CSA Today! 7-24-14

It's been a very busy week!  We've had cub scout day camp all week, which me as a volunteer , makes for one tired momma by the time I get to sit down.

Regardless, here's today's veggie delivery update!

Fresh From the Farm:  Tomatoes, Carrots, Beets, Corn , cucumbers, zucchini, squash, green beans, a whole bunch of potatoes.

From organic wholesale: Bananas, apples

Once again, way too many awesome fresh veggies for me to use alone.  Time to strengthen the 'ol community and give some extras away!

In addition, I harvested from my own garden as well!

Some hot peppers, purple cherry tomatoes and purple full size tomato.  I have so many tomatoes, they are weighing down my plants and breaking limbs off.  The majority are still green though, since we haven't had our typical July temperatures.  

Things have been so mild, I'm getting another round of strawberries growing!  That is crazy!

Foodie Friday: Roasted vegetables!

So if you read yesterday's post, you know that I have lots of vegetables.  What to do with all those veggies before they go bad?  Zucchini's are wonderful, but I can't bring myself to freeze them.  Carrots I don't mind if they are frozen since I make soup out of them later.

Tonight's dinner: zucchini, carrots, onions, garlic and meat.

So how am I going to use all these zucchini?  An easy answer would be zucchini bread, but I've not had luck with that yet.... so I'm going to try something I've been nervous about doing.  Roasting Vegetables.

I'm not a huge roaster.  I just found it kind of intimidating I guess.
So here it goes:

chop up however many vegetables you want to roast.  Root vegetables and zucchini work great for this.
Make sure they are all about the same size!  You don't want some of them to cook faster than others.

Most were about 1/2 inch thick or so

Next, place them in a roasting pan (or some other pan where you can get them to a single layer)

Looking online, I found several recipes.  Most called for 325 degrees F, but I'm winging it and decided to leave my oven at the preset 350 F  that comes on when I turn it on.

Now, drizzle some olive oil on the veggies and season however you want.  I used salt, pepper, and some garlic powder.   You don't want to drown the veggies in oil, just give them a light coating for flavor. Mix them up so they are coated in the oil.

So set your pan o' veggies in the oven and then set the timer for 15 minutes. (times may vary depending on your oven, so always check earlier!)

At 15 minutes, I checked the veggies, stirred, and added some meat to make it a total dinner.

Now, usually, I would brown the meat first, but the meat was pre-cut stew meat, and would be totally cooked by browning.  So I just added it halfway through the roasting.

Set the timer another 15 minutes.

Yummy!

And Done!

Total time cooking: ~ 1/2 an hour (not including chopping time)

Add some rice and you have a completed dinner (or sans rice if you want).

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So in a nutshell:

Roast veggies in an oven at 325 degrees F for 30 minutes.  Add some oil to keep them from drying out too much, and check frequently (since the timing depends on how thick you cut the veggies)

And that's it!

CSA Today! 7-17-14

I'm so glad I got the small box of veggies!  With just my son and I in the household, we're having a difficult time eating all these wonderful veggies!  I seriously need to get down to business and make some pickles.

From the farm:  2 bunches of carrots, 2 zucchini, 1 squash, some small onions, green peppers (the small green tomato looking things), cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers, and 3 ears of sweet corn!!!

From organic wholesale:  grapes, apples, and bananas.

I still have cucumbers leftover from prior weeks.  Truthfully, lots of veggies from last week. I need to do some serious cooking.   So, I think it's definitely time to make some pickles.

I'll have to be creative using the rest of these in recipes for the next week. :)

Skunk Remedy!

Not in the so distant past (2 weeks), my dog came up against a neighborhood skunk.

not my picture -  justskunks.com

I had seen the skunk earlier in the evening, trotting along the outside perimeter of my fenced yard, big, bushy and mostly white.  As skunks are most active during the twilight hours, I wasn't too concerned at 2 am when my dog wanted to go out.  Even when she came back inside, there was nothing abnormal in her behavior.

It  wasn't until after she had been inside for a few minutes and rubbed along the carpets that I noticed the smell.   In case you have been fortunate enough, like myself, to have never smelled concentrated skunk.... it does not smell like the dead skunk at the side of the road.  Its more like concentrated garlic that's been burnt.  Of course to everyone it smells a little different, but regardless, it hurts your eyes and nose. 

So, the best remedy to rid your pet of skunk smell:

* Baking Soda

* Hydrogen Peroxide

* and Dawn dish soap

Use 1/4 cup baking soda, 1 teaspoon dawn dish soap (or any liquid dish soap really) and 1 qt bottle of hydrogen peroxide.  Mix together immediately before use, I put mine in a big bowl and used a wash cloth to wash my dog.  

Some Tips:

- Use a washcloth

- Avoid getting this in your dog's eyes

- Take off your jewelry - it will tarnish

- Take off the dog collar - it will rust!

If you are reading this recipe in hopes for your own dog, I pray that you can keep your dog outside till bath time to avoid stinking up your house.  As it was 2 am, I was not able to do that. 

This mixture works really well, it removes the odor, rather than masking it like tomato juice does. 

Plus the ingredients are so cheap and you can find them in your grocery store or pharamcy.  

So now my dog is clean, but my house stinks of skunk.  It seeps into everything!  Clothes, carpets, cabinets, and bean bag chairs. 

washed the bean bag, but had to throw away the beans

I did lots of research.  I saw recommendations of boiling vinegar, room fresheners etc. 

I even tried boiling vinegar with oranges in it. That did smell better, but now my house smells like vinegar and skunk.  It was so bad, even the door to door salesmen didn't stay at the front door long. :)

The bathroom I gave my dog a bath in smelled so bad, we couldn't use it for a day.  THANK GOODNESS I have a second bathroom. 

Then I stumbled upon a FANTASTIC remedy.  Coffee. Go buy the largest and cheapest ground coffee you can find.  Then put the dry (unused) coffee grounds into bowls around the house.  It absorbs the odor wonderfully.  It made a huge difference in just a little bit of time.  (I've heard it can also work on smoke odors, but can't vouch for that)

As for the bean bag chairs, I had to throw away the Styrofoam beads, they absorbed the skunk smell.  

I managed to get them into trash bags and outside, which helped with a lot of skunk smell as well. 

A fortunate (kind of) thing, once your house is skunky, you tend to get used to the smell.  So I had to ask neighbors and relatives if it was improving as I couldn't really tell anymore, unless I left the house for a period of time. 

So if your dog gets skunked... good luck!  Just remember, when skunks have babies they may be more offensive/aggressive and not give as much warning as usual. 

Foodie Friday: Cucumber -Chicken Salad with Bacon

Ok, so I'm not one of those people who think Bacon is the end-all wonder food that should be on anything.

But this chicken salad was definitely enhanced by a little bit of bacon :)

I was looking for a light lunch.
A quick inventory of the fridge for ingredients:
*   leftover rotisserie chicken
*   2.5 pieces of bacon leftover from breakfast
*  Some cucumbers that are going bad due to my fridge trying to freeze them
*  Some grapes ( I had to select the good ones, from the ones going bad)
*  and of course ever present mayo/miracle whip :)


So I chopped up 1 chicken breast (approximately 3/4 - 1 cup), added the 2.5 pieces of bacon (crumbled).   I could only use about 1/2 of my small cucumber due to freezing damage.  After removing the seeds, I managed to get about 1/4 cup of chopped cucumber.
Stir in about 2 healthy Tablespoons miracle whip (I use one made with olive oil and I love it).
I sprinkled a tad of garlic powder in for my personal preference, so of course season to taste.
( I LOVE Garlic!)
I added the grapes as a last minute touch, I wanted the burst of sweetness.  So I cut up about 8 small grapes.  Just enough to add oomph to the sandwich, without overpowering it.

This made about 3 sandwiches worth.  I guess I used about 2 Tablespoons of chicken salad on the sandwiches. You could probably stretch it out for 4 sandwiches.... I tend to be pretty heavy handed when making sandwiches.

The taste was a cross between chicken salad with grapes and cucumber sandwiches. Very Nummy!

Then I added a slice of fresh tomato to each sandwich.... absolutely wonderful. Nothing better than fresh veggies of the summer to add to a light summer sandwich.

CSA Today! 7-10-14

The summer veggies are starting to roll in!
Some fantastic zucchini, tomatoes and cucumbers!

still playing around with watermarks.... sorry!

From the farm:  Zucchini, carrots, tomatoes, bell peppers, banana peppers (i think) possibly chili peppers (or very small bell peppers :)  ), kohlrabi, cucumbers, cilantro.

From wholesale:  bananas, grapes, lemons

Why am I still getting wholesale you ask?  To round out the box.  Otherwise I'd have no fruit (other than technically the tomatoes... I know....)

I'm not complaining though, I like the bananas and grapes.  It saves me a trip to the grocery store.

I'm about to start battle on my refrigerator though... it gets too cold and ends up trying to freeze some of these wonderful veggies, thus ruining them.

And where has this summer gone?  I keep meaning to pickle some of these small cucumbers, but I never seem to have any time!  Maybe next week.

Iced Coffee Please!!! STAT!

I like coffee. Not LOVE, just Like.  But I have some friends who absolutely love it, like long term relationship commitment type love.

With this summer heat, sometimes you just need an iced coffee to perk you up.

But who wants to go to the trouble and time of brewing a pot of coffee, letting it cool and then putting it over ice?

I'm too busy for that sometimes..... then I found this little gem in the grocery store. :D

YES PLEASE!

Its so easy.... add ice to glass, milk and espresso concentrate with vanilla!  Its a perfect combo, ready in 1 minute.  I'm fond of Oregon Cafe anyway since they make a wonderful chai mixture.

I'm all for wholesome, old-fashioned ways to make food and drinks... but darn if I'm loving this shortcut!

look a face!

So once again, I highly recommend this coffee product to my coffee-loving friends out there. (You know who you are!)

Did I mention it comes in different flavors too?  Vanilla, caramel, and mocha!

CSA Today! 7-3-14

Yipes! It's been a busy week.  Not a pleasant busy week however.... my dog went out and got skunked.  First time too.
So now the whole house reeks.  In case you wondered:  concentrated skunk odor smells like the strongest garlic smell you've ever encountered.... then multiply that by 100, then burn it.  Yup.. uber burnt garlic smell.  Stinks the nose and head.

Thank goodness for cooler than average temperatures, so I could open EVERY window in my house and activate all fans!

But I digress... you're all here for my latest CSA update!

The groceries are booming.  They could use a little rain at the farm (per the newsletter I get each week), but otherwise things are going well.

Fresh from the Farm:  2 bunches of carrots!, 4 large zucchini, 2 summer squash, the first bunch of tomatoes, cucumbers, green onion, fresh basil, kohlrabi

From organic wholesale:  bananas, strawberries, apples, grapes (to add variety)

I actually gave away 1 zucchini, the kohlrabi, and some basil tonight.  I still have 2 large zucchini in the fridge.  Plus I'm growing basil in my garden (although the one from the farm smells delightful).

Tomorrow I plan on giving my mom a bunch of carrots, a zucchini, and some apples.  Its wonderful that there's so many veggies that I just have to share!  That helps build community.

I'm also looking forward to using the strawberries and some leftover blueberries for tomorrow's July 4th!

I did manage to use some of my broccoli before it went bad... just a simple steaming but it makes broccoli wonderful. Although I do cheat!  I just LOVE the ziploc steamer bags.  So easy for any veggie!

Once again, simple shortcuts.  To be eco-friendly, I do tend to use them at least 2 times before throwing them away.... I need to find an alternative way to steam in the microwave. :)