August blew by as quickly as July did, with another trip to Colorado to check in on my parents, visits from adult children Anna (NYC) and Joe (on his way to Paris for a year!), then the re-opening of the CW House. No time to think really, much less record anything!
But the good news is that even in the midddle of this chaos, living in community is a very good way to stay faithful to the local/simple eating plan. For one thing, we’ve got additional brains planning menus and additional legs going to the farmers’ market. And there is something good – and motivating - about being accountable to others who have the same commitments.
We are, more and more, feeling inspired by what’s in season in planning our meals – the small community ones as well as the large ones for guests. For the last three cafes we’ve served three different soups: Lentil Soup with the plentiful local sweet potatoes, Black Bean Soup with mango-tomato salsa (see below), and Simple Soup (thank you Zen Habits!) We used all market veggies in the latter: yellow squash, zucchini, red, green and orange bell peppers, cabbage, and onions. Due to the generosity of a local farmer who donated some extra eggs (thank you Cydney!); we also served deviled eggs on the side, along with homemade bread (challah bread during the first egg-ful week). And muscadines of course. They’ve been healthy and satisfying meals for all of us.
So, busy as we are with the new schedule and the craziness of getting used to it, it was a good month. Now, hopefully, onto settling in - and down a bit.
Mango Salsa
One diced mango
One cup sweet cherry tomatoes, quartered
One diced cucumber
One jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
Salt
Juice of ½ lemon
A little cilantro
Mix together, et voila! Delicious. Can also be made with peaches if you do'n't have mangoes in your region.
In the last twenty four hours we have eaten Sweet potato tortillas, and simple soup. I'm starting to feel like a groupie!
No really, both were delicious Thanks Diedre
Posted by: Diedre | November 17, 2008 at 09:08 PM