My husband is out of town for work, so we had a girls' day and did it up right! The morning started with scrambled eggs fresh from the hen yesterday...thanks Lindsey!
Then we made our way over to our local farm stand and collected quite a bounty! String beans, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, squash, zucchini, peaches, blueberries, and cantaloupe (still warm from the field).
Once we were home we immediately cut into that cantaloupe...so sweet, so delicious, so perfect! I always hate to put fresh melon in the fridge, but I figured it was probably a bad idea for Belle, Bee and myself to comsume an entire cantaloupe in one sitting, so in it went.
Once Bee was tucked snuggly in her bed, Belle and I got down to business. We made our favorite wheat bread dough and put it on the deck to rise. Then I sliced a pile of cucumbers to make pickles. Belle filled the jars while I boiled the brine (looking for info on pickling, check out the latest Eating Well mag).
With the pickles chilling, we made lunch. Homemade fish nuggets...I wish I could say we caught the fish, but we had a pretty busy day as it was...maybe next time:) Super simple recipe: Season your fish chunks (I used tilapia because it was in the freezer, but this recipe is perfect for fresh-caught catfish too) with S&P. Coat them in corn meal. Heat a frying pan, spray it with a mist of oil and cook those babies up. Belle loves them and she is some-kinda-picky! We also had market potato salad (a combo of all the fresh veggies from the market and steamed potato wedges...dressing was made from cider vinegar, olive oil, honey mustard, honey and S&P) and of course...cantaloupe!
In the afternoon we rocked to the Toddler Tunes station on our digital cable. Belle has some new rhythm ribbons and today seemed like the perfect day to try them out...they were a HUGE HIT! When our tummies started to grumble we had warm bread with homemade strawberry preserves (recipe posted in May).
Dinner - Charred Vegetable Salad...oh so good!
To make it, chop up a bunch of those veggies from the farm stand (I used corn, peppers, onions, squash and zucchini) and toss them in a HOT cast iron skillet. LET THEM SIT! You want them to char a bit before you stir. After stirring once, let them sit again. While those are cooking, steam any veggies that don't do well in a skillet (I steamed green beans and potatoes). I also hard-boiled two of those yummy eggs. Build your salad with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, the steamed veggies, charred veggies, egg and whatever else you want to throw in. Dress it and love it! I broiled some of our bread with just a mist of EVOO and rubbed it with a clove of garlic....perfect for scooping up the last little bits of veggies out of the bottom of your bowl.
Dinner was a little early since we didn't have to wait for Daddy, so guess what....bedtime was a little early too:) Both girls are out cold and I am enjoying a little quiet time!
Is every day this idyllic in our house??? HA! But it just isn't as much fun to tell about those other days!!!
Did I mention the freezer FULL of grass-fed, small farm beef we have now too??? Once again...thanks Lindsey! But we'll save that for a Daddy dinner:)
Sounds like the perfect day! We had one of those other ones (although we did have farm fresh eggs this morning), but first day home from the beach is not likely to be a perfect one, maybe tomorrow?
ReplyDeleteso jealous you have all those goodies at market already. we're still living on early greens and garlic scapes around here!
ReplyDeletesounds like a fabulous day.