GROWN LOCAL: FARMER'S MARKET

Our family tries to do local things on the weekends, either staying in our town, or in the surrounding areas. Grown Local posts showcase some of the best things to do in our area.

 

Living in California is a food lover's dream; it seems that everything is fresh and local, from flowers to food to wine. We are lucky that so much of what we eat is truly local, grown within a 250 mile radius of us. And the farmer's market is the cream of the crop (figuratively and actually).

I love a farmer's market. You can't beat the freshness of the produce of course, but it's more than that. Seeing the people who grow food, and supporting growers and crafters in your area is important. We live in an agricultural based area, and are lucky to be able to show our children tomato fields and corn growing. The farmer's market takes it even a step closer, where they can meet the people in our area growing these vegetables and baking bread and raising free range chickens.

 

Woodland Farmer's Market

 

 

The Woodland Farmer's Market, our local farmer's market, is a great market. They've just moved to a new location in the heart of our little downtown on Saturdays and they opened this past weekend. We headed over to buy some fruits and veggies and flowers and bread, to enjoy the spring sunshine, and to see the alpacas, llamas, and baby dairy goats from local farms that were visiting for opening day.

 

highlight of the morning.

 

 



"Food says what's best about our region, and that we have a food culture that's worth preserving." -Richard McCarthy, in Local Flavors by Deborah Madison

 

 

The Woodland Farmer's Market

Heritage Plaza, near the Opera House

Woodland, CA 95695

Saturdays 9am-Noon

SCENES FROM A MOTHER'S DAY

PINS AND LINKS

Photo of the Week: At the Lake

Link Loves:

Joy the Baker focused on Mother's Day inspiration this week. This cake was my favorite.
You Matter. Thanks for the reminder, Tsh.
I love these 10 shortcuts for better cooking over at Design Mom.
These beautiful words are tear inducing.
And: thank goodness there are people out there willing to help. Good neighbors who weren't afraid to help made a big difference this week.

Pins of the Week:

1. edible flower salad 2. explorer bedroom 3. washi tape gift wrap 4. road trip pack, free pintables

10 GREAT BOARD BOOKS FOR TODDLERS

1. My Little Animal Book, Roger Priddy. We've had this book since my son was a toddler (he's 6 now) and it is one of our best loved books (hence the duct taped spine). Full of photographs of all type of animals, it's a book that can be looked at for an hour, over and over again.

2. Moo Baa La La La, Sandra Boynton. A big favorite. The simple, silly words and animal sounds are a hit.

3. Planting a Rainbow, Lois Ehlert. I love Lois Ehlert illustrations. This story is a beautiful one, full of flowers and colors.

4. Baby Signs For Bedtime, Linda Acredolo & Susan Goodwyn. While we don't do baby signs much, my daughter loves to look at this book with pictures of babies getting ready for bed.

5. Goodnight Moon, Margaret Wise Brown. The ultimate soothing classic.

6. Goodnight Gorilla, Peggy Rathman. This picture book has few words, but always makes my little girl laugh.

7. We're Going On a Bear Hunt, Helen Oxenbury. My husband's favorite book to read to the kids.

8. Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type, Doreen Cronin, Betsy Lewin. This one is funny enough for both kids (and their parents).

9. Pantone Colors. This book is full of gorgeous Pantone color swatches, and really shows color learners all the different shades.

10. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, Bill Martin Jr., Eric Carle. Of course.

HIGH SCHOOL HOT HAM AND CHEESE

 

By the time I was a senior in high school, there was little to encourage me to get to school early. I had been counting down the days to graduation since I was a sophomore; not to mention that my first period class was easy street and didn't require me to be have any sort of assignment ready at 8:00am when the bell rang (FYI: Student government. We planned rallies and spirit week. And we went to Starbucks a lot because they were a "school sponsor.") . So getting to school early was not a big priority. On time, yes, because I've always been that girl. But not early.

Except.
 

My high school had hot ham and cheese sandwiches for breakfast. These sandwiches were only served before school, and they were heavenly. The bread was slightly sweet, the cheese was melted perfectly, the ham was salty and piled high. They wrapped them in foil and served them so hot, they would burn your mouth.  They were so very good; they were worth getting to school early.

It has been a rare occurrence that I've come across such deliciousness since high school. Once, on a trip across Texas with a friend, we found a tiny bakery in the middle of nowhere that made them. I ate two. But, the high school hot ham and cheese remains elusive. Then I picked up a bag of Hawaiian Sandwich Rolls. You know the sweet Hawaiian rolls that you eat on holidays? Well now they make them in sandwich roll size. When I bit into one, I knew I could make a hot ham and cheese just like high school. The sandwiches came out perfect. The ham is salty and warm, the sharp cheddar is melted perfectly, and the bread is just the right amount of sweet.  Could a hot ham and cheese sandwich been the best part of high school?

Let's make these at home, shall we? This is a 1,2,3 done kind of meal.

 

 

High School Hot Ham and Cheese

 

Ingredients:

2 King's Hawaiian Original Hawaiian Sweet sandwich buns

4 slices of lunch meat ham ( I use uncured. This brand is amazing. You can find it at Costco.)

2 large or 4 small slices of sharp cheddar cheese

1 tbsp. honey mustard

1 tbsp. mayonnaise

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix mustard and mayonnaise together, spread evenly on one half of each sandwich bun pair. On the other half of the bun, place the ham and top with cheese. Put the mayo/mustard half on top of the ham/cheese half. Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes, until cheese is melted and tops of sandwich rolls are slightly browned. Serve immediately.

 

 



 

 

IN THE GARDEN: FAIRY GARDEN

In our yard, I have made small areas into children's gardens.  In the flower bed, there is a fairy garden.

 

 

 

A birdhouse. Some ceramic garden "mushrooms." Small glass stones for pathways and a pool of water. Plastic bird garden stakes.

 

 

 

And of course, a few fairies.

 

Simple things, tucked among the carnations and pansies and daisies, fairy play can take up a whole lazy afternoon.

 

 

 

 



PINS AND LINKS

 

Photo of the Week: rock out

 

 

Link Loves:

 

How to take great photos of your kids.

 

Why is there so much negativity on the internet? Let's all be a little nicer to one another.

 

Finding Magnolia is such a great website. This post is sad and strong and beautiful.

 

We're looking into 4-H for our son next year.

 

Pins of the Week:

 

 

 

1. cheesy chicken and rice with bacon. SO GOOD. 2. 15 things to make with a cardboard box

3. DIY Downton Abbey napkins 4.pallet garden 5. striped shirt. Want.

 

Happy Friday!



HOMEMADE REFRIED BLACK BEANS

Cinco de Mayo is upon us. So it's the perfect excuse to eat Mexican food (I never need an excuse).  And what can be more perfect than refried beans? Nothing, I tell you, nothing. Refried beans are the type of food to live for.  However, canned refried beans are not. But! You can make your own and they taste so so so good. These refried beans are made from black beans and are completely vegetarian. That practically makes them healthy.

You can do this. Because making homemade refried beans is almost as easy as heating up canned ones. And once you make these, you'll never go back.

 

 

Homemade Refried Black Beans

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 15 oz can of black beans, with liquid
1 tsp each salt and pepper
1/2 tsp each chili powder, cumin (the cumin is optional)

In a large sauce pan, heat oil over medium high heat. Add beans with liquid, salt and pepper, and spices. Stir once, and cover. Reduce heat to medium and cook, covered, for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, mash beans with a wooden spoon or potato masher until smooth. If there is still liquid in the beans, return to heat, and cook another 5 minutes, uncovered. Serves 2.

Put them in a quesadilla. You'll thank me.

Enjoy!

CELEBRATING...TEACHERS

I love my son's teacher*. She truly is all I could ask for as a kindergarten teacher: she's passionate about her students learning, she truly cares about their well-being, she's firm but loving to each and every one of them. I would love for her to be my son's teacher for the rest of his life.

Next week is teacher appreciation week. While I appreciate Mrs. C everyday, I wanted to do something special for her next week. But what? Pinterest was crawling with ideas, but so many of them seem exceptionally labor intensive for the parent/student, and not so fun for the teacher themselves. I mean that teacher initial made from crayons? Every time I see it I think that the teacher would probably had preferred the parent donate the actual crayons to the classroom.

 

Then I found this from Chickabug. Posted by an actual teacher friend, so I know it's the good stuff.

 

 

 

So, so, so perfect. So easy! But even more, so great for your special teacher! Because don't teachers deserve to spend a little something on themselves after spending so much on our children? They do indeed.

 

You can visit Chickabug and download your own printables for free!

 

*His student teacher is also amazing. We lucked out in the biggest, best way possible this year. Gift cards for all!