It has been busy in our kitchen. As the leaves turn yellow, orange, umber and gold outside, I’ve cranked up the food preservation inside.
I’ve also tried out a few new recipes, just for kicks. It seems like the kids never like anything the first time I set it on the table, but then they love it when it shows up again. Who knows what’s going on in those brains?
We tried spaghetti-zucchini pancakes that I found here. Other than making way more than this family of four ate, I really liked them.
Fearing that we didn’t have enough berries to get us through a Montana winter, I bought a flat of half blackberries/half blueberries. Then Big H bought me another flat of blueberries. We are a lucky family! Most of the berries went right into the freezer (first frozen on a cookie sheet so they wouldn’t stick together, then stuffed into bags), but a few didn’t make it past the blender.
I added spinach this time because Finn complained that the peach smoothies didn’t have enough “leaves or salad.”
I made a bunch of marinara sauce and froze it, but didn’t take photos, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.
Have you seen those bumper stickers that read, “Know your Farmer” ? Well, we know a couple of our farmers pretty well. We don’t love them because they are farmers, but we do appreciate the perks that go along with farmer friendships. After having a friend over to play with the boys while his parents staffed a booth at a cold and windy farmers market, we were rewarded with some amazing produce.
Since our kitchen window overlooks our neighbors’ backyard weird, I knowwe get to watch apples ripen on their tree while we do dishes. No one lives there right now, so the boys and I hopped the fence and had an apple-picking party. Weve picked apples there in the past, so we figured it was fine. Plus, we are the ones who have to smell the apples rotting when they fall to the ground. These will be made into applesauce soon.
Anders is wearing a sweater I started in March and just finished this month. In case you’re curious, his pants are from Babe-A-Gogo on Etsy.
I also made a couple batches of my favorite curried carrot soup with fresh carrots from the farmers market and the previously mentioned farmer. I wrote up the recipe in a previous post.