My own label!

As you all know, I am a bit of a crafter at heart. I make a lot of the gifts I give and wish that I had more of a way to "mark" those gifts with a personal touch ... enter my new "fashion" labels! I am so excited about these! Right now they are pretty generic, but as I am able to devote more time to my side "business," I see them with my own logo {yet to be developed} and with my brand name instead of my own.
These are great for now, though!

I got them from a little shop on Etsy called Mommie Made It.

I admit that my design is pretty plain jane, but I was overwhelmed with the options!

Like I mentioned previously, my goal is to have custom labels one day. For now, these will do just fine!

 Wanna see?  Ok!

I think they are pretty swell!

On another note, we got some lovely okra in our CSA bag today and my FAVORITE summertime treat: yellow cherry tomatoes! YUM! These things are like candy!  I think we're going to have a selection of veggies for dinner tonight - and there may or may not be fried okra involved...

Back in the Saddle - with a new recipe to share!

Well, I've given up.

I've given up on my China Journal. I've decided that I never actually intended to finish writing and posting about our adventures in China - so if you're curious about the last half of our trip, just ask! Otherwise, I think it's time that we all move on.

I may be alone in this, but I have been seriously missing my usual creative outlets that I share with you on this Blog. I haven't really been trying many new recipes, and I haven't pulled out the ole' sewing machine since we left for China! That changes today!

I know I'm way behind on my CSA posts (on account of being out of town, laziness, etc), but I thought I'd pick right back up with week 8 followed by a recipe using some of those tasty ingredients.

Here is what we got in the bag this past week:

A delish assortment of nectarines, squash, onions, tomatoes, blueberries, homemade bread, and eggplants {check out the teeny-tiny heirloom varieties! What do you do with those guys?}

I love the food this time of year! Yummy fresh produce + cooking on the grill = one happy lady! One of our go to sides at this time of year is a Caprese salad. Sooo tasty with fresh mozzarella and ripe heirloom tomatoes. All you need is a high-quality olive oil and some salt and freshly ground black pepper. Perfection.

Remember that recipe I promised you? The one that uses fresh local produce? Well here it is!
This is courtesy of Jill Forrester @ Whitton Farms (where we get our CSA).

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

Ingredients
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup vegetable oil
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups white sugar
2 cups shredded zucchini
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 pint fresh blueberries

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 4 mini-loaf pans.
In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar. Fold in the zucchini. Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Gently fold in the blueberries. Transfer to the prepared mini-loaf pans.
Bake 50 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted in the center of a loaf comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes in pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

This past weekend we made the trip back to Alabama to vist my folks and for Mr. Maestro to do this:

Yes, they are standing in the street.

In the meantime, I'm working on a new project! YAY! I'm not saying what it is, but here is a little tease:

CSA - Week 2

As some of you may know, Blogger was down for a few days last week. That, my friends, is my excuse for the frightfully long delay in my posting. Yep. And I'm sticking to it!

So, as my previous post mentioned, our CSA has just recently kicked back into gear. Mr. Maestro and I have renewed our dedication to consuming 100% of our share each week - and so far {after one week} we're doing a great job! Wanna know what I ended up making last week?

Ok, you twisted my arm...

As excited as I was about the Sorrel Pesto, I had a last minute change in my game plan and decided to make this instead:

Sorrel Soup! Want the recipe? Click here
The soup was delicious, although Mr. Maestro and I decided that it would be great as an appetizer - perhaps served as a "shooter" in a shot glass. The taste was lemony and bright...or as I described it: "Green." Definitely worth a try, however, perhaps not the best consumed in large quantities.  I used some of our spring onions in place of the shallots.

We served it with some delicious savory roasted sweet potatoes and spring onions {tossed in olive oil and seasoned with a little salt, pepper, and some garlic powder prior to roasting} and a delicious chicken quarter. Hello, Chicken Quarter! Where have you been all of my {married/cooking} life! You are so CHEAP, and oh so tasty! I rubbed these bad boys down with a bit more oo {olive oil - extra virgin if you must know-  I am refusing to use RR's famous "EVOO" tag-line!}, and then sprinkled with a bit of salt, pepper, garlic powder, dried parsley, and some chopped fresh rosemary. They do still have skin {remove prior to eating to reduce Calories and fat}, but I rubbed the spice mixture up under the skin to be sure the meat was flavorful. I cooked @ 350 for about 40 minutes {or until the internal temp reaches 180}.  FEAST!

 And for dessert? Angel food cake with some of those yummy fresh strawberries!

I used the salad greens to make a couple of killer salads - and we enjoyed the fresh baked bread with a few different dinner meals. That wraps up week one of our CSA!

Now, on to week two!

I'd show you what came in our bag, but I seem to have deleted the photo! Oopsies!

I'll tell you instead.

We got more spring onions, more salad greens, more sweet potatoes, some radishes, some fresh rosemary, and a loaf of fresh homemade whole wheat bread!

We love radishes cut up and served with hummus. Want a great hummus recipe? Ok!
Try this one: 5 Minute Hummus

We have baked a few of the sweet potatoes and served with cinnamon {yum!} but we've roasted most of the so far.

The salad greens have made us some more great salads, and the onions have been used both cooked and raw.

I love the aromatic nature of rosemary and I've used it this week to season both meat and vegetables!

I still have a few ingredients yet to use before we pick up week 3 on Thursday!  Can't wait to see what's inside!