blue potato skillet: I cut the blue potatoes from our farm share into slices and put them in my skillet with canola spray, 1/4 onion, 1 green pepper, about 1/2 cup white beans and one slice of bacon cut into tiny bits. When it was all cooked I topped this mix with about 1/2 cup shredded co-jack and served it. What a hit! I recommend this recipe for sure...and I think any kind of potatoes would work.

Vegan* BBQ: This is some of my best work. In my everyday pan I heated some olive oil on low and tossed in 2 thinly sliced potatoes, about 1 1/2 cups beet greens, 4 large grape tomatoes cut into quarters, about 1 cup re-hydrated pinto beans and about 1/2 cup onion. I topped this with about 1/2 cup bbq sauce (Trader Joe's is my favorite)and let it all cook for about 30 minutes, stirring a couple times. When it was all piping hot and cooking together I added about 1/2 cup sweet potato puree and stirred it all together. I served this in bowls with crackers and it was a big hit. Brian and Dom added shredded cheese.

*note that I am not vegan, I just think it is fun to make vegan treats. I love all foods.

no my creation, but delicious kale chips: I took a big bunch of Kale and chopped it into chip sized pieces then washed it well. I put it in a bowl and drizzled olive oil and soy sauce on top, then I baked it until it started to look crispy. I flipped each piece and baked it longer until it looked really crispy. It was delicious! I ate this pretty fast and could barely share with the family because it was so good. The recipe was told to me by Kim who found it on our farm share's newsletter.

pasta primavera with baked mozzarella: this was a very easy dinner. In a baking pan sprayed with canola oil I baked stewed tomatoes and one string cheese stick broken into about six bits. When the cheese was brown and flat like a chip I added it to my pan where I had sauteed summer squash, juice from the tomatoes and basil in olive oil. I tossed in spiral wheat pasta and served it to the bunch. They loved it. Dom thought the cheese chips were a bit weird though.

banana vegan ice cream: in my blender I mixed about 1 cup frozen, peeled bananas, about 1/2 cup prunes and about 2 tbs almond butter. I blended it all until very smooth and ate it. Mata enjoyed the bites I let me have. It was really tasty and hard to share, but she is very cute. I am going to try a few variations with this one. I think cashews and figs or dates would also be awesome.

Peach Peel Candy: I took the peels from the peaches for my pie and brushed them with coconut oil and baked until they looked crispy. These were tasty. I ate them all pronto.

Peach pie: I took 2 large peaches and peeled them then diced. (See next blog for what I did with the peels.) Then I took 3 very ripe apricots and pureed them in my mini food processor, adding about 2 tbs of raspberry syrup from a farm stand. I tossed the puree with the peaches and poured the mix into a store bought pie crust in my favorite pie plate. I put another crust on top and baked it at 400 until it looked a bit bronzed. I brushed the crust with some coconut oil and baked until it was nicely bronzed. This was a hit, but I could not stop thinking about the horrible ingredients in the pie crust. I will make my own next time. The filling was awesome though!

Veggie Loaf: In my blender I mixed about a cup of garbanzos, 2/3 cups whole tomatoes, 1/4 cup sweet potato puree, 2 tbs soy sauce, a large handful of beet greens and an egg. I totally forgot to add the slice of wheat bread I had ready to go...nevertheless it baked nicely and I served it cold in slices to the family. Amata loved it and we all thought it was pretty good, but I look forward to trying again with the bread.