Where do you get your food?

Such a simple question, yet a huge answer:

• the grocery store
• Target
• the gas station
• Walgreens/CVS
• fast food 
• Farmer’s Market
• CSA box (Community Supported Agriculture)
• grow your own

the bigger question I’m going for is–are you intentional about where you buy your food?  When you make health your priority, the next step is getting the best quality food and I’m pretty sure you will NOT get that at a gas station or from a drive thru!

I love gardening.  Well, I love growing things–anything.  Actually, I love watching things bloom.  So it could be a plant in my garden or on my front porch, bringing a stray animal back to health or watching a kid with challenges learn his spelling words and then read!  You get the idea.

We have been in this house for 2 full summers now–and I’m finally working out the best spots to plant.  Each year I add at least one new “crop”. This year I added 36 strawberry plants and 18 asparagus.  I’m not sure that the asparagus made it but the strawberries were phenomenal. I’m on a learning curve of what grows and how much time I have to devote to it.  This year the kids were really into watering and picking the tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs and lettuce creating some wonderful salad combinations.

I also am very blessed to find a CSA, Tomato Mountain Farm, and they DELIVER to my door.  (Even if you live far way–check out the website–awesome recipes and a peek into the life of Chris, a sustainable farmer.) They are super nice when I call to set up the size of my box–they have several options on box size.  I do switch the size of my box depending on the season.  I’m not the best at cooking with a variety of greens (yet) so I do not want to be wasteful–and I know if it takes “too much” effort I just won’t get to it.  Those MENTAL HOOPS that we make ourselves jump through–I’m so guilty!  But I will be posting a Top Ten list on jumping through Mental Hoops during this course.

Last night my CSA delivered two beautiful acorn squash.  I typically just cut them in 1/2 and let them simmer in the crockpot or you could do the same thing on the stove–simmer in a pot with a cover.  My plan is to make a entrée that features the acorn squash as the “meat” and I want the squash firm–so baking would be the best method.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9wqu5r40l0′]

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m547ILXheI’]

NOTE:  The nutritional value that is on this recipe is just for the Acorn Squash–that would be a every day glitch that I need a creative solution to solve :-)

[yumprint-recipe id=’2′]I am actually making this dinner tonight.  I will use onions, kale, red pepper and acorn squash from my CSA box.  I will create a video of the process and add that to this post.

I thought about adding some dried cranberries but the ingredient list was a little too long!  And it has the dreaded words “natural flavoring” and that just grosses me out these days.  Food School:  Day 3 I write about natural artificial flavorings.

If you have any questions please feel free to leave a message in the comments!

My your food be your blessing!

To receive a free copy of my Blessed by Breakfast cookbook, please go to http://blessedbybreakfast.com and sign up! I send updates that include; family tested and approved recipes, video tutorials, tips and tricks on how to begin your day with the blessing of food.

Books I suggest: The Omnivore’s Dilemma: The Secrets Behind What You Eat,

Young Readers Edition The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

Hope’s Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet

Some of my friends have also joined the 31 day challenge:  

Anastacia Maness  http://rocksolidfamily.com/31-days-building-commitment/

Racquel Narciso http://howtomakeitinsanfrancisco.com/…/

Pamela Hodges http://ipaintiwrite.com

I’m linking up to these blogs.