my own tag!

I wanted to put a tag on my main blog so it would be easy to click over to. Way more work that it should have been, but it's there!

A Local Thanksgiving

While our entire Thanksgiving menu was not local, most of the dishes were:

Lentil & Golden Squash Pot Pie (all but lentils from the CSA)
Glazed Turnips & Apples (all CSA)
Delicata Squash Soup (all CSA)
Hot Chai (Boulder Bhakti Chai, homemade soymilk)
Pumpkin Pie (all but the crust from CSA & local ingredients)
Beer (local Boulder Beer)

The Lentil & Golden Squash Pot Pie has been the Thanksgiving centerpiece for 11 years now. We also have an Oregon Tofurkey, which is a tradition, but it's the pot pie that gets the rave reviews. Happily, this year I divided the recipe into 2 pyrex pans, so we have an entire other meal to enjoy in a few weeks' time. Yum!

The Glazed Turnips & Apples are so fantastic - and without them I'm afraid my turnips wouldn't fare well. We eat this dish once or twice a week throughout the winter (alternating it with mashed turnips & potatoes) and manage to polish them off before they wilt (like they did our first year in the CSA before I understood how to store and properly use the excess beets, turnips and potatoes).

The Delicata Squash Soup recipe is actually one for an acorn squash, but I've found that any sweet squash will do. We had an abundance of delicata in the share and I was happy to use it - delicata doesn't last as long as the others. It was creamy and delicious with it's own roasted seeds sprinkled on top. Mmm...

The pumpkin pie is a family recipe (lots of ginger is the secret ingredient that makes this pie stand out!) The pumpkin was from the CSA but I chickened out of making my own crust. Next year!! I love Pumpkin Pie.

The Bhakti Chai and Boulder Beer rounded out the meal and there is plenty left over - always a treat.

I will share recipes for these dishes soon. They are delicious, easy, and quick to prepare. What else can you ask for? :-)

Beginngings

This site was launched in an effort to make me plan and document our meals. We are in a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and bought in last year to a 3 year commitment. Next year will be our last year in the contract and then we will buy in again for another 3 years. The CSA has changed our lives. And more importantly, changed the way we eat. It has certainly impacted my meal planning. In the past, I'd plan out a few meals for the week, assuming leftovers, go to the grocery store, and purchase those ingredients. Usually, the plan worked and little food was wasted. In a CSA, you receive (often more than you can store) the food and then plan the meals accordingly.
We are lucky here in Boulder to have access to locally grown dairy products and grains. We have eaten primarily from the CSA shares for a few years now.
But these days, times are tough. Money is tight. I don't work (although I do sub at my sons' school and have singing gigs on and off throughout the year.) With only one child left in preschool, we are close to lightening that load. But there is the mortgage. And the car payment. And the individual health insurance because my husband's company is small. And the dental bills for five, twice a year, that aren't covered under our insurance. And TaeKwonDo. Those are the regular expenses - the ones we can count on. We've got a good budget and stick to it religiously for eating out and groceries. But it's not enough. We're struggling.
So, my challenge to myself in 2010 (starting now, for practice) is to cook all of our dinners from our CSA share. This will be more of a challenge in the winter months, since we'll be relying on our Keeper Share. Yet the share is generous. Squash, onions, carrots, beets, turnips, dried beans and cabbage were in our share last week. The plan is to make use of them til they are gone. The market starts up in April, so the months from January through March will be tough. Once the CSA starts up again in earnest it will be easy. Can we do it? I think we can. Let's see.