Pregnant Cravings

Things that I want to eat when I am pregnant vary widely and often change throughout my pregnancies but the one thing that I've wanted to eat through all of my pregnancies has been watermelon, I could seriously sit down with a half a melon and eat the whole thing....and oh it is is SO good with cottage cheese, something about the salty and sweet combination. But I digress.

What I wanted to share with you is my latest craving and most satisfying meal, I've been eating this every day, usually in the morning but also sometimes for lunch. I lightly fry an egg and put it on top of steamed spinach and toast with grated parmesan cheese on top and a little salt and pepper. So simple and so satisfying!
The other favorite of mine recently have been green smoothies, we also green juice everyday and I've been meaning to share our favorite juicing recipe here too. I've gotten Frank into making the green smoothie and it couldn't be easier, we throw a tropical fruit mix into the blender (I buy it in large bags from the supermarket) and then whatever fresh fruit we have around, usually berries, peeled oranges, a frozen banana also adds really nice texture. We cover the fruit with water and then blend until smooth. Once that is done I add a huge amount of spinach, 2 or 3 handfuls, and then blend that up until smooth.  I've also just started adding a protein powder supplement by Vega to the smoothies, which helps my energy level during pregnancy.

Yum! It really hits the spot, and has become so easy to make since we got our Vitamix, one of the best kitchen investments we have made.

I'm curious, what did you crave when you were pregnant?

Harvest and the easiest soup ever

My aunt's wonderful garden on the farm in Asheville was just about at its end of production for the season when we visited last week,

Everything was wrapping up to be put to bed for the winter, but there were still a few things to be harvested and the kids were thrilled to help, treating it like a scavenger hunt to see how much they could find,

 We harvested, green peppers, banana peppers, spinach, lettuces, chard, acorn squash and other large autumn squashes,

 The kids also learned that it is great fun to pretend to be a garden bunny while harvesting. As garden bunnies they ate more handfuls of lettuce than they harvested, which I was not about to argue with!

My aunt sent us home with bags full of goodies from the harvest, that I've been finding ways to use in our meals for the past week, the easiest was making soup from this huge squash that Carys picked,

I simply cut it into four pieces (I cut it in half and then in half again), removed the seeds, put olive oil, salt and pepper on all of the pieces, and then baked it at 350 degrees for an hour or so. While it was roasting I sauteed a chopped Vidalia onion in olive oil in a large pot. Once the squash was soft when poked with a fork I scraped the fruit part away out of the skin and

put it in the large pot with the onion, I added some vegetable stock and then pureed the whole thing in a blender until smooth,

Really, the easiest soup ever, and so yummy served with seeded bread and a simple salad. Garden to table, Yum!

Glorious weekending

We've had a glorious weekend of sunshine, bare feet on the deck, spring planting, grandparents visiting, watching the Brooklyn Saint Patricks Day parade (I swoon listening to bagpipes), and eating yummy food.

This morning I made my amazing sweet potato biscuits for breakfast, and as we were enjoying them I thought that I had to share them with you here. Now, some may think that sweet potato and biscuits should not be in the same sentence, but these are just the tastiest, fluffiest biscuits that you can imagine. My mother made these all the time when I was a kid. They are very simple and fun to make with kids, I always have little helpers taking turns adding the ingredients.

Sweet Potato Biscuits
1 cup cooked and mashed sweet potatoes (I usually peel and cut one sweet potato into small pieces and boil it for 15 minutes, then drain and mash it)
1/4 cup melted butter
2/3 cup milk
1 and 1/4 cup flour
2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Grease a cupcake/muffin tray.
Combine all ingredients.
Stir until smooth, sprinkling more flour in if necessary until the mixture is the consistency of soft dough.
Spoon the dough into the muffin tray filling each cup.
Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges are just light brown.
We enjoy them warm with butter, honey and jam.
Yum.

I always have sweet potatoes around, and I love finding new ways to enjoy them. I recently tried another amazing recipe, involving roasted sweet potatoes, red onions and cherry tomatoes sprinkled with feta cheese in a warm salad, it is seriously lick the plate good and is quickly becoming a favorite. My friend Kirsten shares it here on her blog. I recommend it ever so highly.