where's your beef from?

my csa posted this on facebook today and i found it interesting. my dad always wonders why i preach grass fed, organic, free range and local. this is a great and quick explanation for beef. when my dad was in his youth, the grass fed beef column was the norm. will we ever get back there?

Menu of the Week

I am loving all of the recent recipes posted on Meal Planning 101. All of my recipes are from her blog this week. Enjoy!

Coconut & Beef Curry with Noodles- a real treat for the hubs since we almost never eat beef.
Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala & Naan
Creamy Chicken & Black Bean Enchiladas
Pecan Crusted Tilapia & Garlic Scallion Noodles
More Roasted Asparagus- gotta do it while they are in season!

I've been on a curry kick since eating Whole Foods curry red potatoes for lunch the other week. Does anyone have the recipe for that to share? Yum!

photos courtesy Meal Planning 101

Menu of the Week

Cashew Chicken with White Rice & Edamame
BBQ Ranch Chicken Tostadas with Avocado-Corn Salsa
Turkey Burger with Basil Aoili
Pasta ai Quattro Formaggi
Tortilla Soup
Goldfish Crusted Chicken Nuggets
Cheater Italian Wedding Soup

photos courtesy Cooking With My Kid, A Year of Slow Cooking, Pioneer Woman, Meal Planning 101

Menu of the Week

Next week's menu of the week is all about preparing for our baby girl's arrival. I really want to have several meals cooked, frozen and ready to reheat during those first few crucial weeks. Like last week, it seems I have been monopolized by one or two food blogs for this week's menu. Here is what I came up with.

Dinners:
Cheater Italian Wedding Soup
Crock Pot Braised Short Ribs
Goldfish Crusted Chicken Nuggets
Creamy Chicken Enchiladas
Ham Bone Soup- the Honey Baked Ham recipe from their bean mix.

Breakfast: typically I don't meal plan for breakfast but with Oscar home on paternity leave, I thought I'd try a few new ones.
Banana Oatmeal Bake- old wives tales say that oatmeal helps breast milk come in and this sounded super yummy.
Jocelyn's Chicken Sausage and Potatoes- my dear friend Jocelyn made this for the bambina's baby shower. Our CSA box included fingerling potatoes this week so I have to make these for Oscar. Recipe coming soon.

And, because I know myself all too well, desserts ready to pick me up from all those sleepless nights:
Crazy Good Chocolate Chip Bite Sizers
Triple Chocolate Banana Bread Muffins
Whole Wheat Banana Bread

I have already frozen a few dishes or left overs from previous weeks.
Slow Cooker Butter Chicken- from last week's menu. This was delicious and made plenty of left overs to freeze for later.
Red Beans and Rice
Turkey Spaghetti

photo credits HERE, HERE & HERE

Menu of the Week

After attending a meeting with my mom/playgroup where everyone discussed their meal planning strategies, I decided to add my weekly meal plan to my blog. So many of my favorite food bloggers do it I thought I should throw my hat in the ring. It just took me several months to get my first post up!

Meal planning is a great way to take the stress out of the age old question, "What's for dinner?". Now I know what I am going to cook every night and can prepare dinner while Ozzie naps. When I am super organized, I cook a lot of the meals on Sunday & freeze them until they are ready to be eaten. It also has saved us money because we are no longer wasting food. I buy exactly what I need and at the end of the week, the refrigerator is close to empty. I love that the most because I am not spending my entire Sunday throwing away old food that got lost in the refrigerator. It even saves me time in the grocery store because I have my handy dandy little list, which of course is organized by store aisle, and am no longer wondering the store aimlessly trying to figure out what to buy.

Another convenience that I love is our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box (the picture above is from one of our boxes- yummy local organic fruits and vegetables) that is delivered every Tuesday. If I am diligent about meal planning, I can adjust our fruits & vegetables accordingly prior to delivery. Another savings of time, money and food!

So one goal for my blog this year is to share my Menu of the Week. Of course I choose the week before my second child is born to take on this new task but fingers crossed I'll keep up most of the time. Oh and I am not organized enough to add side dishes every week. We usually eat a lot of salads but if I make a fancy vegetable side, I will try to include it.

With that said... drum roll please. Here is this week's Menu of the Week:

Slow Cooker Butter Chicken
Creamy Turkey Taquitos
Roasted Chicken with Baby Red Potatoes
Grown Up Mac and Cheese
Turkey Burger with Basil Aioli
Baked Chicken in Tomato Sauce with Olives

Can you tell I'm loving the blog Meal Planning 101? Happy Cooking!

Kale Chips

I've seen the recipe for kale chips floating around on the blogosphere for months now and finally decided to give it a try since I always receive kale in my CSA box and never really know what to do with it.

Ozzie and I had a play date with my friend and her daughter, so I served kale chips as our appetizer to lunch. They were good, not great as many people are saying but good. A touch too salty for me but my friend liked them. I will definitely cut the salt in half if I make them again. I did get Ozzie to try one but he never asked for more. Go figure?

Although there are a ton of recipes out there, I went with Smitten Kitchen. She has never let me down in the past. Click HERE for her recipe. I also like her idea of sprinkling the crumbled chips over popcorn.

photo courtesy of Smitten Kitchen

Chicken and Sun-Dried Tomato Orzo

Another delicious recipe Oscar made for the family was Chicken with Sundried Tomato Orzo. Yes we eat A LOT of chicken in this house! My favorite part of this recipe was the marjoram fresh from my garden.

Ingredients:
8 ounces orzo, preferably whole-wheat
1 cup water
1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes, (not oil-packed), divided
1 plum tomato, diced
1 clove garlic, peeled
3 teaspoons chopped fresh marjoram, divided
1 tablespoon red-wine vinegar (we substituted balsamic vinegar because it was all we had)
2 teaspoons plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed (1-1 1/4 pounds)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 9-ounce package frozen artichoke hearts, thawed (we used Trader Joe's canned hearts)
1/2 cup finely shredded Romano cheese, divided

Directions:
1.Cook orzo in a large saucepan of boiling water until just tender, 8 to 10 minutes or according to package directions. Drain and rinse.

2.Meanwhile, place 1 cup water, 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, plum tomato, garlic, 2 teaspoons marjoram, vinegar and 2 teaspoons oil in a blender. Blend until just a few chunks remain.

3.Season chicken with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook, adjusting the heat as necessary to prevent burning, until golden outside and no longer pink in the middle, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate; tent with foil to keep warm.

4.Pour the tomato sauce into the pan and bring to a boil. Measure out 1/2 cup sauce to a small bowl. Add the remaining 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes to the pan along with the orzo, artichoke hearts and 6 tablespoons cheese. Cook, stirring, until heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Divide among 4 plates.

5.Slice the chicken. Top each portion of pasta with sliced chicken, 2 tablespoons of the reserved tomato sauce and a sprinkling of the remaining cheese and marjoram.

I'm still trying to convince Oscar to be the family cook!

Pesto Pasta with Peas

I'm sure I've mentioned before that I enjoy Gweneth Paltrow's newsletter, Goop. Although I try to steer clear of celebrity news and gossip, her newsletter is more mom focused. In fact, I think she really does a great job of highlighting topics that most moms I know find interesting.

I have tried a few recipes and this simple pesto pasta with peas seems to be a hit in our house. Though Ozzie and I both leave too many peas on our plates after eating all the pasta. I've told you we both hate our vegetables- like mother like son!

The best part about cooking this in the summer is it only requires boiling the pasta so your house doesn't get hot from the oven on a hot summer evening. Also, I love the taste of fresh basil from my garden. It's so rewarding to use your own herbs and vegetables in your dishes.

Pesto Pasta with Peas from Goop
3 tablespoons pine nuts
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 cup fresh basil leaves
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup finely grated parmesan
coarse salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup cooked peas (frozen ones are more than okay)
3 cups cooked brown rice pasta or whole wheat pasta

Pulse the pine nuts in a blender or food processor until minced. Add the garlic, basil and olive oil and pulse until the mixture is nicely pureed. Remove to a bowl and stir in the parmesan cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix as much of the pesto as you like with the peas and pasta.

Enjoy!

From The Garden

We managed to plant our second annual summer vegetable garden last weekend. We were a little late thanks to ongoing colds and Ozzie's surgery but I've already complained about that and will spare you a second pity party. Ozzie recovered perfectly and is a happy, better breathing little boy and that is all that matters.

This year I decided to do things a little different. In the ground I've planted three types of tomatoes (heirloom, cherry and stupice), romaine and green leaf lettuce, spinach and onions. In containers I have lemon verbena and mint that came back from last year (as a novice gardener I'm a little more happy about that than I should be) as well as marjoram, oregano, basil, rosemary, cilantro and flat leaf parsley. Also I am going to try strawberries for the first time this year and am pretty much in love with my apple green strawberry pot.

After our summer crop is harvested I am going to try squash and zucchini for this first time. Admittedly I am also a little more excited about the zucchini that one should be. Who would have thought gardening can be this much fun?

I am most excited to share this summer adventure with Ozzie. Hopefully helping Mommy plant and care for the garden will help to get him to actually eat a vegetable!

Speaking of my little gardener, here he is dumping my flat leaf parsley in the middle of the lawn.

My itty bitty spinach. Will she make it through all this Seattle rain?

Happy Earth Day!

Whether or not you agree with the global warming debate and its effects on the earth, protecting and preserving our planet should be a priority for all of us. If nothing else, I believe it is our obligation to leave behind an environment that is healthy and sustainable for our children and grand children.

In our home we have taken a few steps to help preserve our planet by:

• Switching to environmentally friendly cleaning products and toiletries. Luckily these types of products are becoming more and more available to the average consumer. I love the Ecos laundry detergent that is available in bulk at Costco now. Martha Stewart has also launched an eco-friendly line at Home Depot. I haven't tried it yet but it is on my list of items to buy when needed. Never doubt Ms. Martha.
• Buying local and organic produce, meat and eggs through farmers at Farmers Markets and in my very own city. To quote, Steve Hopp in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle "If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. That’s not gallons, but barrels. Small changes in buying habits can make big differences. Becoming a less energy-dependent nation may just need to start with a good breakfast."
• Growing my own organic herbs and vegetables in our backyard each Spring and Summer. My goal is to eventually add some Fall and Winter crops.
• No more plastic grocery bags!
• Switched to energy saving appliances and light bulbs.
• Recycle and compost as much as possible.

I know there is much more we can do but for now these are our contributions.

Today Ozzie and I celebrated Earth Day with a nature walk through the woods with my moms group. Here are a few pictures of my little tree hugger in his 'Reduce, Reuse, Recycle' t-shirt before we left for our walk.

I can't believe I got him to pose for a picture.

Most of my pictures turn out blurry- like this.

And this.

Bored.

Ready to go Mom!

How are you helping to preserve our planet?

Brussell Sprouts, Pine Nuts & Bacon

Another Farmer's Market find. Fresh, local brussel sprouts and grass fed, nitrate free bacon. YUM! I can't tell you the last time we have had 'real' bacon.

If more moms made brussel sprouts this way, maybe they wouldn't have such a bad rep.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 garlic clove, sliced thin.

About 1/2 pound of Brussels sprouts, trimmed and quartered
1/4 cup pine nuts
3 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled into bits

Directions:
Over medium heat, warm the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the garlic slices for one minute.


Add the sprouts in skillet in one layer and sprinkle with salt to taste. Cook, uncovered, until the sprouts are golden brown, about 15 minutes.
 
Add pine nuts for the last 5 minutes of cooking the sprouts.
 
Sprinkle bacon bits over sprouts.
 
Enjoy!

Baby Bok Choy with Shrimp and Tofu

I picked up some baby bok choy at the Ballard Farmer's Market last weekend and concocted this recipe for dinner. It was deeelish if I do say so myself!

Baby Bok Choy with Shrimp and Tofu- adapted from Epicurious
Ingredients:
3/4 lb shrimp
1 1/2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon cornstarch
3 teaspoons coconut oil
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1/8 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
4 bundles baby bok choy, roughly chopped
3 green onions, chopped
1 package extra-firm tofu, drained, cut into 3/4-inch pieces

Directions:
1. Cook shrimp in 1 t of the oil until pink. Do not over cook. Set aside.
2. Combine soy sauce, sesame oil and cornstarch in small bowl; mix well.
3. Heat rest of oil until very hot in heavy large wok or skillet over high heat. Add garlic, ginger and crushed red pepper. Stir-fry until aromatic, about 30 seconds.
4. Add bok choy and stir-fry until just wilted, about 2 minutes.
5. Mix in green onions and stir-fry until onions are tender, about 1 minute.
6. Add tofu and lightly stir-fry until tofu is just heated through, about 2 minutes. Add cooked shrimp.
7. Pour soy mixture over all. Stir-fry until liquid boils and thickens, about 1 minute.

I served it over brown rice. Enjoy!

Spicy Meatloaf with Roasted Vegetables

This is cold weather cooking at its best folks. I saw this recipe in the October issue of Cooking Light magazine and was intriged by the "spicy" meatloaf.

If you know my husband, you know that he loves anything spicy. So anytime I can find a recipe with a little heat I want to try it out. This particular recipe called for Sriracha {or rooster sauce as we call it at our house because the bottle has a picture of a rooster on it} which is my husbands absolute favorite condiment.

Also I desperately needed a new recipe for ground turkey. Turkey spaghetti has more than its fair share of our dinner rotation.

I decided it to pair it with roasted vegetables adapted from the millions of roasted vegetable recipes found online.

Roasted Vegetables
3 shallots, peeled and cut in half if large
4 medium parsnips, peeled and cut into 3-inch lengths (halve the thicker end pieces lengthwise)
4 carrots, peeled and halved lengthwise
3 turnips, peeled and cut into 1 inch squares
1/4 c olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Toss all vegetables in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in 450 degree oven for 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender.


Spicy Turkey Meatloaf from Cooking Light
Ingredients:
1 T butter
2 c chopped onion
1 (8oz) package presliced mushrooms
3 garlic cloves, chopped
3/4 c panko breadcrumbs
1/4c fat free, low sodium chicken broth
3 T chopped flat leaf parsley
1 T low sodium soy sauce
1 T Sriracha
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1/2 t freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 lbs ground turkey breast
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Cooking spray
1/2 c ketchup
1 T brown sugar
1/8 t dry mustard
1/8 t ground nutmeg

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Melt butter in large nontsick skillet over medium heat. Add onion, mushrooms and garlic to pan; cook 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; cool 5 minutes.
3. Combine mushroom mixture, panko, and next 8 ingredients (through egg) in a large bowl; stir well to combine. Shape turkey mixture into a 9x5 inch rectangle on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray.
4. Combine ketchup, brown sugar, mustard and nutmeg in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Spread ketchup mixture evenly over top of meat loaf; bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until a thermometer registers 160 degrees. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Lemon Verbena Mint Tea

Oscar and I spent the weekend raking leaves and preparing my vegetable garden for the winter. I had not been back to the garden for a few weeks since I was avoiding my prep duties errr, I mean since I thought all the plants were dead. So you can imagine my surprise to find my lemon verbena and mint plants still alive! It must have been those unusually warm days in the beginning of October.

Knowing neither would last 5 more minutes now that the weather has truly changed to the drizzly Seattle weather we all know and love, I trimmed all the plants down and ran back inside to look up some lemon verbena and mint recipes faster than you can say avoidance! Of course I told Oscar that Ozzie was due for his afternoon nap and high tailed it outta there.

To my delight the first recipe that appeared was this lemon verbena mint tea from Simply Recipes. Perfect for the cold weather right now. I will try it the first chance I get.

Lemon Verbena Mint Tea

Ingredients
1/2 cup of fresh mint leaves (not the stems, they're bitter), rinsed, lightly packed (about 20 leaves)
1/2 cup of fresh lemon verbena leaves, rinsed, lightly packed (about 10-15 leaves)
2 cups of water

Method
Bring a pot of fresh water almost, but not quite to a boil. Put the mint and verbena leaves in a teapot. Pour the hot water over the leaves. Let sit for 3-5 minutes. Strain into tea cups.

Makes 2 cups.

I am thinking of drying the rest of the lemon verbena for bath salts. If anyone has a great recipe for that, please pass it my way.

*photo courtesy Simply Recipes

From the Garden

Now that it is mid-October, it is time for me to prepare my vegetable and herb garden for the winter months. I had a wonderful time growing my owns vegetables and herbs this summer. I really enjoyed it more than I thought I would and am pretty proud of how everything turned out considering it was the first garden I have ever planted.


Here is a run down of some of my favorite dishes that I made using my own vegetables and herbs {patting myself on the back}:



1. Lemon Fusilli with tomatoes from my garden


2. Turkey spaghetti with homemade tomato sauce


3. Turkey burgers with cilantro and lettuce from my garden


4. Spinach sauteed with pine nuts


5. No Cook Pasta with tomatoes from my garden


6. Tortas with tomatoes from my garden


7. Recuerdos De Tucson with jalapenos and green, red and orange bell peppers from my garden


8. Posole with jalapenos from my garden


9. Endless salads with the lettuce and spinach from my garden. I also sent my parents home with lettuce every time they came to visit Ozzie, it was growing like a weed.


10. Fresh parsley added to every spaghetti dish made this summer


11. Fresh cilantro added to every Mexican dish made this summer


12. Fresh oregano added to every possible dish acceptable!


13. Homemade chicken stock with parsley from my garden


14. Mediterranean Chicken and Beans with tomatoes from my garden



15. Carmens's Chicken with Black Bean Enchiladas with the very last of my orange and red bell peppers (recipe coming soon- thanks Carm!).



16. A few caprese salads with tomatoes from my garden. Sadly my basil didn't make it. Our friendly neighborhood bunny got to both my plants before I could.


17. Salad onions added to our countless salads with our baby walla walla onions. This was a mistake, I planted them too close together so they only grew into salad onion size. They were still delicious though.

The only herb that I didn't cook with was the lemon verbena that Oscar's mom gave me. I love the smell of lemon verbena and wished I would have done a better job looking up recipes for it. I'm thinking about drying out what I have left and making bath salts for stocking stuffers.

I am already planning next year's garden and pretty much know what I want to add or omit. I definitely want to add some fallish vegetables, like zucchini. I also want to do some research on heirloom vegetables, specifically tomatoes. Heirloom tomatoes are another inspiration from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, she went on and on about them so now I must try them.

We truly enjoyed our summer's bounty and can't wait to try it again next year.

From the Garden

Tonight's dinner was from my garden and I couldn't be happier about it!

Yesterday Oscar and I harvested more tomatoes from the garden. I can't believe how many tomatoes are ripening. Below is just half of what we harvested. I gave half to my Mom who came over to help me with Ozzie today since I am still recovering from surgery.




I decided to make my first homemade spaghetti sauce from the tomatoes. Since turkey spaghetti is a family staple, I always have the ingredients available and I don't have to be on my feet for a long time to make it.


First I pureed the tomatoes and some fresh basil. Sadly the basil was not from my garden. I tried to grow basil twice this summer and both times our friendly neighborhood rabbit ate it all before I could harvest it.





Next I sauteed thinly sliced onions and garlic in olive oil and browned ground turkey. When the turkey was cooked, I added the pureed tomatoes and basil, fresh oregano {also from my garden}, olives, artichoke hearts, sea salt and pepper. I let my sauce simmer for about 30 minutes on low heat. While waiting for my sauce to thicken, I cooked the whole wheat rotini. I topped each helping with freshly shaved Parmesan cheese.


We had a fresh from the garden, healthy and delicious meal; all while I'm still recovering from surgery {patting myself on the back}!






Homemade spaghetti sauce doesn't have the same bright red color as the canned stuff but it tasted delicious even without red dye #5.

From the Garden

We harvested our first tomatoes from the garden today! I was pretty excited and anxious to try them since tomatoes were one of the main reasons behind starting my vegetable garden. As I've mentioned before I was inspired by Animal Vegetable Miracle to grow my own herbs and vegetables this summer.

In her book, Barbara Kingsolver goes on and on about the taste of fresh from the garden tomatoes compared to super market tomatoes. She spent so much time talking about it I was convinced I had to grow my own to just to taste what she was talking about.

The consensus is she's right! Fresh from the garden tomatoes are very juicy and sweet. I sliced them up thin added a little sea salt and had myself a great afternoon snack. Ozzie didn't particularly love the tomatoes but he's 1, it'll probably take him a few more tries.

The tomatoes were on the small side, I'm thinking the recent heat wave in Seattle ripened some of them a little early. My parents came over for a visit so I sent them home with some lettuce, parsley and tomatoes as well. My lettuce and parsley are growing like crazy and I try to send anyone who visits home with some.

So far this summer we have harvested all of the spinach, cilantro and snap peas. We're still happily eating the lettuce, parsley, oregano, mint, lemon verbena and we are still waiting for the onions, leeks, sweet peppers, jalapenos, celery, artichokes and the rest of the tomatoes.

If you knew me at all, you'd be as surprised as I am that I'm growing vegetables let alone eating them since one of the two times I was grounded in my youth was because I didn't eat my broccoli. Growing up I hated veggies, what kid didn't? As an adult I don't crave vegetables per say but I know I need them. Plus now that Ozzie is eating table food I have to set a good example. Luckily all of the veggies I've harvested this summer have been yummy {patting myself on the back} so I haven't really had to choke any of it down for Ozzie's sake.

Below is a picture of today's harvest. I can not wait for more tomatoes to ripen. I am going to attempt homemade tomato sauce and freeze it for the winter. Yum!

From the Garden

Yesterday for dinner I made an old staple in our house, turkey spaghetti. We always have frozen ground turkey, whole wheat spaghetti, onions, garlic and pasta sauce. It's my go to dinner when I'm not in the mood to cook and still want to get a decent meal in our tummies.

As I've said before, I started an organic herb and veggie garden this year and we had our first harvest last week of cilantro, parsley, oregano and spinach. So I decided to add some fresh herbs to my spaghetti sauce and made a side of spinach. Turned out pretty darn good if I do say so myself. In fact, I was so pleased with myself I decided to share with a quick post.

Here is my turkey spaghetti {well fusilli} with fresh oregano & parsley.

Ingredients:

Olive oil

1/2 yellow onion- sliced thin

2 garlic cloves- minced

Sliced mushrooms

1 lb. lean ground turkey

Few sprigs of parsley chopped

Few sprigs of oregano chopped

Your favorite jar of tomato sauce

Whole wheat spaghetti, fusilli, penne, angel hair- you pick

Directions:

Saute onion in olive oil about 2 minutes until clear

Add garlic and saute a minute or two longer {careful not to burn garlic}

Add mushrooms and saute until soft

Add ground turkey and cook through

Add tomato sauce and herbs

Simmer about 10 to 15 minutes

Cook pasta as directed

Add drained pasta to sauce

Sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan cheese if you have it.

Spinach and garlic sauteed in chili pepper olive oil from Oil & Vinegar with toasted pine nuts. I really like toasted pine nuts so I definitely add more than your average cook.

Ingredients:

Chili pepper olive oil

Handful of pine nuts

2 cloves garlic- minced

Spinach

Sea salt

Ground Pepper

Directions:

Saute pine nuts in olive oil

Add garlic saute about 2 minutes longer {careful not to burn nuts or garlic}

Add spinach and saute until soft

Sprinkle with sea salt and fresh pepper

Probably the easiest dinner to cook and I really didn't need to share the recipes but such a good family staple I figure why not?

Also, remember that hydrangea plant my hubby planted for me? Well a few blooms were ready to adorn our kitchen table. The only thing better than veggies from your garden is fresh cut flowers from your garden!

Dinner tasted great and I was so excited to use fresh herbs and vegetables from my own garden. Can't get more local than that!

Grow Garden Grow

As I've said before I was truly inspired after reading Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. So inspired that I decided to plant an organic herb and vegetable garden on Mother's Day. It was a small gift to myself in my quest to become a domestic goddess. I have never grown a garden before, don't have much of a green thumb as I've killed all my houseplants {God bless them} and I didn't do my usual preproject research {slight type A personality} so I have been really curious to see what would happen.

Drum roll please...

The garden freshly planted on Mother's Day

The garden today and this picture is after I harvested some spinach and removed bad leaves. My tomato plants, lettuce and spinach are basically taking over!

Remember my little heirloom lettuce I was so excited about?

She's not so little anymore! And strangely enough not so red though you can see a few read leaves in the middle.

Our 2nd harvest from our garden- spinach, cilantro and parsley. Cilantro was our 1st harvest last week. My husband is Hispanic- go figure our 1st harvest would be cilantro!

It's a pretty awesome feeling to cook vegetables grown from your own garden. I didn't know I would enjoy gardening so much. I already know what vegetables and herbs I want to add or omit next year. I can't wait until Ozzie gets old enough to play in the garden with me!

Home on the Range

This weekend was a "weekend warrior" kind of weekend. Yard work and house work was on the agenda. My dear sweet hubby worked H.A.R.D. on the landscaping in the front yard. Have you ever removed old bushes, mowed the lawn, trimmed the edges, pulled weeds, laid down fabric, planted new flowers and bark all in one day? It's a hard days work! I have a new appreciation for landscapers.

Anyway Oscar did such a great job. I only wish I would have taken before pictures so that you could see the difference. Gone are the ugly bushes of yesterday that hid my cozy front porch and suffocated my pretty Japanese Maple. Now lay my lovely azaleas, hydrangeas and lilacs enticing me for a nice rock in one of our chairs on the front porch.

We are almost done with the yard. We hired a landscaper to fix the debacle that was our backyard. That job required professionals. Of course, we forgot before and after shots for the backyard too.

Last week we planted our organic vegetable and herb garden. All that is left is a few yards of new sod, a little more weeding in the front and viola a whole new yard. There will be a celebration. I am so excited to enjoy our yard this summer!

Here are some pictures of Ozzie helping us pick out plants and flowers a few weekends ago at a local nursery and Home Depot. I'm pretty sure riding the carts was the highlight for him.

Who ever invented the car cart is a genius!

While Oscar worked in the yard, Ozzie and I stayed in and tried a new Rhubarb recipe for our pancakes. My gift to Oscar for his hard work was a yummy pancake breakfast. Pancakes are a favorite around these parts.

This was my first rhubarb recipe ever actually. Every Spring I see it at the market and think what do you do with that? Enter the blogosphere. I ran into rhubarb recipes all over the blogs. This one looks good but cobbler is not really my thing. Although I love me some Smitten Kitchen recipes so I'll probably still try it some day.

I decided to go with this one from Tea & Cookies which is actually a modified version of this one from Dana Treat. I'm really glad I did, it was a perfect pancake topping. The rhubarb was just a little tart so we didn't feel the sugar overload that can happen with blueberry or strawberry pancakes. And boy was this easy! When you are toting a 9 month old around on your hip {he's going through a slight separation anxiety phase} easy recipes are your favorite recipes. I will definitely try this again, I think I read somewhere that it's great over vanilla ice cream too. Yum.

Here's to home improvements and trying new foods!