I've been absent here for quite awhile. While I have been busily working on and contributing to Tend Magazine, I have been more quiet here and about our daily life. To be honest, the past year+ has been tough on us, as we went from specialist to specialist for my oldest son - hoping to finally find out what has been making him so sick. For years and years he has had all of these symptoms that are not explained by his severe food allergies. And of course every annual check-up he had never coincided with a time that he had an episode so nobody knew what I was talking about - until last spring. So we trekked from endocrinologist to gastroenterologist to immunologist to gastroenterologist to autonomic nervous system specialist and back. Last October we had a lucky hit when an allergist ran a test he has never seen a positive for - and it came back positive. That helped get us referred to Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, and in April we visited Mayo for four days for more tests. And we got answers. My 12 year old was diagnosed with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) which explains so, so much. So we have been head down driving forward with this for so long, and now we are coming out of the laser focus into the reality of managing things for him day to day. And in the midst of all of this, I was diagnosed with more than one autoimmune disease. I am aware the stress of all of the severe food allergies and health stuff that has been going on with my son has contributed to my own health, no matter how organic and healthy I eat. I laughed when I was told to eliminate stress  - any food allergy parent knows it all requires 24/7 attention and diligence. But we pulled our family even closer together, tightened our focus on reducing exposure to A's allergies and triggers in his daily life, and have been managing this all as we go, enjoying life and yes, thriving.

And I find myself here now in July of 2015. !?!?! We moved into a beautiful new green built home two months ago. We still live in the Madison area, just in a small outlying town atop a hill with views of rolling hills, fields, and prairie grasses as far as the eyes can see. We have more space, more light, more quiet. We have a community garden plot in our new town. We have an art space with giant windows in the basement. We have room to create an apartment downstairs for my sons as they get older. We have a brand new (very large!!!) yard and garden to start from scratch. We have new small towns to visit, trails to wander, and country roads to explore, windows down and music blasting. 

We are working with the specialists at Mayo to learn everything we need to know to help my son feel better -  we have seen some improvement for him already -  and we will continue to work on figuring it out and tweaking our life. And while I've been gardening, cooking, writing, photographing, and creating, it has been more confined to Instagram and Tend Magazine  - but as we get into our new home, our new town, our new routines, and our new normal, I'm feeling like sharing more again, so I think it is time to return to this space. Here is to a fantastic second half of 2015. xo

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"I'd made it this far and refused to 
give up because all my life
I had always finished the race."
-Louis Zamperini
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More on MCAS:
CNN feature on MCAS
Mast Cell Disease 
MCAS @ National Institute of Health
MCAD

Kirsten shows you how you can make delicious fermented snacks from revived ferments you already have your fridge!

Kimberly has some amazing recipes using dandelions (dandelion mint chimichurri!!!) ! These dandelion recipes are delicious and healthy, giving that punch of flavor and vibrancy from the garden after a long winter. 

Debbie has an easy to make DIY homemade deodorant - without the chemicals of the store bought brands.

Evie has a trio of custards which just scream spring.

And I have contributed many recipes for DIY natural home cleaning products (room spray, diy dryer sheets, tub scrub, counter cleaner, carpet fresh and MORE),  cleaning and refreshing indoor air after a long winter, and using scraps to make liquid gold.

And that is just my section! This issue is 182 pages (more like a book!) of spring goodness and healthy home from many awesome contributors (like Heather, Debbie, Joanna, Laura, and even an interview with Teri!). We have new contributors and guest spots every issue, and so I look forward to the magazine as much as anyone! ;)

Tend Magazine is a digital magazine which you can download to your computer and/or device and read at your leisure, as well as refer back to whenever you want to try a recipe or pattern!

Click here to use code QALV21 for 20% off of the Spring 2015 issue of Tend - for one week only!

Be sure to head over to the Tend Magazine website to see all of the sneak peeks Debbie has posted - and a few freebie recipes will be posted over the next few weeks as well! 

And here is a 20% discount code for you which is good until December 22:  

DCWIN20 

VISIT Tend Magazine>> {Tend Magazine Winter 2014}
* * *
Happy Winter!

Top to bottom:: blueberries (over 20# this week), blueberries in the dehydrator for granola all winter long, blueberry-coconut water sorbet with orange blossom water, smoothies (peaches, blueberries, cherries, banana, spirulina, coconut water), gathering herbs to dry from the garden, spiralized cucumbers for making miso fermented pickles, tomato season has arrived, gluten free/dairy free blueberry upside down cake (a blueberry adapted version of this recipe), and blueberry mostarda. 

Blueberries is my theme for the week. Ha! We try to get things in season in bulk whenever we can, and then preserve enough in many ways to last the winter, of course. This week we froze a lot, dried a lot, made cake, mostarda, and a few other things. I try to freeze and dry enough fruit to last us all winter. We make smoothies all the time, plus dried fruit is amazing in homemade granola/granola bars. As for the mostarda, well, none of us really likes jam or jelly. Too sweet. We don't eat bread. So no need to make it. But, mostarda is amazing. I make tweaked versions of mostarda. Usually it is big whole fruit which is sweet and twangy and savory all at once. I like it more like a compote mustard texture. It has the flavor of the fruit, a lot of mustard seeds, the richness of the vinegar (in this I used raspberry balsamic), and isn't too sweet. I usually make several kinds to last us through winter - blueberry, peach, white currant. 

Tomato season is here finally as well. Time to dry a bunch, roast a lot, make salsa to freeze (I like the freshness of frozen salsa more than canned), and later, sauce. We don't use that much sauce these days, so I prefer drying and salsa the most. Cucumbers are here too. This is another one we use differently. We are not huge fans of pickles. Just regular pickles. We make a few bags of freezer pickles every year, plus a few jars of lacto fermented garlic pickles, but overall I like relishes and unusual flavors better. This week I made miso fermented refrigerator pickles. Almost ready to crack them open for a taste!

Door County Cherries should be in soon, so I will have more fruit after this batch. And we will be up to our noses in tomatoes. 


How about you? What has been happening in your kitchen this week?


Be sure to visit Heather at Beauty that Moves for all of the Blog Hop-ees.

August!!! My favorite thing about August is usually that September is not far behind. I love fall the most of all. But I must give August some credit where it is due, as it is also the month where all of the bigger storage and preserving fruit and veggies really start arriving!

CSA Week 9:: salad mix, green beans, peppers, carrots, fresh garlic, summer squash, torpedo onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, cilantro, melon, blueberries. 

U-Pick:: flowers, parsley, thyme, sage, mint, peppers.

Capturing my love of whole foods, combined with the activity of a bustling kitchen.

A weekly collection of photos from the center of my home. 

*     *     *     *     *

top to bottom:: indigo apple tomato, white currant harvest, tomatoes ripening on the windowsill (chipmunk thwarting), collecting seeds for drying (dill, coriander, mustard), brining lovage seeds to make pickles, turkey taco salad with fresh salsa, stock making from all the veggie and herb tops/stems this week, lovage seeds drying, everything salad.

We traveled a bit last weekend so I spent many mealtimes cooking in the tiny hotel kitchen. In my experience, the closer to a big city you get, the more non-functional the "full kitchen" is (no matter how expensive), so we always take enough options so that we can feed my allergy boy no matter how simple the tools. I also always plot the nearest food co-op/Whole Foods types of places too, so we were within 10 miles of two WF's and were able to grab a few extra things for him that could be heated in the microwave, as the "full kitchen" didn't contain an oven or a toaster. Traveling in a more congested area can be tough food-wise also, as we base our hotel requirements on specifications that dictate where we can stay and it usually isn't close to the things we are traveling to see. That can mean the hotel is not easy to get to for lunch or snacks mid-day, so we always pack a full cooler with ice packs plus a wide variety of snacks and drinks so that we are still OK if we don't really want to do a 40 minute drive to get 15 miles back to the hotel. That means we can also just stop and eat anywhere, and so we snacked in the foyer of Fermilab (very cool), had lunch outside a beautiful nature center, and had a close at hand palate cleanser after my boy tasted every single balsamic vinegar and olive oil in the gourmet food store and max'd out his taste buds. {He selected a great aged raspberry balsamic, honey-ginger balsamic, a vivid green intense peppery spanish olive oil, and a fantastic olive oil which was pressed with blood orange rind -- yum!!!}

After our trip we have been playing catch up, so we have been collecting the first tomatoes (early so the chipmunk doesn't get them), harvesting seeds to dry and use for seasoning blends, collecting herbs for all of the pickles I am behind on, and filling the dehydrator daily to catch back up on all of my tea and culinary herbs for the winter. Playing a bit of catch up with the CSA share as well. I pulled out an extra table to stack all of my overflow of veggies I need to freeze/can/pickle/make. And with the hot sunshine returning, I am making a few rounds of coconut water sorbet and popsicles with the last of my strawberries, first of my red raspberries,  and the finally in season blueberries!  Yum. 

What have you been making?

Be sure to visit Heather at Beauty that Moves to see everyone in the blog hop!

We had a very busy week, with appointments for A and doing some weekend travel to visit Fermilab and other fun spots. CSA day always seems to reign me in no matter how busy we have been, and give me a sense of summer ticking away, pickup day by pickup day. 

CSA Week 8 (8!!!):: cilantro, cucumbers, zucchini, blueberries, green beans, onions, beets, carrots, tomatoes, green peppers, eggplant, lettuce, and garlic. I skipped the fennel, as it is not very popular in this house.

U-Pick:: hot peppers, oregano, parsley, mint, sage, thyme, and, of course, flowers. 

It is almost August! Time flies. In no time at all we will be overloaded with tomatoes and corn, and not long after winter squash and root vegetables. Week by week, ticking through summer. 

What is in season where you live?

Capturing my love of whole foods, combined with the activity of a bustling kitchen.

A weekly collection of photos from the center of my home. 

*     *     *     *     *

top to bottom: dried peaches from the dehydrator, chicken enchiladas with sauce and daiya dairy free cheese, on the grill, chicken salad with the last of the pickled radish pods, tomato/cucumber/blueberry salad, green beans roasted with grilled spring onions and garlic scapes, grilled peaches with molasses and coconut manna, picking fresh herbs from the garden to dry for tea, garden white currants, peach bbq sauce done, ingredients, and a few pics from the CSA this week (all now packed into my fridge and coolers). 

One thing I love about this weekly blog hop is the recording of moments in the kitchen, because this time of year I often feel like I've been working non-stop and can't remember what I have made, or feel like I DIDN'T GET ANYTHING DONE. It is nice to have too many photos to post here, and have to sort and pick just a few. It makes me feel like I did make it through quite a bit of garden, CSA, or farmstand. That we ate well. Even though we had other appointments, or played at the park every evening, or went to the library more times than usual. That I'm *not quite* as behind as it always feels when the garden is going gangbusters. There is always more to do, more to dry, more to harvest, more canning, more freezing. The fridge is packed, the coolers are full, the counter has bowls of just picked something or other. Summer is abundant and full. I love seeing the freezer fill, the pantry packed, and the cycle repeating. xo 

Be sure to visit Heather at Beauty That Moves to see inside kitchens today!

I love when we move from lettuces and onions into the full onslaught of summer vegetables. Not just one type of flavor anymore, and the possibilities are endless. This week I see caponata, veggie skewers and tzatziki. PIckled fennel and spiralized carrots in a ginger glaze. And fresh herbs on everything. 

CSA Week 7: torpedo onions, cucumbers, lettuce, swiss chard, pepper, 2 tomatoes (first of the year!), garlic, fennel, green beans, carrots, zucchini, eggplant.

U-Pick: sage, thyme, mint, basil, dill, parsley, and of course u-pick flowers. This week I went for orange and deep plum colors together. Love it!

This week I had to water the garden (for the first time in months) as it dried out and heated up here. My flowers are all finally blooming, peas are still going strong, herbs are flowering and I've been harvesting and drying them. Squash are growing well (up my tree), tomatoes are big but just not ripe yet. Raspberries are starting to ripen, the blackberries are almost there as well, and my currants are very very ripe (I'm just thinking I might need a mumu with a full body net for mosquito protection after giving up a few days back). My first flying peas have been harvested, and the dwarf sunflowers are close! All good. 

What is in season where you live?

top to bottom: peach-ginger fruit leather {base recipe}, cherries, peaches, borage flowers, purple peas make blue water, strawberries + rhubarb, herb infused water {here}, summer salad, peach mostarda making, drying herbs, fruit leather making, peach-cardamom jam (freezer jam with low sugar/only honey). 

Last weekend we zipped to a local farmstand which gets fruit in season directly from farmers all around the upper midwest (and beyond) and sells it in season. We picked up 25# of peaches. But of course immediately went out of town to Iowa to visit my (recently  discovered!) sister and her family on Sunday/Monday. On Tuesday it was cool, windy, and raining, which was perfect for catching up a bit in the garden as the mosquitoes were mostly in hiding. So that left yesterday which was also CSA day. I spent the morning making some jam, mostarda, fruit leather, and a soda syrup base (cherries, strawberries, peaches). I am halfway through the case of peaches, and chutney, freezing, and dehydrating peaches is still on my list. 

The nice thing about the cooler weather we had earlier this week is that we could roast vegetables, make soup, and run the dehydrator on the higher fruit leather temps without overheating the house. Everything has been going full blast until it heats back up in the next few days. I will surely make a few more rounds of fruit leather before it is too hot. We have more strawberries from our CSA, so I think a strawberry/peach/vanilla leather might be next. 

Be sure to visit Heather at Beauty That Moves to see everyone in the blog hop!

This week we have had a huge cool down with chilly mornings and cold rain. Today was sunny and perfect. Just right for wandering the herb rows picking, gathering flowers, and working in the kitchen. I know the heat will return, but what a treat to have cool weather in July.

CSA WEEK 6: summer crisp lettuce, green beans, strawberries, carrots, cilantro, summer squash, torpedo onions, kale, beets, fresh garlic, cucumbers

U-Pick Herbs and Extras: sage, mint, basil, oregano, thyme, green beans, dill 

And of course the flowers. I grow flowers at home too, but don't get all of the full sun so mine are always later. I love that the CSA we belong to has row after row of flowers to pick from right in front of the barn. THis week I was drawn to the lovely golds and oranges and whites. SO beautiful!

What is in season in your area? 

My entire childhood I was dairy-free. Not in the era of coconut yogurt and almond milk and vegan butter. But in the era of everything tastes like cardboard might as well skip it. I remember having horchata in Chicago once which changed my idea of milk-like drinks forever. I had a few years where I could almost tolerate certain types of dairy (if I didn't mind feeling crappy the next few days) and then I was vegan for many years. With my 11 year old it is a severe life-threatening allergy, so we are now very strict about the dairy. We try to keep it out of the house completely, as he reacts severely to even small amounts of contact. Since I didn't grow up on dairy and avoided it for decades, I don't really "miss" anything - but there are some foods I remember fondly and have re-created over the years. Tzatziki is one of those things. It reminds me of my years living in the Andersonville area in Chicago (a neighborhood full of amazing swedish, greek, and middle eastern restaurants ). This recipe is perfect in summer -and is my favorite dairy free tzatziki. It has the texture, taste, and smell. It is delicious with crisp vegetables. Drop a dollop in chilled cucumber soup. It even makes a great salad dressing. The base is cashews, which gives it a rich flavor and a protein boost.  

To make a dressing, take a few tablespoons of the tzatziki, add equal amount olive oil, and a teaspoon or two of good vinegar. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, and then mix well. It is creamy and delicious!

While I like pickles, I like finding other ways to use our abundance of cucumbers throughout the summer. I like to keep a chilled bowl of this in the fridge in season so it is always ready for a snack, with a meal, or over a salad!

Our summer schedule revolves around our CSA. We get a lot of produce from our CSA and the day must be open to rinse, package, steam, freeze, make, bake, preserve, and process each week. All meals are planned around the freshness schedule. While I grow a lot in our small urban garden it is to supplement with all of the things we don't find locally (unusual varieties, tea/culinary/medicinal herbs), is expensive locally (currants, raspberries, blackberries, rhubarb), or that we love so much we need MORE of it (celeriac, peas, beets) . Summer is marked by CSA week number. By what is in season. Strawberry time. Tomato season. I love being able to share organic gardening and visiting farms with my boys. They easily identify herbs and vegetables and fruits and wildflowers. They know when things are ripe, need pinching, and which is just the best one out of the bunch. I hope when they grow up these are the memories that stick. Warm sun, fingers that smell of basil, how to pick a borage flower without tearing it, where to cut herbs so the plant keeps growing, how to twist just right to pop that squash right off, the heady aroma of sun warmed raspberries, the sound of buzzing bees, the first gush of water out of the garden rainbarrel after a storm, and driving along country roads to the farm with windows down and music blaring.  (We'll leave swarming mosquitoes out of the nostalgic memory list)

I'm doing a catch up on my CSA's this week after my cinema display monitor decided to spend last week throwing a hissy fit. It is back to behaving after much cajoling and begging.

CSA Week 5 (above)
In our share:  summer crisp lettuce, sugar snap peas, napa cabbage, broccoli, cilantro, summer squash, pearl onions, frisee, beets, garlic scapes, cucumbers strawberries. 
U-Pick: dill, mint, oregano, parsley, thyme, sage, basil
Bought some extra: strawberries

In Our Share: dill, peas, lettuce, mesclun mix, kale, swiss chard, cabbage, romaine, pearl onions, baby bok choi, garlic scapes, cauliflower, cucumbers, squash
U-Pick: parsley, oregano, thyme, basil, dill, sage, mint, flowers

What is in your CSA box or farm share this week? Or, what is in season where you live? 

I know I have mentioned a dozen times how much I love quick easy refrigerator pickles. I can make small batches. It is fast. It is easy. I can have a nice variety of pickled things in my fridge at any given moment. I can use what I grow in my own garden NOW or whatever is excess in my weekly CSA (without hoarding mountains of produce in my kitchen until I have enough to toil sweating over a hot stove for hours to make huge batches). This pickle is using radish pods and garlic scapes. Garlic scapes are those lovely little green curly-Q's which have a mild garlic flavor. Radish pods? Well, those are the seed pods your radish plants shoot up by the flowers when they bolt. They are very tasty - they have a mild pure radish flavor, a lovely snap crunch, and look like little alien pods. Yum. I am growing a variety of radish specifically for its bigger seed pods - Rat's Tail Radish - but all radishes will do this when you let them go to seed, they will just vary in size. I love these, so I always have a few rows that I let flower. Not only are these radish flowers sometimes the earliest bloomers for my pollinators, but when our Wisconsin weather goes from frigid to boiling in a week this is what often happens. So this is what you call win-win. 

To harvest these you just pull the whole gangly plant up from the root and then pick off each little pod. Super simple. My husband and I pick 5, eat 2. They are so good raw. All you need to do once you have picked the pods off is rinse and soak in some salted cold water until you are ready with your other ingredients. 

This recipe is what I love about refrigerator pickles. The amounts are not too exact. Equal vinegar and water, enough liquid to cover the pods/scapes in the canning jars, salt/sugar/pickling spices/dill. Quick to put together. Some time in the refrigerator to get those flavors going. 

We have been eating these sprinkled over our salads, as a side with veggies or crackers, on a turkey burger, in chicken salad. Really. So good.

I love combining the flavors of interesting veggies, and this radish pod and garlic scape pickle does just that. It is different but yet still tastes like a nice crispy crunchy pickle. Delicious!

top to bottom: radish slaw fixin's, mushrooms, scallions from the garden, rat's tail radish (our new garden favorite), peas, margaritas (best when fresh picked ingredients are used!), strawberry ginger syrup in process for homemade soda, crispy sage leaves with coconut aminos, and our home roasted coffee beans.

In the summer there is so much making. So I thought this week I would focus on ingredients and didn't take many meal shots. There has been so much rain rain rain that there are now swarms of mosquitoes. So garden excursions are quick and involve a lot of smacking and waving. But so much is ready every day that it is worth it. I think. This week will involve a lot of weeding and pickling, I think. We are loving the rat's tail radishes this year. With the sudden heat blast not long ago a lot of our other radishes bolted and I let them flower for pollinators. But the rat's tails are perfect no matter the temps and the perfect crisp radish flavor with the pea texture is fantastic.  I know they could get a bit bigger, but I was impatient and we are eating even more of them today. I'm definitely planting a lot more of those!


Be sure to visit Heather at Beauty that Moves for all of those in the blog hop this week!

We are getting into the groove of our weekly CSA again. It feels good to chat with the people in line - the question is always WHAT DO I DO WITH THIS? Give a few ideas, chit chat. G is the boss of the CSA line. He selects each item out of every bin to be sure he has the exact one he wants - I only get to be the bag holder - while A visits the chicken coop. We then grab scissors from the rack and walk out to the herb field. Later in the season we will have veggies to pick too, but this time of year we pick some chives, oregano, sage, thyme, basil, dill, mint. I grow a lot of variety in my garden, but with such a small space that isn't full sun, many of the more mediterranean heat loving herbs don't do so well, so having a CSA which has fields to pick from is wonderful. That saves my pot real estate for unusual varieties that I cannot find anywhere else - like my holy basil or pineapple sage. After filling our bag with what we will use this week, we wander back to the car and the short but beautiful rural drive home. Having a CSA makes us conscious of our time every Wednesday. It will take awhile to process everything - rinse, cut, bag, store. What to make for dinner now, what to put away for the rest of the week. What can go right into the dehydrator. Love it.

in our share this week: summer crisp lettuce, sugar snap peas, kale, broccoli, cilantro, summer squash, scallions, hakurai turnips, salad mix, garlic scapes, spinach. u-pick mint, dill, basil, oregano, thyme, chives, sage.




What is in your farm share this week, or in season locally where you live?

Capturing my love of whole foods, combined with the activity of a bustling kitchen.

A weekly collection of photos from the center of my home. 

*     *     *     *     *

top to bottom: dairy free cardamom panna cotta with roasted rhubarb topping |  A & his exotic fruit | rhubarb roasted with red wine, hibiscus tea, lemon peel, and ginger | chicken burger over greens with grilled zucchini | salad (we will be eating a lot more salad this week - checkout our CSA box) | grilled asparagus and radicchio with salmon burger | grilling veggies | sauteed figs in red wine reduction with local sheep milk cheese (a treat for my husband, away from allergy boy) | G

This was a busy kitchen week, but I remembered to take a few pics. We had a new grocer open (a big deal in that we have been waiting for it for 10 years - now we can walk to a store) so we had a grand opening last week for the neighborhood, plus a few jaunts over to check out what they have. A has been buying a new exotic fruit each trip because he decided he wants to check out the inside of every single one. We had a neighborhood Farmers' Market visit. Our CSA started. The garden is going gangbusters. From now to November my kitchen will be overflowing and I will have that (GO GO GO GO) always in the back of my mind.  GO! The dehydrator is full, the fridge is packed with so many leafy greens I cannot find anything. Ahhh, summer.

Be sure to visit Heather at Beauty That Moves for all in the blog hop!

I know! I missed week 1! In all our decade+ of having CSA shares this was the first pickup we have ever missed. When we  had to choose between CSA pickup and time away for that whirlwind 50 hour Minneapolis trip...the choice was easy.  We have only a few short months in summer when my husband has a somewhat normal work schedule and when September gets here he will burrow away and we won't see him much until the holiday break! So, we missed our pickup. Our CSA farm donated our share last week to the local food pantry, so I feel better knowing someone got some organic goodness last week. So this week we were particularly enthusiastic about going to get our weekly share.

For those of you outside of the US, CSA means Community Supported Agriculture, and it is basically where you buy a "share" of a whole growing season of produce from a local farm. This means that each week we get our "share" of produce. Some CSA models have urban dropoff locations - places to get your box right in town from someone who hosts a pick up spot. We have always preferred on farm pick up, and living at the edge of the city makes that convenient for us. My boys get to visit a farm each week, we get to know our farmer, and we have freshly picked organic produce from June to November. The CSA farm we have now is wonderful, and we have been with them for several years.  When I say I love our CSA, I am not exaggerating! Seriously. Love.

So today was comfort and routine and everything good about summer. Both boys were so happy to carry the bags, load up one of this, one of this, 10 of this, 2 of this. They chatted with people. They visited the chickens. We went to the u-pick herb field area to pick some fresh herbs for use throughout the week. Everything was green and smelled of mud.

If you have followed my previous blogs or instagram feed you know that I love to post my CSA share each week for the whole season. I also love to post in season recipes from what is in season and that is most likely in your box or market stand. I also  would love to hear what you have in season in your area if you have a CSA share, farm box, or buy from local farm stands or markets! 

CSA Box 2: head lettuces, green curly kale, spinach, sugar snap peas, radishes, pea shoots, scallions, hakurai turnips, salad mix, garlic scapes (garlic scape pesto or lacto-fermented garlic scapes), honey

U-Pick: mint, thyme, dill, sage, chives

This is when I start to feel that hum - when the CSA and garden are going strong and spare moments are spent picking or weeding or preserving. Thank you, June.

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Do you have a CSA share/farm box? What is in season in your area right now?

Capturing my love of whole foods, combined with the activity of a bustling kitchen.

A weekly collection of photos from the center of my home. 

*     *     *     *     *

Top to bottom:: cashew hummus, roasting marshmallows, hibiscus tea, almond/cranberry/raw cacao liquor turtles, salmon burgers, strawberries ready to dunk in chocolate, tea making, hotel kitchen.

Today I am posting from a hotel room."Testing" the iPad interface for my blog app (I have never used this to post, only view stats and comments), so I apologize if it adds funny borders or makes the photos small. We shall see!

A key feature to any travel with food allergies is a hotel room with a full kitchen, and packing all snacks and meals and condiments to take along. We cannot eat in restaurants, stop for fast food, or grab a snack anywhere we go. No breakfast buffets. While it may seem very cumbersome and inconvenient to have to travel this way, it also has many benefits. Yes, we haul a lot of food and don't exactly travel "light" and can only stay where there is a kitchen, but we also eat healthier since we eat our own food (and don't stop for fast food). I've also realized how much extra money it saves us (giving us a bigger budget for other things). If we need something we find a grocery store, not go out to eat. We don't leave home for long as my allergy boy is also very sensitive to being away from our house, but we love short outings!

Be sure to visit Heather at Beauty That Moves for all blogs in the blog hop!

Ah, weekends. Winters are long here, and after half a year of cold -  just when you think that is IT you cannot do one more winter - THIS happens. An emerald land with a cobalt sky. Wisconsin wildflowers blooming in a riot of color everywhere you go. The garden. Not too hot yet, with cool breezy evenings. That is why we are here.

Hope you had a lovely weekend!
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And, of course, I couldn't forget the drawing for the Summer 2014 Tend Magazine giveaway! 

I love baking. Since two of us have had to eliminate all gluten, I tend to bake less, use the dehydrator more, and would generally just prefer to eat other foods rather than "substitute" foods. But my two that are fine with gluten and also love baked goods are so very happy when I bake.  My husband also loves to have something for his kaffeeklatsch (he works from home most days). He tends to work non-stop most of the day and leaves half of his lunch untouched on his plate up in his office. He is usually starving by mid afternoon and this helps him get along. Any gluten free goodies that I bake have to be approved and dearly loved by those that COULD eat gluten if it wasn't for us (ahem), as well as by my allergy boy.  By having a few base recipes that I can adapt to whatever fruit is seasonal in the garden means that I have something I KNOW everyone likes and that I can make easily with whatever is ready NOW. This cake is a great base. And with strawberries and rhubarb? Over the top. 

As I said, the main recipe is a great base. If you don't want to make it using strawberry/rhubarb, make everything as a stand alone cake (skip the rhubarb/strawberry steps, leave out the cinnamon, and no need to invert). My boys love it as a pound cake with a lemon glaze over the top (see above).

Now, for the GF flour mix. I really like theratio guide over at Gluten Free Girl and the Chef. It is clear and easy to remember and no matter how I mix it, it is a solid ratio and things come out great. I have used this cake recipe with several different blends of my own making as well as a few different store bought GF all purpose blends. Always good. This rich dark amazingly delicious rhubarb upside down cake was made using a blend I made that has several different GF whole grain flours including buckwheat, which is what adds to the lovely color (in addition to coconut palm sugar). So good and moist.

Now I want to go make another rhubarb upside down cake as the last one disappeared quickly. And in not too long I will have fresh raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries to add to it. Yum.

Don't forget to zip over and leave a comment on my giveaway post for a chance to win the Summer 2014 issue of Tend Magazine! Comments will close at midnight Sunday, I will announce the winner on Monday.

Capturing my love of whole foods, combined with the activity of a bustling kitchen.

A weekly collection of photos from the center of my home. 

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top to bottom: italienischer lettuce, kale egg cups over skillet GF bread, poached eggs over greens with pumpkin and sesame seeds, filling the dehydrator sheets, sweet potato buddha bowl, kale egg cups in progress, sunburn soother (for my husband who had a long business lunch outside in full sun midday and burned himself), strawberries puttering along, and where we eat our meals when the weather is dry and sunny.

This week we started eating more out of the garden. Greens and greens and greens. Radishes. Peas. Herbs. Rhubarb. Our first blackberry. Our CSA starts next Wednesday, and I am excited to return to my weekly posting of our share, plus recipes to eat in season. Ahh, I love that. We have the best farm for our CSA too, and we all always enjoy seeing everyone each week and chatting a bit to catch up.  I can't believe it has been 7 months since CSA season ended - we must pack the most we can in between June and October! I love the season of eating from our garden, CSA, and local farmstands. 

Oh, and I am having a giveaway! Visit my post from yesterday and leave a comment for a chance to win a Summer 2014 issue of Tend Magazine. I have several great summer food & herbal recipes in this issue, including the sun soother spray. So go enter!  I need more comments! :)


Be sure to visit Heather at Beauty That Moves to see all in the blog hop this week!