Yes a new start.
I realize the blog has been untended for awhile. But I have a good reason. We moved!
My focus became not the challenge of making healthy meals that would keep my family from encouraging us to eat out and more a how can we eat up everything in the pantry and fridge so I don't have to move it. Then we had a 5 days of between homes while we stayed with the in-laws and then there was the moving while the kids were gone our first week here.
This past Saturday was my first day back to getting food from the co-op again. But the new house as also brought some food bounty of it's own that was unexpected.
First the local bounty. We moved near friends who garden. They know my daughter's love for small tomatoes and have been bringing those by by the gallon. They don't last long, but they keep her fed.
Our neighbors also have a peach tree that is in season. The house has also recently been purchased, but no one has moved in yet. So I have been gleaning peaches. Not many of them are really edible, since it hasn't been well cared for. I do spend some time trying to work around worms and such. Usually the birds are good about getting to the peaches with the worms before I do though.
We have also been working towards building up our herb garden again and while picking up compost at the local compost pile a nice lady gave us a lovely healthy rosemary. I have missed my rosemary the most from the old house. The photo shows my basil, since I took the photo, I have added oregano to one of the blue pots. The rosemary is in a plastic pot destined for the front yard. All the herbs other than the rosemary, will eventually end up in a pretty spiral in the front yard.
Well on to the co-op and some of our meals of late:
Plums (we got some in the basic share as well as ordered an extra variety pack)
kale
kiwi
cabbage
lettuce
grapes
blueberries
cauliflower
tomatoes
bananas
cantaloup
bread (another extra we purchased)
Produce I already had on hand
gleaned peaches
grape tomatoes from friend's garden
cuties oranges
1/2 bell pepper
onions
romain salad mix
My grocery list:
tomato sauce
potatoes
spinach
sandwich meat for the kids
goat cheese crumbles and feta cheese (goat for me and the girl and feta for the husband)
honey mustard dressing
orange juice
Saturday was a bit hectic with the co-op pick up and then needing to head out to my in laws to pick up a couch we purchased from an antique mall in their small East Texas town. I know that seems like a bit of an expense after just buying a new house, but then my movers broke my couch and I had seen this couch while we were visiting my in-laws during that 5 days without a place to live. My husband hates the color, but it is a 90 year old couch in great condition and I love it.
But anyway, Saturday involved a breakfast of oatmeal with peaches, almond slices, brown sugar and vanilla. My husband made that while the girl and I sorted produce. The boy was still gone on a house sitting gig, this time.
Lunch was at the in laws. Dinner time was getting even more hectic as we decided to take advantage of having the in-laws' truck and make an ikea run and get the girl child a much needed book shelf, so we hit taco bell for the veggie cantina bowl thing. Not a very healthy day at all really.
Sunday got better on the eating, but not on the busy since we still had access to the truck and lots of things to get and do for the house. But we started out slow with some waffles with a peach and blueberry compote and some orange juice and coffee.
BTW, I did take my in-laws some of our abundance of plums to thank them for the use of their truck for the week.
Then we headed off for the free compost offered by the city to start building a raised veggie garden that my daughter has been wanting. Had to fill our own containers for that. Then home to unload that. Rested from the heat and then off to the hardware store for cinder block for the garden. We could only push the flat cart with so many in it, so we only got enough for 1 and a half beds when we wanted 2 garden beds. Which means the husband gets to go back for more when he goes back for the rain barrel tonight.
Get home and get the call from the boy that his GPS system has broken and he isn't quite sure how to get to the new house from his house sitting gig, so we have to look up his location on our gps and give him direction and then unload and shower. About that time he is home and we all head to Jason's Deli for lunch.
Then we drop the kids off for mowing and other yard work while we head off to Costco for yet more shopping for big items while I can. Which means a ladder and computer desks.
Then we come home and build a garden with the kids while the dog chases dragon flies. You would think the old fellow was a puppy if it wasn't for the fact that his back legs kept giving out on him and he would go crashing to the ground or into a fence every now and then. I haven't seen that dog bound like that in years.
And then finally dinner. We had personal pizzas on 8 grain pita bread with salad and plums. My pizza consisted of sauce, vegan sausage, bell pepper and onion that had been sauteed in garlic, and sauteed spinach. Everyone made their own thing.
And some of the other things that we have enjoyed since we moved into the new house:
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| Udi Muffins with Cuties on the Patio |
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| Spinach Salad with goat cheese |
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| Eggs Scrambled with veggies and toast |
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| Egg Salad Sandwich with strawberries |
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| Spaghetti w/ Pesto and Strawberries |
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| Spaghetti with Pesto and tomatoes |
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| Beans and Rice with Vegan Sausage |
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| Fresh fruit salad with gleaned peaches, strawberries and oranges |
And just some other fun photos from the adventures of the new home:
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| My unusual fireplace |
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| Camping in the house the night before the furniture arrived |
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| Camping in the house before the furniture arrived |
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| Cut some roses to brighten my kitchen |
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| The girl and the husband planting basil |
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| The girl and her 2 favorite past times - computer and eating |
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| A neighbor brought us a butterfly cocoon, which we got to set free |
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| The girl and husband with the butterfly |
The first half of the week I had some trouble waking up so it was cereal and fruit for breakfast. But it was a healthy organic cereal by Nature's Path with some almond milk.
By Wednesday I was at least up to making toast for breakfast, so it was peanut butter and toast and some fruit.
Then Wednesday night was steamed kale and rice with stewed plums and gleaned peaches with honey and a bit of cinnamon done in the crock pot. After when I was about halfway through dinner, my husband pointed out that the stewed fruit would be really good on ice cream. So I saved the rest of my fruit and had it over ice cream for dessert.
