Sweet & Spicy Peach, Chicken, Hatch Chile and Spinach Pizza

Fresh peaches and freshly roasted Hatch chile peppers paired with spinach, mozzarella, and chicken on a BBQ-sauced buttermilk pizza crust.

There are no guarantees in life, and that's OK.

We have two peach trees in our backyard (they belong to my daughter) but that's not a guarantee we'll be eating homegrown peaches this summer.  Just like official orchards here in southwestern Ohio, the extreme cold temperatures of late winter were too much for the delicate buds. No flower buds means no flowers, and no flowers means no local peaches.  That's just how it is sometimes.

I'm sorry to be down. As I'm writing this, it is Wee Oliver Picklepants' Last Day. A year ago when I made this pizza I didn't even know he existed. Then my deployed spouse went on the internet and found Oliver and his Traveling Companion, Vincent. My spouse asked me to adopt the dogs and I did, falling in love with those nice middle aged gentlemen long before he returned and met them. I was particularly smitten with Oliver, a runty 10 lb one eyed wiener dog mix.  An avid outdoorsman, Oliver holds the title of being the only dog in the house to successfully catch a squirrel [technically, most of the squirrel got away, but Oliver was darn proud of the tufted tail tip that was left behind]. Such an active lifestyle was too much for Oliver's back, though, and his pain got to be unmanageable. We will miss him--his sweet disposition and outsized personality changed our minds about little dogs.

Despite my sadness about peaches and pups, I am glad we have options when it comes to buying fruit. The fruit farmer at the farmer's market down the road is bringing in peaches from South Carolina to sell alongside their summer berries. While it isn't as good for their bottom line, it does keep their customers happy and I'd rather buy my out-of-state peaches at the farmer's market than the grocery store, you know? For my 3rd peach pizza recipe (following Peach, Basil and Brie pizza and Peach and Pepperoni Pizza) I decided to get gourmet and throw a bunch of stuff together.

Biting into this pizza was amazing. Even before that point, though, just seeing the colors made me happy. The warm colors of the peaches were set off by the greens of the spinach from our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share and accented by fresh mozzarella and red onion. I know that you eat with your eyes first, but the flavor has to back it up and this pizza delivers. The sweetness of the fresh peach chunks paired with spicy roasted Hatch chiles and creamy mozzarella is complemented by the BBQ sauce base. Give it a try--it's really good.

Easy Cheesy Vegetable Rice Enchiladas

Another Fast from the Farm Share meal, combining shredded summer squash, peppers, onions and rice for a vegetarian enchilada that is wonderfully satisfying

If it looks like I'm not going to be able to use the vegetables from the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share in a timely manner--I get busy.  Well, my freezer gets busy. For summer squash, and zucchini, I shred and freeze in 2 cup portions. [I've found once thawed and squeezed dry that the bulk of shredded squash is reduced by half, so if I want a cup I freeze double.] For peppers and leeks I chop into small pieces and freeze on a tray before transferring to a bag for storage. This way I've got vegetables handy year round and I reduce the amount of wasted food that our farmers grow. Yes, I do require an additional freezer--it also serves as a microwave stand so everything fits in my little old kitchen.

While I am capable making my own Slow Roasted Tomato Enchilada Sauce, when I want to get dinner in the oven quickly it's nice to grab a can of prepared sauce, some prepped vegetables, and just get going. I had my daughter cooking the tortillas and my son shredding the cheese while I made the filling. These assembled very quickly. Adding cooked rice to the vegetable mixture gives a nice "chew" factor, which I am sure isn't really a thing, but no matter.  These are delicious.

Blueberry Beet Honey Oat Muffins

Blueberries and roasted beets are sweetened with honey in a multigrain muffin

Blueberry muffins are one of the most iconic types of muffins.  [You won't find any icons on this blog, other than my teeny tiny social media icons next to the print button at the bottom of this post.] I was shocked to realize that of the 26 muffin recipes I've posted on this blog, only one of them contains blueberries.

It also contains beets, and it's a pretty sweet muffin what with the white chocolate chips and all (Red, White and Blue Muffins recipe here). I wanted to share a less 'treat' muffin.

 I've got beets from the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share, and adding some roasted beets to the party in the blender [not to be confused with this party in a blender] accentuates the color of the blueberries without overwhelming the flavor.

Why do I use a blender? My son is not a big "whole blueberries in baked goods" fan, so for these muffins, just like these Sweet Corn and Blueberry Waffles, I use my blender.  We all get the goodness of blueberries without anyone biting into an undesired big fat berry.

I'm glad to announce my 27th muffin recipe, and second beet+blueberry muffin in a row, Blueberry Beet Honey Oat Muffins.  I use honey, not sugar, in this recipe, which makes me think about how "real sugar" is now a valued item in soft drinks, yet perversely still taboo in "healthy" recipes. Whatever. While they are lightly sweet on their own, these muffins also taste delicious served warm with lemon curd.
These soaked oatmeal muffins require at least an hour long pre-preparation soak, but you can always prep a container of oatmeal and buttermilk days ahead and store in your fridge like I've shown here.

Fresh Tomato Pesto with Mushroom, Olive, Artichoke and Feta Pizza (Pizza Night!)

Sautéed mushrooms, olives, artichoke hearts with feta and fontina over fresh tomato pesto

Those of you who subscribe to my blog via email or somehow grab the RSS feed [thank you!] were treated to an unwitting peek behind the scenes one week ago when the rough draft version of this post went live without my awareness.

When I was plotting out the pizza posts for July I’d tentatively scheduled this one for the first Friday. Then I thought of fireworks, changed my mind, finished up the Pepperoni and Yellow Squash pizza and scheduled it for the same day. I didn’t notice that I still had the draft of this pizza scheduled for later the same day, and didn’t even check that the pizza had posted properly when I first woke up. Nope, I went about my July 4th—packing and traveling to visit family, not even checking email until late afternoon when I was surprised to see the draft was live and sent out in my RSS feed.  Oops!

I wanted to get this pizza up because it uses Fresh Tomato Pesto and I think you should try your hand at making this tasty concoction at least once during tomato season. Even though the tomatoes in my garden are as green as the squash plants that have taken over, the nights are warm (for ripening) and we got our first tomato in the farm share this week. [I’m making a BLT out of it, not this pesto.  I have my priorities for the first tomato of the summer.]

Fresh Tomato Pesto is easy to make, stores well in the freezer, and can be used as a dip for chips or vegetables, a pasta sauce, or on pizzas. I’ve been sharing a lot of meat pizzas lately [just updated my Visual Pizza Recipe Index] and it’s past time for a vegetarian one.

Colorful Greek Chicken Salad Plate

Greek yogurt seasoned with herbs, vegetables, chicken and cheese served alongside a colorful bed of vegetables, hummus, and pita chips for a simple summer salad plate

Eating my colors makes me happy. Combining tasty food with colorful piles of vegetables is a terrific way to eat a variety of colors. I wouldn't normally say that chicken salad is a colorful dish, but when you serve it with gorgeous vegetables, well, even on a white plate this would still be a riot of color.

I've been throwing together some easy summer mixed plates using a variety of cool and warm ingredients lately.  For a glimpse, head to my FB page to check out this photo.

Surimi Chirashi Sushi with Summer Vegetables

A filling main dish salad of surimi and summer vegetables tossed with sushi-seasoned rice

When it's hot out, my body craves lighter food. Eating seasonally, the kitchen pendulum swings [yeah, there's a pendulum swinging in my kitchen. that's why it's a mess all the time!] from hearty chili, stew, or casseroles over to simply seasoned piles of pretty vegetables.  Making a chirashi sushi is one way to keep it cool in the hot weather. Chirashi sushi means scattered sushi, which means I get to be lazy all the flavors without all the fuss of rolling your own.

I love to roll my own sushi, don't get me wrong. The other day I made a bunch of pretty, and tasty, Egg, Kohlrabi and Carrot rolls. Taking a page from Fusian we put panko over top and the flavor/texture contrast was really neat.

When I've got kohlrabi or cucumber I will make up a big bowl of chirashi sushi. If I've got salmon I'll add that, or Spam, Surimi, or just scrambled eggs rolled up in an omelette. My friend Lasar introduced me not only to chirashi sushi but also to the furikake my son and I sprinkle on top. [My spouse and daughter don't care for furikake, so I list it as optional below.]

This keeps for a couple of days and can be reheated gently in the microwave. I store the cucumbers/kohlrabi separate because I like them cool and crunchy.

Pepperoni and Yellow Squash Pizza

Overlapping slices of summer squash and pepperoni atop an herbed goat cheese base crust

I have to say it is AWESOME when I've previously scheduled a post to go up and lo and behold, when I pick up my farm share, the featured vegetable for the post is in the box! This week we got a transitional box between Spring and summer produce, with zucchini, yellow squash, turnips, kale, green beans (perfect timing on the Hot French Potato Salad, too) parsley (some went into this pasta and the rest vanished into a food processor full of garlic scape pesto) and carrots.  Probably radishes too--oh and chard as well--our farmers really rock at filling up the boxes each week.  I made Zucchini Carrot Es-kah-pay (it's a Finding Nemo reference and a bastardization of something in a Giada de Laurentis cookbook-stay tuned) dish that we'll eat in an antipasto platter over the weekend, and if it's good you'll find it here.  Eventually. The rest of the carrots and the radishes will be used to scoop up a green garlic hummus I made out of green garbanzo beans and green garlic--so now that I've dealt with the scapes and the green garlic I'm ready to roast and put up the rest of the garlic harvest. But the turnips are looming over my head . . . last weekend I did a simmered & grilled side dish of cubed turnips, potatoes, kohlrabi and radishes that became a very tasty enchilada filling, so I may want to try that with all turnips.  But enough about my stream-of-consciousness for today--on to the real post.

Some of my best meals occur by opening the fridge and seeing what needs to be used up. A bit of cheese and some pretty vegetables can turn into something surprising. I made this pizza sort of on a whim. Often I obsess over and plot out ingredients combinations . . . which I admit seems really weird . . . but this one was purely a 'it's Friday, what's in the fridge' type of pizza.

With all the ways I can shred, cube, or pulverize summer squash and incorporate it in other dishes, I never think to just celebrate the perfection and beauty of a thin circular slice. I see folks making lovely vegetable terrines and tians--and I loved the movie Ratatouille's signature dish presentation--but I never think that I could create such visually stunning food.

I admit I'm pleasantly surprised how well this pizza was received by the kids, and how well the photos turned out, though I have no clue why the crust got so fat--perhaps it was having fun rising in the kitchen while I was slicing away.  I've got a mind to try similar pizzas this summer. I have a desire to try my hand at making herbed cream cheese and herbed goat cheese since my herb garden [except cilantro, which bolted about 10 days after I planted it] is growing gangbusters.

Grilled Mushrooms (Full Metal Basket)

Mushrooms simply seasoned then grilled--followed by your choice of seasonings to jazz up the flavor. Simple, easy, keeps the house cool in summertime.

I'm very fortunate that some committed folks made a weekly Farmer's Market happen in my little city.  I can't say I used it much last year--having my hands full with the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share and all--but I did enjoy the visits I made.  Since my spouse hadn't seen it, we did a recce [that would be a reconnaissance mission, it's pronounced wreck-ee if you'd like to co-opt this jargon for yourself] the other week to check out the new and improved sophomore year offerings.  I picked up some eggs, some blueberries, and then I spied the man selling mushrooms.  Woot!  Now I know where I can go for local mushrooms! Once I get into the groove with the farm share I will partake, because we love our 'shrooms.

Mushrooms = at home date night to me. What can I say? I'm easy to please. My spouse and I both love mushrooms and our kids don't, so anytime I'm making a mushroom side dish or appetizer it's guaranteed to be a date night treat.

So far on this blog I've shared mushroom appetizers that are sautéed [my Skillet Mushroom Dip for Two] and roasted [my Soy Sriracha Roasted Mushrooms].  Since the kitchen is heating up by virtue to the east-facing 86 yr old windows [and without my turning on the stove or oven] I figured it was time to get my grill on.  To do that, I bring out my new BGF (Best Grill Friend)--the Full Metal Basket.  I'm purposely not doing an Amazon affiliate link here because 1) the whole affiliate thing seems utterly pointless and 2) I don't know what brand this could be.

This new-to-me basket is large--9 inches square at the base, flaring out as it rises up 3½ inch sides to an upper opening of a square foot. It's perfect for grilling vegetables such as peppers, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, squash, turnips, kohlrabi, beets and mushrooms. I can stir in it without everything flying out [if you've ever seen my stovetop you'd understand].  Since I picked it up at the thrift shop a few months ago I've used it each time we grill.  That's a darn useful tool!

Hot French Potato Salad

Roasted potatoes and haricots verts with bacon in a Dijon vinaigrette

There are many languages bouncing off the walls of my house these days.  When we play Uno during Family Game Nights we're calling out the color and number of each card in a language other than English. My daughter takes French, and to keep her skills up this summer she's taken to replying to my questions/requests en français. Or at least I assume that she's speaking French--honestly I haven't a clue. I topped out my knowledge when she called a potato masher a "pommes de terre frappe".

My son is learning German online, which takes me back to when I first arrived in Germany and took an intro course on the base. Unfortunately we lived in a region of Germany known for hick accents, so while my son is speaking proper German, my spouse and I speak with a hillbilly accent.
Add to this the fact that my brain seems to have an English/Other Language switch, and when searching for an Other word it could just as easily come out Spanish, Finnish, or Japanese.  Languages that make sense to me.

I mean, this potato salad uses haricots verts. I'd pronounce that haricots verts, but no . . . hairy co-vaire my daughter tells me. If it's hairy co-vaire, why is there an -erts on the end of the word? Makes no sense. However you choose to say it, this recipe is yummy. It's a bold side dish on a plate, assertive with notes of . . . ok, so not my style.  This is worthy of a country who lost 4% of their population during WW1--I can't even imagine that--not to mention a tasty way to eat beans and potatoes.  And bacon, always with the bacon.

Pizza with BBQ Chicken, Bacon and Kohlrabi Greens

Chicken, bacon, sweet onion and kohlrabi greens over tangy barbecue sauced pizza crust.  Yes, I slipped kohlrabi greens onto the pizza.  Again.

I think I may end up posting pizza recipes a fair number of Fridays this summer.  I have some terrific pizzas from last summer that didn't get published in a seasonally timely manner (Peach and Hatch chiles for one, and Cantaloupe and Prosciutto Panini Roll for another) and my brain is a bit giddy with new ideas for both my new pizza grill stone and new deep dish styles. [Tonight I'm trying green tomatoes + goat cheese in the style of Lou Malnati's.]

I think, before it becomes OBE [Overcome By Events] I should share what we had last Friday Night Pizza Night. I mentioned we got a lot of greens last week--well some of them were attached to kohlrabi.  The kohlrabi has turned into dippers for hummus and will be rolled up in a tamago sushi whenever I get my act together, but the greens--well, they went on this pizza.

Beet Greens with Rice Vinegar

Beet greens and spring onions sautéed then seasoned with rice vinegar--an excellent side dish to accompany Asian meals

Ya'll may think I'm crazy, but part of the seven (7!) different edible greens we got in our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share last week was a double amount of beet greens. I'm happy to have them, and I completely understand how something that caused a tummy upset in the past is something to be avoided in the future--which is what caused my benefactor to bequeath her greens.

A few weeks ago, for the first time in 15 years, I made sesame peanut noodles.  I thought I was ready for them, but no--memories of the tummy bug we caught the night of my son's first birthday party were still too strong. At least my folks liked them this time around.

When I've got double the greens--and not a lot of solo breakfast opportunities because everyone is constantly underfoot--I needed to think past my beloved beet green breakfast into something the whole family may get excited about.  When I saw mandu marked down at the grocery store I decided to make a slightly Asian twist on my beet greens.  It worked out well enough that I made this side dish a second time this past week.

I think this recipe would also work well with Swiss chard, and probably spinach too. We've been drinking up kale lemonade smoothies so much that there's no really any kale left for cooking, but perhaps that would also sauté well.  Especially after a massage.
I'd be happy to sauté well after a massage, come to think of it.

Cold and Creamy Pea, Avocado, and Mint Buttermilk Soup

A tangy refreshing chilled soup of garden fresh peas, avocado, and mint in a buttermilk base

"This is my mom.  She has worms."

My daughter's scintillating introduction to her charges didn't dissuade me from my purpose--to share my worm bin with the young gardeners at our local historical society.  Some kids think it's cool, some kids think it's gross, but all kids learn a little bit about worm composting. The more folks--young and old--who are exposed to the myriad of ways we can decrease the amount of waste we create, the better.
I think early exposure to a variety of ideas and foods is important and can result in permanent behavior changes. After I shared my worms with the young gardeners I helped them in their plot. It reminded me of when my teens were in elementary school and I'd volunteer during class time, helping kids to plant, weed, and harvest vegetables.  Now, my daughter was in charge of the pea harvest--showing the kids how to snap off the peas without pulling up the whole vine. She also encouraged her charges to sample the harvest.

When I harvest in my own garden I just eat peas straight off the vine. They need no accompaniment, to me, which is why I haven't shared a pea recipe before. Usually I start snacking on peas while driving home from picking up our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share box, and I'll nibble a few here and there until they are all gone.

However, I screwed up with the peas in the farm share recently which is why I created this soup. After nibbling on a bunch, I set the pint on the shelf in the fridge and the peas froze. Oops.  Not one to waste perfectly edible food that is the result of our farmers' hard work, I searched for a soup recipe combining what I had on hand (peas, mint, buttermilk) with what sounded good (avocado).

If you don't like the taste of buttermilk [because your mom raised you to eat what was put in front of you and your friend's mom offered you a tall glass of buttermilk which you choked down--only to be given a second glass since you appeared to like it so much--my spouse's experience with buttermilk, not mine] I recommend trying this pea soup recipe.  Or this one.

Beef and Broccoli Pizza (Pizza Night!)

Roast beef and roasted broccoli seasoned with layers of Asian flavors. You don't miss the cheese

OMG there's no cheese on this pizza, will they revoke my home-pizza-maker card? Will someone come and steal my blackened and broken, pizza stone?

I've got greens on my mind, so it makes sense to share a pizza with a green topping today. Want to know how many types of edible greens we got in the farm share this week? The photo is on my FB page, but I'll just tell ya--seven.  Seven types of greens.  Plus all the other delicious Spring vegetables.  Whoa. I've got my vegetable triage work cut out for me.

I did make a few command decisions right off the bat. While I know that radish greens are edible, the spiky edges put me off and the composting pig won't touch them--so into the compost bin they go. Ditto the turnip greens. My spouse commented "that's a handsome turnip" when he saw the giant beauty, and while I do like slow cooked turnip greens and cornbread in the Fall, I'd rather use my freezer space to put up berries right now. Into the compost bin with the turnip greens.
That leaves us [pun unintended] with lettuce, kale, kohlrabi greens, a big bag of cooking greens, and my beloved beet greens.

I don't usually pair greens with cheese--unless it's cheese in a salad--so I'm glad to share a pizza without cheese.  My first pizza without cheese, as a matter of fact.  But not the last--the kids snapped this one up quickly, and that's high praise for me to make further variations on this theme.

Heirloom Tomato and Garlic Scape Pesto Tart {Get to Know a Farmer}

Heirloom tomatoes and marinated mozzarella balls snuggled under a blanket of garlic scape pesto and more mozzarella make a rich savory tart--or delightful breakfast.

If you read one of those 13 Farmers Market Secrets Savvy Shoppers Share type articles, one of the tips is invariably "get to know a farmer".  Joining a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share is a terrific way to get to know a farmer.  For the duration of the growing season you'll have the opportunity to visit with the folks who grow your food.  This "get to know a farmer" stuff can pay off deliciously [and for me the payoff is usually locally grown tomatoes].

There is nothing better than a locally grown tomato.

Tomatoes have seasons.  Some get off to a quick start like cherry tomatoes and early varieties. Some take their sweet time growing and setting out fruit, to the point that you think they'll never amount to anything, but once they get going they're unstoppable 'til frost.* Some suffer setbacks early on--like nibbling from varmints--yet recover to become a big bushy productive plant.  They are a lot like kids, now that I think on it.

I'm talking about tomatoes, and getting to know your farmers, today for the simple reason that this recipe happened, last November, because I got to know our farmers. See, my spouse spent last tomato season in Afghanistan. He missed out on eating fresh tomatoes and our daily lives [not in that order]. Sure, they fed him from May to November. But he always returns from deployments super skinny so I'm always frantically cleaning planning menus with all his favorite foods when I know he's heading home.

It was with this mindset that I asked our farmers in early November if they had a spare tomato. I'd canned all the ones from my garden, and we'd had oh, easily 12+ weeks of various ripe tomato varieties in the farm share. I'm sure most folks were more enthused about the prospect of a sweet potato. But I wanted to make my spouse a tomato sandwich, so I emailed our farmers with the request.  You may, if you love local tomatoes, understand the sheer delight when my newly-returned spouse and I went to pick up our farm share and Farmer Josh disappeared for a moment then returned with not one but 4 gorgeous heirloom tomatoes.  Swoon! In addition to that sandwich I had enough for this tart--double points for a rich tart that's one of my spouse's favorite tomato dishes.

Get to know a farmer.  It's so worth it.

Red, White & Blue Muffins {Muffin Monday}

Roasted beets and strawberry jam provide the red, while white chocolate chips and blueberries round out the trio for a festively-colored and tasty snack

It always bugs me, as someone who thinks local produce tastes better than stuff trucked in from Off, to see Red, White and Blue recipes using fresh strawberries alongside fresh raspberries and fresh blueberries.  Why?  Wherever I've lived, those berries are not simultaneously in season.  Late spring is the time of the strawberry, and the raspberries and blueberries come along later in Summer.  If I'm going to combine berries, I'll need to use some that are put up (by freezing or by jammin') so that I can get the best flavor.

Beets are one of the vegetables that we don't devour within days of getting them in the farm share [beet greens, however, I adore and gobble up ASAP]. Beets are long-storing, though, and freeze beautifully after roasting, so in the winter I'll often grab a bag of roasted beets out to thaw and then decide what to do with them. 

Adding roasted beets to muffin batter makes a naturally vibrant result [even in savory form]. I wanted to make a colorful muffin so a beet base seemed like a good way to start. Strawberry jam for summer flavor, plus blueberries and white chocolate chips, make this muffin on the sweet side for my baking--but with only ¼ cup sugar it's still a snack I'm jiggy with feeding my kids.

For other recipes using beets, please see my Beet Recipes Collection. For other recipes using blueberries, please see my Blueberry Recipes Collection. These collections are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient. After typing so much to give you A Peek into My Process I'm going to jump right to the recipe.

Strawberry Lemon Bisquick Snack Cake and A Peek Into My Process

A light strawberry lemon snack cake, fast and easy to make and delicious warm or chilled

Warning:  This is a long post.  But there's cake at the end, so I think it's worth it. 

"Cake makes everything worth it." (Meghan McCarthy)

Apparently I'm continuing last week's trend of writing lots and lots and then sticking a recipe at the end.  Instead of teaching you about nurturing your garden soil, this week I'm giving you A Peek Into My Process.  Blame Meghan for all this--she roped me into it by asking me to answer the following questions.  She wanted me to tag other bloggers to keep the chain going but I'm a chain letter breaker.  So--if you'd like to answer these 4 questions, please comment and I'd be delighted to link to your writing process post.  Let's get this over with.

• What am I working on/what am I writing?
• How does my work/writing differ from others of its genre?
• Why do I write what I do?
• How does my writing process work?

Old school--writing on paper, scheduling on paper, losing countless papers.

#1.  Well, I'm working on this, obviously. I'm also weeding, putting up strawberries, decluttering the house and clearing through nearly 500 emails that piled up over the past months (so many good blogs to visit) in between handing off my computer to the kids so they can work on summer online classes,  enjoying movies with popcorn (no kids with braces!) and 3 day weekends with my spouse. What am I writing?  See #4.

Blogging while on vacation--that's dedication, folks.

#2. This one is easy.  More cowbell Pizza! When I first found other CSA bloggers, the primary thing  I noticed was that they shared photos of their farm share boxes (which appeals to the voyeur in me) and talked about how they used the items that week.  That's inspirational, but I was looking to provide more practical support for local eating. Inspiration's great if you've got the skill set to run with it, but some practical support helps you to succeed.

I see this with my kids all the time.  Setting them up for success with appropriate supports results in far better outcomes than just telling them to wing it.  In the kitchen and in life. Once you have a foundation--then wing away, baby, wing away.

I feel what sets my blog ever-so-slightly apart is that while I'm showing you how to use the farm share produce via my recipes, I'm also showing you how I put up the produce we can't consume right away, how I use that in the off season, and I'm helping you find ideas for other produce via my recipe index.  Indexes.
And every once in a while I'll show you what's in my box, too.

Ah, one of my favorite meals--and one of my favorite posts.

 #3. I believe every dollar you spend is a vote for what matters to you.  I choose to spend money on local small businesses producing food in a way that nourishes the environment. Over the years I've learned that a lot of folks agree with me--but while it's a lovely idea to get a farm share, the reality of eating this way can be very hard to adapt in your kitchen.  This is why I write this blog.  I want to help everyone who desires to eat locally to succeed, so I provide recipes using seasonal ingredients, storage tips for off season eating, and a recipe index to help you figure out what to do with the contents of your crisper.

#4.  This is the long answer. Let's look at that cake to remind us why we're sticking with it.

Since we eat seasonally, even though I just grilled up the last of the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve [butternut squash are particularly long-storing] I won't post that recipe until Fall.  But the photos have been taken, uploaded, and indexed so I can find them when I need them.

In a perfect world the spouse would edit the photos to make them pretty, but apparently I'll "never learn to do this until [I] just do it" (the whole Worlds Collide thing) so I am painstakingly--with a blunt object instead of a surgical scalpel--doing this myself.  I know I want a horizontal/landscape photo at the top because I think most food looks best this way and for Food Frenzy Digest to pull, plus a square photo for the food porn websites when I remember to submit, plus a vertical/portrait shot that I can add a title to for Pinterest. When I photograph the food I take a variety of images to get all bases covered.  But this post is supposed to be all about writing. Ahem.

I also jot down the recipe notes, hopefully in a notebook but sometimes on a sticky note or on my FB page, so that when I go to write the post I've got the recipe info.  Otherwise it's back to the kitchen, and if it's a seasonal item I sometimes have to wait a year. Best just to jot down as I go.

Often, while I am cooking, I will think about what I want to say in the post.  When I've got ideas flowing it works best to sit down and write them out.  This post just poured out of me while the pizza was baking. If the words don't come, I move on to something else. With 50 posts in some form of the publishing process [they've got at least 1 of the 3: recipe, photos, or headnotes entered in the computer] as well as more in the notebooks, I don't need to force it, I just pick something else.

where I was writing this post--on the porch, with Vincent as a lap dog desk, Simon and Wee Oliver Picklepants on lookout

Thanks for taking a peek into my process--it was fun reflecting and ruminating on this post.
Let's have some cake, shall we?