goings on-part 2~ the food edition, mostly

Hey, remember I mentioned about eating more raw foods, well last night for dinner I had a collard wrap/roll and it was so good (similar to the raw kale wraps, but with salsa too). Really the hot weather just makes one crave for cool crunchy veggies, and sweet juicy fruits. So eating this way is definitely easier when the outside temps are in the nineties with unbearable humidity. Realistically though I know that I couldn't be a full time raw foodist because I like cooked food as well. I think it would be pretty tough to maintain a high raw diet in the winter, especially in a place that gets chilly-but like I said this is just me. I just love experimenting and I totally believe that you have to do what is right for your health, for yourself, and your loved ones, this is what I call liberation in eating!
Anyway while eating raw has been great for my dinners, we have been also clearing out our freezer because of our upcoming move. This clearing out included cooking up a turkey (a small one about ten pounds) that I had purchased about 2 years ago. I don't know if we are going to get that freezer all cleared out (alot of stuff is in there, hello-frozen apples from 2008?) so perhaps we will invite the college kids from our church over so they can have their pick of things-you know the college crew is always in need of food.
To tell the truth right at this moment in my life I feel a little overwhelmed. Our move is approaching fast, we are getting things packed, I want to make sure the kids are doing okay with everything as we get ready for the move, I want them to adjust well to their new environment, really I just want all of us to adjust well to our new home. I will also miss the wonderful friends I have made here in the Midwest. One friend (a friend I met through a fellow blogger) has been very special to me-I remember when her youngest was just a baby and now he's getting ready to turn three! Oh my, how I'm going to miss them. This will be the farthest that we have moved away from most of our extended family as well (we have usually been in driving distance to at least someone). Yet at the same time I am excited about moving to a new place and seeing the possibilities that await us there-prayerful and hopeful is were I'm at now days.

Well enough of this moving talk, lets get to the pictures-more foodie pictures (:

~berry flax smoothie (frozen raspberries, frozen fruit juice, fresh strawberries, ice, two tablespoons of milled flax and a squeeze of lemon-yum!)


~brewing sun tea

~visiting the Wednesday evening farmer's market


~milled flax


~a mango a day keeps everyone happy


have you had your mango today?

goings on

this mornings coffee, originally uploaded by *nichole*.

lets talk~

*summer is going fast isn't it? Can't believe its already August but it is.

*our community garden is at risk of being taken over by the weeds. The heat and humidity are making the weeds grow like gangbusters, we can't keep up. Our squash and cukes have also been victim to this little creature, love the life lessons of gardening.

*I've been experimenting with eating raw-just for my dinners, really summer is just the best time for such an adventure-last night I had kale rolls (raw kale with chopped cukes, tomatoes, garlic, avocado with a ginger dressing)-good stuff, lots of crunch.

*remember this post, I'm still keeping my activity level up-even if that means that running/walking 3 miles still takes me an hour, Rome wasn't built in a day right?

*we are cleaning out stuff, packing and gearing up for a move, again~nomads we are!

so this morning as I drink my coffee, many things occupy my mind (make a list, make a list!) but I'm just going to take this moment and enjoy doing nothing-just for a moment.

October fruits

enjoying still...., originally uploaded by *nichole*.

Here in my hands I have a little piece of summer that I picked last week. I planted out some watermelon seeds and transplants at our community garden this summer and it took a long time for the watermelons to mature (because of the unusually cool summer we had here). When we finally got a ripe watermelon -the first one I cut open was not ripe at all- we all cheered. It was a wonderful thing to see that reddish fruit, waiting for us to enjoy.
Watermelon in October is still pretty sweet, pretty sweet indeed!

getting up my canning nerve

This years community garden has been such a huge blessing, not only in terms of what it produces, but also in terms of how it makes me feel being out there working, planting, observing. As we began to bring home produce I would often have thoughts of canning-but then I would just resort to freezing. Something about canning seemed intimidating and just plain scary to me-which I found both intriguing and ironic because I grew up seeing my own grandparents can a lot their own homegrown produce.
Partly, in my younger years, I think I began to view canning as something that only "older" people did. Both of my grandparents were born in the rural South, so canning was just a way of life for them-but this wasn't the case for me. Need food-go to the grocery store, right? However, as I have gotten older I've noticed something strange happening. I seem to be looking toward those "old ways" for some reason, looking to hold on to them I suppose. Eating the best dill pickles from mason jars, putting homemade chow-chow over my pinto beans-just enjoying the simple goodness of food raised by my ones own hands, canned by ones own hands. So this past week I got up my nerve, went to the hardware store to buy my boiling water canner, jars and other needed items. Now after I made all the appropriate purchases-you know what I did next? Of course, I called my grandmother. She gave me such great information and told me exactly what I needed to do for my tomatoes (while she was talking to me I could hear my grandfather in the background giving instructions as well :) She also told me what things could only be processed with a boiling water canner and those that could only be processed with a pressure canner (I already knew this from my frantic reading), but as I was writing her words down on a paper-I felt that she was giving me something more than I could ever get from a book, she was giving me part of our family-a part that I needed.
After I talked to her I felt better about my canning pursuit.
I suppose my biggest fear with this all is the fear of botulism-which is a real and scary thing-but with the proper information fear is lessened and new abilities are acquired. You know it also occured to me that while it was hard for me to get up my canning nerve I rarely think twice about eating something that has been processed by "someone else" (someone else being the food industrial complex)-yet people fall ill to glitches in that system as well (just typing out loud here).
It seems like more and more of us are looking for those "old ways" now days, when life wasn't particularly easy-but still not so full of the noise and distraction that surrounds us today. Perhaps all this distraction prevents us from honoring our past, the very past that could in part enhance our very own lives-here in the now, and as well as our own futures.

~putting the sauce into the jars


~hot water bath


~canned sauce


~canned sauce, from above

eggplant wonders

Out at the garden I have about four eggplant plants. They remained on the small side for quite awhile. The cool summer we have had hasn't been all that great for eggplants. See eggplants thrive in hot weather-so really I wasn't expecting much in the way of eggplants, but to my pleasant surprise I found one-growing~

I can't wait to bring this pretty purple globe home for good eats. So seeing this eggplant got me thinking about Libby (she has this wonderful blog), because a couple a weeks ago she asked if I had any eggplant recipes. I have one recipe in particular that is great for the upcoming cooler weather of fall. A simple but really satisfying recipe, we often serve it over rice.

Eggplant Stew
2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
3-4 baby sized eggplants (or two medium sized eggplants)cut up into good sized chunks
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 bell pepper (seeds removed, chopped)
1 medium onion chopped
1 very large sweet potato
2 medium sized tomatoes chopped
1 can of stewed tomatoes (Mexican style)
2 cups of chicken (or veggie) stock
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste

First peel and chop the sweet potato into good sized pieces. Boil the sweet potato chunks until slightly tender, not to soft, set aside. In main pot with oil, place chopped up onion, peppers, and garlic-saute until translucent. Now add eggplant, sweet potato and chopped tomatoes cook all together for about five minutes. Add canned stewed tomatoes, bay leaf, and stock, let stew simmer for about 35 minutes-to thicken stew allow to simmer without top on the pot. Taste stew, add salt and pepper accordingly.
Serve over rice if desired.


(photo of the stew made last fall, as you can tell I like taking food pictures :)
Last year we ate a lot of this stew, and thanks to my little eggplant that's now growing we will be able to make another pot.
Enjoy!

the late summer garden

just thought I'd share some photos of the garden and whats happening out there now~

~acorn squash


~calendula


~crawling along


~web weaving


~lettuce going to seed

The nip in the air tells me that autumn is just around the corner, and soon sweaters and socks will be needed. I suppose thats why it's so important to enjoy each day fully as it is.

still upside down

Remember this~

it's now this~

upside down, originally uploaded by *nichole*.

my homemade hanging basket is still up and hanging (actually the first plant was crushed because the bucket wasn't secured properly and it ended up falling to the ground, so this is tomato plant #2, secured with lots of twine). So far it has 3 green tomatoes on it. I'm not so sure about this hanging tomato thing, but it has been interesting to observe.

Hope Monday was good to ya!

(totally unrelated but "upside down" got me thinking of this song :)

still enjoying summer

~tomatoes, flowers from the garden


~tea (made the lazy way) just add tea bags to water


~and enjoying these zebra tomatoes especially

I appreciate the comments given for the giveaway, thank you so much!
At first I thought I would let the kids draw a name, but they fell asleep (my mommy quiet time is after they fall asleep :) so I used random.org and got the #3, which is Glo from Hooked on Yarn, One Stitch at a Time.
Glo just send me an email and I'll get your package on its way.
Thanks again everyone and have a happy weekend!

Sunday breakfast: green tomatoes and blueberries

This morning I sliced up some green tomatoes for frying. My tomato plants at the community garden were not staked well enough, so I had to use a bunch of twine, pantyhose, and more stakes to get the tomato vines off the ground. During that process I just went ahead and removed some green tomatoes so the plants would have less weight. I cut some of the green tomatoes up and put them in the jar with the pickles we made the other day (as the pickles lessen, I add more green tomatoes to the brine) and this morning I decided to fry some. I remember when I was young how my own grandmother fried green tomatoes-not only for breakfast, but for anytime. The crunchiness of the batter and the tartness of the tomato is so good.


~tomatoes getting a milk, egg bath then dredged through flour and cornmeal


~all fried up

I also whipped up some blueberry muffins, unfortunately it seems like my kids have a thing about cooked/baked fruit (so that only means more for me and the hubby :)
On most Sunday mornings I have a bit more time to make breakfast, and since usually the whole family is home that makes it even more special. During the week things are a bit more busy and hectic-so we may have cereal, a piece of fruit, boiled egg, just simple things. Sunday then gives more time for cooking, more time for eating, and most importantly, more time for just being.

sunflowers in August

~reaching high to the sky~


~beautiful sky~


~sharing your beauty with all who walk by~

Have a Blessed Tuesday!

kitchen crafting

Funny, as I was looking through some old posts, I've realized that my time crafting has really taken a back seat this summer. I haven't spent that much time at the sewing machine or knitting for that matter. Gardening and cooking have been taking up most of my time as of late-and really I love it (well, especially the gardening part). Because when winter comes, and the garden is put to bed, I'll be able to snuggle up on the couch with some nice yarn and a cup of tea.
This morning I took some photos of my kitchen. Our kitchen is super small, I do indeed wish I had more counter space, but we manage-by shuffling stuff around and storing stuff in drawers and cabinets. The kitchen, my creative space this summer~


~this is right above the sink, something pretty to look at


~veggie scraps,getting a bit out of hand-saving for compost


~jars of everything (tea, oatmeal, rice,couscous, pasta, old coffee beans)


~cookbooks with some bread on top



~and finally today's lunch, pasta salad

And in the coming weeks I'm sure that I'll probably be in my small kitchen even more, trying to figure out why in the world did I plant five squash plants-but thankful too that I did (my dear friend, I'll bring some over :)
Then I'll try my hand at canning (which, to tell the truth I'm a bit intimidated by), freezing, and maybe a little dehydrating-and before I do I'll be reading this again.

here's the recipe for today's lunch:

tomato-squash-cucumber pasta salad

~1 box of rotini pasta (I used most of all the pasta, just left a small amount in the box, I do that for some reason, but if you want you can prepare the whole box).

~1 good sized cucumber chopped

~as many cherry tomatoes as you please

~1 good sized yellow squash (sliced or chopped)

~4 cloves of garlic

~5 leaves of basil (chiffonade :)

~vinaigrette dressing*

~salt and pepper to taste

cook pasta according to directions on box, drain then place in bowl. To pasta add vinaigrette (I add the vinaigrette to the pasta when its still a bit warm because it seems to soak up the flavor more). To this add cucumbers, tomatoes, garlic and basil.Now with a small amount of olive oil in a pan, saute' squash for just a couple of minutes-till it slightly browns on the outside, add to pasta mixture.
Taste salad, add pepper and salt as desired.

*(for the vinaigrette dressing I use 1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar,
1 tablespoon of brown mustard, 2 teaspoons of sugar, mixing it up well-add to pasta.
Once this mixture is added to the pasta I then add the olive oil-I add enough olive oil to make sure that the pasta is moistened well, but not to much that it's over oily).

Next its on to refrigerator pickles, my oldest daughter has been wanting to make these for a while now-she loves pickles! So hopefully we'll get around to making them before the end of the week.

3 things that are great:

having a wonderful library in which I can checkout current books and magazine issues.



this date book/organizer, hopefully I'll be on time for my appointments for the rest of the year. I just love the birds on the front, really I bought it because of the birds (:



this baby watermelon, isn't it cute?


see, its just the small things.

some vacation thoughts

traveling along the country side


pineapple growing


a man hand processing coconuts


the beach

Really I've being trying to put this post together in my head for a while now. See over a week ago we were blessed with the opportunity to go to the Dominican Republic for a family vacation. We enjoyed the sun, the beach, the people, and the immense beauty of this place-yet in my mind,-as a visitor, you know- I often wondered about the daily lives of the people who actually live there. Staying on a resort for a week, with food and drinks available 24/7 can close one's mind to the reality that exists beyond such boundaries. One thing which I was grateful for was that we were able to participate in a tour of the country side-seeing up close local life. Of course it wasn't all pretty, in fact some of what we saw was just plain sad.
So there in my mind lies the paradox, enjoying the beauty of a place yet not knowing how to respond to the despair. I don't want to fall into the trap of being the stereotypical tourist. I want open eyes, and with this comes the responsibility to respect the people and the culture of a different country. Therefore, I am transformed from merely a tourist into a student.

I hope to travel always with open eyes.

overgrown

Last week we were on vacation, and this week since getting back home, I have been totally exhausted. You know, I need a vacation from my vacation kind of thing. Well anyway while we were away I was a bit concerned about leaving the garden. One of my community garden friends watered it while I was away, but I just still worried about it. Is that silly to worry about a garden? Well I think not! So this past weekend, even though being tired as all get out, I went to the garden early Sunday morning and found a bounty of squash and zucchini waiting for me-big ones, overgrown ones~

So as you might have suspected we have had some form of squash or zucchini for dinner every night this week and tonight won't be any different. Those big squash make good "boats" for stuffing-so tonight it's stuffed zucchini and squash.
I simply browned some onions and about a pound of ground turkey with some seasonings, an adequate squeeze of ketchup, salt and pepper. Then the "boats" are stuffed with this mixture and now they are in the oven baking-at the end I'll add a little feta to top it off...I'm sure I've told you about my love affair with feta right?

And I'll just keep serving up the squash and 'chini in as many ways I can think of-
~soups
~breads
~plethora of casseroles
~fried
~baked
I'm going to have a good time with this, I see.

for you, from the garden

just because...

good Monday morning~

Wednesday morning...

~beds are still left unmade


~the rain is watering the plants, so I don't have to


~coffee is being sipped from my "new" thrifted mug

Today I have a couple of errands to run, then here at home I have some laundry to do (of course) and then I need to make dinner (my husband suggested quiche for dinner, which was a bit of a surprise). So quiche and a salad for dinner sounds simple enough. I'm enjoying summer but it seems to be going at warp speed. After fourth of July summer goes fast!
I haven't scheduled many activities this summer for the girls, no camps or anything like that-I'm a procrastinator when it comes to registration forms -but I think they will attended at least a week of Vacation Bible School and maybe some swim lessons in August, but for right now our daily schedules are pretty much flexible and I'm okay with that.

the community garden-photo update

here are my wonderful cucumber girls-they are always so excited when they find something that is ready to be picked


kale, chard, and lettuce-seeds sown late in the season, still growing, tasting good


dahlias, tomatoes, snapdragons, and watermelon-all squeezed in here. I over planted, I know that the watermelon is going to take up a lot of space, but its right next to the lettuce and chard area and once that is all harvested I'll leave that space empty for the watermelon to happily spread out


tiny verbena and more tomatoes-I love planting flowers along with the veggie plants


rainbow chard

the hot and humid weather has really got things going in the garden (that includes the weeds as well). Its exciting and the girls are so helpful, I'm so glad we decided to participate in this gardening adventure.