Farmers' Market with my Little Love and Grilled Eggplant!

Greenville, SC Sat. Morning Market

"What makes the Farmer's Market a special place is that you're actually creating  community around food." -Bryant Terry

This weekend, I went to the local farmers' market with my Little Love and father. It’s true; I LOVE everything about the market. The local produce, the meats, the coffee, the crowd, the music, local restaurant food, the plants, and so on. Not even the rain could keep us away yesterday!

 

 

 

 

Things I enjoy about taking Little Love to the Farmer’s Market:

My Father and Little Love

• Bonding time!
• She can learn more about farmers.
• Learn about nutrition and real food (Teaching her how to eat and pick healthy foods).
• Introduce her to new foods.
• Seeing us cook what we bring home.
• Teaching her the benefits of patronizing local farms.
• Getting her interested in the process of growing foods.

This weekend’s purchases were blue berries and eggplant. These eggplants were so beautiful I absolutely couldn’t resist. So tonight my husband and I made grilled eggplants with parmesan cheese.

Ingredients:

• Salt
• Garlic powder
• Onion Powder
• Eggplants
• Olive oil
• Parmesan cheese

Preparation:

1. In a large Tupperware dissolve 2 Tbsp. of salt in 1 cup hot water. Add about 3 quarts of cold water. Set aside.
2. Trim eggplant and cut into ¾-inch thick  slices. Put slices in salt water, weigh down with the lid and let sit 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, heat a charcoal or gas grill to medium-high heat.
4. Drain eggplant and pat dry with paper towels. Lay them on a large baking sheet or tray. Brush one side with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, garlic and onion power. (Feel free to use other spices you may like. Many people like to add balsamic vinegar as well).  Lay oiled-side-down on the grill. Close lid if using a gas grill and cook until grill marks appear, about 5 minutes.
5. Brush top sides with oil and sprinkle with salt. Turn slices over, close lid on a gas grill and cook until grill marks appear on the other side and eggplant is very tender, about 5 minutes. Place the eggplant on top rack of the grill (if it has one) and leave on low heat for about 15 minutes to soften them. Sprinkle parmesan cheese. Serve hot or at room temperature.

 

 

We paired this meal with two types of chicken sausages my husband picked out from Trader Joes and  a grains blend. For the grains, I would definitely use chicken broth next time as this can be very bland otherwise. But overall this was another easy delicous dinner we thoroughly ENJOYED!

  

 

A WEEKEND OF HISTORY…FAMILY HISTORY

“Our lives may grow in different directions, but yet our roots remain as one.”

 

This month, I had the opportunity to reacquaint myself with my husband’s family history.  Not just hear about, but literally see, touch, and feel it.  It has been awhile since I have been to the Charles B. Aycock Birthplace Historical Site in Wayne County, NC and we had never gone before with our Little Love.

Charles B. Aycock was known as the “Great Education Governor.” He was the 50th Governor of  North Carolina serving from 1901 to 1905. He was an advocate for the improvement of the state's public school systems and he traveled the country promoting educational causes. He was my husband's great great uncle. 

At the historic site, there is a museum, an old school house, some old farm houses, animals, and barns all open to the public. It has a cemetery where the Governor’s descendants are buried going back to the early 1900’s. That day, I learned more about my husband’s family history as I walked through the quiet halls of the museum… and CHERISHED every minute of it! I stood there for awhile, taking it all in, and thinking about how this is now my daughter’s family history as well.

 

I remember my own grandfather spending years working on a binder laying out my family history. He called people all over the country, sending out letters, requesting information, and gathering what he could. A few of us were recipients of these special binders he created. But my husband’s history was carefully preserved and laid out for all to see. What an AMAZING GIFT!
 

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MY AHA! MOMENT: Quality time with my Little Love.

 Read in an article:

 “Add up all the time your kids spend with other people and activities that DO NOT include you?”

As a working parent, this HITS me hard…Picture this: You have been at work all day, you get home, you may or may not be the one making dinner, you eat, you send your child to their playroom or to watch TV so you can put the dishes away, clean the kitchen, return someone’s phone call...Then your kid needs a bath and it’s bed time.  The reality is...this happens in MOST households.

In this routine, did you get QUALITY time in with your child? 

She loves to play with my camera!

My husband and I work full time and we have different schedules, so I absolutely look forward to days we get to spend together as a family. We love our quality time. But on working days, I realize that I can easily fall into the habit of trying to get things done around the house before our Little Love goes to bed. Over the past  year, I have made a conscious effort to spend more QUALITY time with her. I now do a lot of chores after I lay her down for bed. (Upside: This allows me much needed quiet time with my favorite music or perhaps a glass of wine).  

Little Love & her Daddy painting a flower pot.

Now, between dinner and lights out,  we try to read books together; watch her favorite show together while we cuddle and I ask her questions about it;  sit out in the back yard and explore together; walk to the playground together; play with her toys together; draw together; and we loooove music in our house so of course we dance around together! If I have to clean, she too gets out her vacuum and her little broom and helps out(she loves this).

Notice I said the word “TOGETHER!” We get so busy with our lives and we constantly think that the house has to be in order right at that very moment, but what about QUALITY time with our children?

 “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou