Winter Squash & Leek Quiche

We went to the farmer's market again and I decided to buy a pumpkin-looking sort of squash and some leeks.

I browsed around through some recipes combining squash and leeks and we finally decided to make quiches. I adapted this recipe by adding ground beef and I used a different pie crust recipe that included sage in the dough. Very tasty. We ate one and put the other in the freezer for a quick dinner later.

It's Plum Season!

Strawberries and Plums from our yard.

We have day neutral strawberry plants that produce continuously from June to frost. They are excellent and surprisingly easy to grow.

The plums are italian prune plums. Sami picked about 5 gallons off the small tree in our front yard and estimates that there are still about 3 gallons left.

Plum puree (for the baby)

I filled up all five trays of the dehydrator with halved plums.

After that we still had a lot more than we can eat fresh so I decided to cook some up for baby food (yes, I know it's quite a while before the baby can eat it). Anyway, the results were amazing, and I'd happily eat them all by myself.

Strawberry Crisp

We first made this recipe last weekend. It was so good we decided we had to have it again.

I changed the original recipe by doubling the ingredients for the crisp topping and baking at a higher temperature (375F )

Harvest Moon

Harvest Moon

With a moon like this, it really makes you feel like fall (and Halloween) are just around the corner.

After dinner, Sami and I went over to knock on our neighbor's door and tell them the pallets of pellets for the pellet stove are arriving on Wed. The view of the moon from their porch was amazing and we all stood there looking at it.

I ran inside to get my tripod and camera, but unfortunately couldn't find the quick release for the tripod, making the tripod pretty much useless. So this picture is the only one that didn't turn out horribly blurry. So sad. A waste of a great photo opportunity.

Lunch with Liesl at Ava Roasteria

Liesl in front of Ava Roasteria

Liesl is one of the girls I met on the pregnancy forum. She actually lives in my neighborhood and we've been out walking together a couple times.

Anyway, I was working from home today and my schedule was flexible so we decided to go for lunch this afternoon and enjoy the sunshine before fall comes.

Goldfinches bathing in the waterfall near our table.

We were sitting outside since it was such a beautiful day and I was able to take this photo right from my seat.

Pretty orange flower in front of the waterfall.

Me in front of the waterfall.

Eggplant Parmesan

Eggplant Parmesan

We were talking about going to the farmer's market this morning when Sami handed me the most recent issue of Food and Wine magazine.

I flipped though and asked Sami what he thought of various dishes. We knew eggplant would be in season and decided to try the recipe. We hardly even use eggplant, so it was a nice change for us.

I'm not sure how big of a dish you're supposed to use for this recipe but 8 eggplants sounded like a ton, so we halved the recipe.

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Fresh from our garden!

Sami picked a big bowlful of strawberries this afternoon. He selected all the bigger ones and suggested we dip them in chocolate.

Yum!

Sami dipping strawberries.

Sami had never used the double boiler method to melt chocolate before. He discovered it's actually easy and fun to dip things in chocolate.

Close-up of strawberry being dipped.

Strawberries cooling on wax paper.

Sunny Saturday at the Farmer's Market

Sara in front of the fountain.

Since everyone is requesting more pictures of me, I figured we'd better oblige.

Here's the side view.

Lunch at Milo's with Crystal and Jen

Milo's City Cafe

I had been chatting with some nice girls on an online pregnancy forum (think something like MySpace or Facebook for pregnant women).

As it turned out several of us live in the Portland area and we decided we should get together sometime.

Crystal & Jen waiting to cross the street.

I hadn't been to this restaurant before and wasn't sure how parking would be so I arrived a bit early. I was sitting on the bench outside when I could see Crystal and Jen approaching from a couple blocks away.

We laughed because although we've never actually met each other before, we were all at the exact same stage (25 weeks) and so easily recognizable.

I am ridiculously happy about my chocolate cake.

I surprised myself and ordered the Pulled Pork BBQ sandwich for lunch. (I like BBQ but don't usually order it unless it is beef.) It was great. The best BBQ I've had in Oregon so far.

I must have been really hungry because I ate the whole sandwich and still had room for dessert. The cake was excellent too.

Jen shows off her dessert

We thought these desserts were so cute with their umbrellas and little plastic figures.

Crystal actually took these photos - Jen and I were too busy eating. Poor Crystal was good and didn't order any dessert.

Crystal, Jen & I in the obligatory belly shot.

The angle of this is a little weird because the camera is sitting on a picnic table. Crystal took this picture using the timer on her camera. I took one with my camera too, but I think I look better in this one.

Desiree's Scalloped Spuds with Ham

Scalloped Potatoes - Yum!

My new friend Desiree loves baking and cooking too. She just gave me this great new recipe for scalloped potatoes. Haven't tasted them yet, but they smell soooo good!

Pear and Blackberry Sponge

My Double Fruit Pear and Blackberry Sponge.

Since we have so many pears in our yard and Sami just picked blackberries a couple days ago, I decided to try this recipe.

I don't have a proper sponge pan, so I figured I'd just use the big glass dish and double the recipe, but I realized after putting the fruit in that I had only two eggs... Actually I had 14 eggs but for some reason couldn't find the second box. Anyway, it's rather light on the sponge, but still looks and smells very yummy.