Lovin' the CSA Life!

Everyone been enjoying the amazingly beautiful Spring weather??? I know it dipped a lil' chilly the past few days, but from what the weather man says we're heading back for more 70 degree days soon. YAY! That means Tyler, the  kids, and I have been busy in the yard getting it ready for lotsa summer fun. Last weekend was spent raking piles & piles of leaves and stacking enough sticks to build the 3 lil' pigs a new abode. Or enough sticks to keep our fire pit nice and stocked for a yummy s'more season. This weekend we get to stake out the garden and remove all the landscaping stones from the front yard flower beds. Sounds like too much fun to contain one's self, doesn't it?!?! {Hubsy is in 7th heaven with all the yard puttering, while I keep trying to think up clever excuses to go into the house.}

My best excuse has been the new addition to our clan: Father Dougal McGuire. He's an 8wk old beagle cockapoo mix. Born 1/30/12, and as of Monday weighing in at 6.4lbs. He is a spoiled pooch who has stolen all our hearts; most especially Tyler's. Hubsy SWORE up and down that no dog would ever be sleeping in our bed. Dogs belong on the floor, he says. They're dogs; not people, he ranted. Yeah, right! Guess where you'll find Dougal every night??? Sleeping between Tyler and I, snuggled up on Ty's arm. I'd post pix, but our lil' darling has yet to hold still long enough to capture a good photo. I'm hoping to get Dougal into my studio this weekend for his first official photo session. Yep- we've become those weirdos about our dog.

What about our CSA, you're wondering? Well, if you missed the Open House at the Monona Terrace, I feel badly for you. It was amazing. The kids had a blast getting faces painted, playing games, and sampling yummy recipes from the CSA cookbook. Tyler and I were overwhelmed by all the fantastic farm choices. There were so many farms we wanted to join, but we could only pick one. We settled on JenEhr Farm out of Sun Prairie, thanks to the help of Sarah. She was fabulous at answering all our questions and even gave us a welcome bag full of tasty goodies from the farm. It had spinach, celeriac, a Black Spanish radish {also known as a winter radish}, and garlic in it. Thanks to the CSA cookbook we purchased that day, we had feasted on the whole bag for dinner that night.

We also visited JenEhr this past Sunday for Spinach Days. Farmer Paul gave us a great tour of the farm and we got to pick up more yummy veggies, as well as some chicken. The kids were thrilled to eat a whole Sunday dinner directly from their farm. And, they ate everything...yep, my picky eaters ate everything...even the stuff they deemed weird. The 3 lil' ones can hardly wait to start getting our weekly boxes. I'm excited that our farm offers strawberries and blueberries, too. It's gonna be a great summer of gourmet eating around here!

Here are a few of our favorite recipes thus far from our CSA adventure:
Mashed Potatoes and Celeriac 
1 good sized celeriac bulb, peeled and cut into chunks
1lb potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
4 cloves of garlic, peeled
1/2c heavy cream, buttermilk, or 1/2 & 1/2
4tbsp. butter
salt and pepper to taste
Combine the celeriac and potato chunks into a pot, along with the garlic, and fill it with water until the veggies are just covered. Bring to a boil, until celeriac and potatoes are just tender. Drain, and return veggies to the pot. Add in the cream, butter, salt & pepper, and mash.

Spanish Radish and Carrot Salad
1 good sized Black Spanish radish, peeled
4 whole carrots, peeled
8oz. feta cheese
1/4c olive oil
2-3tbsp. rice vinegar
2tbsp. dill
1tbsp. parsely
salt & pepper to taste
Shred radishes and carrots with a grater {or if you're lucky like me, your Ninja}. Toss with remaining ingredients. Chill.
*My kids ate seconds and thirds of this...which if you know them, is a HUGE shocker!!!*

Carrot Cake
3/4c. white sugar
3/4c. brown sugar
1/2c. canola oil
1/2c. coconut oil
1 snack sized container vanilla yogurt
3 large eggs
2c. all purpose unbleached flour
2tsp. ground cinnamon
1tsp. baking soda
1/2tsp. salt
3c. shredded carrots
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13x9" pan. Beat sugars, oils, and eggs until blended. Add remaining ingredients and beat, except carrots, for 1 minute. Stir in carrots shreds. Pour into pan and bake for 40-45 minutes. Cool about 1 hour and frost. {I use my secret cream cheese frosting recipe, but this cake is so sweet and moist you could even just pour a light glaze on it.}

PS- the deodorant recipe I posted works AMAZING! I will never go back to store bought again. Just as an FYI, melt your coconut oil and pour it into your dry mix slowly.