It Just Comes Naturally

I have been remiss in my blogging as of late. What can I say? As John Lennon once said - "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans". Now with that being said, I could be posting more if I wasn't so used to living local. Huh? What does that mean? Well, it's like this. Pretty much every week my wife and I go to the farmers' market to buy produce and such for the upcoming week. Then, we have meals that, for the most part, include just the ingredients that we purchased from the market. Local, organic or near organic ingredients. I used to post about this all the time but now it's like part of our lives to the point where it's the norm. It would be more atypical not to eat that way. It's like, we're not even trying. Let me explain. I'm sitting here and saying to myself - I really should be writing something. I haven't really had an original post in a while and I'm racking my brain to come up with something. And then I'm like - "wait a minute, last night's dinner!"

Last night we had meatloaf. But it wasn't just any meatloaf. The meat was pastured and local from Natural Meadow's Farm. So were the two eggs I used in it. The parsley I minced and added was from Weaver's Way Co-op. I made mashed potatoes too. Those potatoes were purchased at the Headhouse Farmers' Market. I also steamed broccoli for a side dish. That broccoli came from Weaver's Way as well. I was feeling adventurous and I had a butternut squash purchased from the Headhouse Farmers' Market. I found an awesome recipe for it on All Recipes.Com submitted by Anita Bukowski, which I will share here. Even some of the ingredients in that dish were purchased from Weaver's Way.

As I said before, eating like this isn't unusual for my family anymore. We aren't rich (not by a looooooooooooong shot), but we are eating better, healthier, more environmentally sustainably, and with MORE TASTE. And it's the norm. Right now I have a chicken soup cooking downstairs with at least 75% of the ingredients being local. I used to think about it, but now it just comes naturally...no pun intended!

Garlicky Baked Butternut Squash

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper 3 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

	In a large bowl, combine the parsley, oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Add squash and toss to coat.
	Transfer to an ungreased shallow 2-qt. baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees F for 50-55 minutes or until squash is just tender.