I Eat My Veggies, Mom!

No, not talking about the boys this time, but ME!  I love my veggies, Mom!  I thought this time I'd write about me and this preoccupation that has taken over my brain - vegetables!  Huh?  What?  I know, I didn't expect that either.  Several years ago, my sister taught  me what a CSA is, and I've been hooked ever since.  If it weren't 107 degrees on a regular basis this summer, perhaps my garden wouldn't be the barren, crunchy, sad thing that it currently is.  I am still able to order fresh, local produce here, and I love ordering a CSA basket every few weeks.  When I first signed up with a farm, there was an element of mystery.  I didn't always know what the veggies were.  I'd look them up, figure out how to cook them, and sometimes how to pronounce them!  Sometimes it would be a success, sometimes not, and I was still developing a taste for them.  It was an adventure.  Lately, I order from a company that lets me order when I want versus on a weekly basis.  So I actually see what's projected to be in the basket before ordering.  This does produce a lot less waste for our household, and even minus the fun of the mystery, it's great fun planning how I'm going to use them.  The fun part for me this time is planning it out so that it ALL gets used. 

So it's a culinary adventure around here, right?  Sometimes.  Eric is not the veggie lover that I am.  In his defense, he never complains, and I think he tries to be stealthy when he scrapes 75% of his dinner into the trash.  It continues to be my fantasy, however, that I can somehow transform his tastebuds into something that craves sauteed Swiss chard, tomato and onion salsa, buffalo mozzarella, and a big basil leaf sandwiched between two slices of breaded and pan-fried eggplant.  It's really quite fantastic - try it.  This week I made a veggie lasagna featuring eggplant, squash, portabello mushrooms, and spinach - two of those ingredients he really does NOT like.  But he ate it!  He didn't have seconds, but he ate his entire portion.  How did I achieve such a feat?  Why, by covering it with two of his favorite things of course - cheese and tomato sauce!  :) 

So my plan (I realize it's a LONG term plan) is to turn Everett and Paxton into vegetable loving, gardening, foodie chefs.  Then it'll be 3 against 1 we'll all be healthy.  :)

Here is Everett (15 months old) "helping" in the garden earlier this year.