Zucchini Bread Bake-off

I had the fun task of being one of the "blogger's choice" judges at Fat Moon Farm's zucchini bread bake-off.  The other two judges were Kathi from The Full Fridge and Andy from My Untangled Life.  It was fun to meet other bloggers who are passionate about food and cooking!

I made a loaf of the double chocolate zucchini bread Jules posted the other day.

It was good--certainly didn't disappoint.  I didn't have espresso powder so I subbed a teaspoon of cinnamon--I'd probably use more in the future as you couldn't taste the cinnamon.  Also, like Jules, I sprinkled some coarse sugar on top, because, well, I thought that was a FINE idea!

But, my favorites of the day were a lemon poppy zucchini bread and a banana zucchini bread--I hope they end up sharing the recipe as anything I think is better than chocolate, you KNOW it has to be good!  Those were the two breads us three bloggers chose for the "bloggers' choice" awards.

**EDIT TO ADD--Here's a link to the Fat Moon site about the event, with links to recipes!

And here are the real winners--all of us who got to try all the delicious zucchini bread!  Thanks, Elizabeth at Fat Moon, for planning this fun event!

And check out the lovely flowers they gave me!  Aren't they beautiful?? 

A lovely afternoon, and one of the many reasons why I enjoy eating locally and getting to know local farmers and producers!

Smitten and Spoiled

Those of you who have been following this blog since the beginning are quite aware of how smitten I am with our CSA Farm. I love everything about belonging to a CSA - farm to table food (some of which we get to pick ourselves!), the opportunity to show my young son EXACTLY where his food comes from, developing a real relationship with the farmers that in essence are present at our table every day (I could go on and on).

Yes, indeed, we become a wee bit spoiled during the traditional growing season here in Western, MA when fresh, local produce (and a large variety of it) is readily available. But, all good things must come to an end, and eventually even the storage crops begin to dwindle. I knew this was going to be a tough transition for me (and my family).

To their credit, our local Big Y is committed to supporting local farms and food producers and labels these selections accordingly, making it relatively easy to continue purchasing local staples, but it's the fresh, local produce I really missed. Enter Berkshire Organics. Once again, I am smitten. My only regret is that this business wasn't my brainchild (though I'm eternally grateful to Aleisha for conceiving and ultimately giving birth to this convenient and affordable service).


For the past couple of months, we've been the proud (and happy) recipients of the Berkshire Basket. Since Berkshire Organics is "right down the road" from my daycare provider, I've opted to pick our basket up (vs. having it delivered) and we manage to stretch our basket out over the course of two weeks (with supplements from our freezer, root cellar and I'll be honest...the grocer). I LOVE the fact that Berkshire Organics' goal is to help reduce the distance from the farm to our table (sound familiar). They work with a number of farms within a 50-mile radius as well as an organic supplier who shares their vision by purchasing produce as close to New England as possible. The produce is fantastic and the variety (and flexibility) is great too! They let you know ahead of time what's in that weeks' basket and if there's something you don't like you can email them to request a substitution from a list of items that are available.

As we move into February and each day brings us a little closer to spring, the distance our food travels will begin to diminish. Before you know it we'll once again be basking in the warmth that Holiday Brook Farm brings to us.....in so many ways.

I am extremely grateful for the local food options available to us here in the Berkshires. For those of you who try to eat locally when you can, what do YOU do during the "off season"?

Bon Appetit!

Note: New England Bloggers are celebrating their one-year anniversary this week. To celebrate, Elizabeth - host(ess) of NEB has organized a carnival of posts that relate to our wonderful region. Please stop by to see the celebratory blog posts - and don't forget to say "hi"!