Make-ahead Brunch

Not sure about you, but our holiday mornings are filled with time together ~ visiting with family and generally relaxing. Food is always a big part of the day, but we don't want cooking to be a focal point. Our goal is to simply enjoy.

Here's a tried and true recipe for a fantastic brunch that doesn't have to be saved for holidays ~ it's a snap to prepare and would make an excellent start to any day focused on easy, relaxing time together. Hope you enjoy this as much as we do.

French Toast Baked in Honey-Pecan Sauce
Serves 2-3

4 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup half-and-half
1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 thick slices French bread
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Combine eggs, half-and-half, brown sugar, and vanilla extract in a small bowl.  Pour half the mixture into a baking dish.  Place the bread in the pan and top with other half of egg mixture.  Refrigerate, covered, overnight.

Melt butter in a 9x13-inch baking dish and stir in the brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, and pecans.  Add the soaked bread slices.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes until puffed and brown.  Serve immediately.

Martha Hopkins and Randall Lockridge, InterCourses: an aphrodisiac cookbook (Memphis: Terrace Publishing, 1997)

Preserving: Pickled Farm-Stand Tomatoes with Jalapeños

This week's box includes:

• Red Beets
• Carrots
• Tomatoes
• Cilantro
• Cauliflower
• Baby Bear Pumpkin
• Strawberries
• Green Leaf Lettuce
• Corno di Toro Peppers

It has been weeks since I've posted and just as many weeks since I've cooked.  Changes at home, changes at work ... a very busy time.  This weekend brought a return to the pleasure of good food and good friends.  The past month, from a food perspective, has been more like this:

That is indeed one very neglected cantaloupe.  Sadly, many other fruits and vegetables headed for the compost pile over the past four weeks.  All I can say is that sometimes this happens...

Onto the good bits...

In honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day, we hosted a small group of friends for an early dinner. The grog and the grub were fantastic, as was the time with friends.  Some of our recipes included below.  Dinner included:

• Crudités (carrots, cauliflower and, Corno di Toro peppers) with Zucchini Cilantro Dip
• Grilled, Prosciutto-wrapped Grape Tomato Skewers
• Grilled Italian Sausages (vegan and not) with Pickled Farm-Stand Tomatoes with Jalapeños
• Green Leaf Lettuce Salad with Roasted Beets, Spiced Walnuts, and Balsamic Vinaigrette

Friends brought gougère, chickpea salad, beet/carrot/avocado salad, miniature tartes, and wild boar chorizo.

The three "volunteer" cherry tomato plants we have in our backyard are in full season. Today we harvested nearly two gallons, last weekend was the same.

These plants, two grape tomatoes and one standard cherry, are downright prodigious.

There is simply no way we can keep up with the number of tomatoes these plants are producing.  To top it off, most recipes for preserving tomatoes call for peeling and seeding them ~ not reasonable given the size and number of tomatoes we have to deal with...

After a bit of research following my usual methods, we landed on Pickled Farm-Stand Tomatoes with Jalapeños, as mentioned above.  We subbed cherry tomatoes for the sliced tomatoes called for in the recipe ~ it was fantastic.  Also worth noting these hold for far longer than 3 days.

The key is paring these complex and intense pickles with something relatively simple and high in fat with lots of bread for sopping up the juices.  The combination of the spices, the vinegar, and the sweetness of the tomatoes begs for an uncomplicated, yet sturdy, backdrop.

Experimenting with Cuisines: Moroccan Food

This week's box contained:

• Chantenay Carrots
• Sweet Corn
• Red Cabbage
• Desiree Potatoes
• Bunched Parsley Root
• Melons
• Strawberries
• Lettuce (traded for more parsley root)

Having just finished LuLu in Marrakech, I took my inspiration for the week from Morocco.  If you've never tried it, Moroccan food is exceptional.  Intensely flavorful, simple to prepare and, for the most part, really healthy.

I happen to have a tagine pot that I look after for a Moroccan friend.  I decided to put it to use for dinner tonight and made a mixed vegetable tagine, loosely based on a recipe from the BBC's Good Food site.

Making a tagine is easy and can be done on the stove top in a Dutch oven or a small stockpot. The process is as follows:

• Saute aromatics (onions, garlic, and the like) in olive oil,
• Add the spices and stir till fragrant,
• Add a can of diced tomatoes,
• Add a mixture diced vegetables and beans
• Add a cup of water, mix well, then
• Cover and simmer till the vegetables are tender

Serve over couscous.  The variations are endless.  Tagines are really a braise, so anything you'd consider cooking that way can apply here.  The Moroccan spices are heavenly and well worth a go, but the cooking technique lends itself to any flavor variation.

Seasonal Vegetable Tagine
... serves 4 generously as a main course

2 small carrots, diced
2 small turnips, diced
2 small zucchini, diced
2 medium onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 14.5 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2t  agave nectar
4t  ras el hanout
3 T harissa
olive oil
water
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Saute the onions in olive oil over medium heat till translucent; add minced garlic and stir till fragrant.  Add spices and stir till fragrant.  Toss the prepared vegetables and chickpeas together, then place in the base of a tagine. Top with tomato mixture, add water and cover.  Bake, covered, for 1 hour stirring occasionally.

Other Moroccan recipes I'd like to try include:

• Moroccan Spiced Carrots
• Spiced Tomato and Couscous Soup
• Vegetarian Harira

Kitty Morse is well known in the US for her Moroccan cookbooks. I've just ordered The Vegetarian Table: North Africa and am anxiously awaiting the book expected from Mourad Lahlou of Aziza in San Francisco.  More Moroccan food to follow!

Miller & Food

This week's box contained:

• Small white onions
• Spinach
• Red Beets
• Sweet Corn
• Zucchini
• 2 Cantaloupe
• Purple Cauliflower
• Strawberries

Sadly, we lost our 14 1/2 year old beagle, Miller, yesterday.  She was a true joy and will be sincerely missed.   Rather than doing anything with the box, I decided to post pictures of Miller with her favorite thing: food.

One of the things we'll have to get used to is eating without being stared at...

Mushroom Pâté

Our good friends Laura and Keith hosted a pool party yesterday.  Though we weren't expected to bring anything, I had two 8 oz packages of sliced mushrooms just waiting for the right opportunity.  The party plan was for heavy appetizers followed by a light, grilled dinner.  With that in mind, I set out to create something I would eat, but would also please the omnivores at the party.

Mushroom Pâté

16 oz sliced mushrooms
1 large onion, diced (roughly 8 oz)
2 T Calvados or cognac
2 cloves raw garlic
3 cloves roasted garlic
3/4 c walnuts, toasted
2 T nutritional yeast
1 t fresh thyme leaves
3/4 t salt
white pepper to taste

Saute onions over low heat until they start to soften. Add the mushrooms and cover, stirring occasionally until the onions and mushrooms start to caramelize, 30 minutes or more.  (See How to Carmelize Onions for more information.) Deglaze the pan with the Calvados or cognac and set aside to cool.

Once the mushrooms onion mixture has cooled, add them to a food processor along with all the other ingredients.  Blend in the food processor until the pâté reaches the desired consistency; this may be as much as 5 minutes. You will need to scrape down the sides of the food processor a couple of times to make sure all the ingredients are properly blended.

Remove the mixture from the food processor and put in the refrigerator to rest; this is best if the flavors have an hour or two to blend.

This recipe is adapted from the following recipes:

• Vegan Mushroom Pate on the Vegan Cooking blog
• Brandied Pâté Forestière from The Mushroom Book

A Look at Menu Planning

This week's box contains:

• Desiree Potatoes
• Red Cabbage
• Lettuce (traded for more potatoes)
• Strawberries
• Chantenay Carrots
• Sweet Corn
• Walla Walla Onions
• Heirloom Tomatoes

Great box, especially with the lettuce traded for more potatoes.  Like last week, this proved to be a busy weekend.  I have a lot going on at work, so don't expect to have time to get creative during the week.  Next weekend I'm out of town.  Same sad story ~ great food, desire to eat well, not enough time...

One way I manage situations like this is through planning.  There is no one "right" way to plan a menu for the week and I use several.  This week I'm going for my fast and easy method:

1. Pick some generic preparation methods and map them to the days of the week.
2. Take a look at the ingredients I have on hand and align them with the selected methods.
3. Scan recipes as needed to determine what other ingredients will be needed, then build a grocery list.

Do you plan your meals for the week?  If so, what's your method?   Here's how it went for us this week:


Step One: Preparation Methods

This is as simple as listing the days of the week on which you plan to cook and picking a method or meal type that will fit in the amount of time you expect to have available.  Grilling (with charcoal anyway) takes more time and is a leisurely meal for us, so I chose that for Sunday.  All the rest are quick and easy assuming ready made ingredients or pre-preparation of those that take time (more on this later).

• Sunday: grilling
• Monday: risotto
• Tuesday: wraps
• Wednesday: stir-fry
• Thursday: pasta

Step Two: Ingredients on Hand

A quick scan of the pantry, refrigerator, and the freezer gave me a solid list of ingredients to work with.  Here's what I found that looked promising or time sensitive:

• onions
• potatoes
• tomatoes
• ginger
• garlic
• bread
• vegan sausage
• Thai curry cubes
• pesto
• chipotle tofu
• black beans
• whole wheat tortillas
• salsa
• frozen spinach
• carrots
• cabbage
• fennel
• parsley root
• turnips
• green onions
• veggie stock
• asparagus stems

After that, I just matched the list of ingredients to the list of meal types.

• Sunday: grilling (vegan sausages, green onions, fennel, corn, potatoes, bread, tomatoes
  
• Monday: risotto (sweet corn, tomatoes, onions, vegetable stock, salsa)
  
• Tuesday: wraps (whole wheat tortillas, chipotle tofu, salsa, black beans, onions)
  
• Wednesday: stir-fry (red Thai curry, potatoes, carrots, turnips, frozen spinach)
  
• Thursday: pasta (pesto, vegan sausages, carrots, fennel)

Step Three: Choose the Recipes, Build Grocery List

As I sorted out the ingredients, likely dishes came to mind:

• Sunday: Grilled Sausages with Vegetable Kabobs and Grilled Farmer's Market Bruschetta
  
• Monday: Sweet Corn Risotto with Salsa
  
• Tuesday: Black Bean Burritos
  
• Wednesday: Thai Vegetable Curry with Jasmine Rice
  
• Thursday: Whole Wheat Pasta with Pesto and Sausage and Roasted Vegetables

By dish, I referenced cookbooks and websites to find recipes that I could follow or adapt.  By looking at the recipes, I was able to build a grocery list to fill the gaps.  After a quick trip to the store, we had everything we needed on hand.

One final note.  As the saying goes, the best laid plans ... often go awry.  I know that in order to be able to prepare these dishes, I'll need to do some prep work today.  I'll clean and chop the vegetables we'll use this week, cook the rice and store it in the refrigerator, etc.

Weeks that Don't Go So Well...

This week's box contained:

• White Turnips
• Lettuce (left in trade box)
• Scallions
• Strawberries
• Hamburg Parsley (Parsley Root)
• Young Walla Walla Onions
• Heirloom Tomatoes

It was a tough week for us this week for two reasons. First, available time; this was just a busy weekend. Second, the box contents did not really inspire...

Weeks like this happen however, so what did we do?  Probably exactly what most people would do in the same situation:

• Lettuce: I'm not a salad fan, so I simply acknowledged that and left the lettuce in the swap box for someone else to enjoy.  Curiously enough, there was nothing in our swap box to trade.
• Strawberries: Ours had already started to mold on pick-up, so they went to the compost pile straightaway.
• Heirloom Tomatoes:  HEAVEN!  If you are a tomato fan, you don't need to do much to enjoy them when in season.  We ate a few sliced with salt and used the remainder for grilled bruschetta tonight.  See the recipe we regularly follow here.
• Everything else: Evert-Fresh bags for the win!  I trimmed the foliage and put everything else in storage to wait for time or inspiration.

What do you do when you're at a loss for ideas or without available time?

As I write this I realize I'm a tad more inspired than I originally let on. Scallions are certainly all purpose ingredients, but they shine on their own in Chinese Scallion Pancakes. If you've not tried them, please do. They certainly compliment a meal, but can also be a meal in their own right if you are OK with simple pleasures.

The turnips will surely be roasted. My favorite twist is adding white truffle infused olive oil or garnishing with truffle salt.  Given that the Hamburg Parsley is roastable too, I'll likely toss it in with the turnips.

Last but not least the onions.  I did make a sublime breakfast, quite ad hoc, with these: toasted bagel with cream cheese, sliced tomatoes, sliced onions, and capers ~ really fantastic.  Aside from that, they'll sit with our other onions until we're ready to cook something that calls for them.

Hamburg Parsley

CSAs have a way of making me feel like I need to "do something" with the produce. Evert-Fresh bagshelped me realize there's less time pressure than one might think...

Fast & Easy Meals

This week's box contains:

• Chantenay Carrots
• Bianco di Maggio Onions
• Basil (traded for more fennel)
• Green Beans
• Lettuce (traded for more fennel)
• Fennel
• Strawberries
• Mystery (Desiree Potatoes)

Great box this week.  Given that I have a bunch of basil on hand and am not a lettuce fan, I swapped both for additional fennel.   Despite the wonderful options, we had our 4.5 year old goddaughter this weekend, so time to research and cook was simply not available.  For fun we made an "all orange" meal, composed entirely from food the color orange; turned out to be an excellent way to make eating healthy food fun.

Perhaps the biggest deterrent to cooking at home, at least for me, is the time it takes to prepare and cook a good meal.  While it is always worth the effort, you may not have the time (as was the case for us this weekend) or may not feel like doing a lot of work.

Two of my favorite cookbooks that offer sound advice, and excellent recipes, for fast and easy meals are Fresh Food Fast by Peter Berley and Vegan Express by Navas Atlas.  I've also accumulated a mental list of dishes that are fast and easy to prepare, but delicious to eat.  Of course there's always searching the web as well.

For lunch today we quickly whipped up the following for a fast and easy summer meal that worked through the carrots, green beans, fennel, and potatoes from this week's box:

• Baked Carrot Fries
• Sauteed Green Beans & Cherry Tomatoes
• Roasted Potatoes & Fennel

What are your tips for quick meals?

As for the rest of the box, the strawberries were cleaned and frozen for smoothies and the onions are standing by for a meal this week.

Food Sources: Farmer's Markets

CSAs are a great way to connect to your local food source.  Another way is through the farmer's markets in your area.  At farmer's markets, local farmers bring their wares to a specific location
 and members of the community show up at the predetermined time to purchase these products directly from the source.

While on our trip across the country, we visited the farmer's market in Salt Lake City, Utah.  This weekend we rode our bikes to a local farmer's market in Mountain View, California.

Like CSAs, farmer's markets offer the opportunity to see what is in season and to buy your food directly from the grower.  Unlike CSAs, you have a choice of what you purchase rather than accepting what is harvested that week by the farm with which you have a contract.  For those unable to consume a random box of produce or unwilling to deal with the unplanned variation, farmer's markets are the best choice.

A few benefits of farmer's markets include:

• Recently harvested, local food in the peak of season.  Food purchased at your local supermarket are harvested early and shipped across unknown distances.
• Investment in your community.  Not only do the dollars you spend at your farmer's market stay in the area, they create jobs in the area.
• Inexpensive, high quality food.  We found produce at 1/3 the cost of our local grocery store, and in far better condition.
• Knowledge.  Often you'll meet the farmer.  It's a great opportunity to ask questions and learn more about your food.

There are many more reasons to visit your local farmer's market.  What's in season in your area?  What do you appreciate about your farmer's market?

Grilled Farmer's Market Bruschetta ~ Early July 2010

1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 clove garlic
basil
2/3t culinary salt, such as Maldon
rustic loaf of bread, we chose an olive loaf
olive oil

Start your grill.  Halve the cherry tomatoes and place in a large bowl; add salt and stir.  Add the garlic, through a garlic press to the tomatoes and mix well.  Slice the basil into thin strips (chiffonade) and stir into the tomatoes.  Slice the bread ~ 1" thick and brush lightly with olive oil, set aside.

Grill the bread until toasted to your liking.  Cut the grilled bread into individual portions and top with tomato mixture.  Enjoy!

Grilled Farmer's Market Corn ~ Early July 2010

1 ear of corn per person
olive oil
salt
Aleppo pepper (any spicy, dried red pepper will do)

Prepare your grill. Peel back the husk of the corn and remove the silk.  Brush each cob with olive oil, salt lightly, and sprinkle to taste with the pepper.  Wrap the husks back around the corn and place on the outside of the grill.  Turn the corn every 5 minutes or so for a total cooking time of 20 minutes.

We also made a Wild Fennel Sorbet from the tops of the fennel we purchased on Sunday.

Farmer's markets are a worthy stop, even if just to meet people who grow the food we all eat every day. Beyond that connection, you'll have access to a wealth of incredible food. Just take a look at the Flickr feed embedded above.

To find a farmer's market in your area, just click here.

Perserving Summer's Bounty: Kimchi

This week's box contains:

• Bianco di Maggio Onions
• Hamburg Parsley (including the root, which looks like a parsnip)
• Summer Squash
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Strawberries
• Romaine
• Red Beets
• Savoy Cabbage

Interesting mix this week ~ a fun challenge given that we've been away for two weeks. I am thrilled to see the parsley, less enthused about the squash and the lettuce.  Creativity definitely required for the cabbage and the parsley root; everything else seems relatively straight forward.

The tomatoes aren't quite ripe, so we'll let those sit for a few days.  The strawberries will be cleaned and prepped for the freezer for smoothies.  I'll roast the beets, onion bulbs and parsley root for a nice chopped salad with toasted walnuts and the romaine.

As for the cabbage...  An obvious answer given the holiday weekend is coleslaw, but we're not planning a party and I'm the only person in a two person household who eats it.  The next option was soup, but it's too hot here for that.  Finally I landed on preserving the cabbage, but how?

Fermentation is a classic option.  I've made sauerkraut before and it was fantastic.  However, we still have some of that on hand, so I decided to mix it up a bit and try kimchi, a Korean form of fermented cabbage.  In our recipe, we passed on the fermented fish and decided to rely on salt and natural fermentation for the processing.  Here's what we did:

Vegan Kimchi

1 head savoy cabbage, quartered, cored, and sliced into thin ribbons
2" x 2" piece of ginger, grated
Bianco di Maggio onion "tops" (scallions a good substitute)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1T red pepper flakes
4T salt

Prepare all the vegetables and place in a large bowl; add salt and red pepper flakes, then mix well.  Transfer into a crock (we use a large plastic canister) and cover with a clean plate roughly the size of the crock and press down to start to release the liquid from the vegetables.  Top the plate with a clean weight, such as a large bottle of water, then cover the entire stack with a towel and place in a quiet area of your kitchen.

Keep an eye on the kimchi, pressing down down every few hours until the vegetables are submerged; this may take up to 24 hours.  If a day has passed and the vegetables are not yet covered, top off with salted water.  The fermentation takes a variable amount of time, so check the kimchi frequently ~ tasting as you go.  When the texture and flavor you like, move to the refrigerator for longer term storage.

Sauerkraut is easy to make, but does require a bit of knowledge to ensure it does not spoil.  Full details can be found in the standard sauerkraut recipe found on Wild Fermentation.

Kimchi is great on its own or as a base for soup.  Once ready, we'll post some recipes here.

Food Across America: Route 66 Days Seven & Eight

Yesterday was a long day that wrapped up nicely at Latitude 26 Tex-Mex.  The food was good and the staff took great care of us.  I'd recommend this spot to others in the area.

We left St. Louis, MO today  ~ heading back to Silicon Valley via I-80.  While off Route 66, we are still deeply interested in the food along the way!  I must say, today has been a banner day.

We started out at the hospital with my father.  It was like the movie "Groundhog Day". I smiled to myself when I saw the breakfast provided to him (pictured below).  Strikingly similar to the buffets along our path so far... 

I have always wondered what "American food" was; I guess the unmistakable pattern we've seen over the past week is the classic American breakfast! 

Dinner tonight was nothing short of stunning.  As a reminder, I'm a vegan and Sean is not.  Lots of compromise happens when we dine.  Tonight was a nearly perfect situation with fantastic meals for each of our individual tastes.

Using Yelp on our iPad, we found a vegan restaurant within minutes from the city's best barbecue.  Both restaurants offered carry-out menus on their web sites, so we were all set.

Sean ordered the rib combo platter (which was enough for 3 people).  It included beef ribs, pork spareribs, pork short ribs and lamb ribs as well as baked beans and french fries.  Nothing was less than excellent, but according to Sean, nothing but the ribs mattered.  The menu itself is incredibly broad; if we were local, Sean would work his way through it.

Star of Show: lamb ribs (due primarily to their novelty; this is the first time he'd seen lamb ribs as an option).

Eden Alley's menu was equally broad. Thankfully their staff was incredibly helpful in narrowing the field of options.  We settled on half orders of the roasted potato burrito (daily special) and the spinach and mushroom loaf.  Truly amazing.

Star of Show: roasted potato burrito; the diablo sauce was incredible.

Food Across America: Route 66 Day Six

The breakfast buffet was on par with the rest of the trip.  From here on out you can assume it is all more of the same unless we note otherwise...

Lunch today was a *very* welcomed, delicious meal. Yelp saves the day again, finding an open restaurant in our area. Today we landed at the City Coffeehouse and Creperie.   On the heels of the last two days I was really hungry and was able to find enough here to get all the way to satisfied...  The leading photo today is the vegetarian sandwich on wheat ~ incredible.

Dinner at Favazza's was good, as was the frozen custard at Ted Drewes.  Both are worth a stop if you are in the area.

Peroni and Pasta at Favazza's

Ted Drewes

We made the trip across the US to be with my father during his deep brain stimulation surgery tomorrow. My sisters, Suzanne and Renee, met us here and tomorrow we go with him for the procedure. He's had Parkinson's Disease for years, tomorrow should be a very good thing.

Perhaps needless to day, I won't be thinking or writing about food tomorrow...

Renee, Fred, Michelle, Suzanne

Food Across America: Route 66 Day Five

Not surprisingly, breakfast was the same. I opted for a banana and the last of the oatcakes. My Flip batteries died during the breakfast scan; here's the iPhone footage:

The pattern is holding true by hotel brand ~ nearly identical regardless of location. Hotel chains appear to have breakfast menus like fast food franchises; same thing, with as little variation as possible, to ensure a consistent experience.  Hmmm.

Lunch at Iron Starr Urban Barbeque was good.  I ordered the veggie plate with collard greens, green beans, cornbread and a salad. Sean had the St Louis style BBQ ribs, reporting them to be the best ribs he's ever had...

Dinner was not good.  We found little open in Joplin besides the big chains (Outback Steakhouse, Chili's, etc.), so tried the closest recommendation from the hotel staff: Cheddar's Casual Cafe.  The menu choices were on par with the breakfast fare we've seen daily.  Difficult choices.  We won't be back and will actively avoid these restaurants if we spot them in other cities.  Much like last night, I opted for a plain baked potato and "steamed" veggies.  The farther east we go, the greater the challenge.  

Tomorrow we reach St. Louis where we stay put for a few days.  I'm looking forward to dinner with my family on the hill at Favazza's.

Food Across America: Route 66 Day Four

The breakfast in Albuquerque was nearly identical to the breakfast in Flagstaff.  The only difference is that Albuquerque offered tortillas in addition to the other bread products.  I am amazed at the lack of variation and the minute amount of local flair.

This morning, the only option for me, oatmeal, was not yet fully cooked so I headed to the market within the lobby to see if there were choices there.  No such luck.  I opted for an apple, an orange, and some oatcakes from the stash I brought from home.

Lunch was really good.  We stopped at Jorge's Tacos Garcia in Amarillo.  I had a margarita and the "Tex-Mex Stir Fry", which consisted of zucchini, summer squash, bell peppers, onions, mushrooms and roasted corn sauteed then served with corn tortillas. After scooping off the cheese and sour cream, I was all set.

Dinner was vastly different than the last two nights.  We went to "Big Vern's 66 Steakhouse" just down the street from our hotel and pictured above.  I had a baked potato and a side of steamed vegetables.  Sean went for the ribeye, which by all accounts was better than average...

Today reminded me how hard it is to make good choices when it comes to food.  My preferences aside, if you're looking for a healthy meal (referencing the USDA's guidelines as an example) these buffets and restaurants don't set the average person up for success.   Of course choices infer you have options, which is another, very important discussion in its own right.

Tomorrow night ~ Joplin, Missouri.



At home this week, the box contains:

• Fennel
• Spinach
• Salad OR Little Gem Lettuce
• Strawberries
• Cherry Tomatoes OR Green Beans
• Chives
• Chantenay Carrots
• Basil OR Mystery
• Erbette Chard OR Red Beets

Our good friends David and Marina are picking it up and will share their culiary adventures once complete.