bowl full of cherries

There is something that has been missing in my life lately...the lost art of BAKING. I love baking and cooking and haven't had much time to do either lately. For the past few years our family was a member of a local CSA (an organic farm that delivered fresh veggies to our neighborhood weekly - this one to be exact!) but this year we couldn't afford to buy our usual share. I am missing our veggie share like CRAZY! It takes a LOT of dedication and discipline to use up a big surprise box of vegetables every week! I love that it encouraged - well, forced - me to make fresh healthy foods for my family. I feel like I rely way too much on pre-packaged foods lately because I am busy and broke and know that I need to get back on track for my family.

Well last week my sister-in-law asked me to share a 20 pound box of cherries with her.













Heck yes! With 10 lbs. of delicious cherry goodness I have forced myself to find the time to do some real baking over the past week. I pitted a ton of cherries and made a fresh cherry pie. The picture above is just 6 cups of cherries I pitted for one pie. It is a very time consuming but relaxing task! We also had cherry pancakes and cherry muffins. Wow! I seriously didn't know I had it in me!

Here's to reviving a lost craft!! Now I just need to keep this momentum going. And of course I also need to make something besides PIE!!












We went to the farmer's market on Saturday. It's one of our favorite summer family outings. I picked up tomatoes, basil, zuchinni, lots of other good stuff. So hopefully the Thorson family will be eating well this week. Wish me luck!