We’ve got two birthdays in our family in August - Robby turned three and Hubby turned . . . my age. We went to the shore for a week. I even took my tomatoes from our garden and the peaches from our CSA with us. We ate peaches every morning. We sliced tomatoes on everything. Oh, and then there was my wonderful and amazing Mom does LA on her own weekend. And that was great and everyone survived without me just fine. Clearly I’m totally dispensable. I expect to be let go any day now.

Plus we are on the brink of adding to our family. Let me be more clear lest you misunderstand. We are on the brink of adding a four-legged addition to our family. More on that later, I’m sure. But it’s not for a tomato post.

No, for my tomato post, I think part of my severe procrastination has been due to some minor gardening insecurity I’m feeling. I’ve lost a lot of tomatoes this summer. Several Brandywines had blossom end rot. I tried to rectify that, and I think I did. But now I have a chipmunk problem. And the little bastards are getting them just as they start to ripen. They break a hole in my lovely fruits and suck the freaking life out of them, and they’re driving me nuts. Get it? Chipmunks…nuts…ok.

We’ve had a lot of tomatoes that made it, don’t get me wrong, but it hasn’t been tons, so I’m feeling rather down. I have a zucchini plant with a powdery mildew problem. Chipmunks are leaving little poop gifts for me in the remnants of my heirloom tomatoes. My pepper plants are falling over and need to be restaked. It’s kind of a mess, a big garden mess.

And yet, for dinner last night we had a meal that consisted almost entirely of food from our yard, so I’ll try and focus on that. A dozen roasted peppers of various colors, a few lovely Brandywines rescued before being snatched away by the vermin, about a pint of mixed cherry tomato varieties, basil from one of several plants that are doing well, and the garlic I planted last fall that has officially been harvested and cured - all of these mixed with some chopped olives and olive oil and baked in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

I served the concoction with some pizza dough I made from Daisy Mill flours and baked on its own to make a crispy flatbread type of thing, and then topped that with a little crumbled goat cheese. And it was yum. And I grew most of it. So I’ll just keep telling myself that as I clip away at the squash leaves and turn over what I expect to be a beautiful tomato on the vine only to find out the other side is completely demolished.

They’re such little bastards.

Got tomatoes? Where from? And what are you doing with them?

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Report: Mom Just Locked Her Door

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Alone.

This will be my first time away on my own since becoming a mom.

I am freaking out.

Just a little.

Yeah, other than when I was in the hospital having Robby, and Sam stayed with my parents, this is the only overnight I’ve ever had. And really, birthing the second hardly counts, right? Other than that, the longest time I have ever been away was back when I went to Blogher DC for the day, and we all remember how that turned out. And that was only a day.

This time around I am going out with a real bang. I’ll be away for not one, but TWO nights. About 55 hours. Holy schmoley.

Of course I’m excited. I mean, the 6 hour flight alone sounds almost heavenly. When was the last time I was able to sit for that long and read, only to be interrupted by someone offering me snacks and drinks? How many times have I been on a plane with my two, trying desperately to entertain them before we’ve even left the ground, looking across the aisle at the person who is able to sit and peacefully leaf through a magazine or listen to earphones, and wish it could be me? It sounds amazing.

And that’s all before I even reach sunny California, where there is a high of 75 and no clouds this weekend. It’s before I get to my cushy room in the hotel where the reception is being held, because, oh yes, you can bet I decided to swing for the swanky hotel on the bay for my first weekend away. You can bet I will have a king sized bed. All. To. My. Self.

I will order room service at least once.

I will leave the Do Not Disturb sign on the door indefinitely.

I will sit in quiet and watch my friend get married.

I will drink, knowing I can just stumble walk upstairs when I am done.

I will dancedancedance.

I will sleep late and manage to take up all of that king bed.

I will think to myself, “Oh, this room is so quiet.”

But all that doesn’t change the fact that I have felt a growing apprehension for the past few weeks. In the back of my mind, I have just felt something is a bit amiss; something a little scary has been lurking. And I know it’s all crazy talk. I know that.

But I also know that at many points through the weekend I’ll be afraid one of the children will be hurt, or sick, and I’ll be on the other side of the country, unable to get to them.

Or something will happen to me.

Or they’ll wake up in the night and be upset that I am not there.

Or someone will call for Mommy, and I won’t be there.

Or that, at some point, I’ll sit in that room and think, “Oh, this room is so quiet . . .”

Well, I guess I’ll go start packing . . .

How many books do you think I can devour with 12 hours of flying time and a quiet room for a weekend?

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So we’ve had squash to spare, and I’ve even managed to shred and freeze some for future winter baking. But most gets used immediately. It’s such a versatile veggie that I’m still not sick of it . . . not yet.

Some squash quesadillas I made were surprisingly good and easy. I just sliced and sauteed some summer squash with onions, corn and peppers, until all were a bit softened. I then used that as filling for quesadillas with some shredded farm market cheese. Topped those with a fresh salsa made from tomatoes from the garden, some red onion, lime juice, and salt. I can’t remember if I put anything else in the salsa.

I guess quesadillas are just kind of a fly by the seat of your pants meal that way - work with what you have, fill each according to the preference of the person/child you are feeding - it’s hard to go wrong and so easy to do with local ingredients.

Zucchini and summer squash are also great for grilling after marinating in some garlic and olive oil. And my boys are somewhat obsessed with Zucchini Bread right now (I alter this recipe a bit with some whole wheat flour. These almost scone-like zucchini chocolate chip cookies are also quite popular around these parts. . . “these parts” being my house.

Got Squash? Whatcha doing with it?

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But until then: slaw. The one I usually make is super easy, and I make it often because I get a lot of cabbages from our CSA. I quarter and core a head of cabbage, then I chop it up. I know many people use a food processor to shred it. I don’t bother. So mine is always a bit chunkier than the finely shredded stuff, but I kind of like that. It makes it more salad-ey.

I throw the chopped up cabbage in a big ol’ bowl and toss it with a pinch or two of salt and several tablespoons of cider vinegar. My recipe says 3 tablespoons, but I know I use more than that. I like vinegar.

Then, if I have them, I grate a few carrots into the bowl. I add some mayo, about 2/3 cup depending on how creamy I want it, how big the head of cabbage was, etc. Toss it all together and that’s it. Done.

I’d take a picture, but then I’d be going into my kitchen and taking a photo of 4-day-old cole slaw, which just seems wrong.

Thoughts on cabbage? Do share:

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So I explained that I was thinking something maybe a bit calmer, you know, since his bedroom is for sleeping and stuff. We really needed to think of something nice and relaxing.

He thought for a millisecond and then said, “Oh! Lava! Lava is relaxing.”

“Uuuuummmm. . . really? I was thinking of something like water or flowers or leaves . . .”

“No! It has to be something that burns people! Fire! Or lava!”

“So you want a purple dresser with fire and/or lava painted on it?”

“Yes!”

Well, so glad I asked.

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Well, first let me just say thank you to all who participated in our berry carnival for the most recent From Dirt To Dinner!

We’re essentially going to do a 180 now and go from an ingredient that virtually everyone loves to one that eludes and, for some, disgusts: THE BEET.

At this time last year I was still trying to figure out the beet. With each CSA delivery came a fresh bunch, and for several weeks I tortured myself with horrible recipes I’d found online that bordered on inedible. I was about to give up on the big burgundy bulb when a friend emailed me a supposedly “delicious” recipe for Herbed Goat Cheese, Roasted Beet, and Watercress Salad.

Now, obviously when you bread and bake goat cheese you are going to end up with something that is all kinds of wonderful, but here’s the thing - the beets are awesome, and it’s because they are ROASTED! Yes, the secret of the beet is simply to roast the sucker first.

Every beet recipe I have tried and enjoyed since then first involved roasting them whole. It’s very easy to do and makes all the difference, in my opinion. Simply wash and trim the greens down to about an inch and then wrap the beets in foil. Then you want to bake them on about 400 degrees for about an hour, give or take depending on the size, until they are tender.

Once that’s done you just let them cool until you can peel them, which is super-easy once they are cooked this way. Trim the root and the top off and then the peel just slides away.

Now you can slice them up however you want them to be and refrigerate them until you’re ready for ‘em.

And then you can wash your hands so it doesn’t look like you’ve had some kind of grotesque accident in the kitchen.

They do pair wonderfully with goat cheese; there are lots and lots of recipes out there that couple the two for good reason, so that salad above remains a favorite for us. I’ve been known to add some toasted walnuts to it, making it a great entree if I do say so myself. And I almost never use watercress but instead whatever type of greens I happen to have.

I also found this very similar recipe with those breaded goat cheese medallions but with pasta and sauteed chard. (This seasonal produce guide on the Martha website is so helpful, by the way!) I happened to have a gorgeous bunch of  rainbow chard from the CSA along with my huge bunch of beets, so this is what I made last week.

It was yummy.

Certainly you don’t want to eat medallions of baked goat cheese every single time you eat beets though, at least not if you are getting them from a CSA and are receiving them en masse every week. So it’s important to remember that once you know the secret of the beet - the ROASTING - then you can enjoy them easily and simply.

Alice Waters has a lovely Marinated Beet Salad recipe in The Art of Simple Food that just combines roasted beets (that’s right, Alice Waters roasts them first too, so I think we can officially accept this as The Word) sprinkled with some vinegar and salt and then tossed with a little olive oil.

And that makes for some great and easy beets, which really are a quite delicious vegetable, not something to just sort of “deal with” when it comes to you in your CSA share.

So, anyone else out there eating beets? Not from a can? If you’ve not yet tried them I really encourage you to give them a go. Just, you know, roast ‘em first. And feel free to share.

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Yesterday Robby woke up from his nap in his bed and, while still half-asleep, exasperatingly asked, “Mooooooom, are we THERE YET?!”

I guess a Not So Manic Monday is in order; we’ haven’t had onE in a long, long while.

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And one favorite recipe from many (other than just eating or slicing them over vanilla ice cream…mmmmmm…) was this one for Whole Wheat Strawberry Pancakes. Indeed, I’ve made them twice. And I wish I had recorded it when everyone at the table had their first bite because I think Sam might have actually screamed. Like, loudly. And then everyone told me how much they loved me. And how I am “The Best.” So of course I made them twice.

This is Sam giving me the flashing double thumbs up, the highest possible food rating in our house.

I often make pancakes that have some combination of whole wheat and all purpose flour, but I love that this recipe calls for 100% whole wheat. Something about having the fresh strawberries in there changes it up enough that they don’t feel too dense or heavy. They’re quite yummy and I feel like on the whole, they make for a pretty healthy breakfast too. Well, except maybe if you put as much syrup on them as my husband does.

On the local front, we picked all those berries ourselves from an organic farm nearby, Willow Creek Orchards. The whole wheat flour was from Daisy Mill and purchased through our buying club, as were the milk, butter, egg, and maple syrup. I used a full cup of regular milk instead of buttermilk, and used ground flax instead of wheat bran.

Once those main ingredients are accounted for, I’m basically left to the same non-local list I had when I made the rhubarb muffins. It’s some of the baking basics: salt, baking powder, baking soda, and I used cinnamon in place of the allspice. I’m hoping that as I run out of these items I’ll be able to replace them with at least slightly more local alternatives, but really I have no clue as to how one finds local baking powder, you know? It seems wasteful to replace them before I’m through each bottle though, so I guess I have some time to figure that out. And I vaguely remember them having this problem in the book “Plenty,” so at least I’m not the only one who has trouble here.

Anyone else been using local berries lately? If so, join on in and share a link. Please read a little more about what to include in your post for From Dirt To Dinner here.

And coming up on July 2nd we’ve got BEETS!

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