I've been in kind of a blogging funk lately.
Oh, you noticed? Thanks. ;)
Ya... It's very unlike me to go this long without posting. Can't pinpoint one reason why. It's not for lack of something to say. (That almost never happens.) I just haven't had it in me to sit down and devote my precious little free time to the old blog.
We've been cuh-razy busy at work lately and I come home to non-stop work (& some fun stuff too) for every waking minute of my day. That's been leaving me with very little energy for... you know... telling you very specific details about all of those things we're actually doing! Ha! Yada, yada, yada. Not that I have to explain this. Most all of you are in the same boat as me anyway. Ah, well. Priorities bend and flex from time to time, right? Well, the ones we choose for our non-working, non-parenting hours do anyway.
Super sad news (for me): my favorite co-worker... the one who started just a couple months before me... the one who has been in exactly the same place as me with life stages (RD exams, weddings, homemaking, children, etc.)... the one I get along with best and talk with most because we've always been so in sync with our thinking... and the only person less than 10 years older than me (she's Craig's age)... has taken another job that is closer to her home and fewer hours per week. I totally get it and I'm so happy that she's found something that is better for her family... but, selfishly, I miss her SO MUCH! Work isn't the same and it was so weird/hard/sad to say goodbye to her last Thursday.
I've also caught the fall shopping bug (plus end-of-summer sales for next year) for kid's clothes. Will barely needs anything but I got him a few new things for school, plus he got two more huge bags of hand-me-downs from our dear friend, Griffin. Sophie had exactly nothing to wear for fall and winter and that is what I've been trying to remedy. I've made a lot of progress and still crossing my fingers for some hand me downs for her too, but I've purchased nearly her entire summer wardrobe for next summer and packed it away in her drawers. :) So I've been scouring my favorite stores (mostly online, but a lot of Target in-store as well) and cashing in on all the sales and coupons I could find. Our mail man made a joke to Craig about "the wife doing a lot of internet shopping lately" and I have to say it ticked me off. Especially the part he added about how he's "been lucky his wife doesn't do that hardly at all". Um, excuse me... Does your wife have a job? (And does she actually not give you a piece of her mind when you call her "the wife"?) Do you have small children? If so, have you ever been responsible for the acquiring, organizing and laundering of every new size of wardrobe they are constantly outgrowing? Then I don't want to hear your opinion of me because I haven't paid a penny for shipping any of these goods, I'm not shopping at high end stores and I'm saving my husband the hassle of doing any of it. The gas prices alone make this a far more cost-efficient way to shop, not to mention the huge time savings. Am I right, ladies? Craig just kind of laughed it off, but I think the man should mind his own business. [Rant over.]
I've also been researching all sorts of fun, new, local ventures I want to explore as a family in the next several months and I'm really excited about what I'm finding. I am a lover of learning about all that my local region has to offer, from food to day/weekend trips to holiday activities to historical learning experiences. With young kids, I think it's a great way to get out and have fun without breaking the bank or stressing yourself out. Plus, it helps us learn more about where we come from. There are so many places I didn't even know existed! It makes me feel like a tourist in my own neighborhood. So I'm making a point to just chill out for the month of August. Keeping the weekends low-key. Lazing around and letting spontaneity lead. There's not much time left before the busy season starts again!
So, anyway. That's what's new with me. That and the fact that I am constantly in the kitchen this summer! If I'm not preparing food or eating it, I'm out trying to acquire the best foods (farms, u-picks, farmer's markets, CSA pick-ups, etc.) Last summer's obsession with running and Tot School stuff has definitely been replaced with all things FOOD this summer. Well, food and still a lot of reading. Goodness! All this rambling in my little, old, dinner post! How about I move onto the menu? Yes?
So since I'm catching up, this post will summarize the week of July 23-29.
Below, you're looking at our CSA share that was picked up on July 19th. This week I traded out a bunch of lettuce for two more yellow squashes because I already had plenty of lettuce left at home.
This bag contains: 1 kohlrabi, 1 bunch of (3) beets, 1 bunch of Swiss chard, 1 package of edamame, 3 sweet onions, 1 green pepper, two tomatoes, 4 yellow squash and 1 zucchini.This is what the Swiss chard looks like. I'd never had it before and it had a pretty strong scent that I wasn't sure I was into. I washed it, chopped the red stalks into ~1" pieces and rough chopped the greens.
The recipe I was following was just for an Italian style, sauteed side-dish with a little bit of red pepper flake and garlic. The person who shared it said you could add in some sausage and noodles to make it a main dish so that's what I did. The chard got boiled first and then sauteed and later added to the cooked sausage.
Here's what the dish looked like. And it tasted about as good as it looked... YUCK. It definitely could have been me and something I did wrong. But that strong scent I wasn't sure about translated to a strong taste I definitely did not care for. We ended up tossing this completely out. Soooo wasteful, but neither of us (never mind the kids) could take another bite. It was salty and pungent and ick. I'm not even going to share the recipe. I'm also not sure I'm going to try chard again unless someone gives me a pretty convincing argument that it's actually good prepared a different way.
Thankfully, my saving grace of this meal (for me anyway) were some grilled veggie packets that I threw together to use up some of the summer squash. I chopped up these veggies, wrapped them in foil packets (after drizzling with a homemade dill dressing) and Craig grilled them for me.
The result was a very tasty, perfectly crisp-tender side dish. Yum. We had some cheese and fruit with this meal and called it a lesson learned.
The next night, I tried a couple of new-to-us side dishes to go with our grilled chicken. I don't very often make potatoes in our house because the kids don't care for them and Craig and I think they're just okay. But I do fondly remember my mom doing a simple boiled potato dish with parsley and butter. Our CSA the week before had a bunch of small, red potatoes and I decided to try this. No recipe - just winging it. Totally unlike me. I boiled the potatoes, chopped up some garlic and sauteed it with parsley and butter before tossing the potatoes in to coat. It turned out delicious! Totally unoriginal, I know. But new to our dinner table.
We also gave our beets a try! I'd been asking around and doing a little research (I'm forever researching what to do with all these veggies) and decided to go with a simple roast. Catherine at Weelicious took the guesswork out of this for me with her simple roasting beets program. Click the link for her directions. I also tossed the slices with a little butter and light sprinkling of salt.
Our protein for the evening was my favorite balsamic chicken. (It's a little dark - Craig and the grill have been butting heads lately.) Everything else on our plate was vegetables including a huge green salad with lots of veggies. I have a renewed obsession for sliced radishes and broccoli on my salad and I don't think I will ever go back to store bought dressing, unless I don't have even five minutes to spare. I used the dill dressing I've been raving about lately, but seriously anything homemade tasted better than store bought. Ooh - this dinner was sooo good!
Will politely tasted and didn't care for the beets in their simple, roasted form. But Sophie ate several pieces and seemed to like them okay! She didn't finish all that I gave her, but I was pleased that she didn't refuse a new food. The kids are learning all kinds of new foods (mainly veggies) this summer!
The recipe I was following was just for an Italian style, sauteed side-dish with a little bit of red pepper flake and garlic. The person who shared it said you could add in some sausage and noodles to make it a main dish so that's what I did. The chard got boiled first and then sauteed and later added to the cooked sausage.
Here's what the dish looked like. And it tasted about as good as it looked... YUCK. It definitely could have been me and something I did wrong. But that strong scent I wasn't sure about translated to a strong taste I definitely did not care for. We ended up tossing this completely out. Soooo wasteful, but neither of us (never mind the kids) could take another bite. It was salty and pungent and ick. I'm not even going to share the recipe. I'm also not sure I'm going to try chard again unless someone gives me a pretty convincing argument that it's actually good prepared a different way.
Thankfully, my saving grace of this meal (for me anyway) were some grilled veggie packets that I threw together to use up some of the summer squash. I chopped up these veggies, wrapped them in foil packets (after drizzling with a homemade dill dressing) and Craig grilled them for me.
The result was a very tasty, perfectly crisp-tender side dish. Yum. We had some cheese and fruit with this meal and called it a lesson learned.
The next night, I tried a couple of new-to-us side dishes to go with our grilled chicken. I don't very often make potatoes in our house because the kids don't care for them and Craig and I think they're just okay. But I do fondly remember my mom doing a simple boiled potato dish with parsley and butter. Our CSA the week before had a bunch of small, red potatoes and I decided to try this. No recipe - just winging it. Totally unlike me. I boiled the potatoes, chopped up some garlic and sauteed it with parsley and butter before tossing the potatoes in to coat. It turned out delicious! Totally unoriginal, I know. But new to our dinner table.
We also gave our beets a try! I'd been asking around and doing a little research (I'm forever researching what to do with all these veggies) and decided to go with a simple roast. Catherine at Weelicious took the guesswork out of this for me with her simple roasting beets program. Click the link for her directions. I also tossed the slices with a little butter and light sprinkling of salt.
Our protein for the evening was my favorite balsamic chicken. (It's a little dark - Craig and the grill have been butting heads lately.) Everything else on our plate was vegetables including a huge green salad with lots of veggies. I have a renewed obsession for sliced radishes and broccoli on my salad and I don't think I will ever go back to store bought dressing, unless I don't have even five minutes to spare. I used the dill dressing I've been raving about lately, but seriously anything homemade tasted better than store bought. Ooh - this dinner was sooo good!
Will politely tasted and didn't care for the beets in their simple, roasted form. But Sophie ate several pieces and seemed to like them okay! She didn't finish all that I gave her, but I was pleased that she didn't refuse a new food. The kids are learning all kinds of new foods (mainly veggies) this summer!
On Tuesday this week, Craig wanted us all to go to a little car show in town after dinner, so I planned to keep it simple this night. I made another veggie pesto pizza and loved it every bit as much as the last time. This is one you really should try! It's sooooo good!
Along side, I just served some raw green beans from our CSA and the kids got some fruit too.
Sophie surprised me again by eating and loving two small pieces of this! Yay!
On Wednesday this week, I had the kids help me shuck (sp?) the sweet corn before dinner. We always throw our food scraps right into the fields surrounding our house so it's easy to just do this outside, right at the edge of the yard.
P.S. - this is my very favorite summer outfit of Sophie's this year and I'm going to put her in it as many more times as I can, so don't be surprised if you see it repeating in pictures. :)
The farmers that own these fields didn't plant anything on this side this year, so the soil is getting a rest to replenish it's nutrients and we're just providing a little extra, natural fertilizer.
I know I have a lot of pictures of this, but it was just so cute and funny to watch them focus so hard. It's not the first time they've done this, but they sure acted like it was.
And when Sophie finally got the whole thing peeled, she would not let go of her ear of corn! :) She kept smiling proudly at it and when I tried to get it from her to take inside, she scrunched her eyebrows and told me "Noooo! I need my corn!"
Dinner this night was burgers on the grill (Craig and Will's choice), corn on the cob and lots of leftover veggies (potatoes, grilled veggie packets, and homemade macaroni salad from my mom). For dessert, we had homemade blueberry pie. (Blueberry post coming soon.)
I think the rest of the week was leftovers?
Along side, I just served some raw green beans from our CSA and the kids got some fruit too.
Sophie surprised me again by eating and loving two small pieces of this! Yay!
On Wednesday this week, I had the kids help me shuck (sp?) the sweet corn before dinner. We always throw our food scraps right into the fields surrounding our house so it's easy to just do this outside, right at the edge of the yard.
P.S. - this is my very favorite summer outfit of Sophie's this year and I'm going to put her in it as many more times as I can, so don't be surprised if you see it repeating in pictures. :)
The farmers that own these fields didn't plant anything on this side this year, so the soil is getting a rest to replenish it's nutrients and we're just providing a little extra, natural fertilizer.
I know I have a lot of pictures of this, but it was just so cute and funny to watch them focus so hard. It's not the first time they've done this, but they sure acted like it was.
And when Sophie finally got the whole thing peeled, she would not let go of her ear of corn! :) She kept smiling proudly at it and when I tried to get it from her to take inside, she scrunched her eyebrows and told me "Noooo! I need my corn!"
Dinner this night was burgers on the grill (Craig and Will's choice), corn on the cob and lots of leftover veggies (potatoes, grilled veggie packets, and homemade macaroni salad from my mom). For dessert, we had homemade blueberry pie. (Blueberry post coming soon.)
I think the rest of the week was leftovers?Will had been begging me to make chocolate chip cookies with him all week, so we did that on Thursday. That's kind of our special thing. I'm either going to have to start including Sophie or find something for her and I to have as a special recipe. 'Cause Will is definitely my cookie man.
And guess what we did with the other two roasted beets! (I roasted all three at once, we ate one for dinner earlier in the week and the other two were pureed to make this!)
I'll try to get on here more and be more present in the blogosphere again. But August is going to be my chill month. In my head anyway. ;)
And guess what we did with the other two roasted beets! (I roasted all three at once, we ate one for dinner earlier in the week and the other two were pureed to make this!)Everyone I've told that to has given me a crazy "what the?" look and made a disgusted face. I tried them myself and wasn't the biggest fan, but then... I wasn't the biggest fan of them roasted plain either. The recipe is meant to be sweet, served with syrup or honey or raspberry sauce, and they were actually okay. Not my favorite, but edible.
The kids, on the other hand, APPLAUDED! I'm not joking. Actual clapping. They were so intrigued with the fushia/magenta/red color and I didn't even try to hide the reason for that. I told them they were beet pancakes and Will has been requesting them ever since we ran out. The recipe made a lot, so they ate them for a long time, but we went to the farmer's market this past Saturday and Will asked if we could look for beets to make beet pancakes again. I think if we get them in our CSA again, I'm going to try her Red Beet Cupcakes too. ;) Ha! I never would have thought I'd be trying these things!
The kids, on the other hand, APPLAUDED! I'm not joking. Actual clapping. They were so intrigued with the fushia/magenta/red color and I didn't even try to hide the reason for that. I told them they were beet pancakes and Will has been requesting them ever since we ran out. The recipe made a lot, so they ate them for a long time, but we went to the farmer's market this past Saturday and Will asked if we could look for beets to make beet pancakes again. I think if we get them in our CSA again, I'm going to try her Red Beet Cupcakes too. ;) Ha! I never would have thought I'd be trying these things!
I'll try to get on here more and be more present in the blogosphere again. But August is going to be my chill month. In my head anyway. ;)Happy eating, friends!
1 comment:
I LOVE your rant about the mailman and your online shopping. And I completely agree with you!
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