Little Localvores in transition

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*Note: We're moving our Little Localvores, and our entire family and belongings, this week to a new (temporary) home. Life is chaotic and we're surrounded by boxes at the moment. Still enjoying our veggies, but on a simpler scale. Find out how our Little Localvores adjust to life downtown next week...

Welcome to Little Localvores - a weekly series on our family's first experience with a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). Every Tuesday all summer long we will receive a supply of fresh produce and local foods through the Good Natured Family Farms CSA. I'll chronicle my attempts to get my toddlers (3 years and 15 months) to eat fresh and local, healthy foods.

Localvore: someone who prefers to eat locally grown/produced food.


This past week's CSA share featured the greenest green peppers, yellow cherry tomatoes, grains galore bread from Farm to Market, yellow candy onions, cheddar pepper cheese (love this in our house!), casaba melon, red vine ripe tomatoes, Andy's candy corn, and jalapeno peppers. A great mix.


Charlie checking out the casaba melon. I think he was hoping for another watermelon, not sure about what this one might taste like.


We also got a gift card to Chipotle. Did you know that Chipotle tries to source local ingredients whenever possible? They use the same GNFF green peppers and jalapenos at Chipotle that we received in our CSA share. I try to avoid fast food at all costs, but I do like Chipotle. This makes me feel better about that guilty pleasure. Now if only I had a good excuse for the chips and salsa...



Quick weeknight meals for the kids are much easier thanks to our CSA. Izzy loves the cheddar pepper cheese, but it is too peppery for Charlie. More for me!


Check out the colorful veggies on his plate. Yummy finger food!



Enough pictures Mom...



Charlie loves to help me in the kitchen. Shucking corn was the perfect activity for him - he could figure it out on his own (everything is "I can do it myself" these days) and it was messy. Double the fun.



Roxie is never far away when one of the kids is handling food in the kitchen. She knows what hits the floor is fair game.



Izzy reaped the benefit of Charlie's labor. I have to stop her from just gnawing on the cob after the corn is long gone. Must be teething!


Have you ever tried casaba melon? This is what it looks like, almost white in color. It is another muskmelon, very sweet and juicy, and tastes almost like a honeydew melon. Yum.


The kids liked the casaba, especially Izzy.

I missed the eggplant this past week. I can't wait to try out some of these eggplant options!

I confess I have an over abundance of onions and haven't used many of the jalapenos. We're not cooking much right now considering our move is only days away. With the chaos of the move, it is nice to have fresh food readily available so I feel like we are at least eating well while feeling tired and stressed. Hoping to try some new recipes and get back to experimenting in the kitchen real soon! Although I'm sure our temporary rental kitchen will present some challenges, that will be an adventure in itself. Stay tuned!

Check out previous Little Localvores posts here.

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