I Call It a Calcium Boost

It’s August in North America, and I’m about six months pregnant. There’s some rule- I’m sure of it- that I’m entitled to a milkshake every day. While there are plenty of trips to Dairy Queen, Ritas and Yoder’s Country Store, I find that most days the following concoction will suffice:

  • 1/2 cup plain or vanilla yogurt (I like Stonyfield Organic because it’s less sweet and has no chemical taste)
  • Sweetener of your choice

No ice cream maker needed! Mix the sweetener and yogurt together in a coffee mug to taste, plus whatever additions sound good to you- cocoa, cinnamon, vanilla, mint, honey, fruit, instant coffee, Ovaltine… and put it in the freezer. Every half hour or so, stir it up. For us, if we make this up before dinner, it has reached ice cream consistency by Eli’s bedtime. (About 1 1/2 hours) We actually own an ice cream maker, but prefer this method for daily use because you have to make so much with the ice cream maker, and 2nd day homemade frozen yogurt is pretty awful.

Then, we mix about equal parts skim milk to frozen yogurt, stir, and yippee! I satisfy a craving, and consume a necessary serving of dairy- two birds, one stone! One recent week, Dan and I went through two large tubs- that’s four pounds- of yogurt, mostly due to this recipe.

(I usually make a bigger serving than this, but someone pilfered some of the yogurt while in the freezing process. Punk.)

Meet Community Organics

Our CSA started up today! I’ve been looking forward to this since I wrote the check for our share this past winter. This year being as busy as it is, I didn’t even want to pretend that I would have the time to garden. Between you and me, I’m not even sure how much I like gardening. It’s one of those things that I want to like (like running or yoga) and when I worked on a little organic farm in Maryland I even enjoyed it. But I’ve never really gotten into having my own garden, except for the sunflowers that I grew for Eli last year.

Anyway, I met Tim Bell of Community Organics at last years’ Dover Farmers’ Market. His farm, based right in my own little town of Greenwood, Delaware, reminds me very much of the farm I used to work on. And yay! They run a CSA, which is basically a farm subscription- you pay a fee at the beginning of the season, and every week you get a box with your share of produce. What are the odds that in a town of less than 1,000 people, we’d have decent pizza and an organic farm?

I love a CSA because it incorporates several good food values- locally grown, organic, seasonal food. I’m almost certain to eat more veggies, which is good for a pregnant me! The fact that we’re picking our share up at the farm itself (they also have pickups in Dover, Milford and the beaches) means that Eli will get to visit the farm every week, and get to know the farmers and their chickens and goats. Community Organics also still has room for more subscribers!

Our first share included:

  • white kale
  • red mustard greens
  • mizuna
  • tatsoi
  • greens & more greens
  • sweet potatoes
  • radishes
  • chard
  • baby garlic (used like scallions)

Our first dinner included a killer salad with blue cheese, radishes and grilled chicken breast. The tatsoi and mizuna had a nice subtle, spicy bite. We grilled potatoes with the garlic and sweet potatoes with jerk seasoning. I’m looking for more ideas on what to do with the rest of this share- anyone have ideas for the kale? Mustard greens?

Mmm. I have a feeling that this blog will become a lot more food-centric over the next few months!