Today I made mustard...

...and it was TERRIBLE. Turns out mustard seed one buys in India three years ago 1) may or may not even BE mustard seed, 2) was bad to begin with, or 3) has expired. I am not sure which of the above reasons explains why each of the three mustard recipes I tried (faithfully, I assure you!) were so foul that Nate didn't even try to pretend to like them.

This photo features all three vile concoctions and the ingredients therein. Why was I making mustard? Well, naturally, we ran OUT of it and this month I am not allowing myself to go buy a replacement. If it isn't made locally, it is not going in my refrigerator this month.

Here is one of the meals I made this week:

You can see some of that cheese, the picture of which was in my last post, on top of Nate's homemade spaghetti. The sauce, featured below, is also homemade, with blended up tomatoes from the market and herbs from our garden. Not having any tomato paste, the sauce was EXTREMELY runny. But it tasted GREAT with the ground meat from the local farm. I used up the last of our garlic for this sauce, and worried we'd have to go through the rest of the month without that delicious....root (is it a root?). I had heard a friend of mine was growing it and I contacted her. Yes, she is growing it, but no, it isn't ready yet. But check out this next photo--what do you see in the middle of that pile of glorious vegetables I acquired only yesterday?

GARLIC!!!! YAY! Our very own local Farmers' Market had some, and I snatched it up.

Like last week, Thursday is usually sandwich day. THIS time we are eating smoked ham, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches (note: NO mustard). We DO have a new spread, however, that works in a different situation: pear butter. Yes, I made pear butter from our leftover peaches last week.

Our sandwich bread is homemade! Yay! My friend Nicolina, who used to work at Great Harvest, had me over this last week to coach me in my bread making (sounds domestic, eh?). Not only did we make whole wheat, but we tempted our taste buds with a cheddar garlic bread. INSANELY yummy, and I pretty much ate one whole loaf the moment I pulled it from the oven. Next week we'll make a sweet bread, so stay tuned.

That whole wheat? Freshly ground at our house (thanks Glojo for the wheat grinder!).

Nate makes delicious whole wheat pancakes, which this time contained SMC milk and little chunks of peach. Topped with a local honey.

I still make my own baby food, but this month the green beans are totally local. Thanks to my food processor, it isn't as arduous of a task as it sounds.

Emiko is naturally the major consumer of babyfood around our house these days, but we still make Mayumi eat the green beans. How? We mix it with apple sauce and call it "Greenple." Nate gets the credit for the name. Mayumi loves it. I, for one, love to hear her asking for greenple.

Another random meal--roasted potatoes, corn, steamed squash.

Okay, so people have been asking me how I am liking this project. The answer: I am enjoying it. It IS almost twice as expensive as buying regular 'cheap' food on sale. But it is so FUN to shop the Farmers' Markets, and they really do provide enough for one to eat from them exclusively. Of course I have had to make more food from scratch than I usually do. While I have always enjoyed cooking, I enjoy it less and less now that I have kids. Nothing makes hours slaving in the kitchen less worth it then one's 2-year old throwing what you've made on the floor, while you and your husband shovel down your food in silence because you can't possibly hold a conversation over the toddler wails and whines.

Do I sound bitter? Trying not to be. But I was kept awake for 2 hours last night but the younger one who is sleep training.

Ah, the joys of parenthood.