Tip No. 3 will be coming your way soon. Would love to hear from readers as to what their go-to, quick dinners are ... I may just add them to my repertoire.

Okay, so Saturday was the last outdoor farmers' market of the season at the Dane County Farmers' Market. And, boy, did it go out with a bang. The weather felt more like early September than early November. Everyone was in high spirits and the produce didn't disappoint either. We stocked up on Gentle Breeze Honey and our favorite maple syrup as both vendors won't be at the winter indoor market. I also bought some beef short ribs from my favorite grass-fed beef farmer for a long braise in the oven some coming weekend.

Pickle continues his descent into Picky Land. My former beet-green-eating, winter-squash-loving child won't eat! I just don't know what to feed him at this point. I made him potato and corn chowder this weekend and he wouldn't let it come near his lips. This is the same child who ate bowl after bowl of pureed corn soup this summer. Good grief, as Charlie Brown would say. If anyone has ideas, I am willing to try them! With that, here's what we bought and what most of us will be eating this week.

At the market:

Apples

Apple cider

Beef short ribs

Bibb lettuce

Brussel sprouts

Daikon radish

Honey

Leeks

Maple syrup

Mushrooms

Red Russian Kale

Menu: week of 9 November 2009

Sunday: Roasted mushroom and salumi pizza

Monday: Sauteed red Russian kale on fresh ricotta bruschetta

Tuesday: Bibb lettuce wraps with larb-style ground pork

Wednesday: Oven-baked turkey kofte with Greek yogurt raita and roasted chickpeas

Thursday: Thai curried squash with coconut milk and red heirloom jasmine rice

Friday: My banh mi

Happy eating, -s.

Growing up, Friday night was pizza night. My mom would make a half-sheet-pan-sized pizza with lots of veggies and pepperoni. It was the only night that we got to have a juice-glass filled with Coke. A pretty magical evening, as you can imagine. Talking to friends, they too had pizza nights as kids. At the park recently, Chris, Pickle and I met a little girl who was quite the conversationalist; as we pushed Pickle on the swing, she inquired about many things including what we were going to be for Halloween (she was going as a witch or a mermaid) and what we were having for dinner. She told us that, "as she was Italian," her family had pizza night every week and that her favorite was sausage and pepperoni. So, the trend continues (Italian or not!) decades later, which makes me happy.

I've been working on a whole-wheat crust recipe lately; trying to make eating pizza a more healthful endeavour. Using 100% whole-wheat flour has not been working for me; the texture is just not right. So, with Heidi Swanson's white whole-wheat crust recipe in one hand and the Cook's Illustrated classic in the other, I set about making a big batch of dough that would crisp and chew in all the right places, while still containing a good ratio of whole-wheat flour to white. Our potato pizza on Sunday was my first go and I have to say — and I'm not exaggerating* — it was the best dough I've made. The exterior was crispy while the interior had a satisfying chew.

This recipe makes two large rectangular pizzas (the goal is to have leftovers); freeze one ball or refrigerate it for pizza later in the week — yes, two pizza nights in one week is okay!

Sarah's whole-wheat pizza dough

makes enough for two, 11x14-inch pizzas or four, 12-inch round pizzas

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups white whole-wheat flour — I used King Arthur

2 cups white bread flour — again, King Arthur

1 teaspoon rapid-rise yeast

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 3/4 cup room temperature water

1/4 cup olive oil and more for oiling the bowl

Directions:

In the bowl of a food processor, add both flours, salt and yeast; pulse to combine (the bowl will be really full). Measure the water and oil in the same cup and with the machine running, pour the liquids into the dry ingredients. Once the dough creates a cohesive ball, let the machine run for 30 seconds.

Remove to a floured board or counter and knead with your hands for 5 minutes (a good upper-body workout). The ball should be smooth and supple. Cut into two equal piece. Place one in a Ziploc bag and the other in an oiled bowl. Place the bagged dough in the fridge or freezer for later use. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise for 2-3 hours, until double in volume.

When you are ready to assemble the pizza, slowly stretch the dough by hand, letting it rest if it is not yielding. Once it is the size you need, place on a cornmeal dusted pan and adorn with your choice of sauce and toppings. Bake on the bottom rack of a 450-degree, preheated oven for roughly 15 minutes.

Happy eating, -s.

*I am a known and admitted over-exaggerator, coming from a long line of overreactors, hypochondriacs and drama-queens. If it happened once or twice, to me it's happened a million times. If you have a cough, you are dying and should rush to the doctor. If I love something or someone, it L-O-V-E, love, so watch out! But, that just means I'm passionate about everything that matters. :)

You hear it all of the time: yes, life changes drastically when you have a child, but no one talks about how much it changes for the food-obsessed.

I have been really struggling to keep my cooking-dinner-every-night mode going since our 14-month-old, Rhys, was born. At first, it wasn't too difficult: he nursed; we ate dinner as he slept; sleep-deprived coma would ensue; and we'd start all over again the next day.

Now that he's eating everything we're eating (diced or cut into pieces the size of a pencil eraser, of course!), getting dinner on the table when he's hungry (6 p.m.) versus the old days of eating dinner at 8 p.m., has been difficult to say the least.

Last year I had the summer off for maternity leave, and since Rhys would wake up at o-dark-30 even on Saturdays (didn't he know he could sleep in?), we would take advantage of it and hit the Dane County Farmers' Market with the other early birds. I would have über-fresh veggies to cook with all week and since I wasn't working, nap times for Rhys became cook times for me. It was a great set up ... that is until I went back to work. Work really gets in the way of living sometimes, doesn’t it?

So, here I am, trying to come up with food that inspires me, while providing nourishment for our little Pickle. This new lifestyle has challenged me to come up with new recipes and new approaches to cooking and now I want to share my hard-earned wisdom with other foodie parents who want to keep eating well once their hungry bambino has arrived.

Enjoy!