Its A Beautiful Morning!

Today has been the nicest day. It started off freezing cold - like, 32 degrees or something insane like that - but it warmed up very quickly. By the time we made it downtown to the Charleston Farmer's Market I was peeling off layers and wondering if we had over dressed. (One look at Liam confirmed that may have been true. Fleece pants? Check. Fleece vest? Check. Fleece jacket. Oh yeah, we had that too! Altogether too much fleece on one tiny body? Double check!)

We did a little Christmas shopping and then a little produce shopping and then the boys ran around while Wes waited in line for yummy crepes. Mmmm.

Aaannndddd, there may have been some donuts. I'm just saying.

Donuts aside, we got some yummy delicious, nutritious stuff for the week.

Arugula, grape tomatoes, butternut squash, bell peppers, garlic, apples, and new potatoes. That is (almost) all the produce I need for the week and it only totaled $21. For locally grown, chemical free produce. I love the Farmer's Market! I am sad that it will be closing soon, but that just means we are getting closer to another exciting food development. I signed us up for a CSA share that begins the first of January and I am SO excited about it. In case you don't know what that is - and I realize that most people do, but humor me - I will briefly explain. CSA stands for community supported agriculture. Basically, you pay a certain amount to a local farmer and you literally get a share of his harvest each week. What I paid for 12 weeks worth of produce from Ambrose Farms' CSA is such a deal I can hardly believe it! The only downside to CSAs (if you can call it a downside) is that you have no say over what comes in your bag each week. It is completely dependent upon what is in season and what the farmer harvests that particular week.

Now, last year even, that concept was enough to scare me away. I had no desire to cook a bunch of crazy vegetables that I had never tried before. But my mind has changed for 2 reasons. First, after having been vegetarian for a while now I am now used to cooking with formerly unfamiliar vegetables. Case in point....

Acorn squash stuffed with quinoa, Brussels sprouts, and chickpeas with a balsamic vinegar and maple syrup based dressing. Oh. My. Word. Delicious! Even Wes thinks so.

My second reason for not being afraid of the CSA is because of my new commitment to eating produce that is grown locally and in season. No more strawberries in the middle of winter for $6.99 a tub. No tomato sandwiches until next summer. Even though there are things that I miss when eating seasonally, it is still worth it. The taste of food that has not been frozen and shipped half way around the world is unbeatable. So this winter it will be a lot of root vegetables and dark leafy greens for us. And probably some other things I will have to be adventurous with. I say bring it on! We are on a veggie adventure.

And, for the rest of tonight, we are on the adventure of rearranging furniture in our living room. After leaving Wes with the boys - and 2 of their friends - while I went to see Footloose this afternoon, I am seriously testing the limits of his marital vows! Wish me luck!