My Autumn Food List

A few years ago I brainstormed the idea of a seasonal food list for the side of the fridge. The idea is to "keep in mind" visually all the cozy, traditional foods that we keep dreaming of when we long for Autumn. I also really love the fact that it does a tiny bit of keeping me on track with local/seasonal eating. No better way to check off "apple dumplings"  than to turn it into a trip to the Farmer's Market or the local orchard! Compiling the list is also a fun exercise in self-examination. What speaks Autumn to me personally? What traditional Fall foods are not compelling for me but seem culturally obligatory? Ha! Mental purging! Sometimes I have a particular food that I crave and love but I don't know what time of year it "fits" in so researching its seasonality (mussels in white wine sauce was one for me) ends up being a bite-sized education. I now know that mussels are in season in Autumn. 

The first year I drew up my lists it took up a little bit of my time....but now I just have all the lists saved on my computer and I just review the appropriate list, add or remove whatever seems right and hit PRINT. The list lives on the side of the fridge and I use it when planning menus for the week or dreaming up special dishes for company. Then I keep a pen handy for scratching things off as they show up on our table. So fun! Here's my Autumnal version....

Autumnal Food

Pear Tart

Apple Pie

Pumpkin Pie

Stuffed Figs

Cinnamon Pork Chops

Cheese with Apples

Mussels and Crusty French Bread

Oyster Mushrooms Fried with Bacon

Sausages w/ Caramelized Onions

Slow Roasted Ribs

Roast Quail

Apple Dumplings

Fresh Plums

Plum Tart

Apple Turnovers

Raspberry Jam

Mulled Cider

Roast Beets

Venison Tenderloin

Braised Rabbit

Black Bean Soup

Roasted Garlic

Cranberry Bar Cookies

Buckwheat Pancakes

Scrambled Eggs W/Mushrooms

Apple Galette

Fresh Apple Cider @ The Mill

Spicy Muffins

Carrot Cake

Swedish Meatballs

Chili w/Cornbread

Pumpkin Bread

Honeybaked Ham

Chai Tea

Apple Cider Donuts

Baked Sweet Potatoes

Pot Roast

Butternut Squash Soup

Braised Pork Belly

Pumpkin Waffles

Apple Crisp

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Acorn Squash w/ Cinnamon and Maple Syrup

 Bouf Bourguignon

Cranberry Coffee Cake

Concord Grapes

Goat Cheese Cheesecake

Pumpkin Fudge

What would make your list?

 

Kitchen Spiff-Up!

I've been working on the kitchen and I had to share the results.
Kitchen Before:



I never remember to take decent Before shots when I am starting a new project. It's so much more exciting to get going!

Kitchen After:

Tada!!!! It's bright green, I know, really, really bright...but I love it! The color is Sherwin Williams, Direct Green. I think it will be an inspiring place to cook in, and that that peppy shade will carry us through winter well. There are still a few little minor details to finish like the ugly faux wood switch-plate on the wall next to the door..and the chic seventies hammered copper door cupboard handles which I am switching out as soon as my Ebay purchase replacements get here! 

And look at all that new counter space!!! I'm psyched! We have doubled when we had when we moved in by adding that pale green section over the dishwasher and then (and this is the latest touch of genius) moving the microwave off the countertop. Hooray for space!

Here's the stove area "Before." I took all those spices down from the cluttery arrangement above the stove and I think the new occupants of the space look a lot nicer. You can't see it in the Before shot but there is a cupboard above the stove and I took the doors off of it to open the space a bit and display some of my prettier dishware that we use all the time. (i.e. things that aren't in the china cabinet but are still nice to look at)

So, this is how it looks now. A good bit better. 

You can just barely see where I ripped off the wallpaper above the cupboard, I still need to remove the bottom bits of it and paint it clean white. Am considering some sort of scalloped colored painted border at the top (maybe cobalt?).

Here are the other bits of the new kitchen arrangement.

The spice corner, near the stove. :) The hanging rack with pretty jars of spices, then more spices in baskets on top of the fridge, and believe it or not, there are even more that are lesser used in a tiny drawer on the other side of the kitchen.  And my stone mortar and pestle on the tiny island counter.

Here's the window now, I need a little suction cup hook or a bit of chain to make that suncatcher hang a little lower but the colors make me happy. There is a kid-reachable spot for hanging  a couple of aprons on the left of the window-frame, a big chalkboard that I painted on the wall for quotes, notes to each other and jotting down grocery items, and then on the right hand side of the window I hung one of my paintings! Hooray!

Now you can see where the microwave migrated too. See it on top of the refrigerator? I know that's a little silly but it works well for us because of the steps which give easy access. I love having all our countertops free and it's kind of cool to use the top of the fridge for something more than just clutter collection. It isn't the prettiest arrangement but you never know, a way to make it look nicer may occur to me. It isn't bad.

Here's some close-ups here and there so that you can get a feeling for the fun details. The only thing I bought was the paint, and the aforementioned cupboard handles (a dollar a piece!) and the rest of the goods were just shopped from my own storage stash and wherever else throughought the house I hunted and found something I thought would work. The yellow gingham on the window was in my fabric stash, the baskets the spices are in were storing something else inffectively, etc.

Yay redecorating! Next on the docket is the dining room and further spiffing in the living room, and then I really roll up my sleeves with the playroom/homeschool room. I'm also working a bit on the pantry after a bout with the dreaded pantry moth. Will put all the dry-goods into glass jars or bust! Argh!

Anyone have any tips for how to store cereal? I would like to keep it in glass, no plastic in some sort of space-efficient system but in jars large enough to hold a whole box-full.  

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A List of Delicious, Good For Me Snacks

I need healthy snacks.
But, I have to say they need to be delicious and healthy. All too often I fall into the trap of shoving some convenient and less than terribly nutritious, maybe not even that enjoyable something-or-other in my mouth on the go. I do it when I'm stressed out (emo-eater extraordinaire here) and when I'm tired and when I have whiney kids to feed and when we're dashing in and then back out again and I don't have time to even think, let alone cook dinner. 

Image via Wikipedia

I decided that its time to end all the empty, crappy snack insanity. I know better. I know how to eat well. I enjoy eating well. We buy good food. I live with a supportive food partner who believes in making good food choices...I'm just lazy. I'm not even talking physical laziness...its just the mental brain-fog-lazy that I need to kick. You know, this whole bit: "Uh....what could we eat???" *long and empty stare into the fridge*

Image via Wikipedia

And that was how the idea of The Vibrant Snack List was born. 
I can do the thinking now, ahead of time, when my brain still works...and then later when I'm starving and my cerebellum freezes up on me, all I have to do is scan the list (which I am posting on the side of the fridge) and then have an automatic moment of gastronomic genius with whatever ingredients we are currently stocking. 

Image by intuitive cat via Flickr

This list is full of things that I consider to be healthful, happy, easy (or at least moderately so) and super enjoyable. You might not think everything on here sounds tasty to you, pick what you like and feel free to cut anything that sounds nasty to your palate and be sure to add your own brilliant stand-bys...(hint hint! Adding them in the comments below means we all get to enjoy your brilliance.) Also worth noting is the fact that my personal version of healthful isn't everyone's definition. I like all the food groups, generally eschew sugar am an omnivore and firmly believe that fats are good. You won't find any low-fat versions of things, or substitutionary style food copycats here either. I'm all for real food, all the time.


Vibrant Snacks

Image by Flavio@Flickr via Flickr
• avocado, squeeze of lime, sprinkle of sea salt (eat out of shell with a spoon!)
• string cheese
• a small pool of good olive oil, a dash of rosemary and a good hunk of fresh bread
• honey drizzled cottage cheese
• an apple (preferably a fresh, autumn apple) eaten out-of-hand with periodic smears of natural peanut butter
• a handful of good jerky 
• dried cherries
• a glass of fresh juice (take your pick!) just pressed out of my juicer
• a sandwich w/ soft goat cheese, basil, olive oil and thick slices of ripe tomato
• a fresh, garlicky hummus with raw carrots or red pepper slices
• a poached egg, cut open to dribble over a bed of sauteed mushrooms and fresh salad greens
• half of a melon and a spoon (leave the melon to ripen on the countertop for three or four days after purchase in the grocery store...it will get melty ripe and juicy)
• a ramekin of quality granola and fresh, raw milk
• ripe strawberries, or apricots sliced into cream...sprinkled with sugar or drizzled with honey
• fluffy scrambled egg with a tiny spoonful of caviar on top, some snippings of fresh dill and a bit of sour cream
• two halves of a fresh prickly pear fruit
• shrimp cocktail
  Image by ~dgies via Flickr
• jicama spears with a squeeze of lime
• a crisp dill pickle
• a handful of blueberries
• Vietnamese summer rolls with a small dish of nuoc mam for dipping
• 1/3 of a bar of dark chocolate
• thin slices of cold leftover chicken spread with a little honey mustard
• rosemary Triscuits, wedges of apple and paper thin slices of sharp, sharp cheddar
• a spoonful of glowing honeycomb
• a handful of Sungold tomatoes
• a small dish of salted edemame
• freshly popped corn w/ butter and salt 
• celery w/ a dollop of Alouette herb cheese on top
• dark chocolate covered strawberries
• raw spinach, raw walnuts, a hunk of crumbled goat cheese, chopped strawberries and a handful of blueberries topped with Brianna's delicious poppyseed dressing
• a shot of wheatgrass!
• goat cheese, ripe figs and proscuitto
  Image via Wikipedia
• half a grapefruit, drizzled with honey, eaten with a spoon
• fruit leather (you know, the kind made with real fruit)
• a head of garlic, dribbled with olive oil, salted and then roasted until the skin is gold...eaten with the fingers 

Okay...now I'm slobbering. Awesome. Gotta get this baby printed off and then...I think I need a snack!