pizza on the grill

I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend. We spent time soaking up the gorgeous weather this weekend and enjoyed what just might be one of our last nice weekends in the PNW.

We took a family trip to the Bellingham Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning and got a few items to compliment the bounty of tomatoes that have been growing in our garden to make margherita pizzas for dinner. Fresh basil and Samish Bay Mozzarella cheese were paired with a homemade crust and LOTS of tomatoes for this delicious dinner. We cooked down our cherry tomatoes to make a tomato sauce. We added a bit of sugar and a few cloves of fresh garlic (also from our garden) to round out the flavors in the sauce. I could have eaten it by the spoonful!

We used our pizza stone on the grill to bake the pizzas. It worked great to get that bubbly crust with just a bit of char. It was a bit of Via Tribunali via our backyard grill. Paired with a glass of red wine and salad made from more of our backyard veggies it was a perfect evening.

Baking on the grill

The finished product.

Our tasty meal.

It was almost a date...and then this one woke up...such is life.

We might have a pizza lover on our hands.

We hated it. Soon after this picture was taken the last piece was eaten.

...and we're done.

Really done. A drop of water hit the stone while it was hot and it cracked.

What were you up to this weekend? We hope you enjoyed your last days of summer!

happy egg day!

Our chickens laid their first egg on July 31st, so it will forever be declared “Egg Day” in the Louws Household. We aren’t exactly sure which chick laid it first, but we’re guessing it might have been Millie since she’s the biggest.

You can see how small the eggs are when they first come out. This is a regular size egg cup. They have increased in size every day they lay. Since the first day they started laying we have gotten 1-2 eggs each day.

Here are photos of us holding our first egg. Side note: it was right away in the morning, hence why we look like we just rolled out of bed.

We cooked up our tiny egg and shared it…two bites each…look how yellow the yolk is!

Yummy!

farmer’s market birthday dinner

My birthday was just over a week ago and one of the things we did to celebrate was visit Bellingham’s Farmers Market. Despite the cold and rain the market was brimming with Bellingham-ers celebrating the opening of this season’s farmers market. (I’d like to think they were all there for my birthday too.)

BJ decided we should pick up some food at the market and cook dinner. Naturally this is a wonderful idea (and a lot of the point of going to the Farmer’s Market) but for some reason this really stresses me out. I feel this need to make sure I pick the right items that will go together and to choose the farmer that has the best produce and needs our support the most. (I do realize the single bundle of leeks we bought isn’t going to put any of these farmers into a different tax bracket but, still.)

Of course I was thrilled with our dinner results and kept saying over and over “We should do this again, like every week!” Hopefully next time I won’t feel the anxiety.

BJ did some Google work when we got home and found this recipe for Mushroom Leek Pasta Carbonara:

Pasta from Bellingham Pasta Co.

Mushroom mixture: portabellas, crimini and shitake mushrooms.

Fresh spinach fettuccine.

Saute leeks in a bit of olive oil, then add the mushrooms.

In addition to the sauteed veggies, you add two beaten eggs along with the pasta to thicken it all up. Top with parmesan cheese.

We also bought this delicious roasted vegetable foccacia from Bread Farm and of course a glass of white wine.

Me and the chef. I think it's a little steamy from the pasta cooking.

I encourage you to have a stress free visit to your local farmer’s market and come up with a lovely spontaneous dinner from the local produce.