There is something about fresh, local, organic, seasonal brussel sprouts. I look forward to them each year.

For this dish, I put 1 pound of brussel sprouts in a baking dish with a sliced apple and a diced yellow onion. I tossed it in approximately 1 TB of heavy whipping cream, 1 TB of local honey from New Moon Farms, and a pinch of Red Algae Hawaiian Kai Sea Salt.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes or so, until the brussel sprouts are tender. I served this with Honey Mustard Roasted Chicken. Great meal!

Well, I had to use the rest of my crabapples somewhere. Why not in sangria?

I must admit, I don’t usually measure when making sangria. I prefer to pour a little of this, a little more of that, etc.

For this pitcher, I used approximately 3 cups of red wine, 1/2 cup brandy, 1/2 cup Gran Gala, 1 can of seltzer, and 3 small crabapples.

I enjoyed this drink over ice.

Well, Ollin Farms never disappoints! They have crabapples, which I find pretty cool. I picked some up at the market and headed over to my friend Chad at Hazel Dell and asked for mushrooms for a crabapple sauté.

Chad recommended a 1/2 pound mixed bag of small cremini and shiitake mushrooms. Chad knows best…

I got them home and had a plan: Tempeh burgers topped with a crabapple mushroom sauce. Perfect.

I got started on my tempeh burgers and made them according to my recipe. Then, I assembled the crabapple mushroom sauce.

First I sauteed 1/2 of a local sweet yellow onion in 1 TB olive oil and 1 TB butter until they started to turn golden brown.

Next, I added the mushrooms, which I had sliced, and let them start to cook on medium-high for 10 minutes or so in the butter-olive oil mixture until they were nice and soft. I added a little sea salt, tossed them a bit, and added 3 crabapples, chopped into small chunks.

After adding the crabapples, lower the heat to medium. The apples will start to release juice and make a crabapple-mushroom gravy-sauce.

I made some quick vegetarian maple beer baked beans, grilled a zucchini and yellow squash, grilled some tempeh burgers, and topped them with shaved parmesan and my crabapple-mushroom sauce.

Delicious.

I am on a steady regimen of Vita-Mix smoothies. Lettuce, orange, and blueberries for breakfast, followed by some variation of the combo pictured here for lunch.

This one turned out great… for a bunch of veggies blended into a drinkable beverage, or as I prefer to call it, a healthy lunch smoothie.

There are no exact measurements here. Add more of what you like, but not necessarily less of what you don’t like! Don’t skimp on the greens!

• a few broccoli florets
• 2 carrots
• 1/2 red pepper
• 1 golden delicious apple
• 10-15 beet greens, wilted
• a handful of wheatgrass
• a handful of sunflower sprouts
• 3 frozen strawberries
• 1/2 red beet
• 1-2 cups water