Saturday Outings

Saturday was the perfect day, spent at two of my favorite spots in Houston: the farmers market and the arboretum! 

We had absolutely nothing on the agenda for Saturday morning except bread baking, yard work and a trip to the farmers market. While Gene stayed home to work on the yard, Henry (my farmers market sidekick) and I headed to the market. We are so lucky that it is five minutes from our house. We came home with five canvas sacks full of spring veggies: beets, carrots, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, Easter egg radishes, four heads of lettuce, kale, green onions, cabbage, fennel and strawberries. Fresh veggies make me happy, and I am a true locavore at heart. (It doesn't hurt that I've been reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.)

After the farmers market, I spent a good hour and a half prepping veggies and cleaning the kitchen. You should see what the kitchen looks like after a visit to the farmers market -- veggies and veggie tops everywhere! The boys were playing nicely together and Gene was still working in the yard, so I took my time and enjoyed working on lunch and prepping food for the week. This may be my favorite way to spend a Saturday morning.

I roasted beets, trimmed and washed the beet and radish greens to saute, made a carrot top pesto, and found homes for all the veggies in the fridge. Gene thought I was crazy when I told him I was going to make a pesto out of carrot greens, but it turned out amazing, disappeared quickly, and has everyone in the family asking for more. 

Here's our waste-not, want-not farmers market lunch:

roasted beets, sauteed beet and radish greens, Gene's homemade English muffins (made from the starter you have to discard every week) topped with fresh goat cheese from the farmers market and the carrot top pesto, plus strawberries on the side. The flavors were incredible!

  

Farmers market strawberries are the best -- so juicy and sweet and red all the way through.

Will had a birthday party to attend Saturday afternoon, so Gene and Henry stayed home drawing and chatting and listening to music. Then we all met up at the Houston Arboretum for their Natural Families kayaking adventure! The arboretum is absolutely one of my favorite places to go because you can escape the hustle and bustle of Houston but still be right in the middle of the city.

Our kayaking adventure started at 3pm. The boys have kayaked at the arboretum before (in summer camp) and we all kayaked last fall at Discovery Green, so we know we love kayaking. Will always claims Gene as his partner, but Henry and I make a good, albeit slower, team, so it's all good.

All ready to go!

And they're off!

We loved our kayaking adventure and were so lucky that the rains held off til evening. After kayaking, I made the boys take photos with the bluebonnets. They aren't great with my point and shoot, but we're in Texas and I wanted to grab a few shots while we were there.

Our day ended with grilling outside -- lemon chicken, asparagus, English muffins, and green salad from the farmers market. It was a perfect day, from start to finish!