The Farmers Market Lovers Calendar is here!! 15 months of amazing, mouth watering water colors of fruits and vegetables by Dave Johnson along with tantalizingly sexy recipes and suggestions by yours truly. Available at Diablo Valley Farmers Market Saturday from 9 to 1 in the Shadelands Kaiser parking lot or at the Moraga Farmers Market on Sunday from 9 to 1 in the Moraga Shopping Center complex. We will be selling in these markets through December. You can also get them at www.hardscratchpress.com or e-mail me and I will get one out to you. They are $17.50. A perfect hostess gift or perhaps for your special fruit and veggie lover friends for under $20.00.

Made Shepard's Pie the other night and Luke asked me if I could make it every night. He liked it. I told my new friend Spencer I would put it up here because he is a cooking man with 3 teenage sons and so here it is. I tried to keep it as healthy as possible without a lot of fat and loaded with veggies without the boy catching on. It worked. Hope it works for you.

Shephard’s Pie, My Way
½ pound ground turkey
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 carrots, grated
1 bunch kale, chopped fine
1 ½ cups chicken stock
½ cup tomato sauce
1 tablespoon flour stirred into ¼ cup cold chicken stock
3 to 4 potatoes cut up
½ head cauliflower, cut up
¼ cup milk
1 tablespoon butter
¼ cup grated Reggiano parmesana
Sea salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to *425 and spray or grease a large, deep baking dish. Heat sauté pan and add olive oil. Heat olive oil and add turkey, onions and garlic. Sauté for about 5 minutes until browned. Add carrots and kale and cook for about 5 more minutes. Add stock and tomato sauce and cook 5 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Meanwhile boil the potatoes and cauliflower in water until soft. Mash with milk and butter and season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour the meat mixture into a sprayed or greased baking dish and top with mashed potato and cauliflower mixture. Top with grated cheese and bake 2o minutes until bubbly and lightly browned. Serves 4 to 6.

As we wade ever deeper into holiday territory I actually am feeling pretty good about the whole thing this year. I have embraced my anti consumerism rant and am trying to not be quite so affected by the mass of humanity waging price wars as well as territory wars over cheap bullshit that sweet little people in other countries spread across the planet probably were hurt in some way to produce. I have noticed that there are a few alternatives to plastic electronic shit like buying a goat or cow for someone in a poor village somewhere. That is a good one. You can buy your loved ones carbon off sets or home owners edition wind machines too. There is always good stuff at the farmers market (besides our amazing calendar) like olive oil, jams, fresh nuts, like those, fruits, you know the drill. Everyone I gift is getting a home made garam masala spice mixture in a recycled jar with a recycled ribbon and a recipe for using said spice on a piece of paper made from 100% recycled materials. Ho, ho, ho. Poor Lucas.

Steph and I went hiking in Briones the other morning and it was incredible to be walking on our own ridge in snow! Green shoots of new grass peeking up everywhere and then these hill sides sprinkled with snow. What a beautiful contrast. That snow business was fun. Cold but pretty awesome.

Lots of sweet varieties of great citrus at the market waiting to be tried, kiwi, greens...mmmm
Happy Holidays!