What I ate Wednesday 22

Hello again.  Well it's certainly more than 22 weeks into the year, but sometimes life gets in the way of taking pictures.  Actually I've spent most of July traveling, and it has been wonderful. I tend not to take too many pictures when we are away as a family or when I'm dining out.  (Although if you've read enough posts you know I break that rule too.)  We've had beautiful sunny hot weather lately and since I eat seasonally, for the most part, what I eat changes too.  All of the produce is locally grown except for the peaches and the blueberries are from lower Michigan (so within a 200 mile radius from Appleton). 

Breakfast: Buckwheat protein pancake, fruit, green juice and of course coffee.  

I love maple syrup and I was really craving it yesterday.  I whipped up a batch of this giant pancake, added some natural peanut butter and maple syrup and topped it with local berries.  We're on to raspberry season and blueberries and of course peaches.  The peaches aren't really local, but they are seasonal from Tree Ripe Citrus and so delicious. 

Lunch: Quinoa, tomato, cucumber and feta salad and cherry gazpacho.  

This cold salad and cold cherry soup are great on a hot day.  The cherries are from my favorite farm stand in Door County, Schartner's.  

Dinner: Roasted salmon with current sauce, salad from our garden and cherry tomatoes.  

This was my first time using fresh black currants which I picked up from our Saturday market.  The sauce/vinaigrette is a simple combination of chopped red onions, 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, a pinch of salt and sugar, 2 T olive oil and 1 cup of fresh black currants or thawed frozen currants.  

Dessert (not pictured): A slice of cherry pie from Schartner's market.  Karen Schartner makes great pies so I always pick up a small one when I can.  

Bon Appétit!

And as always with love from the Midwest,

Beth 

There's Still Time

I love flowers.  I can't get enough of them. 

Hello readers.  You may be asking there's still time for what?  The answer is to enjoy the summer and get outside.  Recently my husband and I were talking about how we as a nation need to get outside and put away our technology.  

There have been many articles stating the benefits of fresh air and green space.  However for me I came up with a short list of why I like to get outside.  Here they are:

• I feel better when I spend sometime outside.  This could be only 15 minutes, but it really does help.  I won't lie though the more time out the better for me.  It does wonders for my body, mind and spirit.
• If I'm outside without my phone I have time to think.
• I love to hear the sounds of nature.  Recently I had the opportunity to listen to the night sounds of nature and morning sounds.  It is so different, the insects, birds and then no sound at all.

A view from my morning run in Door County this last Monday. 

There are plenty of ways to sneak in a little or a lot of time outdoors.  It doesn't have to be all at once if that isn't always your thing.  A couple of ideas include:

• cook - light the grill and maybe do a whole meal outdoors if you can
• read a book 
• knit
• stargaze 
• paint or sketch 
• have a picnic or eat a meal outside
• play with a child or a pet
• exercise - walk or run with a friend or do yoga or lift some weights in the grass
• hang laundry outside
• go for a hike 
• simply sit and do nothing and enjoy

Picnic in the park.  Pasta salad, water and kombucha

I hope this list encourages you to enjoy the summer weather and spend a bit more time outside.

As always with love from the Midwest,

Beth 

Vacation

I love my summer vacation in Florida.  We are so blessed to be able to enjoy my in-laws home for 10 days in the warm summer. Actually summer on the Florida beaches is wonderful.  It's hot, but that's what I want after our cool June and very cold winter.  Also there aren't a lot of people so it's easy to get somewhere or go out to dinner or lunch.  There's also a laid back attitude which I so need and love.  I thought I'd just share a few of our pictures from this year's vacation.

I love how the scenery changes all the time at the beach. One day can be perfect and the next have a roll cloud coming in. There was a torrential downpour that day.  

I feel so lucky when I get to see the sunrise and I don't even set an alarm to get up and take a run.  

It's always fun to see the wildlife.  Our first morning we had this river otter scratching itself on the deck.  It  was so cute.

We did do some other things than sitting on the beach.  The Sarasota farmers' market is a fun Saturday activity.  The food is good and all the dogs are too cute.

The Grad Prix boat races are always around the 4th of July.  Our favorite restaurant for lunch, The Old Salty Dog, has great viewing for the boats going in and out of the Gulf.

Of course just sitting back and reading is always a great way to spend our day. 

Of course the food is always good to.  One day my middle daughter and I went to The Pride of the South for a BBQ lunch, brisket, collards and fried green tomatoes.  I was so full. 

Last day breakfast.  I know it's a little strange, but I had fresh crab from the day before and an almond croissant from C'est La Vie bakery.  Delish!

I hope you are able to get some relaxing time this summer.  

As always with love from the Midwest,

Beth 

What I ate Wednesday 21

Well another week has flown by.  I came inside just  as a huge Midwest thunderstorm came along to write this post.  As much as I love the summer sun it is good to have some rain so I can get somethings done. I've really been enjoying all of the fresh market produce; I think the only supermarket produce we have at the moment are a few avocados for my girls who are hooked on them. I like to see how many weeks I can go without grocery store produce, the longer the better.  

Breakfast: Soft-boiled egg, 2 slices of homemade sourdough bread topped with ricotta and apricot jelly, a peach from the peach truck, strawberries and coffee of course.  

Lunch: Lightly cooked zoodles, cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes and sardines.  A lot of our farmers have been using hot houses to extend the growing season here.  I'm very happy with that.  I also love sardines; they add so many good things to a meal.

Dinner: Pasta with oven roasted shrimp, snap peas, spinach and fresh herbs. Wine to drink of course. I made my husband fettuccine Alfredo (He's not a fan of shrimp.)

Dessert (not pictured) vanilla ice cream with a bit of hot fudge from our ice cream social/graduation party for my middle daughter.

I hope you had a pleasant week and found many good things to cook.

As always with love from the Midwest, 

Beth 

Farmers' Markets Galore

Well it's been a busy week.  I've had extra curriculum writing work this week and next; along with my oldest having hip surgery. Needless to say I've been thinking of other things than writing posts.  However this past weekend we were blessed to get to 2 farmers' markets and the fruit truck (Tree Ripe Citrus) finally came. I thought I'd share some of my pictures from the day. It was definitely unseasonably cool, but there were some delicious local things to buy.

The peaches from here are delicious.  I look forward to them every year. 

This was the first weekend of the Appleton farmers' market.  Strawberries were really expensive, but they were the first local fruits of the season - I couldn't resist.

Next up the same morning was Green Bay's market.  There were some beautiful plants and many other delicious treats - local cheese and of course the fruits and veggies.  

But one of my favorites is Susie-Q fish.  They have fresh caught white fish - a delicious dinner on Saturday night. 

The day's haul.  The blueberries were from a farmer  in Michigan with indoor growing - so if I drew a circle around the area, most likely within a 100 miles.

Please enjoy your local farmers' market.  There are so many treasures to be found, plus maybe you'll get a hug from your local farmer like I did.

As always with love from the Midwest,

Beth 

What I ate Wednesday 20

Wow have the weeks flown by with this weekly post.  Summer vacation has started and of course I change my eating habits a little bit.  I have more time to relax and to cook for all of my meals.  We are starting to get food from our CSA, farmers' market and a little bit here and there from our garden (more like micro greens from our radishes).  

Breakfast: Huevos rancheros toast, plum and coffee. 

I had black beans, that I made the other day in the Instant Pot, in my fridge and thought they'd be a great breakfast.  I also had really good homemade sourdough bread.  So I thought I'd put a little together and do a toast not a tortilla.  I wilted some local spinach and topped with local hothouse tomatoes.  This was a delicious way to start my day.

Lunch: Clean out the fridge salad.  

As the name of this salad implies, the fridge needed to be cleaned out. I sauteed some local shiitake mushrooms and warmed up grilled onions and used the last bits of lettuce from our CSA to make this salad.  I topped it with thinly sliced grilled lamb from the other night and sunflower micro-greens.  

Dinner: Firecracker salmon, potatoes dauphenois and steamed broccoli and of course a glass of wine to drink. 

This was a quick and easy dinner.  I marinated the salmon about 3 hours ahead and substitued 1/4 canola oil and 1/4 sesame oil for the peanut oil.  The potatoes take about an hour to cook, but once they are in the oven you don't have to do anything but relax. 

Dessert: Coffee and vanilla ice cream with a little chocolate sauce.

Hope you had a delicious food week.

Bon Appétit!

And as always with love from the Midwest,

Beth 

Pizza Part 2

About a month ago I became a proud owner of an Ooni pizza oven. I posted my messes and successes here.  I must say my mess has been due to the crust.  Over the past month my husband and I have experimented with several crust recipes.  I first used my pizza crust from Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.  While the crust tasted great it was very sticky; even when I worked quickly on the large metal spatula.  The next crust I tried was from the Ooni company.  I ordered the OO flour from Amazon, but the crust didn't have the flavor I liked.  So I went back to my old tried and true crust from Martha Stewart.  I've been using this recipe for years, and it makes 4 individual pizzas. Perfect.  I can make the crust a few hours before dinner, so after school, let it sit and relax while I do other things and then have perfect pizza dough.  This dough also worked well for me and the Ooni.  Here are some updated photos from Friday night's pizza dinner.

Sausage pizza for my husband

Sausage and pepperoni for my son

Mushroom, Spinach and fresh mozzarella for me. 

Here's the recipe. Enjoy!

1 1/4 cup luke warm water

2 1/4 tsp yeast

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 T olive oil

1 c whole wheat flour

2 c white flour

Mix yeast and water in mixer.  Add salt and olive oil and mix.  Add flours one cup at a time.  Mix until dough comes together.  Kneed until dough pulls away cleanly from the sides for the bowl.

Allow dough to rest for 1 hour in a greased and covered bowl.

Form into 4 individual pizzas and top as desired.  

Bon Appétit!

And as always with love from the Midwest,

Beth