Tomatoes. Tomatoes that I grew on my own. This may not sound amazing, but considering my brown thumb, this is nothing short of miraculous.

It’s funny the simple pleasures for a foodie mom like myself, too. It’s amazing that I found the time to grow these tomatoes, and it’s amazing they grew. It’s amazing that I could walk over and pick four fire engine red tomatoes from my own garden.

I looked at my special little tomatoes and pondered what to do with them. There really wasn’t enough to make something for the whole family. Each tomato was maybe one to two inches around. I could smell the tomato awesomeness just oozing from them. I also have so much basil growing, I don’t even know what to do with it. So it clicked. It was time to make bruschetta. Brilliant.

I should also specify that I decide to make brushetta for me, and just for me, and not for anyone else. It isn’t very often a mom can do something completely and utterly selfish. We’re constantly thinking of the kids first. But I had this gift, and it was just enough for one.

I waited for the kids to go down for nap. Then I did it. I diced the tomatoes. I grabbed a couple of the little dices just to get a pure taste of the tomatoes. It was so amazing, I had to take a sample to my husband. I had to bug him to try it (“This is what home grown tomatoes taste like, honey!”), and even he (the lover of all things pizza and burger) was impressed with the flavor.

I chopped some basil, then let them marinate in some organic extra virgin olive oil. I then tossed in some crumbled feta cheese and sprinkled a little sea salt, and served it over toasts.

Then I sat back, relaxed, and tasted. Unbelievable.

So even though it took hours of effort, and it cost money for my raised bed, and I had to encounter all sorts of Homeric-like challenges (well, bugs, dirt and the threat of frost), it was all worth it.

This is the ultimate local food. Forget farm to table, this is yard to table. Delicious!

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So, I was armed with a big bag of organic oranges, and this cool new-old kitchen gadget. I was pretty optimistic about the results. Here’s how it all went down:

It started with a bag of oranges…

Then lots and lots and lots of cutting, deseeding, etc. to get the good orange juiciness pieces…

Then stuffing lots of orange juice pieces into the electric juicer. It’s a little time-consuming, but definitely easy…

I’m feeling pretty good. It looks good, it smells good. I’m done. That wasn’t so tough. Now, for the reward for all this time, expense and effort…

Umm…. WTF? Seriously? All that work for 12 ounces of juice? A whole BAG of oranges results in 12 ounces? What a rip! And now look at all this stuff I have to clean up…

In all fairness, that 12 ounces of orange juice tasted very fresh (although a little bitter). But I couldn’t help thinking Tropicana really should start charging more for a carton of OJ. If you figure an hourly rate at $50, or even $25, I spent a good hour between preparation, juicing and clean-up. Plus, the expense of the whole bag of oranges (I think it was around $3).

Still, I am not ready to give up on juicing. But the stars are no longer in my eyes. I have a big book on juicing that came with my juicer. I might skim that or something. I also like the idea of making juices with multiple fruits and vegetables. I also think it probably makes sense to make a huge batch of juice at once to maximize the time spent, particularly cleaning all the little parts. I’ll keep you guys posted next time I play with my juicer to see if I get better return on investment.

Have any of you guys made your own juice? Did I do something wrong here? Let me know any tips you might have, or link to anything you’ve written on juicing!

Next in the Sustainable Kitchen Project, I’ll share some of the details (woes and wonders) of starting my first organic vegetable garden. Who knew creating a basic pile of dirt on a big 1-acre lot could be such a pain in the ass?

In my kitchen, I have gadgets for making yogurt, juice, pasta, even sausage. I have a bread maker missing just one piece. Besides that, I have the knowledge (or the ability to Google and find out) to make any number of things from scratch. I have plenty of land to grow my own stuff, and I live in Asheville, NC where it is super easy to find cool locally grown produce.

Yet, my gadgets and cookbooks are gathering dust. I still hit the Super-Walmart so I can super consume. I spend $200-plus at least once a week on groceries. And I do still, sometimes (although definitely less and less often as I am at home more), give my children processed, packaged crap. OK, I said it. I may be a foodie mom, but I am a real mom. I am buying things in extra packaging for extra money and being totally non-green when I could just make and store things at home. Criticize away, if you must.

I blame life and having lots of work and having three kids and all of that. But when my twins were babies, I was working full-time and making homemade baby food and pumping milk for them to have at daycare. It wasn’t easy, and I was pretty much psychotically exhausted. But it should be even easier now, much easier. So I clearly CAN do it.

So I’ve decided I will create this public Sustainable Kitchen Project as a way to motivate myself, to keep myself honest, to connect with other moms who want a more self-sustaining kitchen, and to track my progress. I’ve already started in a few ways, and I’ll post about these very soon. For example, we are starting an organic vegetable garden. Here is a lettuce seedling I’ve started:

And I made orange juice this week:

Here are just some of the things I want to do as part of my Sustainable Kitchen Project. Hey, are there some I am not thinking to list? Let me know…

• Grow herbs, vegetables and fruit
• Make juices, teas and sodas
• Make yogurt
• Make pasta
• Bake breads
• Start a compost
• Buy more local produce and products
• Learn to preserve items when they are local and fresh with freezing, canning, etc.
• Make jams and other condiments
• Make butter
• Make beer and wine
• Make cheese (can that be done at home? that would be coool!)

I know I’m forgetting some. I’ll also keep track of the grocery bill, and any other side effects and impacts of the project.

Wish me luck with my self-sustaining kitchen!