For this month’s 24, 24, 24 event I proposed preparing food for a big party using ingredients that were locally produced, grown, and made.  Some ingredients I used were ones that I canned or froze over the summer months.  But most of the ingredients were ones that I bought this week, and in season.  It was a lot of fun talking with farmers and vendors about what’s in season during the cold month of December, and what’s available locally.  Eric and I were getting pretty excited about being locavores, and are considering trying a month of only eating local because of the bounty of local food in Washington.  Here’s a video of the local producers and the party.

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Starting 7 years ago I searched high and low for the best green bean casserole recipe.  I found ones that were too rich, too goopy, not flavorful, or boring.  Ones that did sound good involved tons of ingredients and more preparation than I felt I could spend , especially if trying to prepare a giant holiday feast.  Basically, I was constantly being disappointed.  So I decided to come up with my own perfect recipe for green bean casserole.

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Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and I’m always on the lookout for a unique mashed potato recipe.  When I was at the local farm stand I saw a bunch of sage and couldn’t resist.  I’d never cooked with before and wasn’t quite sure what to do with sage, but it smells amazing and I remembered it’s often used in butter.  I thought I’d take that one step further and make sage brown butter to mix into mashed potatoes. These are easy mashed potatoes and I will definitely be making them often.

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Would you vote for me to get to demo my recipe at the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival? Just click Buzz It for my Shrimp Alfredo Baskets.

Happy Halloween!  I know several of you are carving pumpkins today, tomorrow I’ll show you Eric’s and my amazing pumpkin carving job.  It’s awesome!  Maybe you’ve noticed that grocery stores are dropping the price of their pumpkins starting today.  We got a giant pumpkin for free from our CSA, but I also bought some smaller ones to use in the kitchen.  Did you know that you can use every part of the pumpkin?  If you want to make your own pumpkin puree, the small sugar pumpkins work best, but this year I even used a small carving pumpkin and found it still tasted pretty good in my pumpkin bars.

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I thought I should share this with you since I’m amazed at how long it’s lasted.  When we got some carrots from our CSA a few weeks ago, I was looking at the carrot tops, and my empty vase and had a brain storm.  I filled the vase with water and began putting carrot tops into it as I cut them off.  It’s made a beautiful and simple centerpiece that didn’t start wilting for 3 weeks!

Now, for my HUGE announcement.  Yesterday I followed through on a big and scary decision.  I quit my job.  That’s right, in the midst of this crazy economy, after months of searching for the RIGHT new job before I quit my old one, I’ve quit my job without having another one lined up.  It sounds crazy, I know, but we really think it’s the right decision.

Last week, Eric and I prayed and talked a ton about the idea of pursuing the start of my own company and hopefully a non-profit organization.  I told him it needed to ultimately be his decision if I quit because he would be the “bread winner” until my business gets off the ground.  He decided on Thursday that it was what I’m supposed to do.  Then I got two great confirmations that it was the right decision.

1.  Right after we decided that and asked God to help us have what we need financially, we got a $500 refund check in the mail from our health insurer!

2.  As I was driving to work yesterday, seriously nervous about telling my boss and how she’d react, I decided to turn on the radio for encouragement.  It was on Spirit 105.3 and when I turned it on the announcer said “More uplifting music for your day” and then a song started.  I don’t even really like the song because it’s not my style, but it was exactly what I needed at that moment.  It’s all about how there’s a time for everything, a time to say yes and a time to say no, a time to move on, and how God is with you through all of it.  I just started cracking up and had the courage I needed to tell my boss without feeling sick to my stomach like I usually do in potential conflict.

So what’s next?  I’m honestly not sure.  I’d like to work for myself from home doing freelance writing and recipe development along with taking my blog to the next level.  I enjoy this and am good at it, it’s mostly a matter of finding the opportunities to make it pay the bills.  Plus it’s something I can do from home when we start planning our family in a year or so.  But one of my ultimate dreams is to start a nonprofit organization in my area.  I have a passion for teaching low income families how to shop for affordable and healthy ingredients and how easy cooking is.  I also love teaching children to cook and all about nutrition.  I so want to offer classes in the area, but the people I’d like to teach can’t really afford to pay for classes.

I’ve never started my own business (lemonade stands don’t count!) and certainly not a nonprofit, so I have a ton to learn.  I’m pretty nervous about the details of LLC’s and 501c3’s and accounting and all that, but I really feel this was the right thing to do so I know it’s going to work out.  On that note, if any of you have any advice or ideas, I’d love your input!  Do you have experience in starting a small business or nonprofit, in freelance writing or know some good resources?  Let me know, and if you live nearby maybe I can take you to coffee and pick your brain!