Summer Eats

This has been a fresh foods summer for our family. Slowly but surely I've been working my little gaggle toward eating very little processed food and finding out what real food is supposed to taste like. We picked the strawberries from our garden to make jam out of just the berries and a itty-bit of maple syrup thanks to Pomona's Universal Pectin that doesn't require sugar to set. We signed up for a CSA with a couple local farmers and have eaten such exciting things as beets and kohlrabi. And together with a friend we bought our first side of local beef.

So are my kids happy? Yes and no. They'd rather have Cheerios than oatmeal, but they found they loved chocolate beet cake and zucchini crisp. Because they're already veggie and bean eaters we've had no trouble setting aside the "normal" foods in exchange for some crazy delicious new ones, and I love not having to stoke up the oven on warm days. Here's what we ate today:

Peanut Butter Noodles with Steamed Vegetables
(serves 6)

Bring a pot of water to a boil for noodles. While waiting, prepare sauce and set aside.

Sauce:

1/2 c. chicken broth
1/4 c. peanut butter
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. honey
1/4-1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1 clove garlic, crushed
sprinkle of cayenne pepper

Prepare veggies--you can use any and as many as you like, these are just what we picked up today at the farmers market:

thinly sliced red cabbage
sugar snap peas
carrots, peeled and julienned
zucchini, julienned
summer squash, julienned
green onions

Add a package of whole wheat spaghetti noodles to boiling water. Lightly steam vegetables in another pot. When both are done, toss together in a large bowl with sauce and a cup or so of peanuts.


(I derived our"tame" recipe after trying The Nourishing Gourmet's Asian Noodle Salad which my kids found too strong.)