Posts from the “Uncategorized” Category

Day Off

Posted on April 25, 2017

I am taking today off. A few folks have asked me my plans today and here’s what I’ve come up with so far:

Not get out of bed until 10:00 am. (Working on it…)
Post photos of my kids on Facebook and Instagram, which I happen to love (Complete)
Write on my blog, which I never ever get to do these days (In progress…)
Go on a walk, do some laundry, drop off something at the cleaners, make a healthy lunch, listen to a podcast, read a magazine, get a pedicure, and…okay, I know that ALL these things won’t happen, but I might as well put good energy toward the POSSIBILITY of these things happening.

It’s been busy in my world, but probably no busier than your worlds. Life moves fast when you have a 5-year-old, a 2-year-old, and a full-time job. I’m not complaining. I am, however, constantly reassessing priorities and this year has been a year of growth for me in so many ways.

This year, I’ve realized that I’ve given away too many of my minutes and hours. This isn’t a regret, but this realization did kind of knock me over the head earlier this year and that sparked a renewed commitment to my priorities. Reciprocity is something I’m holding close this year. I’m trying to be better at it and hoping others around me will do the same. Last year was all about space and grace and forgiveness, but this year has been more about accountability and drawing some lines in the sand. And just like avoiding potato chips, it is DAILY work. Sometimes it works and sometimes I eat the bag of chips.

On this journey, food hasn’t been on the sidelines. I’ve completed one round of Whole 30 (won’t be trying that again, but appreciated the adventure). I’ve started weight watchers twice. I’ve snacked my way through the last two years: a cheezit here, a goldfish there; a graham cracker here, some hummus there; an adult beverage here, an adult beverage there; and everywhere a chip, chip. You get what I’m saying.

This blog started 8 years ago when I first found Jones Valley Teaching Farm (it was Urban Farm back then). I had a work-trade where in exchange for my volunteer services, I received a box of food each week. My boyfriend and I would try new recipes every week featuring the veggies in that box and Food Revival was BORN! Now I’m working full-time at the farm, married to that boyfriend, and have two children. Eight years is NO joke.

I’m trying to figure out what the point is to this blog post. I also realize I just moved from one paragraph about reciprocity and eating chips to the historical context of my blog with absolutely no transition. Maybe I’m just checking the “I wrote on my blog today” box. Maybe I’m trying to get back to personal hobbies I miss. Not so sure, but I’m thankful for the opportunity to share and thank all of you who have stuck with me to this point.

In the spirit of the things I love and my re-commitment to focusing on those things I love, I offer some fun pieces of inspiration in my universe:

Mae Mae wearing an S on her chest (and back) because she IS a Super Girl in so many ways. She challenges me to be stronger every day. She makes me laugh. I’m proud of her strength, curiosity, and humor. I can’t wait to see what she does next.

Martin Everitt continues to teach me more about life and its complicated lessons than I ever imagined. He’s a precious boy. I seem to be holding on a bit tighter these days and beginning to realize that there will be a time when I can’t carry him to bed anymore. He’s entering kindergarten in August and I’m pretending this is NOT happening. I’m fine with just living in this moment for now. I can’t fast forward just yet.

I love Jones Valley Teaching Farm and can’t believe I have the opportunity to work alongside such amazing colleagues, students, and partners. I’m proud of who we are and who we are becoming. It’s hard work. All of it is hard work, but I believe in it and that makes all the difference. Cool things happening now in that part of my world include:

Student-Run Farmers Markets are in FULL swing. We’d love to see you at any of the markets listed above. We will be back at Pepper Place Market on Saturday, May 20th!

JVTF’s on-site produce stand is open on the downtown farm Monday – Thursdays. You can bring a check or cash as it operates on an honor system. That means, you walk in the stand, get the veggies you want from the cooler, weigh it, check the price, drop the money in the box, and leave. We are located at 701 25th St. North Birmingham, AL 35203.

I’ve been busy planning (alongside some amazing folks) our Spring fundraiser. It’s called, “Gather” and we have 20 folks hosting dinners all over Birmingham on Saturday, May 13^th to support our work. You can read more about it here: http://jvtfgather.swellgives.com/

Also really excited to share our Annual Report here: http://2016.jvtf.org/

That’s where I am today. Bottom line: I accomplished one of the things I intended to do today that was only for me (writing) and I did it while still in bed. It is officially 10:11 am, so that means I have just accomplished TWO of the things.

Categories: Community, Family, Jones Valley Teaching Farm, Uncategorized, Work

Ina Garten’s Skillet-Roasted Lemon Chicken

Posted on November 22, 2016

Once upon a time, I used to blog regularly. I also used to cook many recipes from scratch, document them, and post regularly on this FOOD BLOG. This was long ago before I had my children. Fast forward 5 years later and I’m barely cooking these days. I make no apologies, honestly. I’m just doing the best I can. I’m a huge fan of pre-packaged salads and frozen thin crust Homerun pizza. I’m also a huge fan of my mother. She delivers (at least) two proteins a week, which SAVES these precious children from having pizza every night. Don’t forget that I work at a TEACHING FARM and have access to the best produce I could ever imagine, but life is life and I’m rolling with it these days. (Thankfully, I roasted some Jones Valley Teaching Farm broccoli to go with the recipe listed below, used our lettuce in a salad last week, AND have enjoyed a few carrots.)

So you can imagine how I felt last weekend when one kid was at Gran’s and the 1-year-old was asleep and I had 30 free glorious minutes to watch Barefoot Contessa. She was cooking the most delicious looking skillet chicken recipe with onions, lemons, and white wine. It looked easy enough and I immediately thought I could accomplish this recipe. I could conquer the kitchen again. Wild and crazy thought, I know, but the next thing you know I’m buying a whole chicken and lemons and onions and feeling overconfident (and obviously delirious).

Then reality set in. I never found the time to take the backbone out of the chicken. I looked at that whole chicken in my refrigerator the entire week feeling defeated. I prepped for the 5-year-old’s birthday party. I made some frozen pizzas. I counted down the days until I HAD to do something with the dang chicken and I finally did! With the help from the husband, we managed to tag team the chicken prep and actually cook the recipe. You can find the recipe here: Skillet-Roasted Lemon Chicken. I omitted the fennel seed because, well, I’m not a fan.

I have to say this recipe was rather easy minus the whole chicken and backbone situation. I’d probably have the butcher prep the chicken for me next time to make my life easier and prevent the unnecessary pressure of a whole chicken staring me in the face day after day. Nonetheless, I’m really glad we accomplished something the husband and I used to love to do together. Even with little children running around.

I highly recommend this dish. But of course, I recommend almost every single thing Ina Garten makes. How could you not?

I probably won’t cook again for, oh, 3 more months so let’s all celebrate the little victories, shall we? I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Categories: Family, Recipes, Uncategorized

Tagged: Barefoot Contessa, Chicken, Chicken Recipes, Ina Garten

My Own Version of Ina and Jeffrey’s Date Night In…

Posted on October 30, 2016

There are two women I’d walk over hot coals for if asked. Sure, my Mom and my daughter mean a lot to me, but I’m not talking about them. At least not in this post. I am talking about Dolly Parton and Ina Garten. Nothing sounds better to me than spending time with both of these women drinking cocktails, eating high-fat, high-calorie snacks, and talking about our favorite things. Seriously. Then we’d stay up late talking, wake up in the morning and have coffee, make some biscuits, and I’d listen intently as they gave me the best advice on running businesses and life (in general).

So you can imagine how thrilled I was when my dear friend, Sara, sent me THIS article about Ina and her beloved Jeffery. The title? “Ina Garten’s 5 tips for a Better Date Night In.” Man, this article came right on time for me and my husband, Mike. Let’s review WHY it came right on time:

It’s been (at least) 10 months since Mike and I have had a “Date Night In.” Who am I kidding? I only guessed 10 months because I CAN’T POSSIBLY REMEMBER THIS HAPPENING AT ALL SINCE HAVING MY FIRST CHILD FIVE YEARS AGO.
Mike and I are approaching our 7^th wedding anniversary on November 7^th and this would be a perfect way to celebrate given the fact that we fell in love cooking our way through every single Barefoot Contessa (aka Ina Garten) cookbook. Ah, the memories. And oh…those pounds. Ina don’t play in the love and butter business.

And so, I decided to read the article out loud to Mike as a way to celebrate who we are in this new phase of our life: Full-time working parents of two children under the age of 5. Yes, a date night in is JUST what we need, but how do we do this successfully? Well, let’s just follow the advice in the article:

1.Treat dinners together as a gift.
“You don’t need to go out of your way to create the perfect evening — with busy schedules, finding the time to simply share a meal together is special in itself.”

Well that’s good to know because the way our dinners currently operate is whenever I’m finished with dishing up one person’s plate is when they get it and immediately find their way to their respective spots at the table and immediately begin eating. So, if we can possibly manage to be eating at the exact same time and eating the exact same thing, we are winning already. And if we are eating something where I didn’t have to cut another person’s portion up in teeny-tiny pieces or fill a sippy cup, then we are living it UP, people.

2.Don’t go crazy on fancy food.
“That’s when you really connect — over a really nice, simple dinner rather than a fancy dinner that’s meant to impress people,” Ina says. “The key is to make something so when you’re done with dinner, you can still be present for the people who are there — that’s what makes them feel special.”

This is EXACTLY why I tend to focus my efforts on HomeRun Thin Crust Pizza straight from the freezer section at the grocery store. Thank you, Ina, for affirming my choice 3x each week.

3.Dress up your table — a little bit.
“Ina doesn’t go overboard when setting the dinner table, but she does rely on a few small touches to make things feel a bit more special, like fresh flowers, candles, and linen napkins.”

Uh, sounds like this is the perfect reminder to vacuum the random crumbs out of the table grooves, sweep up the bits of food Mae threw on the floor 4 days ago, shove the random rescue bot, puzzle piece, and sippy cup with sour milk to another part of the table, and wipe down (you know, because this is a special occasion) the plastic place mats. In other words, we are getting fancy.

4. Share the workload.
“When it comes to the cooking, Ina happily does it all — but that doesn’t mean Jeffrey doesn’t help in his own way. “He’s very good about clearing the dishes and stacking them, which makes it much easier for me to clean up afterwards,” says Ina. ”

Wait. We clean up after the date night in? Like, wash dishes? Scrape plates? What kind of a date is this, anyway???

5.Save your binge-watching for after dinner.
Ina and Jeffrey listen to a series of CDs released by Hôtel Costes in Paris; the eclectic mixes evoke fond memories of their time spent abroad.”

Ahem, for those of us experiencing life with a loved one alongside two children under the age of 5, I think we’d ditch the CD from Paris and instead sit in absolute SILENCE. Just listening to each of our jaws lightly chomping food sounds like absolute heaven if you ask me. No questions. No noise. No humans talking. Not even the ones on the date. Just straight up mastication in beautiful silence.

So, obviously we have some work to do in order to achieve the Ina/Jeffery Date Night Nirvana. Heck, we can’t even find a way to escape for our anniversary and I think the closest getaway we have secured is HOOVER (this is a suburb 15 minutes away for those of you unfamiliar with Birmingham).

In the meantime, I’ll just be over here dreaming about Ina cooking for me.

And perhaps the four of us (Ina, Jeffrey, Mike, and myself) running all over East Hampton looking for dinner clues and finishing our evenings on the beach complete with bonfires while a CD is softly playing in the background as we reminisce on NEVER having been in Paris like, ever. Oh, and then Ina and I would scrape and stack the plates so Mike and Jeffrey didn’t have it so bad during clean up.

Categories: Family, Uncategorized

Tagged: Barefoot Contessa, Cooking For Amanda, Cooking for Jeffrey, Ina Garten

On A Roll (well, kind of)

Posted on September 3, 2016

Remember when I posted last week? I was all like, “I haven’t posted in forever,” “I don’t have hobbies,” “I need to commit and bring this stressed out season to an end.” Remember that?

Look at me! I’m on a roll. Well, kind of.

First, I would like to say that I managed to walk once this week, which is more than never. I’m celebrating more than never these days.

Oh, I also cooked last Sunday. A meatloaf. How about that? For snacks, I purchased the “Balanced Breaks” combo featured below. Thank you, Costco/Sargento for forcing me to eat this instead of chips. Small victories, people.

And here I am writing on the blog again. Oh, and I read a few articles in my Fast Company magazine. READING AND EVEN RETAINING WHAT I READ! This is big.

See? I’m trying. But, I still have some work to do. I accidentally had boiled peanuts, pizza, and chicken tenders (my husband’s fault) a few nights this week. And obviously that one walk celebrated above could not compete with THOSE dinner decisions. But, it’s a start.

Did I mention my kids started school? Well, the one-year-old started full days at school after being with the grandparents her entire first year and the 4-year-old moved to his big boy Pre-K class. There were some good days and one particularly bad day with the little one. Thankfully, the week ended like this:

And then there were two grants that were due and preparation for Jones Valley Teaching Farm’s annual fundraiser happening on September 23rd. There was also some weird cough I battled for two days straight, which was (and still is) annoying.

Then there were less stressful moments like seeing THIS beautiful sight:

All of these babies were taken care of by a dedicated team at Woodlawn High School Urban Farm. Five remarkable students and our incredible staff have been carefully tending to these beauties in the greenhouse at the high school. It’s the first official batch and I can tell that it is going to be an amazing year watching the WHS Urban Farm take off! I’ll talk more about this work later, but just know that work and life may be keeping me beyond busy, but then I see this photo and it all makes sense.

This is just me staying accountable by writing again and exposing my strengths and weaknesses (hello there, chicken tender. okay, fine. i also had fries). Here’s hoping for even more wins next week.

Oh, and for those of you who celebrate SEC football, congratulations on the start of the season. For those of us (me included) who enjoy the sheer joy of empty streets, restaurants and grocery stores during game times, congratulations to you too. Onward!

Categories: Community, Family, Jones Valley Teaching Farm, Uncategorized, Work

This Season Is Almost Over

Posted on August 29, 2016

I didn’t even look at the last time I posted because I know deep down in my heart it has been way too long. I keep calling this time of my life as “a particular season that will eventually pass.” Between having a baby and taking on the Executive Director role at Jones Valley Teaching Farm, this season ‘o mine has been a little bonkers. And when things are bonkers, I tend to let the bonkers take over all aspects of my life.

I’m not complaining, though. I mean, I complain sometimes, but most of the time, I’m cool with the bonkers. Like these two kids:

And watching incredibly talented colleagues and students do this work:

and this:

But with all of THAT, I don’t think I’ve managed other bits of my time very well. My one-year-old starts day care next week and we are responsible for filling out “getting to know the parents” forms. When we get to the “hobbies” portion, I’m always stumped. I know what I used to love doing: cooking, writing, blogging, taking photos of my kids, reading, walking, and hanging out with my husband or friends. Out of every single one of those things, I think the only thing I’m still doing regularly (and you will agree if you follow me on Facebook) is that I post photos of my kids. That’s it.

So, yes. This has been a particularly challenging and rewarding season all in one. But the season has to change. I can’t keep eating queso and drinking blue moons and blame it on this unique season ‘o mine. Fifteen pounds later and there is no doubt how I got here. But let’s talk about that for a second, shall we? There may be a time when someone just needs to gain fifteen pounds. Doesn’t make it right or healthy, but it’s real. Some people lose weight under stress. Not me. No siree. I buy the Biggie-sized fry and dip them in ranch.

But I know the season is over. I tried Whole30 two months ago and was super successful. Healthiest I’ve ever been, probably. But then I had a blue moon and a slice of toast and I swear I undid 30 days in a matter of 5 minutes. It was my first attempt to self-regulate and I actually succeeded, but I realized that it was too much for me to do long term.

Why am I writing this now on my neglected personal blog?

I guess to check in and say, “hey” to folks I never see and to assure you that I’m finding my way even if the journey has had one too many chicken nuggets thrown in the way. I guess it is also to acknowledge that sometimes women find their way the best they can. I work at a teaching farm for goodness sake, but frozen pizzas are still happening a lot of the time. It’s called life. But, I’m kind of tired of spending too much energy wishing I would have made a better choice at lunch or wishing I had time to walk in the mornings or read before going to bed or put the dang phone down and stop looking at Facebook or Instagram.

And so, I’m going to try to get back on track a bit. September is the month, perhaps? A new season where my kids are in the same place. A new season where I fill up on fruit like I used to. A new season where I build my schedule around a walk every now and then. A new season where I cook and plan and get it more together. And maybe just maybe I’ll write a little more — about food, the work I do, my kids, and who knows what else. And maybe after all of that, I can also go to dinner with my husband. Let’s hope I can make this stick.

Missed y’all,

-A

Categories: Family, Uncategorized

I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends (and a Potato)

Posted on April 20, 2016

Day 9, baby.

Today was a good Whole30 day. It started off with some scrambled eggs, Jones Valley Teaching Farm mustard greens and a few strawberries. Coffee is always black these days. I’m not going to lie…I miss the cream.

Pardon the paper plate. Not the most sustainable choice, I know…

Let’s talk lunch. Do you know what means so much when you are eliminating practically everything from your diet? The moment you go to a restaurant and tell them about your dietary needs and they are like, “Okay. No problem.” This was my request today: “Can I have a lemon dressing instead of the other dressing?” “No croutons and no cheese, please.” My friends at Feast and Forest have accommodated every single request and have made eating out so easy for me. I had a delicious salad today and could actually enjoy my company rather than worry about the meal.

And then I got to sit here and have a meeting. I’m constantly running (too) fast these days and tend to forget the importance of slowing down long enough to SIT DOWN and enjoy the place I work.

Now, let’s talk dinner. Look! A Potato! A potato with a little ghee, chicken, broccoli, and some homemade sour cream (not really, but I’m pretending it was) on top. it was easy to do and so filling.

I made the “sour cream” kind of like I did the “ranch dressing” yesterday. I used the homemade mayo I made over the weekend (just look at how pretty it turned out):

I added a little vinegar, salt, and pepper to the mayo and drizzled it over the potato. It was my pretend sour cream. And it worked.

Day 9 is in the books and I haven’t given up yet. Now I’m off to eat 3 cashews and call it a night. xo

Categories: Jones Valley Teaching Farm, Recipes, Uncategorized, Whole30

Tagged: Feast and Forest, ghee

Baked Potato Soup (I promise this post is low-fat)

Posted on January 17, 2015

I’m going to pretend that my pregnant self did NOT just inhale a plate of hot wings. Instead, I’m going to post THIS tasty and low-fat Baked Potato Soup recipe. It’s a win-win for all of us: I get to remain in denial and you get to make a low-fat recipe. See how that works? I’ve talked about Skinnytaste before, so it should be no surprise that Gina is at it again. She has taught me some really valuable tricks, but my favorite one (I think) is substituting cauliflower in recipes when I can. Cauliflower can provide great texture and will absorb most any flavor. So rather than loading your potato soup with TONS of evil white starchy potatoes, you can cut it in…

Categories: Uncategorized

Tagged: Comfort, family, Pregancy, recipes, Skinnytaste, Soup, Weight Watchers