I love beets.

They are one of those vegetables that you can toss with a glaze or chop into a salad. But they don’t require special preparations to be great. They can also shine alone with just a sprinkle of sea salt. When steamed or boiled just right, where they still have a bit of give when you bite into them and they spring back with a trickle of sweetness, they are spectacular.

But beets aren’t just tasty, they are incredibly healthy too. They contain high amounts of folate, potassium, vitamin C and iron. The nutrients are known to help guard against birth defects and heart disease, as well as fight inflammation.

Best of all? Beets are at their freshest right now. When you eat in-season produce fresh from the farm, like these were, the taste is far superior to off-season produce that has been flown thousands of miles and picked before its peak of perfection.

Do you like beets? How do you eat them?

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I just wanted to say a big hello to everyone who is just discovering my site. A very nice person submitted my post on parmesan rosemary sweet potato fries to StumbledUpon, and I have had a number of new visitors since. Thank you all for visiting! And welcome to the Shell Avenue crew and Michigan family too!

Be sure to check out my recipes section for more tasty dishes like zuppa toscana, bacon cheddar barbecue chicken rollatini, and sinfully good salted triple chocolate brownie cookies.

Also, I wanted to give a special thanks to Maddie of Better in Pink!, my site’s host, who has worked hard to ensure that I had enough bandwidth to stay up and running with all of my great new visitors. Thanks Maddie!

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See all the Wordless Wednesday participants here.

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I was absolutely blown away by my overflowing CSA box this week. So much great stuff to use!

The heirloom tomato, grape tomatoes and a red tomato went into a tomato and blue cheese salad (more on that later this week). Another tomato went into a summertime favorite for the kids and I: lemony tomato pasta . . . again, more later this week. I have big plans for pestos — a basil one and a kale one that I am experimenting with.

Now, off to roast radishes, beets and more. As for the corn? It has a date with the grill … mmmm.

Any suggestions for summer turnips? I’ve never had them before.

In My CSA Box – Week 2

1 bunch radishes
1 bunch summer turnips
1 bunch beets
1 bag cabbage
8 nectarines
6 ears of sweet corn
1 bunch kale
1 bunch basil
3 leeks
1 heirloom tomato
3 red tomatoes
1 box yellow grape tomatoes

The post Fresh From the Farm: My Big Fat CSA Haul appeared first on Sarah's Cucina Bella.

Oh, what a mess. A huge, giant mess.

It seemed like such a great idea: Go get ice creams, stroll home, collapse on the lawn and finish them. Except Will’s ice cream had other ideas. It melted like instantly.

Did I get upset? Nah. Why worry? THe stroller can be cleaned. So can Will.

Instead, I laughed. We laughed. I never imagined that the ice cream would melt so quickly and I suspect it came as a surprise to Will as well. I may still be picking bits of dried up ice cream from the stroller belt, but it doesn’t matter. The stroller is just an object. No harm, no foul.

See, that’s the thing about parenting. Sometimes you just have to remember: it’s okay just to laugh. And baby, I am still laughing.

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It’s still summer here. We’re spending as much time as we can enjoying everything that the outdoors can offer. Soon, the season will turn to fall, then winter. It will be harder to withstand the temperatures for a little outdoor play, but we will try anyway.

When we get deep into summer like this, simple food is king. Burgers on the grill, corn on the cob and fresh vegetables. As in just-picked vegetables. That’s why I joined a late summer CSA here. Not only do I get a box of produce each week, but I also am forced to expand our palates even more — something I relish in.

I kind of feel like Paige did in the water the other day when it comes to ultra-fresh veggies. I nearly squealed with glee when unpacking our first box . . . I think Shawn might find that a little weird.

In the CSA Box – Week 1

• 1 bunch kale
• 2 purple peppers
• 2 green peppers
• 1 heirloom tomato
• 6 ears corn
• 1 gigantic bag of green cabbage
• 8 peaches
• 5 russet potatoes
• 4 red potatoes
• 5 pattypan squash

The corn we will eat tonight. The cabbage is sweet enough to just snack on, though I think it will make its way into a veggie soup this weekend. The potatoes will go into another special soup next week. The peaches will be devoured by Shawn and the kids. The peppers will either go into a salad or stir-fry.

The pattypan squash though . . . I am open to suggestion. That’s my challenge this week since I have never made it before. In my quick research though, it seems that stuffing it is pretty popular.

What do you do with pattypan squash?

The post Fresh From the Farm: CSA Week 1 appeared first on Sarah's Cucina Bella.

It’s Wordless Wednesday.

The post Penny For Her Thoughts . . . appeared first on Sarah's Cucina Bella.

It certainly wasn’t something I came to lightly. But the cost of the commute, daycare, etc, plus a growing freelance business, made me seriously consider if I was better off working at home. You can read all about my decision on SheKnows.

Right now, I am looking to finish up my last project at work and tidy up some freelance work that’s dragged on because I work too much. But as of Monday, I will begin looking for new opportunities to enlarge my business and I am hard at work on a new book proposal (and word has it the first book may indeed may its debut this year as planned. Fingers crossed). If you hear of any opportunities, drop me a line.

More news to come in the coming months. I’ve got some big things going on . . . hope you’ll stick around for the ride.

The post I Promised You Big News . . . appeared first on Sarah's Cucina Bella.

I am Will. Hear me ROAAAAARRRRRRRRR!

Today is Wordless Wednesday. Tomorrow, back to the recipes. Promise. And I’ve got a good one.

Friday? Big news that I want to share . . .

The post Roarrrrrrrrrr! appeared first on Sarah's Cucina Bella.

So, remembering a recent article by Cate O’Malley for 3-A-Day, I whipped up a fruit and yogurt “sundae”. At first he was psyched. Then he tasted the yogurt. Will’s never been a fan of yogurt, but I thought the hearty dose of blueberries — his favorite fruit ever — and the cut up peaches would change his mind.

Uh, not so much. “No Mommy, this doesn’t taste yummy.” It’s something he rarely says . . . he’s a food lover, not a hater, after all. So I was unswayed and insisted he eat. I got him to down five or six bites with some coaxing and then let him go . . .

Then I tried the sundae. . . . Blech, spat, spat!

The yogurt was a new brand we hadn’t had before. Super tart. Totally not us.I couldn’t eat more than a few bites. Will was dead on with his “doesn’t taste yummy,” comment.

Yep, you can send that bad mommy award right here . . . Care of Sarah Caron. Yes, that’s right. I forced my son to eat (gross) yogurt.

I washed the fruit off and let him have it, sans yogurt.

Lesson learned: Should’ve tried it first . . .

The post Gross Miscalculation appeared first on Sarah's Cucina Bella.

Peas in a Pod by Sarah W. Caron - All Rights Reserved

I was going to write a post about all the things that happened last week while I was on vacation from work. While funny, some memories should be just ours though . . . so I won’t. Suffice it to say that Will, Paige and I had a good time and were happy that Shawn could join us here and there (he wasn’t off).

Hope you enjoyed your week too.

As for the snapshot: We eat a lot of food fresh from the farmer’s market and had a good thing going for awhile with these fresh peas. Turns out, we all like peas if they are fresh.

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