CSA Week 3 w/ Recipe!

Lettuce

Chives

Spring Onions

Swiss Chard

Sweet Cherries 

Pea Pods

Swiss Chard, Snap Peas, and Meat Stir-fry

This recipe used our swiss chard, snap peas, and onions! So, it was a 3 for 1 deal at dinner.

New Recipe To Try This Week

Chicken w/ Cherries Recipe!

This is the recipe I found that sounds like a yummy, yet different way to consume the sweet cherries we received last week. It also appears to be relatively easy and straight forward. The only thing I'm going to tweak is trying to use some of the greens we already have since we haven't gotten any arugula (yet). I'll be trying it on a very busy evening for us. So, if it manages to taste as scrumptious as it looks then this will be a real winner.

Update: This was a good meal but not quite what I had hoped for. It ended up reminding me more of a side salad w/ chicken than an actual recipe that contained both chicken and cherries. It was extremely easy though! We added in a side of brown rice.

CSA Week 2 2011

So, here's the breakdown for our box this week: lettuce, spring onions, collard greens, sweet cherries, garlic scape, strawberries, asparagus, and dill. We took the asparagus and onions and put them in a foil bag with butter to grill them this week. They tasted fantastic! I preferred grilling them over steaming them. We'll definitely try that method again in the future. It was super easy too. 

Strawberries!

Well, our family made it out to pick strawberries this past Saturday morning! It was a great time for the kids to play outside and ride in the wagon to the strawberry field. They helped pick some but ate lots and lots. How can you tell your kids they can't have anymore strawberries?! I mean, really, doesn't that go against everything I tell them about eating good foods? All of the berries from our farm are free of pesticides and chemical free. 

Check out the gorgeous view from the farm too! We love the ride out there. It's so beautiful, rich in flowers blooming and  lacking in concrete. It's exactly what our family needed after a busy week.

I have been unsuccessful in locating pectin at our local grocery store. I guess there's not a huge market for people making their own jelly around here. So, for now I've opted to freeze our berry supply. Hopefully, we'll find pectin this week and make jelly.

CSA Week One of 2011

Winter is one of our favorite seasons, except for one thing...the farm is closed! Now that Spring is here our weekly deliveries from our local farm have started for the 2011 season. We were so excited to get our first box. In it was basil, strawberries, asparagus, lettuce, spring onions, kale, and garlic chive. 

We'll keep you posted as we eat all our goodies from the farm this year. We will go to pick strawberries soon and will hopefully be able to pick a couple extras for jelly and freezing. That is if our kids don't eat them all before we get home.

What If?

When I was in first grade my teacher announced we would have to give a presentation on one of our hobbies. After much deliberation I convinced my Mom to let me show everyone how to give a baby a bath. You see, Mom, had just given birth to my first sister and I was an eager helper. We wrote my lines on index cards then gathered the baby bath, shampoo, towel, and baby doll. I was shy back then and far from a public speaker, I got over that. Mom and I practiced my presentation until I didn't need my index cards. Then dress rehearsal day came.

After conquering my fears and a pretty darn good dress rehearsal the teacher informed me that bathing a baby was not a "hobby". I'd have to come up with another presentation before the actual presentation day. My heart sank and felt inadequate. Wether it was right or wrong, I'm not here to debate, Mom let me stay home "sick" the day of presentations. I laugh now to think of this because some days bathing a kid is as close as I get to having a hobby.

We all have talents, gifts, and passions. Sometimes God allows us or calls us to use them in prominent positions, think Dr. Dobson, Billy Graham, David Crowder. Other times we use them in discrete, but not less important venues.

Once upon a day I spent days per week dancing on my toes, in anticipation of Spring recital. I practiced singing for years to eventually sing on stage at Carnegie Hall with my high school choir. I loved on and cared for my younger sisters day in and day out. I've prepared and led a women's small group. I teach two years that Jesus loves them. I enjoyed writing research papers in college. I would study for hours on end to make the Dean's List.

But what if all I "ever" do with my practiced and preformed talents is sing our children to sleep, dance in the kitchen with my husband, stay up late to write about what God has revealed to me through his word, and have an encouraging conversation over sour gummy worms with a girlfriend?

I'm at peace with that. It was worth the practice. May He be blessed in all the seemingly mundane activities throughout our days. Don't be fooled into thinking the day in and day out isn't important.

-A

It's Almost Time To Party

Well, it's almost time to have a debt free party!

As of October 21, 2009 we are officially medical debt free. We own our dear son B, my bed rest, and the remainder of Daniel's back! Now we only have our car left and are trying feverishly to have it paid off by June of 2010. We'll keep you posted as we get closer.

It really is quite amusing and exciting to no longer be sending out loads of money each month to the hospital.

Thank-you God.

Praise The Lord

The Lord's faithfulness is great!

After two plus years of struggling and striving to make sure B is growing strong and healthy we got great news yesterday! He is now officially in the 25th percentile for growth! We've had progress for quite some time now but yesterday's news came as a huge relief to me personally.

See, this is the thing, I've literally busted all out trying to help B get all the best nutrition he can. Researching different foods, reading about kinds of fat, learning cheaper ways to eat these nutrient packed foods, and always keeping a checklist of his calorie intake in the back of my head.

However, the most important thing was prayer. B was never expected to be this high on the percentile chart and never "supposed" to fully potty train before the age of five due to gastrointestinal issues. I am confident the Lord is healing our Little Man. There is your proof. If you ever doubt what the Lord can do just hug B next time you see him and remember.

Trusting the Lord for great and wonderful things in our family's future.

It's The Simple Things

Most of you know we enjoy keeping life simple around here. Most of you also know we're human, we mess up, and we make things complicated that don't need to be.

This past weekend we were blessed by friends to be able to go to Baltimore, Maryland. We decided to devote an entire day to The National Aquarium. We packed up all we'd need, minus the stroller as it's not allowed, and even got permission for B to bring his own lunch. We didn't opt for a lot of the "extra's" at The National Aquarium because we felt our little ones would be entertained by the standard exhibits.

We had a great time! We saw everything from sharks to jellyfish. The kids had great spirits even with no naps that day. Then we went to the hotel to crash. We ate, watched television (which is rare for us), walked around the harbor, ate Twizzlers (which is rare for us too), and hung out as a family.

When we were finally on our way home we asked the kids "What was your favorite part?".

Hint, this is where simplicity comes in.

It wasn't the $80 to get into the aquarium, it wasn't the toys they picked out while we were there, it wasn't the dolphins, or the TV.

A said, "Mama, the hotel was wonderful. The best part was sleeping on the fuzzy blanket with my brother."

B said, "Boats". Perhaps I should elaborate a little on his response. He's referring to the boats we saw out the window of the aquarium in the harbor.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not bummed these were my kids favorite moments. These are precious, I will scrapbook them, and I'm thankful they had a good time. However, maybe next time we'll hang out at the hotel, watch television, swim in the pool, and order room service.