Maple Creek Farm Share ~ Week 12

Week 12 Looks Good!  I've already chopped the peppers for freezing, made pesto out of the lemon basil and chopped and frozen the cilantro in one of those little frozen herb cube trays from Trader Joes.

It was a nice surprise to get some apples today and the Swiss Chard looks absolutely gorgeous.  I treated those watermelons like crystal because the last time we got them I split one open by accident by setting it on the counter (the sign of a truly ripe melon).

I must admit I was happy to not get any green beans.  They tasted really good, but it is not my favorite vegetable and I will be happy to something else as a side for the coming week.

The zucchini is piling up and I must do something with it soon.  I don't have problems thinking of things to do with all my zucchini, I have problems finding the time to do something with it.  Feels like just can't find enough time the last couple of weeks.

Maple Creek Farm Share ~ Week 11

Wow, is the only word I can use to describe this week's share!  Look at all of that goodness!  Melons, tomatoes, onions, squash, green beans, corn, peppers, kohlrabi (yeah!), basil and cabbages.  And don't they all look gorgeous!?!



The kids are back at school, and although I love them to pieces, I was very excited to pick up the share without them because their job was to pick out our share of tomatoes and they always liked to find the smallest ones they could.  It was nice to have the freedom to choose my own size tomatoes this week!

The tomatoes alone make this week's share worth the money we spent on the share.  Last weekend at Whole Foods my husband saw an old heirloom tomato that he wanted to try.  At $3.99/lb that one tomato cost us about $7!

I hope you are all enjoying the bounty of the season as well!  Guten Appetit!

Share Roundup, Week 8, 9 & 10

August has gone so fast.  I haven't forgotten about taking my share pictures, I just haven't gotten around to posting them.  Here are the pictures from the last three weeks.  Week 8's picture is a little weak because I was in Traverse City  and my husband picked up the share and took the picture with his Blackberry.

Week 8




Week 9




Week 10

Trying some Grain Free Alternatives

The more I read about grains and specifically wheat.  The more I am convinced that our family should limit the consumption of them whether they are whole, sprouted, soaked, etc.  While I think that we can get by pretty well on meat, veggies, fruits and dairy, I would still like to have the option of making a muffin or a pancake for the kids every so often.  And I should say with the exception of the few cavities our family has, we are not suffering any ill-health affects because of our consumption of grains, so if the kids have a cupcake or some corn chips at a birthday party, I really don't care.  I just feel that in the long-term minimizing our consumption of them is best for our family.

For that reason, I recently ordered some books and alternative flours to help us on our grain reduction journey.

Grain-free Books:
Almond Flour Cookbook
Cooking with Coconut Flour
Everyday Grain-free Gourmet
Eat Well Feel Well (this one follows the Specific Carbohydrate Diet Recommendations for people trying to heal their gut based on the book Breaking the Vicious Cycle)

Grain-free Flour:
Coconut Flour
Almond Flour (it is bleached, but I emailed the company to see how they bleach it and they remove the Almond skins by quickly steaming them.)

There are other grain-free flour options available, but I choose these two because they had cookbook accompaniments I could use to guide me as I start cooking with them.  I should also say that I only bought these to use occasionally.  I wonder what would happen if we all started consuming as much almond and coconut flour as we do wheat, I can imagine that too much of these flours could be bad too...but that is just a guess.

I got the books a couple of weeks ago, but today the flours arrived:





I am super excited to try these alternative flours and look forward to sharing the results here.  The only problem is I am heading up to beautiful Traverse City next week and won't be have the time to try them until I get back.  Adios Amigos!