I've got a cassoulet type bean dish in the crockpot for tomorrow. It's been in a couple hours and already smells awesome. A chicken thigh quarter, a bit of course grind italian sausage (browned with onion before throwing in the crock) celery, sun dried tomatoes, wheat and spelt (an old variant of wheat) berries, wild rice, and beans (red beans, pink beans, adjuki beans, and anasazi beans), some wine, water and seasonings.

Lmills730, they were actually in my CSA (community supported agriculture) box this week, full of all organic, fresh from the farm food! The greens were very good, mild and not bitter at all.
There were mizuna greens too, so that's probably why they were as mild as they were.

http://www.bewiseranch.com/picklist.htm

Man, I would really be bummed if I had no Trader Joe's or Whole Foods nearby!

Kaplods, that sounds like a very hearty dish my acupuncturist would love!

I am bummed! Thank goodness for my mom tho, she sends my bf and I a HUGE 20-lb package of Trader Joes favorites to me bimonthly
Have u tried their Pesto salad dressing? Its my all time favorite

Well, what a great care package! No, I haven't had the dressing because I'm vegan, so I just buy the fresh basil they sell and make pesto and other dressings homemade.

Yeast is magical; it just hangs out in the air waiting to be trapped by flour paste.

Try it: Mix 1 cup of flour (white, wheat, rye, it doesn't matter) and 1 cup of water in a plastic container and leave out (loosely covered) on your counter. Each day, add another 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of water and mix it all together. After 4 or 5 days, the mix will start bubbling and growing and eventually you can use it as a sourdough starter for bread. It's magical. The best part is that the yeast in different parts of the country and different kitchens is completely different, so any bread I make is going to have a different flavor than any bread you make. Magic!

Also, making mozzarella is the easiest thing in the world. Check out http://www.cheesemaking.com/ (and the best part is that you can use the whey from making mozzarella to make ricotta. No waste!)

Thanks Baffled -- I am going to try both of these, the yeast and the cheese.
I prefer to use goat dairy but it looks like I will need to find a goat-keeper to get some raw milk since the goat milk that is sold in the stores is ultra-pasteurized and according to your link, that won't work for mozzarella.

SoulBliss - thanks for the flour suggestions; I will confess that I lazed out and didn't make it yet; but I have the cooked butternut ready!
I did make a whole wheat crust pizza with about 10 different kinds of vegetables on it. All those funky greens from the CSA bag, and squash, carrots, radish, cauliflower.....they all go great on pizza. It's my favorite thing to make.

I am making "Puchero", its a spanish recipe that I have changed slightly to make it healthier. Its chicken, chickpeas, leeks, celery, turnips, carrots and potatoes all cooked together with a touch of fresh mint. Very yummy.

I made baba ganouj this week, using it to dip red, yellow and orange pepper strips in it for lunch!

So many great ideas .... puchero, cassoulet, umeboshi vinegar ... things I've never heard of!

Wow, a great thred. I've been on vacation and suffering 3FC withdrawal all around.

Last night I made my favorite pasta sauce - finely chopped onions and zucchini, sauteed with a little olive oil, then a can of seasoned diced tomatoes, cook it all til it's thick and served over WW pasta or polenta, or brown rice..... Mushrooms are good in this too, but I didn't have any.

Spiny - I used to keep goats and the milk is really really good, as long as there's no male goat around. They smell, and the odor/flavor gets into the milk. I kept only females and took them to the "boys" to be bred at the appropriate time. Goats are really pretty easy and the little ones are tons of fun. I always bottle fed them to keep them manageable. The downside of course is you have to get goat-sitters/milkers if you want to travel.

I made black-lentil minestrone, and cottage-cheese pancakes topped with apples sauteed in brown sugar and a little butter.

I'm on a soup kick. I made a miso soup last night, and I'll be making a potato soup and a sauerkraut soup later this week. It's crock-pot season!

sorry...I deleted it because I had canned spinach and canned beans in the soups...not whole foods...oops!

I made my own ricotta!

I have the kit, but I realized the milk I had was ultra-pasteurized, so I started searching and found this:
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/print/000282.html

It is so yummy. I cannot stop picking at it.

I also made our pizza dough for make-your-own-pizza night, which we do most Fridays. Not whole foods, though. DH likes turkey pepperoni or turkey sausage on his. The kids and I have olives and green pepper and sometimes shrimp.

In the fridge, I have cookie dough waiting for us to make fall cookies tomorrow.

In the crockpot, I have a taco soup-like thing for lunch tomorrow.

Clearly, I have been in the kitchen a lot today.

I am making tacos! I am using Morningstar farm veggie crumbles, organic blue corn crispy tortillas, salsa, chopped kale, a little low fat cheese and a chopped roma tomato. On the side, I'm having fat free vegetarian refried black beans with a sprinkle of low fat cheese. I'm actually not sure if this counts as a whole foods meal or not (processed shells, crumbles, cheese, canned beans - but it is sooo delicious)!!