. Cook for 20 minutes. Mix. Cook for another 15 minutes. While they are cooking for the 15 minutes, prepare your salmon.

Lay the filets in a buttered/oiled baking dish. Roll you lemon on the counter with your hand, to get the juices flowing. Slice open, and squeeze juice over filets. Cover each with salt and pepper. Dab with ghee or butter.

When the 15 minutes are up, take our your potatoes and add the brussels sprouts. Mix well. Put the vegetables and the salmon into the oven. Cook another 15 minutes.




Breakfast (or lunch, or dinner) tomorrow:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat up the leftover vegetables (and salmon, if you have any leftover) in a pan covered with ghee/butter/coconut oil. Whisk 8 large eggs together with some salt and pepper. Pour eggs into the pan with vegetables. Cover and cook on low for 5-8 minutes. Finish cooking in the oven for 8-10 minutes, or until the eggs are cooked through.

Sorry the picture has such bad lighting....we eat breakfast early, really early. Like, before the sun comes up, early.

More Soup

My family loves soup, and I'm glad they do. It's healthy, easy and cheap. I usually make a big pot of it every Sunday and we eat it well into the upcoming week. I don't follow any type of recipe. I just use what I have, and it always turns out great.

Winter Garden Soup

1 large onion
5 carrots, peeled and sliced
5 celery stalks, washed and diced
1 head cauliflower, cleaned and cut
2 heads broccoli, cleaned and cut
1 28oz can diced tomatoes
2 small zucchini (I found some itty bitty local, organic ones at my health food store. They are out of season, so only use these if they are organic and you know the source.)
5 leaves kale, washed and shredded
leftover chicken meat
5 small red potatoes, cleaned and diced
8-10 cups homemade chicken or beef stock
several dashes of basil and oregano
salt/pepper to taste

Saute the onion in butter or ghee for a few minutes. Add carrots and celery, saute a few minutes more. Add everything else to pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, partially cover and let it simmer for 45 minutes.





**The cute husband enjoying his soup is optional, but really adds something to the meal. I highly recommend one.

Twice Baked Potatoes with Tuna

Seth loves muffins, I love potatoes. I use them in anything I can - soups, frittatas, side dishes, etc. The humble potato can be dressed up as a meal in and of itself. We are dairy free right now, but these would be a-mazing with some melted cheese on top.

Twice Baked Potatoes with Tuna
This is one of those "its 5:00 and I haven't been to the grocery store in a week" dinners.

4 large russet potatoes
1 can tuna
3/4 cup frozen corn
3/4 cup broccoli (can be frozen)
3/4 cup frozen spinach
ghee (or fat of choice) for sautéing
salt/pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Scrub potatoes clean, dry them with a towel, and pierce holes all around with a knife. Wrap them in foil and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 1 hour. About 10 minutes before the potatoes are ready, heat up a medium skillet with your ghee. Saute the broccoli, spinach and corn long enough for it to heat through. Add in tuna and salt/pepper. Put everything into a large bowl. Throw in some extra ghee or butter in the bowl, for good measure.

Take potatoes out of the oven and throw away foil. Let them cool to the touch and then scoop out the middle with a spoon. Put the insides into the bowl with the veggies/tuna. Mix together. Fill each potato with mixture. This is where you could add cheese, if tolerated. Put everything back in the oven for 10 minutes. Serve.







Lunch tomorrow:
My husband was out of town the night I made this dinner, so I had extras. I diced up the potato, hard boiled some eggs, and mixed it all together with some mayo. Yum!

Soup for the soul

As we transition into a more GAPS friendly way of eating, I am trying to introduce a lot more soup into our routine. I've started making a big 2:00pm lunch on Sundays and then follow it up with a soup for dinner. We aren't very hungry, so we save lots of it and have it through the week. It's truly amazing what a little homemade chicken broth can do for you. It certainly makes me smile when I watch Ella gulp down bowls of vegetable soup, look up, and proudly ask for more.


Nourishing Vegetable Soup
Isn't it fantastic how you can mix the most random vegetables together with some salt/herbs/broth and it becomes something good enough to serve company?

1/2 stick butter (yeah, I said a half stick)
2 leeks, chopped and cleaned well
4 large carrots, sliced
4 potatoes, diced (I used the tiny fingerling potatoes and just sliced them)
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen green beans
3/4 cup frozen spinach
2 cups shredded cabbage
1 - 28 oz can diced tomatoes
1 cup wild rice (substitute chopped up cauliflower for GAPS)
1 tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
salt/pepper to taste
10 cups homemade chicken broth

Saute the leeks in the butter for 5 minutes. Add the carrots and saute a few minutes more. Add everything else. Bring to a boil, simmer for 45 minutes or more.



Enjoy!



**Be on the lookout for an awesome giveaway coming soon**

I love mexican food

Mexican food has always been my cuisine of choice. It use to be soft white tortillas loaded with cheese....now it's soaked beans, avocados, tomatoes, lettuce, and meat. But, it's just as good. I spent spring break during my sophomore year of college on a humanitarian trip in Mexico. We stayed with local families from our church - and ate all three meals with them. It was heaven. Beans and eggs for breakfast? Pure genius.

Huevos Rancheros
I served this for dinner, but it would be a fabulous brunch on a lazy Saturday morning.

Serves 4, easily doubled

4 corn tortillas
4 eggs
1 cup salsa
1 cup black beans
shredded lettuce
avocado, diced

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Lay tortillas flat on a cookie sheet. Spray with coconut oil (or spread on some ghee) and sprinkle with sea salt. Put them in the oven and let them warm up while you cook the eggs. Dump salsa and beans into a large skillet, stir and let it warm up for a minute or two. Make 4 holes in the salsa and crack the eggs into them. Turn the heat down to medium/low. Cover and cook until the eggs are done - about 5 minutes. Take out the tortillas from the oven and put them on each plate. Scoop the eggs/salsa/beans on top of each tortilla. Top with lettuce and avocado.



Enjoy!

Do you know the muffin man?

No? Well, let me introduce you...



This is Seth, also known (around the house only, of course) as "love muffin". I think as he gets older, and is sick of his mom calling him 'love muffin' all the time, I will switch it to 'muffin man'. It's a little more gruff, don't you think?

This kid loves muffins. He would eat them all day if I let him. This is the recipe I always go to. I keep a batch of these in my freezer at all times, in case of a muffin emergency.

*As a note, I found this recipe a couple years ago online. I jotted it down and don't have any idea where I got it from. I've tweaked it a little bit to make it my own. If anyone knows where this came from, please let me know so I can give credit.




Manly Love Muffins
Serve these for breakfast with some fresh fruit, or keep them in the freezer for snacks like we do.

2 cups blanched almond flour
3/4 cup almond meal (I get mine at Trader Joe's)
4 Tbsp arrowroot powder
heaping 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup raw, local honey
2 ripe bananas, peeled.
1/2 cup almond butter
4 pastured eggs
1/2 cup chocolate chips or chopped nuts

With your mixer, mash the bananas. Add the almond butter, honey, and eggs. Mix thoroughly. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Fill muffin cups (lined or sprayed) and bake at 350 for 15-17 minutes. Watch them closely, as the bottoms will brown quickly.

For me, these make 12 large muffins, and an additional 12 mini muffins. I freeze the large muffins right away and keep the mini's out for snacks.


It's hard to even get a picture of these with the muffin man around.

Food lately