I was originally going to make kale enchiladas tonight, but the kale wasn’t looking so hot. Luckily I happened to have all the items on hand to make the Black Bean Sweet Potato Burritos from Simply in Season.

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To celebrate our upcoming 4th anniversary (the end of April) and our best friend’s 5th anniversary (March), we decided to splurge on a weekend getaway. We stayed at the Heritage Manor Inn and attended the Fenn Valley winemaker’s dinner. This is the third year that DH and I have gone to a dinner there. Living close to such a great winery makes eating (and drinking) locally a joy!

This is Mike & Christina

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I’m finally home! There’s nothing like sleeping in your own bed, and eating something from your own kitchen. So this morning I decided to whip up some oat bran muffins from the new edition of Simply in Season.

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The folks at the Mennonite Central Committee were kind enough to send me the newer version of Simply in Season for my project, since I had the “old” edition and I thought well hey, it would be good to have the additional recipes included too! Then I realized that just added about 18 more recipes to my total. Sigh. I think I’m still on track to finish by August, though. So that’s good.

This is one of the recipes that I’m glad is in the new edition. Even though I’m making it out of season (and thus had to buy cauliflower from who knows where), I anticipate it will be good.

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Some days, you aren’t hungry for dinner but want just a little something. It was one of those days that I decided to make Spicy Baked Apples from Simply in Season.

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Sometimes when I travel for work, I am visiting foreign lands. In those situations, I am sure to see chickens pecking in the yard a few hours before I eat them; or taste a coconut freshly picked by the community.

“When Heidi from the home office comes to Zambia, she eats meat. We don’t put chemicals in our food like you do in the U.S.” my guide Alfonsias proudly declared when I visited him last November. “But in the U.S. she is a vegetarian.”

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On Sunday we celebrated my mom’s birthday. My two sisters who live in the area and I usually cook on her birthday, so this year we found ourselves wondering what to make. My sister Mary reminded me that our mom loves shrimp. However, Mary’s husband is allergic to shellfish. So I decided to make Chicken or Tofu Stir Fry from Simply in Season, except I’d make one batch chicken and the other batch shrimp.

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I know, I  know. Another challenge? Don’t worry, this one doesn’t start until April 3. And it doesn’t require learning a new skill every single day. You can participate no matter what skill level, how much you cook, (or don’t), or how locally you already eat.

Click here to learn more.

I just realized, it’s Sunday night and I didn’t do a Dark Days Challenge post last week. Or this week. Oops.

I also opted out of the Daring Bakers Challenge this time around.

With the kitchen in disarray, I have a pretty good excuse, right? That and I just realized I only have six more months in my Simply in Season challenge left! I have cooked more than 100 recipes, and have 200 remaining. Yikes. I’m going to really have to focus over the next couple of months.

Maybe I’m subconsciously blocking the Dark Days out of my mind. I really, really want spring to come. I have my very last winter CSA pickup next week. Not sure I’ll do it again next year, it’s a really long drive and I was up to my ears in root vegetables. Plus I want to check out the West Michigan C0-op.

On the bright side, I received an update from my summer CSA. They start in June, although we can get some stuff at the farmer’s market the first week of May.

Sometimes, I wish I lived somewhere warm. Don’t get me wrong, I love having four distinct seasons. I just wish winter wasn’t so long, and the other ones quite so short.

Dark Days, please become just a little more light.

Ever have one of those mornings? As in, you wake up to make your DH waffles, but then realize that you don’t have any buttermilk. So you look on the internet and Joy the Baker comes to the rescue, suggesting lemon juice and milk as a substitute. So you add 1 T lemon juice per cup of milk and wait for it to do its thing, and then you realize . . . there’s no whole wheat flour.

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