Easy to Do, Delicious to Eat - Some Stress-Free Recipes

Like everyone I know, I'm trying to find some balance between work and family,while trying to eat well, and somehow reduce the stress of juggling so many balls at the same time.   So I thought I'd share some recipes I've made of late that make things a little easier and use local ingredients from my friends at the farmers markets
- that's Nathan handing over a brioche loaf from Julien's Cafe & Bakery that will be the star of the only leisurely meal of the week... my Honey's French toast on Sunday mornings.

Getaway Farm Meat Mongers is usually my first stop at the market (early bird gets the juiciest worm, or in this case MEAT) and since I've been having dreams of chorizo sausage dishes, I came up with this Chorizo Sausage & Butternut Squash Shepherd's Pie.   The squash comes from ... I'm not sure which wonderful local farmer.

This Garlic Studded, Mushroom Rubbed Rib Roast is an old family favorite.

I also bought some some boneless chicken breasts to quickly saute. Chicken with Crispy Rosemary & Chilies

and Chicken with Garlic, Capers & Lemon.  Both from David Rocco's Made in Italy - a terrific book.

Speaking of new cookbooks... I'm still making my way through The Vegetarian's Complete Quinoa Cookbook with lots of interesting quinoa recipes.  So far, we've enjoyed savory Cornmeal & Quinoa Muffins (foreground and his favorite) and sweet Blueberry Quinoa Muffins (at the back, and my fave)

not to mention the very tasty Hearty Kale, Lentil & Quinoa Soup.  The kale from either Selwood Greens Farm or Free Spirit Farm.

And because, I'm nowhere near being a vegetarian,

can you guess what this lump is? No?

How about now - although I have no idea why the Roasted Lamb With Rosemary, Lemon, Garlic and Oregano looks like fuchsia in the picture, it doesn't in real life.   The lamb is from Marg Zillig's lamb farm via my freezer.  The Roasted Smashed Potatoes (this time roasted with a thin slice of lemon on each) are either from Noggins Corner Farm or Elmridge Farm, I never can quite remember who sold me what, just that it's all from local sources.

Each of the dishes was easy to prepare or didn't require much time standing over the stove or too many ingredients to worry about.  What wasn't eaten right away, made great leftover lunches and were easy to package and freeze for another crazy day sometime in the future when I totally forgot to shop and or cook.